CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
The sex wasn't bad. Wasn't particularly good either. Just a replay, really. They had all long ago lost the ability to feel pleasure through simple physical acts, so the nano-bots, as they often did, had stepped in to compensate. They had a program for sexual pleasure which they would play into their host's body, different everytime, always surprising. This worked, for a while. But, eventually, Stuart and the rest even got used to that. Though the particular pleasure they experienced everytime they had sex was randomly generated by the nano-bots, they still eventually worked out how the programming work, ironically enough with their nano-bot enhanced brains. So even these random feelings of pleasure couldn't surprise them and sex became routine again. The nano-bots had been working on the problem for years, but Stuart and freinds very rarely had sex anymore so it was hardly pressing. The sex with John had been very by the numbers. Still, Stuart liked to have sex at least once everytime he went for a walk. Just like he always had a long walk in the garden.
It was amazing, he used to observe, how convincing the garden was. It really really looked like it was outside. It was years before he noticed the seams. Of course, once he noticed them, the small imperfections, he could notice nothing else. Still, at least it LOOK different from the corridors and the rooms of the facility. All nice and green. He strolled along slowly, trying to walk in a slightly different way than he had the last time (every footstep was memorised), the artificial sun shining down on him.
It wasn't long before he realised someone was watching him.
He saw a shape darting behind the bushes. He kept walking, pretending he hadn't seen. May as well let Susan play her game, because of course it was her.
She jumped out, dressed as a cat, her "claws" raised, hissing at him. He forgot to act surprised.
"MIAOW!" she said, jumping on him. His first love. In his old life, of course. Before she was mad. He was quite impressed by her madness, because unlike Glen and even John she'd never admit to being mad. She'd never sit down and analyse her madness. She didn't seem to make plans to appear more mad. She was just mad. Most of the time. He'd calculate that she was lucid for 8% of the time whenever he talked to her.
"Hi, sexy," he said, though of course he found nothing sexy about her. He could have asked the nano-bots to pump some sexual feeling into him to go along with the greeting, but he was too apathetic.
"PURRR PURRRRRRRRR!"
"Yes, quite."
"PURRRR! KITTY WANT SOME MILK!" And she started licking his face.
"I'm sure your android would prepare you a saucer," he said.
"PURRR! ME NO LIKELY ANN-DWOID! ME SCARTCH ITS LEGS! PURRRR!"
"Uh huh."
"MIAOW!"
"Yep."
"MIAOW!"
"I was just out for a walk, you know."
"Oh, really?" she said, suddenly standing up and completely dropping the cat mannerisms.
"Yeah. Saw Glen in a tree, saw the glenbot, had sex with John, visited Leslie..."
"Leslie. I still wonder, sometimes, what happened to her. I think it was me, you know. I used to punch her. It was back when I concluded that only I am real and the rest of you are illusions. I know, we've all had that thought. But I REALLY believed in it! I was horrible to her."
"I'm sure that wasn't it. We've all been horrible to each other, over the years."
"Quite true."
"Susan, while you're in the 8%, tell me something...do you remember your old life, before you came here?"
"I remember that I HAD one...just not the details. Who cares! I'M A CAT NOW! PURRRR!" And she went into cat mode.
"Great. Bye," said Stuart, just walking away. He was a little angry. He wanted badly, he realised, to connect with someone. He thought he'd gotten over that long ago, long LONG ago. But that thought would never go away. Always it came back. Which made sense, of course. He would always want to connect with someone. That was the whole reason he and all these other people were here!
Susan was too mad, John too stupid, Lisa too depressed and Glen too...probably too smart, if he was being honest. There was no one. Or was there?
He decided to pay a visit to the twins.
It was amazing, he used to observe, how convincing the garden was. It really really looked like it was outside. It was years before he noticed the seams. Of course, once he noticed them, the small imperfections, he could notice nothing else. Still, at least it LOOK different from the corridors and the rooms of the facility. All nice and green. He strolled along slowly, trying to walk in a slightly different way than he had the last time (every footstep was memorised), the artificial sun shining down on him.
It wasn't long before he realised someone was watching him.
He saw a shape darting behind the bushes. He kept walking, pretending he hadn't seen. May as well let Susan play her game, because of course it was her.
She jumped out, dressed as a cat, her "claws" raised, hissing at him. He forgot to act surprised.
"MIAOW!" she said, jumping on him. His first love. In his old life, of course. Before she was mad. He was quite impressed by her madness, because unlike Glen and even John she'd never admit to being mad. She'd never sit down and analyse her madness. She didn't seem to make plans to appear more mad. She was just mad. Most of the time. He'd calculate that she was lucid for 8% of the time whenever he talked to her.
"Hi, sexy," he said, though of course he found nothing sexy about her. He could have asked the nano-bots to pump some sexual feeling into him to go along with the greeting, but he was too apathetic.
"PURRR PURRRRRRRRR!"
"Yes, quite."
"PURRRR! KITTY WANT SOME MILK!" And she started licking his face.
"I'm sure your android would prepare you a saucer," he said.
"PURRR! ME NO LIKELY ANN-DWOID! ME SCARTCH ITS LEGS! PURRRR!"
"Uh huh."
"MIAOW!"
"Yep."
"MIAOW!"
"I was just out for a walk, you know."
"Oh, really?" she said, suddenly standing up and completely dropping the cat mannerisms.
"Yeah. Saw Glen in a tree, saw the glenbot, had sex with John, visited Leslie..."
"Leslie. I still wonder, sometimes, what happened to her. I think it was me, you know. I used to punch her. It was back when I concluded that only I am real and the rest of you are illusions. I know, we've all had that thought. But I REALLY believed in it! I was horrible to her."
"I'm sure that wasn't it. We've all been horrible to each other, over the years."
"Quite true."
"Susan, while you're in the 8%, tell me something...do you remember your old life, before you came here?"
"I remember that I HAD one...just not the details. Who cares! I'M A CAT NOW! PURRRR!" And she went into cat mode.
"Great. Bye," said Stuart, just walking away. He was a little angry. He wanted badly, he realised, to connect with someone. He thought he'd gotten over that long ago, long LONG ago. But that thought would never go away. Always it came back. Which made sense, of course. He would always want to connect with someone. That was the whole reason he and all these other people were here!
Susan was too mad, John too stupid, Lisa too depressed and Glen too...probably too smart, if he was being honest. There was no one. Or was there?
He decided to pay a visit to the twins.
