Welcome to Immersion, you have reached Strata 7
Humans have developed uniqueness from animals through a process of cognitive evolution.
They are exceptional cultural learners and can read situations.
The cultural and socio-political environment in which humans have evolved has led them to acquire the cognitive skills, particularly mathematical, to support a sophisticated disposition along with a capacity for reciprocal cooperation. Humans understand conceptual ideas of property and exchange value.
Outside there was an optimistic sun and the people bussied around the market unaware of any of the commotion that had occurred in the bank.
The POS informed Renyke that he had lost negligible battery power and there was no damage to his mechanical or bionic structures.
The robot-dog and the cat had waited patiently outside the bank and now trotted diligently at their owners' sides.
Maybeline returned to Renyke's pocket for a nap.
'You got my *bits?' asked the woman
'For nearly getting us killed?' Asked Renyke contemplating the difference between, irony, sarcasm and humour. POS began to explain but Renyke shut her out. He really did not want to know at this juncture.
Back on the main street Flex approached smiling and jaunty. Renyke was reassured to see him.
'I need a vehicle Flex, something to get me to where I am going,' said Renyke.
'Yes, yes, yes Mr. Leather Man, where you goin' is where I'm goin'. Let's find a veee-hicle. Jerome, he is the car man, he got cars, and bikes and scoots..... and copters, and airships so they say.'
'Take me to Jerome,' said Renyke.
Flex took Renyke into a disused concrete building as the robo-dog curled up and waited outside.
There are the echoes of voices, activity and motor engines being revved from another part of the building. There is a smell of fuel and mumbled communications. Somewhere too there is music.
Flex beckoned Renyke to Jerome's office, a ramshackle room filled with books. More books than Renyke had ever seen. Books were no longer used in most homes or schools and the paper shortages after the warmings had meant that they were no longer being produced commercially. Paper had become heavily taxed and there were also problems with scritters.
Scritters were large crawling insects that had been genetically modified in a laboratory by the Russian military. They were a fusion of a cockroach and a wasp but there wings had become almost defunct in the process. They could get a few feet above the ground but not for very long. Scritters were highly protective and thus easily trained.
They looked deformed with big insect heads and metal body parts. At birth scritters are born with a soft back. They seek protection from any material that offers a hard shell. Because of the huge landfill areas all around the world, the rubbish of hundred's of years had provided the perfect materials for protection. Plastics and metals were abundant in the *fills and the Urchs and Scritters were generally seen sifting through the piles of discarded trash looking for their personal treasures.
'A car you say?' asked Jerome. 'I got plenty, but the fuel....we got no fuel. We are working on some alternatives, but all prototypes so far. They cut off our fuel after the riots. And the food supplies. I have been missing gummies, I loved those.'
Renyke nodded as Jerome continued....
'Transport is a big problem. You'll be better off walking, my friend, if you can get through the tunnels. But there are booby traps all around the perimeters here in the zones.'
Renyke checks the POS for details but the tunnels are unchartered.
'I have a hybrid cart,' continued Jerome. 'It runs on solar but only for about 3 hours per full charge if you do under 40km. And if it is a cloudy day, an hour. I can let you take it for 3000 G-bits. It won't get off the ground without jet fuel but it can drive on flat ground well enough. It doesn't hold the road so well, but if you are a good driver, it won't be an issue.'
'Can you drive?' Renyke asked Flex.
Flex laughed... 'Of course I can. But how far we going, might be better to get a horse'.
A scritter crawls across the floor and Jerome stamps on it. A black tar oozes from under his foot.
Jerome sees Renyke might be changing his mind about the deal.
'I will take TELL You got some TELL?"
The POS gets a signal......
...TELL: abbreviation of Tellurium, found in copper ore. Used in mobile phones, especially older versions where it was added to other metals improving their strength and hardness and reducing corrosion. Rare due to demise of traditional copper mines.
Renyke, feeling confused about whether to get the vehicle and how much the exchange was worth, asks POS for advice.
I am not programmed to have opinions and am unable to make a useful prediction using probability. I do not have access to data about the vehicle, it has no computerised system. The seller seems to be shield protected and I cannot assess his reliability. But Redact is within easy walking and running distance for a Mark 3 such as yourself.
Renyke looks at Flex and then at Jerome. A scritter is crawling up his boot and he throws it off with a kick. He feels a rising panic and a thumping in his chest which he does not recognise. Why was it so important that he not make a mistake? Why was he not able to understand the virtue or danger of the exchange?
Finally Renyke says, 'I will run.'
To be continued
© 2023 Sarnia de la Maré
Episodes with text
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