Friday, April 20, 2012

Meng Xiang Zu – Dreamtime Tribe

Lightning flickered in the edges of Xiaolou's peripheral vision, remnants of dreamtime. Physical nerves, subverted during the months she'd spent in dreamtime, flared as her brain relinquished the hold of the virtual signals. Pain her top-of-the-line gear–platinum-core neural adapter, bio-salts nutritional system, and muscle maintenance chair–should have eliminated. Her head throbbed. She wanted her money back.

She waited. The lightning cleared, but the room remained dark, no blinking LEDs from her hardware, no sullen light from the eco-bulbs, no photons whatsoever. The darkness was accompanied by a lack of sound as if the virtual gear had burned out her physical senses. But no, that was false. Her hands caressed the faux leather of her chair, the restraining chains falling loose, clacking against the chrome supports. No juice. No electricity.

She sighed.

Muqin, her mother and a member of the moonlight tribe, spared no expense, which explained her gear. But also, explained the lack of energy. Muqin's overspending crimped Xiaolou's style.

She wasn't a helpless invalid in realtime unlike most of her contemporaries. The rubber of the maintenance chair's full-bodysuit snapped as she extricated herself. She felt her way from the parlor where Muqin kept Xiaolou's well-used chair and Muqin's own seldom used chair to the kitchen and public room. She found a candle and matches.

Visual sensory input helped shunt her migraine into a mere annoyance. Their rare-earth teak table drowned beneath a sea of boutique bags, recycled cellophane draped out the tops of each of them like an over-spenders seaweed. She'd never understand why Muqin wasted money on all these goods. Dreamtime provided everything one desired.

It was all good to have fended for oneself in realtime, but Muqin was known for month-long splurges before heading home. Xiaolou could not afford to wait for Muqin to arrive and discover the bounced facilities bill.

No. Xiaolou needed back in dreamtime. She needed to shepherd her realms before the wolves, other participants, detected her absence and acquired her creations, mutating them into their own needs. She'd require months to undo the damage if she didn't get back.

Outside, a full moon filtered through clouds. It didn't have the same effect as it did in virtuality, the moon was small, shriveled, and the light barely enough to provide more than a brighter spot in the clouds. She flicked a wrist at one of the streetlamp kiosks, but the low-power e-ink display blinked that she had no cash. Resigned, she made do with the dim light of the moon and the spill of waste light from people living in outer apartments.

She stopped under the awning of a dreamtime café. Over its white-washed walls, a thick bundle of cables fed up from the ground. The cables were joined by a second pair threaded from the café's roof and satellite feed. Satellites provided a horrible lag when joining national dreamtime networks, but they were the highest bandwidth option for overseas operations. Dreamtime cafés, appealing to the largest clientele possible, usually stocked both types of uplinks.

The door's kiosk blinked red when she tried to enter and refused her credit.

Unlike most of the dream tribe, she knew her history, knew that in the beginning, people had thought all bits should be free. Opensource collectives had provided software for free. Dozens of companies provided free web-based e-mail and storage. But, IP laws changed all of that. Capitalists smelled gold in them thar virtual hills.

She stared at the satellite dish. She sighed. Laggy connections stole the fun from dreamtime. Although she could concoct a raw shunt into her neural cortex from the satellite, without nutritional and muscle maintenance systems she'd really feel the withdrawal next time.

She shrugged and shimmied up the twisted bundle of cables to the roof. She wedged herself into a position where she wouldn't fall and patched herself into dreamtime. A girl had to feed her addiction.

25 comments:

  1. Wow, that's some addiction. If this was actually available, I'd be willing to bet there would be many people who would want to try it though, You know... just for the experience.

    As always Aidan, extremely rich in imagination and word craft.

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    1. I'm one of those who'd be lining up. Well, as long as I could convince myself I'd continue to be able to tell stories afterwards.

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  2. This made me sad, had a bittersweet feel to it. The environment and touches such as the cellophane brought it into a relatable future rather than an abstract one.

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    1. I've written in three different SF-universes this past week. This was my middle of the road one. Although, I'd say addiction causes this one to definitely curve downwards; the pessimistic future I wouldn't wish on anyone; the optimistic one is one I'd love to see but I don't see us making it reality either.

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  3. Very dreamy, and at the same time, wan and very tired. It's almost like SpecFic that walks the drowsy line.

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    1. The dreamtime tribe has an opening for new members ;)

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  4. Creepy and weird, just my type of story. :)

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  5. I think T.S. Bazelli nailed the emotive quality of this piece — you need money to escape the reality They have created. I think if someone were to ask me, "what is the quintessential Aidan Fritz piece?" I'd have to point to this one.

    Having said that, I wouldn't mind trying it. I think most writers would like to spend a little time in a creation of their own making.

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    1. Thanks. I'd have to say I'd want to have careful choice over which of my creations I got to live within. I've written a few too many dark worlds, but I like what the characters do when the world is dark. Perhaps, I'm holding back my own growth? :)

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  6. This feels so rich I'm expecting it to be part of a larger piece. Impressive.

    The painting of the family and their world felt very organic too.

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    1. Thanks, Peter. I wonder if it's the complexity of the tribes that gives it some of that impression of larger spaces.

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  7. Really good stuff, Aidan. Either you've researched very well, or this is in your area of expertise, as it all felt so real, probable.

    Brought to mind such films as Inception (dreamscape) and eXistenZ (human/technology), which is a good thing!

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    1. Jack, I'd forgotten that Inception used the term dreamscape, not sure that my subconscious did though. I'll have to check out eXistenZ.

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  8. I'm getting shades of Gibson's "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" on this one. You ever read that, Aidan? It's a story where people become hooked on simulated, pre-recorded sleep.

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    1. Loren, I haven't read that. I'll keep an eye out for the Burning Chrome collection; I'm confident I'll enjoy it.

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    2. Those stories of Gibson's are great. I like them better than any of his novels.

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  9. Whoa, some addiction! Love the idea of it.

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  10. wow that some addiction - for some reason this reminded a little of the movie Total Recall where they plugged in to have virtual holidays - only your's was more than a holiday it was a way of life and an addictive one.

    As always Aidan your writing and stories never cease to surprise me. Well done - nice sci fi.

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    1. Helen, I think they all might start out with a holiday, but unlike holiday's which are difficult to partake at any time, the most costly part of the virtual world is time. Thanks for the nice words!

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  11. I think you're the one of the best when it comes to creating fictional worlds. Worlds that are futuristic, but plausible at the same time. Have you ever thought of script writing?

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  12. A wonderfully descriptive and intensely realised world.. I was thinking of Total Recall for a moment but this is a whole lot better..There's something quite profound going on here..but I'm too much adrift in dreamtime to figure it our right now..Excellent!

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  13. Good take on the concept of virtual reality. People could find an enhanced version of reality so much more attractive than what's really around them.

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  14. My favorite part is how the real moon is but a pale imitation of the virtual one. Great futuristic vision here. Enjoyed it.
    ~jon

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