Spirited here

Cy rose from his tank and slowly dried off his body. The towel was rough against his paper thin skin, but he managed to dry himself without causing any bleeding. His eyes were closed as they adjusted to the bright lights in his cell. He hit the switch and his cheap tub cover slapped over the churning fluids. He set the tub’s cleaning cycle as it was better to filter out the skin and hair when he wasn’t in it.

He stumbled over to the part of the cell where he kept his meat maintenance kit. The kit had all the consumables missing as Cy didn’t bother to replace the protein bars. The fluid kept him reasonably nourished and he hated to use his teeth to chew. He found his electric clippers and managed to shave off the wispy mane of hair around his head and face by feel alone.

Cy’s eyes finally adjusted to the brightness of the very dim white LED in the corner, and he found his black burqa. He tossed it over his head and his grey flesh was now well hidden. Only his eyes were visible through the mesh face plate if he changed the polarity to clear. Right now, his eyes were well hidden behind the mirrored plate. His legs shook from the effort of keeping himself upright as he usually only left his cell once a week for work.

He whistled lowly and a wheelchair unfolded out of one of the cell walls. Cy stepped and fell into his wheelchair and sat for a moment. He paused from the exertion and started to take deep breaths to calm himself. Leaving the cell was always stressful and Cy focused on his breathing to ready himself for the rest of the day.

Cy punched his destination into his wheelchair. The chair determined the optimal route and Cy confirmed the plan. The chair moved out of Cy’s cell into the hive itself. The vast pit of the hive’s central comb trailed into deep darkness. Cy rolled past his unknown neighbors and he saw the tens of thousands of strangers that he lived with in this hive. Only numbers were placed on a hive cell door and these randomly changed each week so that privacy was maintained. He always wondered if his friends lived here as well, but that was not something anybody would share to anybody except their mate in a shared tub relationship. It was an older practice that his parents followed; however, Cy barely remembered anything from his childhood. The tub’s experiences tended to push out memories of the past. It was part of the price of living virtually and everyone just accepted that memories from meat driven experiences were not important to keep.

The chair left the hive and entered the subway. The lights in the station were as minimal as possible. Most people would try to find an unlit spot while they waited for the train in the blackness. Cy could make out others rolling near him but he kept his eyes averted as looking at people’s meat was rude. His train arrived smoothly and his chair slotted into an open space. The train’s door silently closed and the lights inside turned off. Cy and the other passengers rode in darkness and were left with their own thoughts. He couldn’t tell, but he expected that most of his fellow passengers were sleeping and waiting for their chairs to wake them at their stop.

Cy prepared himself for the day’s task. His master needed his annual rise. Cy’s master, Kane, required his presence as was typical for a fleshman like Cy. Cy recited the ritual in his head as Kane was very much a traditionalist and insisted on the full formal rite to be performed. He had heard from other fleshmen that other masters would just summarize it all and barely get their head out of the tank. That made Cy jealous; Kane expected the full ceremony and would not even consider a compromise.

Cy, as a fleshman, also needed to do this task alone as it was deeply private. Normally he worked with a team to support Kane and his social, business and romantic lives. Kane, his master, employed Cy and uncountable others he barely knew existed. Cy had worked for years in those jobs before getting the prized fleshman position for a rich master like Kane.

The train arrived at the uptown station. Cy’s wheelchair provided the security tag that allowed him to exit at the station. The station was well secured as it belonged to Kane and he only expected Cy to use it. The chair took Cy out into the station and it entered the elevator. Cy rode silently in the dark and the elevator doors slid open silently. The trip on the elevator gave Cy a bit of vertigo as it whistled up an uncountable distance upwards.

The chair rode through a palatial marble foyer dimly lit by amber LEDs. Kane’s statue, an idealized man holding a thunderbolt, gleamed as he rolled by to the vestibule. Cy stood up from his chair with great effort and opened the panel in his burqa to expose his eyes. The vestibule recognized Cy and opened. He slowly stumbled forward towards Kane’s tank.

Kane’s internal chamber, where he kept his tank, was nearly as large as a floor in Cy’s hive. The entire chamber allowed for complete holographic immersion, or at least as much immersion as one can have without using a tank. The fleshman expertly worked the hidden controls in the dark marble and he started Kane’s emergence routines.

Kane’s tank was made of solid marble and the processors that ringed the vestibule showed Kane’s vast wealth. The sheer number of processors were built as an army of terracotta warriors with their associated memory as painted clothing and weapons. Even without the custom cases, the processors and memory would cost Cy hundreds of lifetimes to purchase. Cy turned away from the tank and put his hands together in prayer. “Please awaken, master. See the world again.”

The marble lid slowly and silently opened behind Cy’s back. Cy heard, but did not turn to, Kane as he slowly rose from the tank. Kane spoke “I am risen. I will walk and see” as the fluids sluiced off his unknowable flesh. The floor channeled and guided the loose fluid from the tank into an awaiting drain.

The vestibule’s walls showed a poppy field and green rolling hills suddenly. Cy’s eyes adjusted to the new brightness. He kept perfectly still and, as expected, tried to become part of the wall. There were spaces carved in for him to be out of Kane’s sight, but not more than an arm length away at any time. Cy listened carefully as he was there to help Kane should he fall during his walk.

Kane’s steps were wet and heavy. Cy counted carefully. Kane remarked “The world is still as beautiful as ever”. Cy recited his part “Yes, it is” and believed that Kane might be looking at the fake poppies.

Cy counted ten steps and said “ten”. Kane replied, “I’ll do twenty.” Cy cursed to himself and was poised for a fall. He changed the vestibule’s scenery to a forest of cherry blossom trees in full bloom in hope that Kane would be motivated by his favorite vestibule screen saver. The petals seemed to float through the room. Kane’s steps became less certain and the slow beat slowed further.

Cy had counted eighteen, but Kane had stopped walking. Cy waited, wondered if he should help, but hoped and prayed he could just stay hidden. He had never had to touch Kane, but as he aged, the master had become stubborn about what he could accomplish during those rites.

Kane’s steps continued. Cy stopped holding his breath. Kane remarked “I descend peacefully as all is right in the world.” Cy offered, “Yes, all is well. Go back and live, master.” Kane slipped into the tank and the lid closed silently behind him.

Cy breathed a sigh of relief and the vestibule darkened immediately as he snapped off the emergence script. He touched a panel in the room and a hidden door opened. Cy walked slowly down the hall to the maintenance room.

The fluid levels were good, but the biofilm filtering needed to be cleaned out. He pulled the tray from the machine and sprayed it down with a nearby hose. He checked the screen for any digits, an ear or nose. If Kane’s meat needed a fix, he’d need to order the parts from his family DNA bank and have them printed out in the tub for him. The tub would do the work as Kane had a medical pod installed. Kane was, as mentioned, getting older and he’d decided that he needed to settle down and start a family.

He checked the brain interfaces and Kane’s mental state was laid out in front of him. Kane’s satisfaction level was in the green, which was Cy’s primary KPI, and the other measures were acceptable. The biofilm filter was dry enough now to replace and Cy slotted it back into the machine.

Cy then checked the social calendar for the week. Cy took a deep breath in as he read about the beach party that was required from his team. He started to write a tubmail but decided to finish in the tub versus using his meat to type.

Cy looked around and was satisfied his day was done. He headed out of the room and collapsed into his chair exhausted from the effort. The chair knew what was next and started the trip back to Cy’s hive.