Suzuki School: sci-fi

Showing posts with label sci-fi. Show all posts

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Strata 8, Book of Immersion V1, Shabra, (Laws of Attraction)

Shabra (Laws of Attraction)

Sexual attraction for humans is dictated by a reflex to engage in intimacy with others. This phenomenon can be influenced by physical cues alone, the way a human looks, moves, speaks an so on.

Romantic attraction may be described as deeper and yet may still be instantaneous, spurred on by feelings of wanting a relationship with another.

These two desires may appear together in a deep power of attraction.

The psychology of attraction is most peculiar to humans. It is not possible to create this phenomenon in machines whose methods of attraction use logical conditions to draw entities towards them. Predefined targets for machine attention avoid accidents, although machines are notorious for repeatedly targeting their attention on non compliant humans.

Likewise, human attraction is usually nonreciprocal. A machine programmed to give a human all it needs will often reap better results. But when dealing with human desires, neither machine nor human can ever guarantee positive results.

Jerome breaks an awkward silence, 'No *ishy, brother,' He stamped on another Scritter. 'Damn those nasty little *mudafinks!'

Renyke exits the concrete compound with Flex running anxiously behind.

The *robodog had waited patiently at the entrance and began wagging its tail and leaping around.

Renyke spots some graffiti with the Redact logo near an underpass. Maybeline crawled out of his coat and nudged his cheek for food.

'You sure you did the right thing brother?' asked Flex, who was now feeling agitated. His naive friend was likely to lead him into trouble. Perhaps it was time to take charge of the matter.

'Wheels is speed, wheels is protection my friend. We gonna stand out like *fucksyfools on the streets. People gonna target us! Words spread fast.' Flex explained still half running to keep pace.

'I can manage quite well,' said Renyke, 'You don't need to .......' Renyke trails off, distracted by a woman on the car roof.

She glanced over at Renyke.

'Oh well let's just go and ask her for her car then' said Flex.

'Are you mocking me?'

Renyke was genuinely unsure. He had always grappled with humour. Incongruous remarks always had to be analysed closely. A false analysis could be incompatible with overall provision of human satisfaction, which was paramount to his function in the world.

Mabel had used the word *nuke about some of her friends.

'I believe the woman to be nuke, explained Renyke, continuing with some confidence.
She exhibits a powerful energy, enough to engage a compelling force as I look on.

'Hahahahahaha.....' laughed Flex, that will make things worse, trust me, I have knowledge.

Tut, follow me,' sighed Flex reluctantly leading the way.

The woman was sitting on the roof of the car smoking a pipe and making smoke rings.

Renyke felt a momentary surge of something unknown deep inside him. Was it fear he wondered, Trepidation?
Things were not computing.

He checked the POS for his health levels.

...Normal activity presenting. 99.9% battery remaining. Nothing unusual to report.

But Renyke felt a strange fluttering feeling in his belly.

The woman sitting on the car whistled. 'Hey!'

'Like the coat! Cool *toggies. You wanna *swapsie-trade?'

The woman jumped off the car and lifted her fist for an air bump followed by an elbow bump, then a salute. Renyke tried to keep up but was cumbersome. He had seen these manoeuvres in old films on the *tellywebs but he had never actually performed them.

*'Wappens?' asked the woman in a strong accent.' Renyke guessed what she meant and said,

'I need transport, not far, just to Redact, do know that place?'

The woman laughed.....'Man like you, looks way too soft for the *guanty-travel.'

Renyke checks the POS.

'gaunty-travel'......colloquial, Zoners' slang roughly translates as a very dangerous journey

'But I can take to the second-zone, five miles nearer, then you gotta make your own ways,' she continues.

'What you go by?' she asks.

Renyke looks confused.......

'I'm Shabra. Lady of the Shadows, where I go no light follows, ya hear me soldier? I travel at night where there are no lights.'

'I'm Renyke,' he said, trying to decipher the poetry.

You wanna swapsie-trade the coat, or you got me somtin sweeta? I take nibs, bits.......1000 G-bits and you got me hired. But I like that coat too.'

'It's a good deal man, said Flex, 'good deal, five miles is five miles. We come too, me n the dog! I got no ties to this street.'

Flex looks at Shabra who sighs, 'Yeah yeah, whoever, no pipin' in my *vicular though.'

Renyke knows that Flex could be useful, and the robodog too. It was obedient and would do as it was told.

to be continued

@2023 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

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Monday, December 11, 2023

Strata 2, The Book of Immersion V1, The Maybe Line (Friendship)

Welcome to Immersion, you have reached Strata 2.

The time has come for your journey to begin,

but remember that in the world of Immersion,

nothing is as it seems.

Friends and foes blend into the streets

upon which you tread.

Beware the nightingale for it may be a vulture.

Bon Chance, my friend, Bon Chance.

Renyke felt the rat's whiskers on his nose and decided he needed some company. As a service model, he had been programmed to work for humans, but the new operating system was different and there was no data after the reboot for programming or memories of enslavement.

To all intents and purposes, Renyke was brand new. He came to this place without feelings of obligation to humans and it felt liberating.

This independence was exciting for Renyke after a decade in servitude. His previous employers had had no regard for his well-being and had been consumed by their financial obsessions. Greed and selfishness were, in Renyke's new burgeoning opinion, particular to humans.

'I will call you Maybeline, after my friend', he told the rat, picking up a scrap of food near the rear of the building where he had rebooted. And you can be the start of the 'maybe line', the line of fate that I will take from this moment on'.

Maybeline nose bumped in a seemingly knowing delivery and Renyke laughed. 'Ha, do you understand my words, little friend?'

And again, a nose bump.

'Hahahaha.....'

*********

The building Renyke stood beside was old and dirty, a relic from the fifties when the country had been victim to the floods because of the *warming. Buildings had been built on concrete stilts and the towering grey causeways had been built. Flash floods had destroyed entire communities and the defenses were not adapting fast enough so people had left to higher ground, if they could afford it.

But because the buildings were small and enclosed to keep the rains out, they had proved problematic for the spread of the *pandemics . Humans working in the city centres had a much lower life expectancy. Androids were unaffected by the human viruses so they took over production and services but then there were the tech viruses which were devastating and could render entire organisations completely defunct, or worse still, dangerous. Businesses had begun to fold under the weight of industrial and corporate sabotage.

The sun was shining. It was winter but warm. Renyke had rarely left the interior of the domain in the midcast projects, a vast area of professional owner dwellings that were state-supported. It felt good in the open air. Even the gardens in the projects had air conditioning to purify and clean the environment and ensure a super-clean air bubble.

Renyke checked an address in his database and engaged his GPS. It was the headquarters of Redact, the place he needed to get to. That was one thing he could remember.

Mabel had been something of a revolutionary and had been working with Redact for some time. She had arranged that they would help Renyke.

He was thirty miles east, only slightly off target, according to the map. He was expected there soon and resolved to make haste on this unknown journey.