From c6482fe2fca344241b18a857769e5715c230acc6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christine Dodrill Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 08:13:52 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] blog: readaptation Signed-off-by: Christine Dodrill --- blog/readaptation-2021-02-21.markdown | 87 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ templates/feeds.rs.html | 1 + 2 files changed, 88 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/readaptation-2021-02-21.markdown diff --git a/blog/readaptation-2021-02-21.markdown b/blog/readaptation-2021-02-21.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dd84a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/readaptation-2021-02-21.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,87 @@ +--- +title: Readaptation +date: 2021-02-21 +series: short-stories +--- + +# Readaptation + +Thena suddenly saw a large red sign labeled "system overload" in front of her. +She tried to push it away but wasn’t able to do anything. After a bit of +struggling something added the text “Get out of your pod to initiate repairs”. +_My...pod?_ she wondered. + +Suddenly her arms started working again, but she wasn’t able to see them, only +feel them. She reached up to her face and felt a weird kind of mask. There was a +handle and she pulled on it. Finally that message went away, but it swung up and +over. She had never seen any of the messages do that before. The room started to +light itself up. + +Thena looked down at herself and gasped. She did not see what she was used to +seeing. She saw a body in a black and orange jumpsuit. It appeared to be male +too. She decided she needed to see herself in a mirror. _Dreams don’t let you +look into mirrors right? This is just a bad dream._ She got up out of her bed +and stood on her feet, only to take a step and fall right over on the ground +with muscle cramps she’s never felt in her life. + +After massaging her aching muscles (which was hard because it was nearly all of +them) she managed to crawl over to the mirror and took a good look at herself. +She managed to get on her feet again after bracing for stability on the +conveniently placed bar. There was no doubt. Her avatar was male. It felt +familiar though, like it was something she should have known about but the +details didn’t come to mind. + +_Anyways, system overload, that means the server needs to be rebooted right? Why +couldn’t the automatic system handle this? Was that compromised too?_ Thena +ambled her way to the door out of her chamber and looked for the server cabinet +symbol. It was difficult to find much of anything though, everything in her +visual awareness seemed to blur out about 2 meters in front of her. _Oh, right, +glasses!_ Thena got back into the room and looked for her glasses. + +The details of her former life were slowly coming back into focus. Thena was an +employee at one of the big corpos. She didn’t really want to be reduced to a +body in a gelbed permanently wired and tubed into the machines, but after the +climate got so harsh humanity had no other choice. Putting on her glasses, Thena +took one last look at herself, confused but somewhat recognizing that stoic male +stance that used to let her stand out in the crowds, then she ambled out of the +room again and looked for the server cabinet. + +_My chamber is behind me, so my server room is front front left._ Thena took a +few steps forward and then turned to the left and walked until she hit a wall. + +Walked may not be the best term for what kind of motion was used though, it was +a half-limping barely committal stride, but to someone stuck in VR for 30 years +this was the best you could expect out of that person "walking" without any +practice. This physical body felt different, more “real”. Thena’s virtual form +had moved without any restriction or limit. This body was full of restrictions. +Strides were restricted to a small angle. The knees had to be consciously bent. +The arms had to swing to maintain balance. Balance itself was an issue too. It +was all very weird for Thena. She was trying to not think about the body’s +layout very much. + +Thena finally found the server cabinet symbol and twisted it to open. The lights +weren’t blinking like they should be. There was a friendly sticker in Comic Sans +above the switch that said "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Thena +grabbed the switch and turned it solidly off. + +The noises of her room had stopped, leaving Thena in silence and darkness. It +was peaceful. There was absolutely no sound. Thena didn’t want to tempt fate +though, so she turned the switch back on and all the lights turned on like they +should. More lights on the servers kept blinking in their happy patterns. A +voice came on from above saying "System startup complete. Your pod is ready +Micheal. Enter your adaptation room as soon as possible. It is not safe out +here." + +Micheal. Thena despised that name. That name reminded her of her former self. +The self that died in that pod. The self she was born from. She shrugged it off +and tried to not think about it. Her stride was a bit more sure now and she was +able to make it back to her pod without falling over. She made it into her bed +and pulled the face mask over her. It sealed in place and everything went dark +as she faded back into Terranova. + +--- + +Like this kind of writing and short story format? I have a [biweekly +newsletter](https://www.getrevue.co/profile/theprincessxena) on Revue that has a +huge backlog of these stories that I was never really happy with enough to post +here. I have also added its feed to my [/feeds](/feeds) page. diff --git a/templates/feeds.rs.html b/templates/feeds.rs.html index 797755c..4d7de25 100644 --- a/templates/feeds.rs.html +++ b/templates/feeds.rs.html @@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
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