CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
He didn't want to go back to bed. He had millions of years for that. Not eternity, as Lisa said...she was just confused. He'd check in on her again in a few years, after she'd played her VR game. That might get her brain working again. He walked the corridors instead, down to the area where there was a tree. Not just any tree, of course, but the tree that had grown in his front garden back in his old life. Not that THEY knew that, of course, they thought it was just another thing put their by their captors to confuse them, a tree which was constantly maintained by nano-bots in the same we they were. Lisa had once made a long boring speech about how they and the tree were essentially exactly the same. She was wrong, of course. It was a tree, they were human.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He actually screamed in revulsion, so disquieting was what he saw.
Glen was sticking out of the tree, about six feet above the ground. Half his body appeared to be INSIE the tree...or part of the tree. And his skin was green. He was just suspended there, not moving. Stuart stepped closer. And Glen opened his eyes. Stuart gasped.
"Oh, hi Stu!" said Glen. "Long time. I told the nanos to wake me up if anyone came near. You're the first one!"
"Glen...what the fuck?"
"Glen...in a forest...get it?"
"You're in my...the tree! You're in the tree!"
"What were you going to say? In your way? Was that it? Were you on one of your scheduled walks and this was an unexepcted diversion? Sorry about that," and Glen chuckled, pleased with himself. He thought he was so smart. And, to be fair, he was.
"How did you get in the tree?" Stuart asked, hoping for a simple answer.
"Well, I was bored, as happens often. I thought to myself, you know, what haven't I done...actually more, what haven't I been. And I haven't been sticking out of a tree. I've never been that! So I asked the nanos...they flew me up here, very kind, binded me with the tree! It was a few years later that I actually had them changed the pigment of my skin to green, I must confess. No reason, just made me feel more...tree-ish! Isn't it great?"
"Well it's...something."
"More fun than a walk around the corridors once a century!"
"So the nanos just did it, with no protest? We're usually stopped from damaging that tree..."
"I'm not damaging it! Its structure, and mine, is still intact. It's more an illusion, really...parts of the tree are just displaced for a while while I'm up here. Looks cool though, at least? Give me that, Stu, throw me a few scraps at least."
"It looks like something you'd do," said Stuart, remembering the time Glen had the nano-bots change his feet into ducks. "Cool."
"Thank you," said Glen. "So, did you enjoy your walk?"
"I went to see Lisa."
"Ah, Lisa. Shagged her fourteen times one day. Good memory, I keep it with me. How is she?"
"She's waiting a few years to play her VR game again."
"Ah, VR, how quickly I tired of that."
"I quite like it."
"It can be fun, don't get me wrong. But it's not, well, it's not REAL, is it? I know, I know, it looks just like real life. It FEELS just like real life. It creates images directly in our brains, creates the proper pleasure and pain responses and everything...yet somehow, it never feels REAL. I'm always aware, on some level, that it's an illusion. Talking to you now, even in such an eccentric position, feels more real than any VR game I've played. Ah, but what is reality! Isn't eyesight just an illusion created in our minds? Of course, but it's...natural! I think that's the difference. I'll write an essay on it in 38 years when I'm finished here."
"You're going to be up there for 38 years?"
"I just decided right there that I am, yes."
"Well, umm, good luck...I'm walking right now..."
"Yes, yes, of course, I know how much you love your routines! I won't keep you."
"I'll be walking back here on the way home, I'll speak to you then."
"I'll be here! As long as it's in less than 38 years! Cheerio!"
"Bye, Glen."
He walked down the corridor a little then talked to the computer on a private channel Glen wouldn't be able to hear.
"Computer, is what he's doing...is it within the parameters I set?"
"WORKING...YES, SIR. YOU PLACED NO PROVISION AGAINST HIS ACTS."
"But it is unorthodox."
"SIR...THAT IS GLEN."
"Yes...I suppose it is...and it's only for another 38 years."
"SO YOU DO NOT WISH TO TERMINATE HIM?"
"Of course not."
"NOTED."
"Thank you."
"THANK YOU, SIR."
The computer always knew the right thing to say. And it was right, it was only Glen. Ah Glen, who had bullied Stuart at school for four years, not that he'd remember it now. He did keep memories of his old life stored in his room, he'd told Stuart so once...but, of course, only Stuart had access to those memories. He'd come a long way since then. It was surprising which of Stuart's guests had adapted to the situation the best and made the most of their new realities. He had thought Leslie would have still been flourishing, for example, so full of life she had once been. Sadly it was not the case.
He decided to go to the hospital wing to see her.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He actually screamed in revulsion, so disquieting was what he saw.
Glen was sticking out of the tree, about six feet above the ground. Half his body appeared to be INSIE the tree...or part of the tree. And his skin was green. He was just suspended there, not moving. Stuart stepped closer. And Glen opened his eyes. Stuart gasped.
"Oh, hi Stu!" said Glen. "Long time. I told the nanos to wake me up if anyone came near. You're the first one!"
"Glen...what the fuck?"
"Glen...in a forest...get it?"
"You're in my...the tree! You're in the tree!"
"What were you going to say? In your way? Was that it? Were you on one of your scheduled walks and this was an unexepcted diversion? Sorry about that," and Glen chuckled, pleased with himself. He thought he was so smart. And, to be fair, he was.
"How did you get in the tree?" Stuart asked, hoping for a simple answer.
"Well, I was bored, as happens often. I thought to myself, you know, what haven't I done...actually more, what haven't I been. And I haven't been sticking out of a tree. I've never been that! So I asked the nanos...they flew me up here, very kind, binded me with the tree! It was a few years later that I actually had them changed the pigment of my skin to green, I must confess. No reason, just made me feel more...tree-ish! Isn't it great?"
"Well it's...something."
"More fun than a walk around the corridors once a century!"
"So the nanos just did it, with no protest? We're usually stopped from damaging that tree..."
"I'm not damaging it! Its structure, and mine, is still intact. It's more an illusion, really...parts of the tree are just displaced for a while while I'm up here. Looks cool though, at least? Give me that, Stu, throw me a few scraps at least."
"It looks like something you'd do," said Stuart, remembering the time Glen had the nano-bots change his feet into ducks. "Cool."
"Thank you," said Glen. "So, did you enjoy your walk?"
"I went to see Lisa."
"Ah, Lisa. Shagged her fourteen times one day. Good memory, I keep it with me. How is she?"
"She's waiting a few years to play her VR game again."
"Ah, VR, how quickly I tired of that."
"I quite like it."
"It can be fun, don't get me wrong. But it's not, well, it's not REAL, is it? I know, I know, it looks just like real life. It FEELS just like real life. It creates images directly in our brains, creates the proper pleasure and pain responses and everything...yet somehow, it never feels REAL. I'm always aware, on some level, that it's an illusion. Talking to you now, even in such an eccentric position, feels more real than any VR game I've played. Ah, but what is reality! Isn't eyesight just an illusion created in our minds? Of course, but it's...natural! I think that's the difference. I'll write an essay on it in 38 years when I'm finished here."
"You're going to be up there for 38 years?"
"I just decided right there that I am, yes."
"Well, umm, good luck...I'm walking right now..."
"Yes, yes, of course, I know how much you love your routines! I won't keep you."
"I'll be walking back here on the way home, I'll speak to you then."
"I'll be here! As long as it's in less than 38 years! Cheerio!"
"Bye, Glen."
He walked down the corridor a little then talked to the computer on a private channel Glen wouldn't be able to hear.
"Computer, is what he's doing...is it within the parameters I set?"
"WORKING...YES, SIR. YOU PLACED NO PROVISION AGAINST HIS ACTS."
"But it is unorthodox."
"SIR...THAT IS GLEN."
"Yes...I suppose it is...and it's only for another 38 years."
"SO YOU DO NOT WISH TO TERMINATE HIM?"
"Of course not."
"NOTED."
"Thank you."
"THANK YOU, SIR."
The computer always knew the right thing to say. And it was right, it was only Glen. Ah Glen, who had bullied Stuart at school for four years, not that he'd remember it now. He did keep memories of his old life stored in his room, he'd told Stuart so once...but, of course, only Stuart had access to those memories. He'd come a long way since then. It was surprising which of Stuart's guests had adapted to the situation the best and made the most of their new realities. He had thought Leslie would have still been flourishing, for example, so full of life she had once been. Sadly it was not the case.
He decided to go to the hospital wing to see her.
