Insurance - part 11

[miriam_e]

(1850 words)

total so far:

20,732 / 50,000
41%

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!

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Comments

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! :)