And so it goes

A simple child, dear brother Jim,

That lightly draws its breath,

And feels its life in every limb,

What should it know of death?

- William Wordsworth

Steam slowly curled above the darkened liquid. The cup sat on a short table facing a wall that currently displayed a landscape of rolling hills and small purple flowers.

“Jay, protocols state that I must remind you that you have already imbibed today’s recommended caffeine limit.”

“Lurch, I believe I’ve instructed you on what to do with those protocols.” Swollen joints and veins dark beneath the flesh reached for the warm mug of liquid life. I coughed slightly and took a sip, smiling a little as a digital butterfly flit among the flowers.

“Madam, as I have responded, this unit has no corporeal form with which to upload the protocols into the area you have referenced.”

“Ugh. I have told you that, ‘stick it up your ass’ is not literal! Although, one of these days I am going to get you a corporeal form and then I’ll learn ya!” I chuckled. “End scene, Lurch. I’ve had enough ‘meditation’ time. Flip over to movie selection, I need something really good.”

And by something good, I meant something with zombies, aliens or explosions. It had been a long time since anything really good had come out, or maybe I just hadn’t bothered with keeping up the last dozen years or so.

Lurch had been with me for nearly eight years, he was the best aid-bot available at the time. The core design of the aid-bot was to sync with and monitor geno-nanite therapies. I shook my head. All it takes is a few scientists and dreamers to monkey around with nature, genetics and technology and suddenly the world as we know it changes in an instant. So maybe it wasn’t an instant, maybe it was a few decades. At first, it was advancements in cryo technologies. Then it was advancement in nano technologies… a twist and a shake and a few other ologies and we look at a world where robotics exist, people get medical treatments in a metal tube, and space travel sits on the horizon.

I’ve always been a sucker for technological advancements so when the first medical treatments that included cybernetic and nano technologies hit the public, I was one of the first to volunteer for the research groups. And here, almost 20 years later, I had little nani things floating around fake discs in my spine, the cure for disc disease. I had a cybernetic implant in my left hip and other bits and bobs that helped keep me alive longer than I probably should have been. Lurch kept track of all that for me, let me know when parts were getting worn out and when I was ‘over-taxing’ them.

I rubbed my knee and closed my eyes. It was time to get up and move around. Tomorrow my new toy would be delivered. Husbands had come and gone. My children and my grand-children were all well established in their lives. It was just me and Lurch.

“I’m tired.”

“Would you like me to prepare the couch for a nap, Jay?” Sometimes Lurch almost sounded human and caring, “Your vitals are resting at average.” But it was more of rarity than a standard.

“No, I don’t want a nap.” I snapped. “I want to drink my coffee. I want to move around. I want to have my new VR Capsule. I want to play the new game! It has been way too long since I’ve had a good game and at least now I can actually play again.”

My current VR was a medical and learning unit. Lurch and IT were my nurse, physical therapist and boredom keeper-away-fromer.

I dipped into the last of my retirement and savings and invested in my future, what left of it that remained. I had purchased the newest VR system and pre-ordered Esoteria. In my youth I had started gaming with table-top adventures, when computers hit and the gaming industry exploded, I was right there in the thick of it. It was my generation that truly created the biggest waste of productive time possible.

I loved it.

I missed it.

****