the trees you grew up with have not forgotten you. their branches still whisper your name in the breeze and their roots remember the paths your feet once traced through their shade.
I see your “Ava took beginner classes with four year olds"
And raise to you “Beatrice signed Ava up for the beginner classes with four year olds and was the one who took her and was the most concerned person there and the moms asked which one was hers thinking it was a child and she just point to Ava who is flailing like a flounder in a 3ft deep area”
I am so pleased at how many notes are some version of “I don’t fear the science, I fear the corporations who control it” because that is EXACTLY the attitude you should have. GMOs can save us. Monsanto will kill us.
what people fear about GMO- ‘theyre gonna make frankencarrots that crave human flesh and cause diarrhea ’
what GMO actually is- ‘we made rice crop that is both drought resistant and flood resistant which will prevent about 20% of major famine disasters, also it now makes vitamin A because vitamin A deficiency in poverty stricken areas is a major killer of kids as most vitamin A rich foods dont grow there’
what people SHOULD be upset about- ‘i made all crops sterile so all farmers have to buy the seed from me in perpetuity and i will sue anyone who tries to go back to crops that produce their own seed’
Now remember, a lady rides sidesaddle, NOT astride. Your mother would be in hysterics at the very idea that a daughter of hers would ride a werewolf astride! Why, next you’ll be showing ankle…
If ever there was a better group of neighbors, Del was sure theirs were better by some metric. They looked upon them as their best friends, whom Del regarded as the kindest, most talented, and most beautiful group of friends they could ever ask for. The five of them were sitting in the grass, taking in the fresh air after completing their morning chores. They were surrounded by the natural beauty they called home. Just behind them was the garden of greenery they’d worked together to make perfect. The food the group and their neighbors grew in their communal yard made up a majority of what they needed to eat all year, and the community council’s reserves easily filled the gap. Del heard the clucking of the chicken tractor being pulled by what they dubbed the "cybermule," an elegant yet simple quadrupedal robot. Del sipped at the last of their coffee, satisfied, leaning over their vine and moss-adorned balcony and drinking in the view.
A head turned up and spotted Del looking down. It was Leilani. Del never believed in any kind of hierarchy, but had to admit that Leilani was a natural leader. Her confidence, her posture, and the look in her eyes that somehow contained both certainty and open-mindedness, demanded your attention and trust. With this, naturally, she was always the one with a plan. Her eyes lit up, and her full lips drew into the dimples on her cheeks. Leilani raised a copper-colored mechanical hand that met with her night-dark skin at the elbow and shouted, "Hey Del, get your green ass down here!"
Del blushed and looked at their arms and saw green. They had quite a few tattoos around their bodies, all made in special ink that changed from black into different colors when strong emotions were present. The green betrayed a high level of joy and satisfaction. Del pulled their legs over the balcony, then pushed off with their hands and let themselves fall into the second story drop. The exoskeleton frame Del wore over their legs may have been born out of necessity to let them walk for more than a few minutes without pain, but they liked to think of it as their own personal superpower.
In no time, Del joined their friends in the circle they sat in. Tom and Jeri, the redheaded fraternal twins, were looking at a screen and bickering about efficiency. They were the engineers of the group, and they made the automated systems on the farm run on a meticulously planned out spreadsheet, and did the same for others in the community. This act brought the crew some generous mutual aid, which they worked hard to continue to repay.
Luz gave Del a friendly punch in the arm. She was punk through and through, with as many tattoos as she liked, and just enough piercings to tell the world she knew her body was her own. The punch came with a truly pleased smile. Del always suspected that was how she liked to flirt, but wasn’t planning to put that to the test today. For now, they’d just be flattered in their own heads and hope nobody noticed the dimming green momentarily flare back up.
Ihaka was packing a handheld herbal vaporizer with his signature mix of lavender and other herbs he’d genetically engineered to produce a mildly mood-elevating stimulant effect. With his bubbly New Zealand accent, he said, "Del Buddy, you’ve got to try this. I think I’ve finally dialed it into perfection." Del shrugged and partook. They exhaled a sweetly aromatic cloud and felt a cooling tingle in their limbs. It was quite pleasant, without being intoxicating.
"Oh yeah," Del confirmed. You nailed it, dude. You should bring this into the city and see how the people at the Goose Lounge like it. It’s giving a nice little boost without that high feeling from your first batch. " Ihaka gave a look of excited accomplishment. He was what the old world would’ve called a slacker. Here, though, it didn’t matter. There was a place for everyone, and even if he put in a little less work than the others, he still had needs, which the community gladly provided. He was a funny and very kind guy. The group loved having him around. Del suspected Ihaka harbored some guilt over just how blessed his life had become in the community and strived to use his talents to give back.
Leilani reached her organic hand across the circle, and Del handed over the vaporizer. She took a deep drag from it and let it out with a sigh, and it rose to the brim of her straw sunhat, briefly giving the illusion of her curly hair being made of smoke. She then gave a pained look and pushed her exposed back inward with the backs of her knuckles. On days like this, she tied her orange work jacket around her waist and relaxed with the group in her sports bra. "God damn it, my back is killing me," she groaned.
Probably from those potatoes, huh? We really need a better way to pick them, "Del said with concern.
Jeri didn’t look up from her screen, but chimed in, "a waist-mounted harness with a set of mechanical arms would be the clear solution. Then you’d just dig through the dirt from a standing position."
Tom snorted smugly. "Uh, yeah, the clear solution, except there's a backlog for that kind of equipment. We’d have to get it sailed in. Have fun with your clear solution in like a month. "
Okay, we’ll do nothing, just pop her full of painkillers and let her bad back become a more serious problem when she gets old. Is that the solution you’d prefer?
As they went back and forth like this, Luz started pumping her fist and shouting, "fight, fight, fight!"
When Del was struck with an idea, when they voiced it, the group was brought to a hush. What about the undercity? Last year, I served maintenance duty on the subway. Those tunnels are full of access points to get down into them. That place is loaded with wartime bots we could get the arms from. "
Right away, Leilani got to her feet, saying, "of course, why didn’t I think of that?"
There were mutters of agreement throughout the group, except for Ihaka. He immediately crossed his arms and declared, "nope. No freaking way, buddy. I’m not tangling with killer robots in some moldy old spider-filled ruins. "
Oh come on Ihaka, it won’t be so bad. We’ll borrow some spelunking gear from Mara and have a fun time. Plus, if you come and help, I’ll give you a whole gallon of my special mead. " Immediately, Ihaka’s eyes widened. Del was a beekeeper, and their top-quality honey made a special mead with the help of modified yeast that added nutrition and antioxidants to the brew. Beyond that, they soaked berries and spices from the garden for months, making it quite a treat.
"A gallon? Shit, yeah I’ll get killed by a robot for a whole gallon for sure. "
Off the group went. Out of the communal lawn, onto the roads that Lichen City held exclusively for pedestrians, bikers, and streetcars. Long gone is the age of the environment-destroying personal car. They took a short tram ride to the subway station. They then took the train towards the north sector, which was on an artificial hill because it was built over the ruins of an old world city. Once Del recognized a stop they knew was near an entry port, they departed the train. With a woosh, it fired away from them on its maglev tracks.
"Alright, it’s just a little further from here. We’ll have to hoof it from here," Del declared, and jumped off of the platform to punctuate their point. Leilani joined without hesitation, followed by Luz, then the twins, and finally, after a gulp and some consideration, Ihaka joined.
Neon strips lit their path through the tunnel, and the group had a surprising new perspective on the murals that were designed to be observed at high speeds. Details were stretched from this perspective, and the composition was incomplete. After a five-minute walk, there was a door just beneath a dragon’s foot on the mural. Leilani tried the door, but found it locked.
"Remind me to send some monkey bread to the maintenance department," she said to nobody in particular, then crushed the doorknob in her mechanical hand. The door opened to total darkness. The group put on their headlamps and biofilter masks and looked into the void. It was a marvel. It was a crime against nature. Titanic temples are dedicated to the god of a bygone era: capital. These glass monstrosities collapsed, many making unnavigable mountains where they once stood, and others leaned against each other, desperately clinging to their former glory in a world where competition and unending growth reigned supreme. Wide, cracked roads were littered with the rusted carcasses of the cars that once answered the question: "How can we get people around a city as dangerously, destructively, and inefficiently as possible?"
The group repelled down into the ruins on ropes, and touched ground on a road that had somehow, in this sun-starved hell, been reclaimed by grass. Nature truly knew how to conquer all in the end. Their footfalls startled an illogically large mischief of rats. They built their habitats on the wastefulness of the old world, and there was more than enough waste to sustain them for the foreseeable future, but in this habitat they hadn’t seen humans in many generations. Del saw their light make the telltale orbs of cats lurking in the distance, wild in this hellscape.
"This is rad as shit," Luz announced. "Fucking metal."
"This place is a wreck," Leilani replied. But where there’s wreckage, there’s war. It’s perfect. We shouldn’t have to look far for old bots. You’re a genius, Del. " Del was thankful for the darkness to hide them, blushing at that.
The group went on. There was broken glass everywhere, and signs with faded depictions of old English phrases that must’ve been important to these people. Before long, they beheld their prize. Slouched over was an eight-foot-tall metal monstrosity, with two main large arms thicker than Del’s waist. Below, it had four smaller arms, with guns at the ends.
"Those lower arms would be perfect," Jeri said, already getting her hands on it, looking for a good point to disconnect the arm.
"Resplendent," Tom confirmed. "We can just remove the guns and replace them with any old hand mechanism."
"No doy, Tom. You’re truly an expert at the obvious. Was that your major? Jeri was interrupted by a gun pushed against her jaw. Two glowing red circles appeared on the semispherical head of the bot, and its back straightened. The group was frozen in shock. Jeri held her breath as the barrel of the gun pressed firmly against her.
"Click".
Jeri gasped. Her eyes had closed in anticipation, and as she opened them cautiously, she found her head still attached to her body. Ah! the The rusty old guns are jammed, "she giddily shouted. In response, a large metallic hand gripped her neck and lifted her into the air. In a flash, Luz was there with the assist, slamming a makeshift rebar club into the hard metal shell. Del used their exoskeleton-assisted legs to leap onto the robot’s back and take hold. Tom was holding onto Jeri’s legs for dear life, trying to pry his sister from the deadly grasp.
Leilani was motioning to assist before she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Ihaka held out the piece of rebar that was a little under a foot longer and pleaded, "Bend this a little more obtuse than a right angle." Leilani was puzzled, but had no time to question it, and did as she was asked, before running to help Tom grab Jeri.
Ihaka stood back and pointed his mock gun at the robot. As soon as the robot registered what it perceived as a threat, it released its grip and made a B-line to Ihaka. Ihaka backed away frantically from the approaching death machine. It was gaining on him fast. As the robot raised a fist to slam down on Ihaka, Leilani held out her hands in a catching motion. Ihaka gladly tossed the vaguely weapon-shaped object and sent the bot’s killer gaze to Leilani. She began evading and shouted, "How do we shut this thing down, Tom and Jeri?"
Tom helped Jeri to her feet, as she rubbed her bruised neck. Frantically, Tom speculated aloud, "I guess we could rig together an EMP?"
"No way," Jeri argued with a cracked voice. These things are shielded from that. You would just sabotage Lani and Del’s cybernetics. Congrats, you killed us. These models took software updates from direct contact. Let’s just toss together a program to fry its brain, but we’ll need direct contact with its head. "
"You hear that, Del?" Leilani called out. "We need you to hang tight on there." The robot was taking swing after swing, getting closer to Leilani with each hit. When it became certain the next swing would hit, she tossed the fake gun to Luz, who confidently pointed it at the robot, cursing and screaming and running in unpredictable zigzags.
Del was on a very nauseating roller coaster but held on with all of their might. The three played keep away with the fake gun, and Del struggled against the whiplash. The twins found a safe corner out of the way and bickered as they rapidly slammed their fingers against the same small tablet. Del was slipping, and he feared they’d ruin everything. They collected themselves, with a deep breath, and found a second wind and new leverage. After a good ten minutes of toying with the robot to buy time, the twins finally sprung up and shouted in excitement.
Jeri began to walk towards Del and the robot. Tom put his body in front of her and wouldn’t budge. "No. I’m not losing you again. Let me go. " This gave Jeri pause, and she handed over the tablet. Tom ran, and got dangerously close to the screaming legs of the bot. Del struggled to get a grip with one hand and directed the other one to Tom, who tossed the tablet up to her. As soon as they got hold of it, they sprung it up to the back of the robot’s head. After the three longest seconds of Del’s life, the robot halted its motion and slowly sank back down to the hunched position the group found it in.
Del dropped to their feet and immediately found themselves wrapped in hugs from every angle. Cheers echoed through the ruins. The deed was done. The group screamed and celebrated, then tentatively pried the small gun-wielding arms from the robot. From there, they got out of there as fast as possible. They walked close to each other. They share a bond now, greater than before. They’d faced danger together and triumphed over it. They are unbeatable now.
To Be Continued...
Thanks so much for reading, and for everyone who expressed interest in this project! Please let me know what you think, I'd love any feedback or questions!
“most people who say they’re bisexual are actually straight and looking for attention” is a biphobic misconception and a statistical error. most people who say they’re bisexual are bisexual. misha collins, who lives in a cave, comes out as straight repeatedly, and commits 10000 attention stunts a year, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
