The rain had just stopped. Now, as she walked down this dark alley, getting away from the main street, there were almost no sound, but the sound of droplets dripping off from the low building tops into the muddy puddles. The cries of street touts, electro-techno music from the night clubs, loud noise that 3D billboard ads made, or the singing drunkards could not be heard anymore. In fact, she was so far away from the main square that even the digital honkings of the cars, mixed with the swear words of their unrestful drivers stuck on the first level A-54 air boullevard traffic, and the regulator noise made by the anti-gravity vehicles rocketing by on the second level B-21 air-bahn could barely be heard; just the droplets, splashes of her footsteps, and every once in a while the rattling sound that comes from rubbish piles here and there, made by a homeless or possibly a rat.
She had left Julios Prime 80 years ago, to move into a more peaceful and quite city, Old Columbia. Every ten years or so, she went back to her old town to relive her old sufferings. Every time Julios Prime revealed its gloomy skyline of incredible skyscrapers through the large windows of the Caterpillar vacuum train, a strike of pain got stuck into her brain, and stayed there to hurt her, pleasantly, until she left the city again. She wasn't upset about this at all. She deliberately wanted this; she needed this.
This hurting, hateful city, was now the sole source of her memories which made her what she is. The city was her self-existence now. Without the city, she wasnt there.
Remembering had never been a problem for her. She remembered the day her son died like it was today.
Carter... The kid was found dead, miserably, in a trash container outside of an hotel which was part of the Phoenix Entertainment Complex. It was revealed later that he partook in a private striptease seance for drug money, where he suffered a major heart attack while dancing, due to an overuse of slimsim triggers. Shady people, who were afraid to get into trouble, dumped the kid into the container, nude, while he was still breathing. Poor boy gave his last breath inside a pool of dirt, piss and cum, while the rats ate him away. The murderers were never found because of the rusty gears of the corrupt system. As it did to everything pure and beautiful, the city had licked, chewed and swallowed the boy away. What a beautiful boy he was. Even inside the container, the boys face glowed with beauty. Carter...
The real problem for her was feeling something. As all these memories were flashing before her eyes, she didnt feel a slightest tremor in her chest. After the event, her heart was destroyed. The only thing she was left with, was this pain that struck and got stuck in her brain. It was like drinking organic coffee with your nose closed, or having regular sex with a virtual prostitute. Like trying to breathe through a long and narrow pipe for the rest of your life; an incomplete and unsatisfactory feeling, an intolerable curse.
She woke up from her memories when a giant rat ran past her, splashing water. She found herself staring at where once stood the container her son was found in. She sighed, looked around, and walked towards the kitchen back door of a closed Chinese restaurant. Tidying up her dark khaki trench coat, she sat on the wet stairs. Taking out the Violet Lagoon cigarette pack from her inner pocket, she put one on her lip and lit it. Leaning against the wall, she inhaled the cigar with a clove aroma, lifting her head up, and looked up at the gigantic sign on top of the head spinning 400m Kodac Plaza. It was written in red ans pink neon, barely visible because of the dirty and foggy air. As the sign blinked on and off to call attention, she stared at it for some time, then slowly exhaled the smoke. It hanged in the air for a while, then faded away with the wind, making a spiral move. The strawberry flavored stimulant odor in the air, mixed with the burnt silicon smell, was giving way to a smell of sewer and piss as the wind blew. She inhaled her cigarette one more time. When she heard a digital humming inside of her ear, disturbed, she rubbed it harshly.
She had left Julios Prime 80 years ago, to move into a more peaceful and quite city, Old Columbia. Every ten years or so, she went back to her old town to relive her old sufferings. Every time Julios Prime revealed its gloomy skyline of incredible skyscrapers through the large windows of the Caterpillar vacuum train, a strike of pain got stuck into her brain, and stayed there to hurt her, pleasantly, until she left the city again. She wasn't upset about this at all. She deliberately wanted this; she needed this.
This hurting, hateful city, was now the sole source of her memories which made her what she is. The city was her self-existence now. Without the city, she wasnt there.
Remembering had never been a problem for her. She remembered the day her son died like it was today.
Carter... The kid was found dead, miserably, in a trash container outside of an hotel which was part of the Phoenix Entertainment Complex. It was revealed later that he partook in a private striptease seance for drug money, where he suffered a major heart attack while dancing, due to an overuse of slimsim triggers. Shady people, who were afraid to get into trouble, dumped the kid into the container, nude, while he was still breathing. Poor boy gave his last breath inside a pool of dirt, piss and cum, while the rats ate him away. The murderers were never found because of the rusty gears of the corrupt system. As it did to everything pure and beautiful, the city had licked, chewed and swallowed the boy away. What a beautiful boy he was. Even inside the container, the boys face glowed with beauty. Carter...
The real problem for her was feeling something. As all these memories were flashing before her eyes, she didnt feel a slightest tremor in her chest. After the event, her heart was destroyed. The only thing she was left with, was this pain that struck and got stuck in her brain. It was like drinking organic coffee with your nose closed, or having regular sex with a virtual prostitute. Like trying to breathe through a long and narrow pipe for the rest of your life; an incomplete and unsatisfactory feeling, an intolerable curse.
She woke up from her memories when a giant rat ran past her, splashing water. She found herself staring at where once stood the container her son was found in. She sighed, looked around, and walked towards the kitchen back door of a closed Chinese restaurant. Tidying up her dark khaki trench coat, she sat on the wet stairs. Taking out the Violet Lagoon cigarette pack from her inner pocket, she put one on her lip and lit it. Leaning against the wall, she inhaled the cigar with a clove aroma, lifting her head up, and looked up at the gigantic sign on top of the head spinning 400m Kodac Plaza. It was written in red ans pink neon, barely visible because of the dirty and foggy air. As the sign blinked on and off to call attention, she stared at it for some time, then slowly exhaled the smoke. It hanged in the air for a while, then faded away with the wind, making a spiral move. The strawberry flavored stimulant odor in the air, mixed with the burnt silicon smell, was giving way to a smell of sewer and piss as the wind blew. She inhaled her cigarette one more time. When she heard a digital humming inside of her ear, disturbed, she rubbed it harshly.
Jayne... They met at one of the punk bars down at the Phoenix, which was then named SubTown. He was in a group of punks which closed a karaoke room for themselves. He was trying to avoid his friends' offerings of the stimpacks which they were shooting in turns. She watched the poor innocent, sweet thing for a while, then went over to him and said "Would you like your blackberry milkshake virgin, or should i sprinkle chocolate pieces on top?", teasing him. Jayne hid his surprise masterfully, "With sprinkles please, virgin makes me lose my head." After a giggle, a night long talk and a two year relationship with perfect ups and downs, their son Carter was born. In this fake world of esthetics and prosthetics, what they had was real love, as good as it got. Thats why when Carter died after fifteen years, she couldnt stand being with Jayne, seeing Carter s face on his anymore. Despite all his attemps and beggings to stop her, she decided to start a new life all over, leaving him and the city behind. She never saw him again after that day. Jayne...
This time, it was a cry of laughter that woke her up from her thoughts. When she turned her head, she saw a drunk couple walking along the street, trembling, splashing water around with their gleaming Latex Neon boots. The woman wore fishnet stockings with a super mini skirt, under a bra with chrome spikes across, and a transparent plastic raincoat that reflected all the electric colors around her. She fastened her bright blonde hair on each side, juvenile, and smudged her eye sockets and lips with black paint. The bald guy linking arms with her, wore a pair of tight leather pants, with a black trench coat on top. Both of them had flawless facial features, as if all the imperfections were corrected via digital drawing program. In this age of perfection, you wouldnt expect less from these conscious citizens. As they walked past her, they silenced their laughter, glanced down at her, and whispered something at one another. She was used to people looking down at her this way, so without turning a hair, she inhaled another one, keeping her stare on the couple. A moment later, when they were far enough, she turned her head towards the thin pool of water under her feet impulsively, and saw the reflection of her face. She saw her bright violet eyes, shining in the center of the dark of her porcelain-smooth face. Gently, she touched her skin. It made an unpleasent rustle. Agitated, she blurred the water with her feet. With the digital humming reappearing in her ear, she rubbed it harder, hurled a swear word, threw her cigarette away, got up and started walking.
Old Columbia was one of the few metropols where one could find peace, even some theraphy - at least some, in this age of madness. The first thing she did, as soon as she settled into her small apartment, was to change her identification. After a couple of dark corner meetings and paid adjustments, she was ready to start her new life, in her new town, with her new identity. But things didnt go as she expected. Unfortunately, Jayne's face wasn't the only one she saw Carter's face on. Looking into the mirrors got a lot harder. When the situation became unbearable after a while, she found herself in a face reconstruction clinic. After a short operation, she had become a totally different person. She was one of the "Perfect"s now.
But this couldnt be her redemption after all. After losing her past, losing her face too opened an uncurable wound in her soul. Her old self was disappearing from her mind one minute, and striking back as lightning the other. She started to have memory problems. Huge dark gaps started to appear between events. She went mad, smashed in mirrors, cut her face into shreds... Finally, she climbed to the highest building in Old Columbia, DA Automatronics - even though it wasnt a Julios Prime skyscraper, it was still at least a 250 m high- and let herself go...
Carter... She remembered the time he was a small boy. He was a delicate boy with an artistic soul; definitely not a child of these times. She recalled a memory from those times, where he got scared from the helper automaton in the kitchen, and hugged her. "Baby" she said, "automatons cant hurt you. You should let go of this fear. Remember the Law of Automaton, what was it?"
He was a smart boy," An automaton cannot harm a person, and cannot allow a person to be harmed. If these conditions are met, an automaton has to protect its own being." he said in one go. "Good. So there is nothing to be scared of now is there? " she said calming the boy. He was her innocent, shy little baby. Carter...
As she was falling off from the building, the humming in her ears were unbearable. She got closer to the ground...
The digital humming in her ear reappeared once more. She hit her eat. It made a metallic thud. She got closer to the end of the street...
This time, it was a cry of laughter that woke her up from her thoughts. When she turned her head, she saw a drunk couple walking along the street, trembling, splashing water around with their gleaming Latex Neon boots. The woman wore fishnet stockings with a super mini skirt, under a bra with chrome spikes across, and a transparent plastic raincoat that reflected all the electric colors around her. She fastened her bright blonde hair on each side, juvenile, and smudged her eye sockets and lips with black paint. The bald guy linking arms with her, wore a pair of tight leather pants, with a black trench coat on top. Both of them had flawless facial features, as if all the imperfections were corrected via digital drawing program. In this age of perfection, you wouldnt expect less from these conscious citizens. As they walked past her, they silenced their laughter, glanced down at her, and whispered something at one another. She was used to people looking down at her this way, so without turning a hair, she inhaled another one, keeping her stare on the couple. A moment later, when they were far enough, she turned her head towards the thin pool of water under her feet impulsively, and saw the reflection of her face. She saw her bright violet eyes, shining in the center of the dark of her porcelain-smooth face. Gently, she touched her skin. It made an unpleasent rustle. Agitated, she blurred the water with her feet. With the digital humming reappearing in her ear, she rubbed it harder, hurled a swear word, threw her cigarette away, got up and started walking.
Old Columbia was one of the few metropols where one could find peace, even some theraphy - at least some, in this age of madness. The first thing she did, as soon as she settled into her small apartment, was to change her identification. After a couple of dark corner meetings and paid adjustments, she was ready to start her new life, in her new town, with her new identity. But things didnt go as she expected. Unfortunately, Jayne's face wasn't the only one she saw Carter's face on. Looking into the mirrors got a lot harder. When the situation became unbearable after a while, she found herself in a face reconstruction clinic. After a short operation, she had become a totally different person. She was one of the "Perfect"s now.
But this couldnt be her redemption after all. After losing her past, losing her face too opened an uncurable wound in her soul. Her old self was disappearing from her mind one minute, and striking back as lightning the other. She started to have memory problems. Huge dark gaps started to appear between events. She went mad, smashed in mirrors, cut her face into shreds... Finally, she climbed to the highest building in Old Columbia, DA Automatronics - even though it wasnt a Julios Prime skyscraper, it was still at least a 250 m high- and let herself go...
Carter... She remembered the time he was a small boy. He was a delicate boy with an artistic soul; definitely not a child of these times. She recalled a memory from those times, where he got scared from the helper automaton in the kitchen, and hugged her. "Baby" she said, "automatons cant hurt you. You should let go of this fear. Remember the Law of Automaton, what was it?"
He was a smart boy," An automaton cannot harm a person, and cannot allow a person to be harmed. If these conditions are met, an automaton has to protect its own being." he said in one go. "Good. So there is nothing to be scared of now is there? " she said calming the boy. He was her innocent, shy little baby. Carter...
As she was falling off from the building, the humming in her ears were unbearable. She got closer to the ground...
The digital humming in her ear reappeared once more. She hit her eat. It made a metallic thud. She got closer to the end of the street...
When she hit the concrete, her body was smashed into pieces and scattered all over the atrium of DA Automatronics. When the police and the cleaning staff started clearing out the pieces, they noticed the most vital organ kept its integrity, by pure luck. Hastily, they infused it inside a 4. Generation avatar automaton which was still in the prototype phase.
A real mature human brain, living and functioning inside an automaton...
She walked and walked. It was freezing at this time of night, but she wasnt feeling cold. She didnt have a body to keep warm, and so no circulatory system. Thats why she also didnt have a heart. After the event, her heart was destroyed, alongside her body. There were no feelings of hot, excitement or fulfillment. No satisfaction.
Nonetheless, there was no death either. "...an automaton has to protect its own being."
As she got closer to the end of the street, the noise from the city grew into her ears. In a moment, she was going to be mixed inside the pedestrian crowd walking across the road and reach Julios Prime Caterpillar station over B-21 air-bahn. Then she would go to the DA Automatronics Central Storehouse in Old Columbia and plug herself inside her capsule to recharge. In her eternal life, as she lived between house and work, she was going to look forward to relive her sons death and try to get the strike of pain stuck in her brain once more, in the next ten years.
As she plugged herself in the charging port, shutting down her functions, the bright violet light in her eyes slowly faded away.
A real mature human brain, living and functioning inside an automaton...
She walked and walked. It was freezing at this time of night, but she wasnt feeling cold. She didnt have a body to keep warm, and so no circulatory system. Thats why she also didnt have a heart. After the event, her heart was destroyed, alongside her body. There were no feelings of hot, excitement or fulfillment. No satisfaction.
Nonetheless, there was no death either. "...an automaton has to protect its own being."
As she got closer to the end of the street, the noise from the city grew into her ears. In a moment, she was going to be mixed inside the pedestrian crowd walking across the road and reach Julios Prime Caterpillar station over B-21 air-bahn. Then she would go to the DA Automatronics Central Storehouse in Old Columbia and plug herself inside her capsule to recharge. In her eternal life, as she lived between house and work, she was going to look forward to relive her sons death and try to get the strike of pain stuck in her brain once more, in the next ten years.
As she plugged herself in the charging port, shutting down her functions, the bright violet light in her eyes slowly faded away.
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