Mango Porcupine Chapter 6
Shel had seen every episode of the show so far, but there was an old digital file of the classic show Everybody’s Family in his account he had inherited from his parents...
Shel had seen every episode of the show so far, but there was an old digital file of the classic show Everybody’s Family in his account he had inherited from his parents. The OS of the show would have been updated when Shel was around ten. Maybe it would have some variances he had never seen before. He selected it.
Nostalgia washed over Shel as Everybody’s Family familiar show intro started and Sapph’s warm body snuggled in close to him. They were under a cozy blanket with a plate of warm Christmas cookies she had baked.
The show was projected from Shel’s Surround Light System (which contains Surround Sound): several holoprojectors and speakers placed throughout his livingroom. Light played into shape which played into real objects and people like a softly glowing ballet. Projected out of Shel’s pinkypiece were various controls.
The intro went through a montage of each character. Braidlin the skinny nearly-genderless lead popped into the studio livingroom holding a broom. She wagged her head and grinned. Then came Theordor “Theo,” the love interest hunk with a penchant for antique car maintenance. And then Grisli, the foreign exchange student, geology enthusiast and Braidlin and Theo’s surrogate child (functionally, not legally). A various cast of other odd ball family members made their appearance until…
…a front door opened to reveal a simulated Shelden, the loveable (and scripturally generic) next door neighbor. Shel chose to “wave goofily” on the options coming out of his pinkypiece as opposed to “cool-ass fingerguns.” The intro music wound down and an option materialized:
“Allow android viewers to join?”
Shel blinked. Strange. It usually just said “persons”. Sapph was dozing off. Her thumb gently stroked his hand.
He chose “no.”
Another option replaced that one:
“Allow human viewers to join?”
Shel’s eyebrows rose. Very strange. This was new. Or old depending on how you looked at it. He looked at Sapph. The last of her effort to stay awake was overcome by the typical circadian programming. That one she had set for herself.
He chose “yes.”
The projection froze and grayed out. A small white buffer sprite the size of a hand digitized in the middle of the livingroom and began prancing around. “Looking for human players…” faded in above. The cute sprite placed it’s hands up to its mouth miming calling for other human players. It went around the room in a loose circle, looking under furniture, behind corners and on the top most shelves.
Shel wondered if he was just generally clueless and if that’s why he did not realize how many people were androids. He usually felt out of the loop and as if he was one step behind the world, always trying to keep up. But then he wondered about the other humans out there, what possibly could have made them question about their friend’s possible anroidhood before? Like Dante said, it didn’t really matter. But to Gilbrett it seemed to matter at least enough for him to talk about why he thought it was good. He wondered if Fred knew. Maybe he actually should reach out. He couldn’t possibly think what two humans could talk about surrounding the subject of their perfectly functioning world and sharing it with androids. Sharing? Was that the right way to think about it? What was he being possessive about? Maybe he needed a therapist. What therapist did he know that would play ping pong with him though?
It must have been ten minutes of the sprite’s rain dance. Shel could have sworn he saw it turn around, look him in the eye, throw up it’s hands and shake it’s head.
It was at that point Shel shut the whole system off.
Shel laid Sapph down gently in bed so she could charge for the morning. Androids and Bots although not needing a personal virtual assistant did need to wirelessly charge each evening, or while they slept. Thankfully this fit in perfectly with people’s lifestyle as most beds and couches were equipped with wireless chargers. So, same deal: go to sleep, wake up charged. Halfheartedly he tried to rouse her but he could tell she was low on energy. He tucked her in on her side of the bed.
Before he gave in to laying down, he told the house system to raise the curtain on the large square window of his bedroom overlooking the city.
All year round the city from twenty floors up looked like Christmas Eve. The city lights became a mirage of colors. The speed rails, office lights, apartment lamps, low flying transports all combined into an every colored river musing its way through the city. It feeling like Christmas Eve year round somehow made it feel not like Christmas Eve at all where he stood tonight.
He looked at each city block. Each city block a box. Each box containing several buildings, smaller boxes, containing lofts, apartments, condos, penthouses, each their own small box containing someone just like him. At least he used to think they were just like him.
On December 25th 2437, Christmas day, Shel woke up feeling completely and utterly alone.