Love in the Time of Technology 1 (4 page)

Chapter 7: Genetica: Meeting Lilydeen

One afternoon
immediately after work, he had gone to the huge supermarket. He had come just before the huge crowd of shoppers would come in. He came partly because he was listless and bored. How would this girl from her dreams contact him without all this surveillance cameras finding out? It was almost impossible to do that.

A young woman
brushed by him and reached out to touch a fruit near where he stood. It was the way she touched it with subtle revulsion that caught his attention. She glanced at him very subtly and it would seem that she was doing so because he was partly in her way. He was compelled to follow her as casually as possible. She went to the stand for purple colored tomatoes (eaten for energy) and green carrots (consumed as a muscle relaxant). She made great effort not to recoil.

“You don’t have much time
. They’re going to take you in!”

Wolf was about to say something when she brushed by him again as he reached for a carrot near him.

“Click me in your
Statsline
. I will show up in the catalogue.”

“But they’ll suspect we’re not compatible.”

“They’ve listed you down as erratic at times so your choice will be quite understandable. Besides you’ve clicked me a number of times.”

”I did
?”

“Yes you
have this obsession for organic looking girls. They’re supposed to be kinky or something like that. You’re friend is going to show up here so I’m moving.”

“Lazer?”

“We had to steer him in so it doesn’t arouse suspicion.”

“But that’s risky.”

“Life’s full of danger. And besides, how do you know we are not compatible. Get out of your comfort zone!”

Before he could ask a question,
she acted quite brusquely. This was for the benefit of cameras that might have picked up the body brushing. It would show that on the 2 occasions, it was accidental when she was reaching for the vegetables and she had not relished rubbing against him. Wolf sensed that this was clever because he would be very closely monitored given his marked status.

S
he went off to another section.

Then he concealed himself amongst the shelves
. He saw Lazer approach her casually in a false show of sincerity. He heard them laugh. She was a good actress. There was no way people would mistake her as being from the Fringes. Her mannerisms were perfect.

It was beginning to make sense
. There was no way she could possibly move around without being caught. Whoever had configured her entry had calculated her chances of success and found that she stood a better chance by being linked to her greatest enemy Lazer because her tech footprints would be tagged to his and would not immediately arouse suspicion. He kissed her lightly on the cheek before she left for the check out. Wolf went to an obscure part and avoided him although he was sure that Lazer knew of his whereabouts.

He hoped that the simulation that was guiding her was accurate enough to enable them to escape.

Wolf knew that everything was monitored but by the time they came back to recheck they would have left. A perfect world did not come by accident. Loopholes had to be closed; individuals who asked too many penetrating questions were silenced and tech glitches were fixed. To the outsider, Genetica showed people going about their work in bliss and there was harmony with their pristine environment. The lawns in the parks were a perfect green; the little clumps of forests that stood in strategic locations in the concrete jungle blew gracefully to the breeze and had a realistic sylvan beauty. The fish in the crystal clear ponds dotting the various mass transit centers and parks looked friendly and welcoming.

These props were meant to emit a warm atmosphere and put the populace at ease. It made them feel that they were part of a perfect world where everything worked in harmony.

But this was all an elaborate fiction.

The lawns, trees and fish were all artificial. The grass and tree leaves were made of a durable polymer that was painted in various hues of green.

Even the breeze that blew so perfectly was artificial from wind generators.

The perfect blue sky was also artificial
as the climate was controlled. Its people had never seen dark clouds and were not familiar with concepts such as tornados or natural disasters.

The water in the ponds was made of a transparent synthetic jelly. It could turn into ice within seconds or heat up to high temperatures
killing those unfortunate enough to be deliberately pushed in. Nothing happened by accident. The fish that looked so cuddly, warm and sensitive had surveillance cameras in their dreamy eyes.

Wolf
remembered walking through the wooded areas and park with his mentor Zugovsky. He had explained all these to Wolf who looked shocked that this vista of environmental sustainability was all a lie. “Our beloved Genetica is built on fiction. It is easy for citizens addicted to all the tech wizardry to digest it rather than face reality.”

These props were all built by the Mx Corporation for surveillance purposes. They could all turn violent against its own citizens. The blades of grass could turn into sharp razors slashing and maiming; the fish were robotic machines with listening devices and could even gnaw their victims like piranha. The trees were a marvel of
perverse science. They could kill their victims by bringing down chemically poisoned leaves!

He remembered that they had sat
by the pond and Zugovsky had said, “Genetica is doomed by its own super efficiency. It fools itself by not using the planet’s resources assuming that by generating its own artificial resources it will exist forever. Its biggest flaw is that it does not encourage rebirth. There is zero birth rate. It is not able to generate life from within and from without. The tragedy Wolf is that we delude ourselves by believing our fiction.”

As they walked away he whispered to
Wolf that the fish in the pond had two lenses; one for looking at their watery world and another for looking at those above them. Both lenses were integrated with powerful listening devices. But why had he deliberately made disparaging comments knowing they were listening? He had also said something very strange, “Wolf I brought you to that pond because one day it may prove useful to you. The jelly and fish can be tampered with! There is a tunnel under it which will take you out and bring you back to save this place.”

A short time later Zugovsky vanished never to be seen again, as if he had never existed.

It all now made sense. By being with him, Wolf was also marked. He had been groomed for chaos so that he would return. He just didn’t know how things would play out and perhaps that was the ideal situation.

+++++

Wolf had almost forgotten about the encounter until it was time for dinner and he was preparing salad of purple tomatoes, green carrots and white lettuces with orange mayonnaise. He immediately brought his g-pad not sure if he would find Lilydeen. 

She was in the
StatsLine
catalogue. He was pleasantly surprised to find that someone had hacked into his personal data so that it registered that he was compatible with his choice. Still, he went through the charade of pretending to check out other girls in case they traced back the hacker.

+++++

But when Wolf finally clicked for her he noticed that there was another pending request! He sent his request to the network centre. He looked at his timer. If she chose him, he would expect her in half an hour from when he clicked through the request. He marveled at the cunningness of the program she was using. By registering more than one request she did not arouse immediate suspicion. The question was; would Lazer accept a rebuff and what would he do about it in that short period of time?

Since no one was married, men and women throughout
Genetica were ordering playmates. Relationships were simple, efficient and involved no emotional baggage. Wolf remembered that Fing was a major shareholder in
GroupBond
which were group activities between compatible partners. For an additional fee, the partners could be injected with ‘adventurous genes’ to instill spicy activities. Another invention
BigPlay
involving younger teens had proved quite popular with older inhabitants.

Wolf, like all other in
habitant used his g-pad whenever he wanted company. He keyed in his personal details and vital statistics. There were a number of providers although
StatsLine
was the biggest. They provided him with a list of prospective ‘friends’ who were compatible. Bored with current girlfriends? The center had an inexhaustible list of compatible partners.  Bored with girls? A GM center (for a modest fee) could temporarily genetically modify Wolf to have a gay sexual orientation.
HeritageLine
was another service that delivered clones carefully modeled after historical figures. Based on one’s preferences one could order up past celebrities or go back in history to Cleopatra or Julius Caesar.

Wolf missed Roneel. Everyone got company for sex but he got company to talk and share ideas.

“You’re acting like someone from the Fringes,” Wolf had joked. “Next you’ll want to get married!” He had heard that many Fringe people spent so much of their time on spiritual activities and family life. All foods were produced organically. Another reason why he wanted to escape was that he wanted deeper bonding with people rather than the superficial relationships that was the norm in Genetica.

“Isn’t it boring to have these enhanced erections for 1 to 3 hours? Don’t you feel bored, sick and wasted after a while that it’s not the real you but chemicals inside you that provide all this? It’s more fun penetrating each other’s minds. Engineered perfection is boring!” Roneel had argued.
Although he had laughed, the argument had struck a sensitive chord and convinced Wolf that he had to move away.

+++++

“It’s dangerous and we don’t have much time,” Lilydeen whispered as she brought out a gadget and went around the room signaling to him to be quiet.

She pointed at the artwork by his bedroom wall. She carefully turned it around so that it faced the wall.

“The eye has a surveillance camera.”

“I always thought it was warm and endearing.”

She looked at him closely, “You have a soft spot for that artwork otherwise I was going to put it in the bathroom.”

Wolf was not quite sure where he was to begin
. She looked exactly like the girl in his dreams. “Are you from the Fringes?” he asked awkwardly.

“Yes. By embedding me in
StatsLine
I could pass for someone from here.”

He realized that without this ruse she could not last more than a few minutes in Genetica.

“It’s amazing. I trained for this and can’t believe I’m here.”

“You’re very brave,”

“I hope we’re strong enough to survive this. Strange that you look exactly like the guy in my dreams.”

They looked at each other awkwardly
and nervously. He appreciated that she had to overcome her distaste for clones and link well as a team to accomplish their mission.

“I’m so glad to see you,” he said trying to make her
relax. His g-pad started buzzing. It was Chloe, “Wolf is everything okay? I worry about you.” Her face looked concerned on the monitor.

“Everything’s just perfect,” he said breezily.

“Call me if you need to talk.”

“I will. Take care,” he said. He turned to her. “I assume that you did not come here to have a good time!”
His joke sounded awkward and he hoped he would improve.

“I don’t think I can manage the 3 hour
s,” she laughed.

“
So I won’t ask you for a French kiss,” he chuckled.

“I might become chemically inclined.” It sounded silly and they laughed.

“You need to take out the gadget,” he said.

She seemed to know and was just waiting for him to make the suggestion. He got on the bed and she carefully removed the chip from the base of his neck.
She had been trained to do this as cleanly as possible.

“
They’ve been watching you Wolf but you probably know that already.”

“
It’s amazing how your people can hack into the system here.”

“
We have inside help but you’ve sensed that already.”

“I wonder if someone secretly fed me those data.”

“
We fed them to you. That’s why the Corporation wanted you observed.”

Wolf looked stunned.
“Why was I chosen? It doesn’t makes sense,” he said sounding blasé.

“For
some time you’ve been frustrated with your world. You hate the GM foods and pills; you hate the 1 to 3 hour pleasure times. You even hate those purple tomatoes and green carrots. You don’t actually eat them, you just swallow them. You’ve been trying to challenge your life. Most people here would cover their issues by taking more pills or burn some neurons but you are special Wolf.”