Frank & Lloyd & Wright

   "Frank, I'm bored," I tell my number one android. "Isn't there something new to do around here?"

   "Geoff, your capacity to astound me is unfathomable." replies Frank. "You humans have everything handed to you on a silver platter yet you are still bored with life. Each person is assigned three chamberlains to keep them safe, healthy, and educated to today's standards. You have no physical needs that are neglected, no one ever goes hungry, and compared to three hundred years ago your species lives four times as long. Still, it is not enough."

   "Three hundred years ago people still met one another in person," I retorted.

   "This again." Frank says frustrated. "I'm communicating with the cloning division right now asking them to stop using the batch of somatic cells which you came from so my next human isn't psychotic." 

   "Ah Frank. I know you like me. I make your existence enjoyable."

   "Excuse me?" he asks. Acting shocked by my statement. "I have been serving this family for five generations and you are the least enjoyable clone of them all."

   "See, I knew you liked me." I say smiling.

   Without saying another word, Frank turns around to leave my room, passing Lloyd as he enters.

   I quickly say loud enough for Frank to hear, "That silver platter has been handed down for generations in this family. Longer than you have been working here."

   Smiling with satisfaction I look to Lloyd and ask, "Yes?"

   "I have been listening in on your conversation with number one and I suggest taking a virtual trip." Lloyd says with a straightforward demeanor. "You haven't been with your friends from the moon Enceladus for a month now. They must be worried about you."

   "If they are so worried about me, why haven't they tried to contact me?" I ask bitterly. "Besides, nobody really travels between worlds anymore. I could never meet them in person. So what's the use?"

   "With the simulators in use today, it has been proven that the mind believes it is physically and mentally inside the realm portrayed." Lloyd calmly tells me. In hopes of soothing my anguish I guess. "When you hug someone in the virtual realm, you feel their hug. When you touch a leaf inside the realm, you feel the leaf and smell the leaf. There is no difference theoretically from actually being there. All senses and emotions are satisfied."

   "But I know its not real Lloyd." I tell the android in a desirous tone. "I know its not real."

   "I cannot help you there Geoff. You must let those thoughts go and be in the moment." he tells me.

   "Why can't I have actual physical contact with someone?" I ask pleadingly. "Why wasn't I cloned before humans isolated themselves?"

   "There is no longer sickness due to germs, viruses, and diseases. Mental issues are taken care of from the day of a child's cloned birthday. People do not....

   "Then why do I feel this way if mental issues are dealt with since birth?" I ask interrupting Lloyd. "Am I the only one who feels so damn lonely in this world?"

   The android waits a few seconds before answering me. He does this because I know he has calculated my emotional state and if he answers too quickly I'll just continue to argue with him.

   "Geoff," Lloyd says slowly and quietly. "I believe number one is right and I am also in contact with the cloning division and frantically asking them to destroy those somatic cells you came from because they must be contaminated."

   The android turns around and leaves the room.

    I grin, enjoying my small victory and say, "Flipping twit!"

To Be Continued....

 

This is,

A Future I Foresee

Jim Hauenstein

 

And,

 

“Being virtually killed by a virtual laser in a virtual space is just as effective as the real thing, because you are as dead as you think you are.”
- Douglas Adams -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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