Insurance - part 11

[miriam_e]

(1850 words)

total so far:

20,732 / 50,000
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This instalment takes a slight detour.
It is only perpherally related to the main story, but I like the idea behind it.

Let me know what you think. Comments, suggestions... anything. Even just to wave and say "Hi."

Note that what follows contains adult concepts.
The love of two females for each other is central to this story so if you are offended by that stop reading now.

11 - cyborg

It was late afternoon, and Sally was cuddled into Rachel on the couch. They had been discussing the day they'd spent with Zoe and Viv.

Sally teased Rachel, "So much for veeps being fake people in fake worlds, huh?"

Rachel smiled, a little embarrassed. "I may have been a little hasty in my judgement."

"A little?!" She pinched Rachel on the nipple for emphasis.

"Ow! OK. A lot then." She leaned down to Sally's tummy as if to kiss it and blew raspberries into the soft, green, silicone skin instead.

Sally giggled, "You idiot."

"Moi?" Rachel looked innocent.

Stroking the silky blond hair away from Sally's face Rachel and said, "That was certainly one of the most interesting days I've had in a long while."

Sally agreed. "Not to mention flat-out goddamn fun! I can certainly see the attraction of VR."

She turned to look up at Rachel, "Honey? You really should make an appointment to get scanned."

"Hmmm?" She had the distant look of someone on a call.

Sally waited.

Presently Rachel looked down at Sally. "That was Dina. She wanted to know if we were interested in coming to a meeting."

"The cyborg lady you met? When's the meeting?"

"Yep, that's her. The meeting starts anytime from now on."

Sally got up off the lounge, started to put on her white bikini, "Who else is coming to the meeting, or is it just us?"

Rachel went to the bedroom to get fresh clothes for herself, "Mostly cyborgs I think."

"Oooh. This could be weird." Sally looked less than enthusiastic.

Rachel returned holding the black bikini pieces. She walked up to Sally and cupped her face. She put on a child-like voice, "Awww. Dat's so cute, an android who's a closet technophobe."

Sally gave her an unimpressed look. "It's just that cyborgs kinda push the boundary of what is human. With all their implants and prosthetic devices."

Rachel lifted her eyebrows while wriggling into her bikini. "Speaking as someone who is effectively 100% prosthetic device you'd know how freaky that is huh? Honey, all humans have been cyborgs since we started using stone tools and wearing clothes."

Sally shook her head while she fastened her white sandals. "Some of these people are more prosthesis than human."

Rachel walked to the door and got her cape off the coat rack. "They are just people. The boy- or girl-next-door or local mum-and-dad people. You'll see." She pulled on shiny black ankle boots.

They walked out the door, Sally fastening her white cape's clasp at her throat. It was not yet night, but the sun was low in the western end of the valley.

---

"There." Sally pointed to a person-sized door set in an enormous door that looked like it could admit large earth-moving machinery. They were just one level below the surface in the warehouse district. This part of the city was not heavily populated during the daytime. At night it was completely deserted.

As they approached the door it slid open, grindingly. They stepped through and all faces turned to them.

There was no doubt that this was a meeting of cyborgs. There were about 20 individuals present. The largest was about 3 meters tall and built like a gorilla in scratched yellow and black-stripe painted metal with rust stains. The smallest were a few fairy-like, winged creatures just a handspan tall, who were perched atop their larger brethren. Most of the remainder were more normal shape and size. Very few had green skin, preferring black and metal. Many seemed to be cyborg as a fashion statement rather than necessity.

Dina, dressed in a black bikini, black gloves, and black knee-length boots, sauntered toward Rachel and Sally, hips shifting fluidly. She smiled with black-painted lips and welcomed them. Her unsettling, dark eyes appeared to watch both girls at once.

As Dina led them to the main group Sally sent to Rachel Wow! She's hot!

Rachel smiled and returned, She's hetero.

Sally answered, What a waste.

Dina was introducing them to the group, then indicated each member and spoke their names, "Bob, Norma, Lily, Ten, Jack, Kim, Dorf, Rich, Annie..." and so on till all had said "Hi," waved, nodded or shaken hands with them. All very ordinary names and reactions contrasting sharply with their odd appearances.

One androgynous cyborg who looked human was covered almost entirely in what looked like matte black armour. The only skin showing was a pale, almost white, oval face with two dark eyes that seemed all pupil. He/she spoke in a soft voice. "I don't wish to sound rude or unwelcoming, but why are a human and an android present?" Then in explanation, "I see infrared." Then looking a little embarrassed, "I'm sorry, that nevertheless sounded both rude and unwelcoming. No offense intended. I was simply surprised."

Sally nodded graciously, "None taken."

Dina said, "Rachel is working on gaining veeps human status, and already considers Sally human."

Rachel put her arm around Sally's shoulders. "She's my wife."

A few eyebrows went up at that.

Dina added, "Both of them feel cyborgs deserve full human status too."

Sally shifted a little, uncomfortable with the way she'd spoken of them earlier. She still thought they were a pretty alien lot, though actually meeting them and finding they actually had names like "Bob", and "Annie" diffused her feelings a bit.

Sitting on the broad shoulder of the huge, yellow gorilla cyborg, a small fairy-like cyborg spoke up in a tiny voice. "And so we should. The percentages rule is stupid and unjust. It doesn't matter if we have 10% implants or are 90% silicones and carbon fibre. We still feel and think."

There were general murmurings of agreement and nodding of heads. One of the other fairy cyborgs flitted across to share the yellow monster's shoulder and held hands with the one who'd just spoken.

Rachel asked, "What are the reasons for you being cyborgs?"

A short, almost human fellow with odd arm attachments spoke up, "Most of us are maintenance workers dating back to before androids had good enough AIs to do the work. Some of us took on the work after accidents lost us our natural parts." He held up his 'hands'.

One of the fairy cyborgs held up a tiny hand and said, "We started out in security and military surveillance and reconnaissance. Now we mostly repair hard to get at things--"

Another added, "And feature at children's parties."

The first fairy frowned, and there was general chuckling and guffawing amongst the other cyborgs.

An androgynous cyborg clad all in black said quietly, "Aleph. Musician, artist, fetishist," and bowed slightly.

All the others stilled their mirth when that one spoke. They seemed to hold great respect for him/her. Rachel felt she'd seen their picture in advertisements or machinima, but wasn't sure.

The giant yellow gorilla cyborg said in an incongruously soft, female voice, "Construction worker." Then added, "You know what annoys me? When I want to use one of the paths or buildings I've constructed and the police show up with guns and order me to leave the area. They say I'm creating a disturbance. Jeez! As if their stupid guns would have any effect on me! I could tear their armoured cars apart like cobweb. They are so lucky I'm peaceful."

One of the more human-looking male cyborgs held the yellow gorilla's hand. Both his hands barely wrapped around a couple of her fingers. Her head swivelled to look down at him in obvious affection.

Sally had a thought. "If any of you don't like the discrimination have you considered getting a re-engineered body? I mean I pass for human quite well and I'm 100% prosthetic." She smiled at Rachel because she'd used the term earlier.

One of the little fairies said in a small voice, "I couldn't bear to be big, heavy, and earthbound. I can hardly remember what it was like anymore. I've spent most of my life like this and it is wonderful."

The yellow gorilla woman said, "I actually love my work. And its the only thing I know how to do. I'd just like to be respected for who I am. I don't think I should have to change because other people are thoughtless and prejudiced."

There was a rumble of discontent went through the group at that, as they nodded and said "Right" and "Yeah" and let them change.

Aleph spoke solemnly, softly, "I chose this life, but that doesn't make me less human. I wouldn't trade this body for anything. I hear, see, feel things most humans can't dream of. I am accepted in wider society as an artist, but am still considered by most people as not human. The only place I'm human is," he/she hugged a couple of nearby cyborgs, "among these freaks."

All the cyborgs smiled and relaxed a lot at that.

Dina spoke, "Zoe has a lot of veeps making machinima to portray cyborgs in a favorable light, but that is a long-term effort and will probably take years to have much effect on public views. The biggest problem is that people only see perfect humans and perfect androids. Seeing something different can be a bit of a shock for them."

Rachel agreed, "That is really the nub of the problem isn't it. People have become quite narrow. Difference has been put out of sight and out of mind."

Sally spoke up again, "You know this problem has occurred before and it was solved by forcing people to widen their view. Back in the late 20th Century gay people faced terrible prejudice."

A tall, long-necked cyborg asked, "What was a gay person?"

Someone else answered, "You know, women who happen to love women or men who love men."

The tall one spoke again, "Huh? What possible prejudice could they face? They're exactly the same as everybody else."

Sally answered, "That was part of the problem. They were effectively invisible. Back then people could be truly horrible to each other. They would deliberately separate people in love. Some would even kill them for loving the wrong people."

The tall one said, "That's stupid. You're making this up."

Another elbowed him, saying, "Shut up George. I've heard about this. It's true."

Sally said, "So they held parades. They became big events, called Pride Marches. Bigoted people couldn't ignore them anymore. And gradually people realised they were just like them. It took a while though. But back then religion was still fairly common and that fueled a lot of the hate. Now you don't have to contend with religion anymore. People have simply become narrow-minded."

The tall one said, "A parade? That's your suggestion? A parade? Gah! Stupid android!"

He was elbowed again, "Shut up George."

The others were starting to warm to the idea, thinking it sounded like fun.

Perhaps a dozen more cyborgs showed up during the evening. Each time the idea was explained to a latecomer it was with more excitement.

They were going to have a Cyborg Pride March!

------------

Comments

[gothxxangel.livejournal.com]

I like all the different types of cyborgs you've created. It really does bring the question to mind, of if I could have any form at all, what would it be? The fairy and gorilla cyborgs are particularly well thought-out. I feel sympathy for them, and got a kick out of the Cyborg Pride March.

This made me smile:

She's hot!
She's hetero.
What a waste.

Dina does sound really cool, I love her clothes and fashion sense. Your world is so complex and real, it's a joy to have a new chapter to read every day.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. :)

I'll tell you a secret.
For this episode I had only the situation:
- Cyborgs are discriminated against.
- They are freaky looking,
- but are very normal people inside.

That's all OK and it pretty-much wrote itself, but then I realised I had nowhere to take it. Nothing that they could do to remedy the problem or even just wind up the chapter. I was stuck! I rang up my Mum and she suggested I go for a little walk to clear my head. I did, but it didn't help much.

I started writing again, thinking maybe I can just leave it up in the air, but then Sally came up with her suggestion right out of the blue. I had no idea she was going to say it. But there it was. I let the chapter end there. I was dumbfounded. I love it when the characters write the story themselves.

(The only drawback is I'm a little worried that it sounds very pat and pre-arranged as if I'd set the whole thing up like that... which is weird because I had no idea it was going to happen that way.)

Eeek! I need to read your story.

[free-dragon.livejournal.com]

Hi Miriam,

I'm trying to follow your chapters... admittedly i think I've missed a lot of build up... but I am amazed at how you can keep track of all your characters and keep describing them so vividly...

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)
Heheheh. I have to describe them for my own sake so I can keep track of them.

I have to admit I worry that others might not see them. I'm glad to hear that you do.

I'm very grateful that you are reading.

[alecto23.livejournal.com]

Okay, this isn't directly related to this specific chapter, but more about the world you've created in general.

Why are veeps and cyborgs and androids not just tolerant of humans, but seeking affirmation and validation from humans? Why are they even having anything to do with humans still? If veeps can create infinite VRs in which to live, why are they coming back to one in which they are marginalised? Why are they working to make life better for humans?

Why are androids happy being slaves for humans? We've heard that Sally and Rachel are an exception in terms of the way androids are treated by humans; how about showing the contrast? How else are androids treated? What other things are they expected to do?

Your cyborgs, at least, seem to be pissed off at the way they're treated by humans, but even so, their goal seems more to be accepted by humans.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm finding it hard to believe, first off, that humans are really bad when we're not seeing much of other humans and their behaviour towards veeps/androids/cyborgs. I'm also finding it hard to believe that an entity which is superior to humans in many ways is not acting superior. If androids were built by humans, then it's possible that they were engineered not to be able to think such heretical thoughts, and you've pretty much implied this elsewhere (I think; much of what you've written I've read while I've been sick and my brain hasn't been quite at its best), but it doesn't appear to have been hard-coded because otherwise Sally wouldn't be able to be with Rachel as she clearly is. But veeps—how come losing their bodies has made them so altruistic? And why don't the cyborgs go off and found their own cyborg-only colony? (I'm not saying I think they ought to, but don't you think at least some of them might be tempted?)

In some ways it's nice that you've got such a happy future society, but in other ways it just rings very false. I can't see humanity with its millennia of violence, waste, hatred, pettiness etc becoming eco-conscious, humanistic, enlightened beings in such a short time. And because we don't see the veeps/androids actually suffering at all—it seems to be a pretty idyllic existence—it's hard to feel that their struggle to be recognised as human is anything terribly difficult. The cyborgs are beginning to introduce a bit more conflict, I like that and think there should be more exploration in those directions—not necessarily just conflict, but in terms of the world outside the happy bubble that Sally and Rachel are living in.

Sorry, I don't want to sound overly harsh! I'm really enjoying reading what you're writing, I wouldn't bother commenting if that weren't the case. I guess I just want to see you tackle the hard things as well. And big points to you for sticking with it and doing so well with the writing—my creative output the last few months has been a big fat zero, so it's not like I'm really in a position to criticise.

Fantastic comments!!!

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Fantastic comments!!!

This really gives me something to get my teeth into.

I think higher intelligence correlates with altruism. Historically, as people have become smarter there has also been a general trend towards tolerance. I need to explain this in the story too.

As well as wanting to keep contact with friends and relatives in the 'real' world veeps are vulnerable there. As they become longer-lived life becomes more valuable. If you are effectively immortal then you want to make sure that humans are friendly so that they don't destroy your virtual universes. I probably need to make this clearer in the story.

Androids are happy being slaves for humans because that is the way they are built. I am absolutely certain that is how it will work in the near future. Look at what happens with dogs. They dote upon us even if we are bastards to them. It is not so much that androids can't think heretical thoughts; it is more that they don't want to. They honestly love humans. I've already mentioned this in the story, but I probably need to emphasise it.

I will try to show more human callousness, but it is difficult because I have so few human characters, and I don't want readers to think all people there have a cruel attitude to androids. That wouldn't ring true. I'm also very conscious of the sex imbalance in the story -- almost all the characters are female. I want more males in it. And if I make them nasty or thoughtless toward androids or veeps or cyborgs then readers think I'm making sexist comments if they happen to be male. [sigh] I had this happen recently with another story which only had 3 characters and the only human had to mistreat to androids. Unfortunately he was the only male too and at least one reader thought I was male-bashing. I have to be careful things don't get in the way of what I'm really trying to say. :)

The cyborg-only colony is an interesting idea. I'll have to think more on that. However, as one of the cyborgs said, why should she have to change because other people are wrong? I want to persist with that point because it goes to the heart of a lot of human problems.

Excellent point you make about the largely happy society ringing false. I'll have to fix that. I am quite certain that if we can get past our immediate problems we will have a generally happy and comfortable society. Look at history. The further back you go, the more dirty things were, the more horrible people were to each other, the rougher life was. If you accurately described the current world to people 100 years ago, 500 hundred years ago, 2,000 years ago, they would be gobsmacked. We live in something approaching a utopia. It isn't perfect, but it is headed there. We are losing our violence hatred, and so on. Waste is still a problem, but most people today are worried about damaging their environment, but they don't have any way to fix it. Give them a simple way to undo the problems and they'd all take it in a jiffy.

I have been deliberately avoiding conflict in this story. I wanted to see if I can write an interesting story that does so. My favorite stories are mostly ones that don't have bad guys (the movie Little Man Tate, for example).

I have deliberately been building the happiness for a reason but I don't want to spill the beans.

I need to think more on emotional contrasts. You made a great point about going outside the happy bubble Sally and Rachel live in.

Gosh, I don't think you sound harsh! I love that you made these comments. I now have a bunch of things to add into my notes. It is good being able to see things through other people's eyes. I have great difficulty distancing myself from the story. When I am drawing it is easy -- I do this thing (I don't know how) where my mind goes click and I see the picture as if I've never seen it before even if I've been working on it for many, many hours. I don't seem to be able to do that with writing. Maybe I'll learn how eventually. In the meantime, being able to peek through other people's eyes is incredibly useful and I'm very grateful for it.

Thank you heaps!

Re: Fantastic comments!!!

[alecto23.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you didn't feel I was being harsh!

Although it's good that you're thinking about these things and can explain them, you need to be careful in the story not to infodump. I know you've been worried about this so far, so I have confidence in you.

About conflict, it doesn't have to be an interpersonal conflict. I mean, in your daily life, it's unlikely you feel as though there is one evil person who's preventing you from achieving happiness. I saw Little Man Tate nearly 15 years ago (!!!), so can't really remember it well, but even in that film there's the conflicts that the mum has to go through to get her brilliant kid what he needs, the difficulties of being a single parent, Tate's own problems with being intellectually brilliant but emotionally still a kid, and a kid who has trouble fitting in with his peers—conflict isn't necessarily fights or arguments, it's challenges. And if we ever stop having those in our lives, we go into this kind of stultifying boredom. I think your story does have conflict there, I just want to find out more about it.

Re: male-bashing, yeah, it's a problem. I realised with one thing I was writing that all my women were manipulative bitches. I mean, I knew they were more complicated than that, but they weren't coming across that well.

Just an idea, but what about focusing on another character? One of the cyborgs, maybe? More questions are occurring to me about class, money, etc—perhaps I'm wrong, but Rachel doesn't seem very worried about money so she seems sort of like "idle rich" or "obscenely wealthy" in today's terms. In some ways that's fine because it gives her freedom to be an agent of change. What about having a cyborg character who has to work for a living and isn't so well-off to explore some of the ways that humans aren't so wonderful? You could make it one of your male cyborgs, even...

As for utopia, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this—I think I'm too much of a pessimist and you seem very optimistic not only about how soon we could achieve a wonderful future but about the progress we've made already. It's good to dwell on the bright side of things, even if it does mystify me! :)

[nigirimeshi.livejournal.com]

You're cool. I think I shall befriend you and then read your NaNo when the month is over. I'm trying to work on one, too, so I don't have the most time.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I totally understand the not having time during NaNoWriMo thing.
Are you posting your story online?

I added you too. I had a quick look at your LJ and found it interesting.

[nigirimeshi.livejournal.com]

I have part of my story online, but it's in a private PBWiki. I don't have it organized enough to post it to the public. I think I shall do that this upcoming weekend. A warning though: even this far into the month, I still have no real plot besides a trilogy-length (or longer) overall plot. So I'm just writing and seeing where it takes me.