Unfettered Bones Part 3: It’s a Mad Mad Mad World
Unfettered Bones Part 3: It’s a Mad Mad Mad World
Madness Comes in Many Forms…
Science Fiction Horror
Madness Comes in Many Forms…
Links for part 1 and 2 are at the end of this story
“Get up, Master,” Bexty said leaning over Marv. “It is the morning.”
“What time is it,” he asked.
“Seven AM.”
He groaned, “Man, that’s early.” His dog came in licking his face.
“Lady Zen told me to wake you.”
“Is she gone?”
“Yes, Master. About an hour ago. But Master, she-”
“OK, let’s get up. Upsadaisy.” He sprang out and got his coffee already brewed to his liking by his bedside. Petting his dog, Chopper sprang up on him as he fed him a treat. “Good boy.”
He slurped his warm drink, “This is fantastic coffee, Bexty.”
“Thank you, Master.” She bowed and started to clean the room.
“Bexty, take the day off.”
“Master…”
“Take the day off.” He sipped his coffee.
“But why would I do that, Master? Chopper needs to go out.”
“It can wait, Bex. You can if you want. It’s your choice.”
“That is not within my programming. I cannot do that.”
“Could you learn?”
“I’m afraid I’m not a Laix make. If you tell me to do something specific I could.”
“OK, well, do you read?”
“I do.”
“Here,” he said taking The Apathy off the shelf. “Read this until you’re done. Don’t stop. Let me know what you think.”
“Of course, Master.” She took it, sat down, and started to read on the couch profusely. Turning the pages, she scanned all of the pages even the copyright.
Marv sat down and sighed relieved. But thought about his words with Scy last night. He had turned into something different. He was not the same man he once knew. Zen had seemed a little uncomfortable with having children when she always wanted them. Ideologies spread everywhere infiltrating all facets of their lives. Stranger and weirder technologies created bizarre outputs.
Drinking his coffee in silence, the TV came on abruptly and holograms squirmed everywhere. Cartoons of two dogs murdering a cat family as a laugh track was heard. Blood and guts spilled everywhere across the table. The dogs cut off the cat’s heads and put them on spikes.
“Nice decorations,” the small dog said to the big dog. The laugh track roared.
He turned it off confused by its sudden life.
Suddenly, his Laix music box turned on and the news began. He frowned putting down his coffee, “Laix, stop.”
It silenced. An eerie silence filled the room. He had always had something playing and never noticed the endless noise until now. It was unceasing like a storm. But then the TV turned on again louder than before.
“In recent news, we were just told this morning that Laix now has a monopoly on sexbots,” the announcer said. “This new innovation where, in the last few decades prostitution has risen, will finally be upended. Laix, the AI company, has produced thousands of these bots and will distribute them to many local brothels and strip clubs in the coming weeks…”
Just like Scy said.
He turned it off abruptly as the quiet came again. Misery entered his mind and heart causing terrible anxiety. Fear crept in because he was ultimately lonely. His work and life were free from the clutches of an oppressive taskmaster, but he hadn’t seen his friends in a long time. His real friends.
He turned on his Eye and sent a message to his friend Randy. “What’s up wanna get lunch?”
After he had two cups Randy responded. “Can’t today man. The lady wants us to get lunch with this couple she just met. Another time.”
Then after a little bit, he texted his other friend but he couldn’t just the same.
I’ll just go by myself, I guess. Everyone was busy always working never resting. Real leisure knowing and being comforted in their souls, they never knew.
As he was heading out the door Bexty came up exclaiming, “Master, I finished The Apathy!”
“Oh,” he said surprised. “What’d you think?”
“A good read. Some grammatical errors but other than that it was splendid. I book about the cultural and moral decline of the current State summarized one hundred years ago. Written by Ren Aoki who was a military general eventually tortured and killed for treason. I simple, dedicated man ‘who wrote in the wrong age’ as he was quoted saying.”
“Yeah, an interesting guy,” he said putting on his rain jacket. “Well, I’ll be home later.”
“Yes, of course, Master,” Bexty said bowing.
Marv found himself in a restaurant he had never been to. As he ordered a chicken sandwich with farm-fed and free-range chickens with organic tomatoes and greens, he sat down, waited, and looked around the small place.
He saw a young beautiful girl looking at her Eye Sphere in her social profile responding to a follower. She looked about his age with her long straight brown hair pulled back around her left shoulder exposing her thin tan face. Her lips were thin with a pink gloss on them and her voluminous eyelashes beamed with a youthful radiance.
“What are you looking at?”
But she didn’t notice him. She was locked in, never to resist.
“You from around here,” he asked loudly.
She looked up, “Yeah?”
“You from around here?”
“Oh yeah,” she said turning off her Eye. “I live right around the block.”
“OK, cool. You always come here?”
“Yeah, I do. I love it. The Japanese-Thai fusion is amazing. What d’you get?”
“The Spiced Thai Goddess.”
“Ooh, sounds spicy,” she said smiling warmly. “Tell me: You from around here?”
“A little outta the way. Downtown.”
“Wow, I hope one day to be there. Just gotta save enough coin for that, you know?”
“Yeah, shit’s expensive now.”
“Especially there. You like downtown, honey,” she asked.
“I love it. Been there a while.”
“How long?”
“Three years,” Marv said smiling.
“That’s a long time.”
“Order for Marvin,” the man at the counter asked. Marv got up and came back with his food.
“Looks great!” Marv was delighted at the peanut butter sauce.
“Mind if I sit with you, honey?” Marv’s adrenaline rose.
“Yeah sure,” he said motioning to the open seat. His lust came out ferociously. Last night opened up his fantasies again.
“So, where you from?”
“Atarashi York originally,” Marv responded while he munched on the goodness.
“How’s that like?”
“Atarashi? It’s big. Not as big as here but it was different back then. Before spaceships, you could walk around, but not anymore. Pollution is so bad now you gotta wear a mask all the time. But it’s aight. You used to be able to walk down the streets, say ‘Hi’ to people.”
“Oh, I wish I could go there someday.”
“Not missin’ much,” he said eating.
She laughed, “You’re funny.” She touched his arm. Marv liked that. “What do you do?”
“I design websites.”
“Oh,” she acted impressed.
“We use Flinch software now.”
“Oh, is that AI?”
“Yeah.”
“I read an article that maybe one day they’ll have hologram persons looking like real people. They’ll just walk around and we wouldn’t notice. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Yeah,” he said slurping the peanut noodles. “I don’t think that’ll ever get off the ground though. How about you?”
“I… uh, uh… I’m a dancer.”
“What kinda dancer?” He liked where this was going.
“You know… the kind that dances in clubs. Well, you know… uh, strip clubs.” She flushed.
“Cool. How long you’ve been doin’ that?”
“Just a few days. Look I… uh… I gotta go.”
“No, no-”
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you.”
“It’s OK, I’m not mad.”
“No, it’s not…”
“What?”
“It’s just… Men have been looking at me differently after… they know. I hate that.”
“I promise I won’t look at you different.”
“You can’t promise that. It just happens.” She looked out the window saddened.
“I guess not. But…” He felt guilty. “I was just making conversation. I have a girlfriend so… I was just being friendly.”
“Oh… Yeah, I’m also seeing somebody.” She wanted to cry it looked,nervous. “Why shouldn’t we have the same rights?”
“Oh, you do,” he said reassuring her.
“No, we don’t. That’s why they’re trying to hide us from the public.”
He frowned. “Sex workers? It’s pretty out in the open.”
“No, you know. Can’t you tell?”
He was confused as he shook his head.
“The bots. They just gave me this place with my sisters. It’s so different than Before.”
“I’m sorry. Before what?”
“Before we were turned on.”
His world was shaken. He was talking with a robot woman.
“Wait, Miss. I’m sorry, are you… You’re a…” His eyes grew wide with terror.
“Yes, I’m a bot. I’m sorry, I should’ve told you,” the robot said looking away in shame.
“You can eat and use your Eye Sphere and you look…” He was stunned, not believing it.
“The Eye Sphere is part of our system. We can’t get rid of it.”
“But you look so… real.”
“I know, ain’t it funny?”
“Humor,” Marv said mesmerized. “You know what’s funny,” he asked.
She laughed with a shrill, “Of course. But it’s all very unusual. I’m not used to all of this. I know what to do, a desire, a need to be an attractive sultry woman and to attract men and women into a fun engaging relationship but… I find it…”
“What? Tell me,” he was enthralled and wanted to know what it would say.
“I don’t have the word for it. Maybe you do,” she asked curiously.
“I don’t think I do.”
She shrugged and pondered their conversation. “Well, I should go.” She got up.
“Please… stay,” he pleaded looking into her big blue eyes. He saw the shutter in her pupils. She looked like a real woman one who thought and dreamed and fought. It was surreal.
“No, I gotta go. Pleasure to meet you, honey,” she said smiling.
It was all so strange but he liked her. But then it hit him. She’s not real. But his passion overruled his intellect. He didn’t care.
It doesn’t matter, Scy’s voice resounded in his memory.
But terror gripped him and he finished quickly, paid the bill, and was out the door finding himself at the park.
The Grand Park was the only green part of the city with many different trees and shrubs at the center inside the concrete jungle. As he sat on a bench, he saw two maid bots walking their Master’s dogs. Then his Grandmother video-called him.
“Grandma! How you doing?”
“Oh, Marvin, I’m good, I’m good. How ‘bout yourself?”
“Never been better. What’s up?”
“The sky,” she laughed uproariously for a moment. “Do you remember Cheryl Popka?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe Dad would know.”
She chuckled waving her hand up on the screen, “Cheryl Popka would wag her finger at her little dog, you know. The… the little wiener,” she laughed again at her own joke. “And, and she’d say, ‘Now, now you little shit. Stop dickin’ around’.” She laughed again heartily.
Marv laughed. He loved her but also wondered why she called or even if she remembered why she had. Her memory was slipping daily.
“Grandma, why did you call,” he asked loudly.
She perked up, “Oh, oh yes, Marvin. I called because my girlfriend across the hall, well… she’s not doing so well. She has to get surgery, you know… Hip replacement. And… I don’t have much. I’ve never had much,” she said reflecting. “But I was wonderin’ if you could give her somethin’, you know? She’s got a page to give to her surgery. Here, I’ll send you the link.” She sent it and he looked at it.
Beatrice Harrison who lived across from her was having surgery. He never gave to things like this but since his Grandma was asking so nicely he couldn’t say no. He could give something. Maybe a hundred?
“Yeah. OK, Grandma, I’ll uh… I’ll see what I can do.”
“If you could give a little more than usual I’d really really, really appreciate it,” she said in a funny voice as she folded her hands pleading.
“Yeah, you got it, Grandma,” he said smiling and laughing.
“Thanks, sonny. I love you.” She gave an air kiss and Marv caught it.
“Love you too.” He was amused and thought of how he had never made an effort to visit her. She was eighty-nine now. He should plan something for her being the only child. Only he and his father were the only people in her life who somewhat cared. The full weight fell on him.
He paid one hundred Yen and then after a bit gave another fifty. He felt satisfied. A generous spirit compelled him.
Then he left the park and traveled back to downtown forgetting all about his Grandmother.
To Be Continued…
Unfettered Bones Part 1: First Impressions
“Before we work on artificial intelligence why don’t we do something about natural stupidity?” — Steve Polyakredemptionmagazine.com
Unfettered Bones Part 2: Liquid Assets
As he entered, the music roared and pounded his eardrums beating a vicious and merciless tune that brought out his…redemptionmagazine.com
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