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Strata 9, Immersion V1, Loins and Lust (Limerence)

Lose yourself in the safety of books.

The Book of Immersion

Volume 1

Strata 9 

Loins and Lust (Limerence)

The Book of Immersion is published on the Tale Teller Club website each week.

www.taletellerclub.com

Each episode features CDM music by the band Tale Teller Club and illustraitions by iServalan Homotech 23

Welcome to our world.

© 2024 Sarnia de la Maré

Tale Teller Club

Publishing Immersion Strata 9

Welcome to Immersion

You have reached Strata 9

 

Limerence is a uniquely human phenomenon that new lovers, potential lovers and sometimes even strangers, may experience. Limerence is a state of mind (not solely romantic) that typically includes persistent, sometimes depressing thoughts, and a deep yearning for the object of one's affection. It can be easily confused with love. Often human beings can find themselves addicted to these obsessive feelings and can easily be overwhelmed by adoration for another human being. Limerence cannot be turned on and off like a machine. It can come from nowhere and disappear without logic. The experience of this sensory state is proven to be inspiring, connective, unifying, disruptive, and even excruciating, yet it continues to mark the human trajectory of existence through time and place.

Renyke thinks for a moment then says

'Ok, I will swap my coat but not until we get to the *edge,'

Shabra smiles and nods.

'OK, *dundeal Mr. Renyke Man. We go tonight when the dark takes. Safer see.'

****

The group is in an enclosure flanked by half-deconstructed concrete walls. There are large metal containers lying around with shrubbery and foliage trying to make a stand against the manmade environment.

Tumbleweed plays in a soft wind searching for a home.

Flex kicks some redundant ashes by an upturned metal water tank.

'I can make us a fire,' he said excitedly.

Maybeline scurries around searching for food and sniffing the air.

She smells something, danger is afoot.

Flex is armed with a pocket of lighters.

He wears a brightly coloured patchwork gaberdine style overcoat with inside pockets that have everything a nomad would need. There are small pieces of mechanical paraphernalia, vintage innards from antique items, little motors. He even has motherboards and old PC parts.

‘Do you take this stuff everywhere you go?’ asks Renyke.

‘Yes sir-ee, some days man’dun gotta make *swapsie-trade.

Everything has a use in the Zones brother.'

Renyke began to pace, 'Shabra is taking her time,’ he said standing near the opening of the enclosure.

‘She’ll come, she is huntin’ tis all my friend. You got attached already?’

Renyke stared at Flex a moment.

‘We need that ride,’ he said.

Then he checked the POS whose signal was intermittent.

'.......What are the signs of being attracted to somebody?'

The POS took a moment to compile a response……..

……Do you mean how is attraction manifested in humans Renyke?

'……yes, yes, of course ‘humans’, Renyke replied.'

The POS continued:

…..nervousness around the subject of the attraction

…..extended thoughts about the subject

…..obsessive thoughts beyond normal curiosity about the subject

…..insomnia due to obsessive considerations of the subject

…..anxiety over possible outcomes of imaginary scenarios involving the subject

…..a desire to touch the intimate parts of the subject

…..dreams about the subject

…..fantasy building scenarios between the human and the subject

…..being overly concerned about….

‘Enough,’ said Renyke.

Finally Shabra returned.

She carried two dead animals in her belt and washed a wide glinting blade under the water that flowed from a broken pipe behind one of the disused containers.

‘This water’s good. We can fill up the tanks and flask before we go.’

The new acquaintances were relaxed and considering preparing for the short but dangerous car journey to the Edge.

Shabra checked the vehicle mechanics, the doors and metal buttresses worked in perfect synch and there were six exhausts. She filled the water kegs and put them in the boot.

‘Where is the vehicle from?’ Asked Renyke.

‘I built it,' answered Shabra, 'from scratch. 'Well, I had several wrecks and put my beaut together.

Me n her, we like lovers. She drives me crazy with her vibes.’

Shabra looked at Renyke parting her lips into a wry smile. They were oily from the fat of the meal.

She winked through long dark lashes.

Renyke felt a thump in his heart, a deep penetrating surge of something enthralling.

Suddenly there is a distant high-pitched sound, like a siren or swarm. It seems to be getting louder when Flex and Shabra grab Renyke, throwing him into the vehicle.

Seconds later they were surrounded by a marauding mass of screaming children. Some were made of broken body parts with human faces, others were small walking babies with burnt skin. Some had extra limbs and even two heads. They were crying and screeching, banging toy drums and chanting verses.

to be continued

©2024 Sarnia de la Mare

Links to episodes of Immersion written and illustrated by Sarnia de la Maré FRSA, published by Tale Teller Club

Strata 1
Strata 2
Strata 3
Strata 4
Strata 5
Strata 6
Strata 7
Strata 8
Strata 9
Strata 10
Strata 11
Strata 12
Strata 13
Strata 14
Strata 15
Strata 16
Strata17
Strata 18
Strata 19
Strata 21

Glossary
Buy Posters and Prints
Art by Sarnia

Strata 7, Book of Immersion V1, Jarome and the Scritters, (Trade and Barter)

Welcome to Immersion, you have reached Strata 7

Humans have developed uniqueness from animals through a process of cognitive evolution.
They are exceptional cultural learners and can read situations. These skills have enabled them to develop complex trading tools. They rely heavily on these skills to create abstract cerebral and linguistic representations when placing themselves in various environments.

The cultural and socio-political environment in which humans have evolved has led them to acquire the cognitive skills, particularly mathematical, to support a sophisticated disposition and capacity for reciprocal cooperation and conceptual ideas of property and exchange value. Humans are savvy, humans broker deals.

Outside there was an optimistic sun and the people bussied around the market unaware of any of the commotion that had occurred in the bank.

The POS informed Renyke that he had lost negligible battery power and there was no damage to his mechanical structures.

The robodog came towards Renyke and the female guide's cat leapt onto her shoulders.

Maybeline returned to Renyke's pocket for a nap.

'You got my Bits?' asked the woman

'Go to Hell!' said Renyke, counting the contents of the steal.

'We already in Hell Soldier Man,' cackled the woman who resigned herself to not getting paid and ran into the crowds, as lithe as the cat

Back on the main street Flex approached, smiling and jaunty. Renyke felt reassured to see him.

'I need a vehicle Flex, something to get me to where I am going,' said Renyke.

'Yes, yes, yes Mr. Leather Man, where you going is where I'm going. Let's find a veee-hicle. Jerome, he is the car man, he got cars, and bikes and scoots..... and copters, and airships so they say.'

'Take me to Jerome,' said Renyke.

****

Flex took Renyke into a disused concrete building as the robodog curled up and waited outside.

There are the echoes of voices, activity and motor engines being revved from another part of the building. There is a smell of fuel and mumbled communications. Somewhere too there is music.

Flex beckoned Renyke to Jerome's office, a ramshackle room filled with books. More books than Renyke had ever seen. Books were no longer used in most homes or schools and the paper shortages after the warmings had meant that they were no longer being produced. Paper had become heavily taxed and there were also problems with scritters.

Scritters were large crawling insects that had been made in a laboratory by the Russian military.

They looked deformed with big insect heads and metal body parts. At birth scritters are born with a soft back and they look for protection from any material that offers a hard shell. Because of the huge landfill areas the rubbish had provided the perfect materials for protection, plastics and metals mostly. During the Russia China wars scritters had been used to carry tiny incendiary divides on their backs as they could be trained easily and were not affected by the nerve gases. But after the wars, the scritters had bred like wildfire, devouring paper and trees and nesting in book spines where the glue offered a perfect cocoon for pupae. Whole libraries had been mutilated by them. They were a scourge on the planet and another reason so many houses were built on stilts in the Midcast Projects. The more paper they ate, the more they reproduced. Books and paper matter that had not been digitally copied had been devastated and lost forever.

'A car you say?' asked Jerome. 'I got plenty, but the fuel....we got no fuel. We are working on some alternatives, but all prototypes so far. They cut off our fuel after the riots. And the food supplies. I have been missing gummies, I loved those.'

Renyke nodded as Jerome continued....

'Transport is a big problem. You'll be better off walking my friend, if you can get through the tunnels. But there are booby traps all around the perimeters here in the zones.'

Renyke checks the POS for details but the tunnels are unchartered. The POS seemed to be struggling with connection and was operating intermittently.

'I have a hybrid cart,' continued Jerome. 'It runs on solar but only for about 3 hours per full charge if you do under 40km. And if it is a cloudy day, an hour. I can let you take it for 3000 G-bits. It won't get off the ground without jet fuel but it can drive on flat ground well enough. It doesn't hold the road well, but if you are a good driver, it won't be an issue.'

'Can you drive?' Renyke asked Flex.

Flex laughed... 'Of course I can.'

A scritter crawls across the floor and Jerome stamps on it. A black tar oozes from under his foot.

Jerome sees Renyke might be changing his mind about the deal.

'I will take TELL You got some TELL?"

The POS gets a signal......

...TELL: abbreviation of Tellurium, found in copper ore. Used in mobile phones, especially older versions where it was added to other metals improving their strength and hardness and reducing corrosion. Rare due to the demise of traditional copper mines.

Renyke begins to feel confused about how to get the vehicle and asks the POS for advice.

I am not programmed to have opinions, Renyke. I do not have access to data about the vehicle or the seller. But Redact is within walking distance.

Renyke looks at Flex and then at Jerome. A scritter is crawling up his boot and he throws it off with a kick. He feels a rising panic and a thumping in his chest which he does not recognise.

Finally, Renyke says, 'I will walk.'


To be continued
© 2023 Sarnia de la Maré

Links to episodes of Immersion written and illustrated by Sarnia de la Maré FRSA, published by Tale Teller Club

Strata 1
Strata 2
Strata 3
Strata 4
Strata 5
Strata 6
Strata 7
Strata 8
Strata 9
Strata 10
Strata 11
Strata 12
Strata 13
Strata 14
Strata 15
Strata 16
Strata17
Strata 18
Strata 19
Strata 21

Glossary
Buy Posters and Prints
Art by Sarnia