Technopenuriaphobia

"I refuse to believe that the mining of H.O.P.E is a mistake! It is man's destiny to be an explorer, and transluminum has offered humanity a massive leap in the endless territories of technological progress! Any attempt to put a stop to this work is an insult to science, to freedom, to miracles and to the future itself, and I will not stand for it! I will do whatever it takes to send humanity to the next level of its evolution!"

- excerpt from Tony Musk's speech at the Emergency Space Committee, year 2223

"Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say..."

"Fuck no, not again" mumbles the man next to him, his words barely audible behind the curtains of his grey moustache.

The gloomy music coming from the three-dimensional display shifts into an awful upbeat jingle. "That’s becauseeeee they haven't tried our very very brand new AcoustiX helmet! Stylish and unbreakable, made of 99% natural transluminum, the state-of-the-art space helmet takes the shape of any…"

"Nature fucking damn it” shouts the man at the display, "I'm sick of these ads. Transluminum this, transluminum that! Who on Earth has enough units for this kind of crap?" He eyes the seated passengers, "Oh right, you all do!" The little amount of spit that made it past his mustache is dribbling all over his beard.

The man reminds him of that character Merlin from the comic books at the Museum of Humanity. The same gray, hairy, smelly, dirty clothes and a big mouth, but not nearly as wise. Definitely not the kind of character he expected on an elite shuttle. He thinks about his destination, are these the kinds of nut cases he will have to deal with in the capital? The stench is already unbearable, how will he cope with a whole week of it? He quietly removes his seatbelt, casually slides out of his seat and sits in the empty one across. Of the dozen seats that spread in both directions, nobody seems to notice him moving except for the little girl to his right and Merlin who is now scrutinizing him from the opposite row. The other passengers are either looking at the promotional display that hovers between both rows, at a device in their hands or are staring lifelessly at the wall in front of them, probably with their iLenses activated.

He turns to investigate the annoying hissing coming from behind. Air is flowing through a tiny ventilation at the bottom of the window. With a soft pinch of his earlobe he activates his noise-cancelling earbuds. Outside, the sky is relatively clear and except for the occasional privatized hovercraft that hums as it flies past the shuttle, there is nothing in sight. There are no buildings, no charging station, no floating restaurants. Only a desolate rocky desert spreads between him and the horizon. He must be thousands of kilometers away from Dahshur by now. The thought scares him as he has never been that far from home before. He shivers as he rests his head on the foggy window. The sight of traffic below shocks him. From this altitude, vehicles in the lower lanes look like tiny ants in a queue that seems to go as far as he can see, in the same direction as the shuttle is flying. What a relief to be observing this sight from up here. Although unaware that elite shuttles had access to the higher sky-lanes, he is not surprised, considering who runs the service. The sky strikes him as overly dim, the ozone shield should be letting in more sunlight by now. He blinks his left eye, activating his 10th generation iLens, and a clock appears on the top left corner of his vision. 8:44 AM. The blinking white digits blend perfectly with the background. Welcome back Rami, it looks like the display was shut off accidentally last time, would you like to recover lost pages? With a simple combination of blinking and conscious thinking, he accepts, and the text is replaced by two spinning white dots. Website loading... Within a few seconds, the loading page vanishes and a big title appears at the top. EARTHBABES.TV: Your Banquet of Eroticism. Thumbnails appear one after the other, showing moaning women with big breasts, close-ups of abnormally large penises, all shapes of vaginas, and orgies of people performing all sorts of acrobatic sexual activities. He quickly closes the page, his eyes darting around, as if somebody could see it. The mad man is now standing under the screen.

Rami winks at the newspaper icon at the bottom of his vision. The Mad World Today: Your daily digest of unwarped, unbiased & awesomely useful news! He checks the headlines. Space-mining giant 'AstroQuarry' goes public with Asteroid H.O.P.E! The flabbergasting move is - allegedly - an attempt to render transluminum more affordable for… EVERYONE! Yes, you read that right! To quote Tony Musk, President of the mother company FuturisNow, "it is the God-given right of every man on earth to reach the farthest corners of this universe!" Wanna know what we think about that? WHAT ABOUT WOMEN?! Wink here for our full - totally neutral, we promise - report. Rami scratches his chin and, out of respect for the man, he refuses to go along with his curiosity. His admiration turns into excitement as he wonders how it would be like to accidentally run into Mr. Musk on his first day, or if he would personally be supervising the apprenticeship. He grabs tightly onto his red backpack as the thought leaves him with a buzzing nervousness. The mad man is still standing in the center of the shuttle and seems to be holding a speech. Intrigued, Rami deactivates his earbuds.

"Because you've all become fucking Zombies! Or robots! Or robot zombies!"

None of the passengers are paying any attention to the man, except for the frightened little girl staring at him, hands clutched onto her mother’s arm. Her mother is completely absorbed by the advertising screen. Uninterested, Rami dives back into his silent world and reads the next headline. Radical Environmentalism or Radical Vandalism? Notorious band of misfits, the Radical Dreamers, strike again! This time targeting the Katameya Resort in the Fifth Settlement, filling up all the golf holes with cement and damaging the lawn. A wooden pole was left in one of the holes with the following message: ‘This hole drinks 277,000 liters of water per day, do you drink as much?! #SorryGrass’ What a legend! Legend? Rami huffs as he slides to the next headline. A text box pops up, invading most of his vision. Ever been curious what people look like under their clothes? No need to imagine anymore! Try this FREE filter for 7 days !!!! Another flashing box appears below the first one. Wink here to install naked vision filter! He scans discreetly both rows of the shuttle, from left to right. Disappointed, he winks at the tiny and almost invisible x on the corner of the box. Behind it, the man is still standing, his face looks volcano red and his veins are almost popping out of his temples. Rami turns off his earbuds.

"And I know how this Mister Musk man is turning you all into zombies!"

Rami’s curiosity gets the best of him.

"I'm telling you people, everything we need is right here under our feet," the man stomps his foot repeatedly on the floor, "and yet we blindly step over everything, looking towards the stars, because we're hoping to find our salvation there! What if we took responsibility for our…”

"Oi mate!" shouts a man from the far right of Rami’s row. “Some of us have serious work to do and need some peace of mind right now.”

The mad man looks towards the voice with a hostile glare. “Who said that?!”

Some of the passengers finally start to lift their eyes off their devices.

“I did” replies the other man.

Rami wrestles with his seatbelt as he tries to bend forward and look towards the mysterious voice. All he can make out of the man is a pair of luxurious leather shoes and a dark blue suit.

“What is it that you’re trying to say?!” retorts the standing man.

“What I'm trying to say is why don't you do us all a favor and shut your senile shit-talking mouth piece?"

The woman clasps her hands around her daughters head to cover her ears.

"Why don’t you go fuck a droid mister nice suit?" says the mad man.

"How about you stop complaining and do something real about it? How's that for responsibility?" replies the other man.

A few mocking laughs follow the bold question. Through the corner of his left eye, Rami notices something moving in the front of the shuttle. Beneath the panoramic window, a dark gray sphere about the size of a bowling ball slides out of the hull. It moves slowly towards the man standing in the middle, emitting a low vibration hum as it floats through the air.

"Me complain?!” The mad man throws his fist towards the other man, “What do you know abo..."

"Sir, please lower your volume by seventy-five percent immediately and take your pass out for inspection" says a shrill robotic voice coming from the drone.

The mad man looks at the drone surprised. "My huh?"

"Please take out your elite pass now, sir."

"Umm” he scratches the top of his head. “What pass?”

Rami can’t help but feel jealous of the man's boldness. He would never dare to dodge transport security.

"Sir, if you do not have a pa..." continues the drone.

"Oh, wait!" shouts the man enthusiastically, "Wait! Wait! I think I have one!" He puts his hands in his back pockets. "Ah yes, there it is!”

Most passengers look eagerly at him. The man turns around and slides his pants down. His ass, white as snow, shines at the drone while his two middle fingers stick out.

"Here's my pass, robot sir!"

Rami can't hide the smirk on his face as the woman squeaks while covering her giggling daughter's eyes.

"Boarding sky transports without the proper pass is an infringement of Law 53C of the Global Codex and is subject to sanction."

"Ya ya ya! Na na na!" sings the man as he hops in circles.

"Disrespecting a drone on duty is an infringement of law 144T of the Global Codex and is subject to sanction. Remain seated until the next stop, where an agent will handle your unit deduction process."

"Disrespecting a drone? Are you fucking serious?!” The man furiously looks at the other passengers and Rami immediately looks at the floor as their eyes meet. “Am I the only one who sees the insanity in all of this?”

"Sir, sit down immediately.”

“What’s next?!” Shouts the man. “Fucking robots are going to tell us, humans, that we’re hurting their feelings?" He spits on the drone. "Ha!"

“Sir, this is your last warning, sit down immediately!” The sudden aggression in the drone's voice electrifies Rami in his seat.

"Make me, Chappie."

A small hatch opens at the bottom of the drone from which a mechanical arm the size of a small cannon slides out. It lets out a buzz as it points at the man’s face, which becomes pale as he freezes there, looking like he is about to pee his pants.

"Do not move sir, a squadron will arrive shortly to escort you. Failure to comply will result in the use of necessary force."

The little girl bumps into Rami as the shuttle comes to a sudden stop and the advertisement music ceases. The display screen shows instead an animation of two shuttles hovering side-to-side, and a blinking red arrow going from one shuttle to the other, repeatedly. Rami’s heart races in his chest as he looks at the screen.

"Dear passengers, due to minor disturbance you will be switched to a different shuttle. Please remain seated, keep your safety belt attached and put on the breathing mask located at the side of your seat. Thank you for your cooperation, we wish you a pleasant ride."

The sounds of protest and complaints that fill the shuttle are nothing compared to the boiling happening inside of Rami. He has been in a shuttle switch before. It was not the most pleasant experience, especially after he vomited in his mask, and then on a pretty woman and her pet gnark. Even though his hover-mechanics professor had clearly explained that it made no difference to the risk because "gravity doesn't care whether you are inside or outside a flying vehicle, either way, it sounds like spleukh." There was something about being on a floating seat outside a shuttle, thousands of meters above the ground, that made a huge difference, and logic couldn’t really change that.

"Yay mommy, we're gonna fly!"

Rami’s nostrils flare as he stares at the little girl’s unexplainable excitement. A freezing wind slaps him in the neck and his whole body tenses as the side of the shuttle opens up behind him. He tries to soothe his panic by considering that switches are perhaps not as rough on elite shuttles. He shakes his head. He looks at the little girl next to him, and something about her big obnoxious smile makes him panic even more. He puts on his mask, closes his eyes and holds on tightly to his backpack. His shoes start to drag over the floor, the seat is moving. He holds on tighter to his backpack. A mighty wind suddenly punches him, he is outside. The sound is unbearable, he covers his ear with one hand. He is shivering, he wraps his other arm around whatever bare skin he manages to cover. His backpack is slipping, he holds it. His whole body is shaking, he wraps his arm around the straps and curls up. He breathes heavily through his mouth and stops moving. The most horrible of endings play through his mind. The soles of his shoes hit something. The wind quiets down. It's warmer. Aaahhh. The seat stops moving. His body relaxes. He survived.

“I wanna do it again mommy!”

He keeps his eyes shut, wishing he had done that the last time, instead of looking down. He removes his mask and a particular scent gently infiltrates his nostrils. It is familiar to him. Not a perfume, it isn’t as strong. It’s organic. Fresh. Moist. It is so different from any smell he has come across since… Yes, he remembers, it smells like the botanical room at university. He loves that room, something about that smell relaxes him. He opens his eyes and is surprised to see bare feet to his left. He looks at the seat that was empty just moments ago, to find a woman is sitting there. Not just any woman, she looks like everything he has ever dreamed of in a woman. He stares at her, entranced by her divine looks. She turns her head his way and before she can see his eyes, he glances away to stare awkwardly at the ceiling. A few seconds pass and she is still looking his way. He gives up the game and looks back down. His eyes land on her shiny hazel eyes and he gets lost in them, like a speck of glitter stranded on her eyelashes. She stares back at him, blankly. Her skin glows and appears to be as soft as cream, yet she wears no cosmetics. Her beauty is natural, one that is difficult to stumble upon these days. She gently runs her fingers up her fringe and smiles at him. He smiles back in disbelief and, like a dream coming true, he feels her hand touching the side of his thigh. Hormones kick in and his smile turns into a goofy grin as he starts to fantasize about calling in sick and where she could be taking him. Thrilled to grab her hand, he looks down eagerly, reaching for her… gun!

"HOLY SH"

"Shhhh" she whispers as she puts her finger on his lips.

Faced with the deadly beauty of this woman and a gun pointing at his thigh, Rami is paralyzed.

She unfastens his seatbelt. "Just do as I say and everything will be alright.” The hairs on his arm stand straight as she whispers into his ear.

He stares at her, speechless.

"We'll wait until the last seats hover onto this shuttle," she points towards the opening, "and move to the edge together, alrighty?"

She takes his backpack and wears it on her left shoulder. He looks desperately around the shuttle, nobody seems to notice what is happening to him. He feels the gun suddenly moving from his thigh to his groin.

“It’s game over if you try anything funny.”

Shaken by her words and distracted by the warmth of her skin as she softly wraps her hand around his biceps, he nods obediently. The last seats lock into position and only one remains on the other shuttle. The mad man is sitting on it and the drone is still pointing his cannon at him.

"Okay, go" she whispers as she nods her head towards the empty space between the seats.

Too overwhelmed to respond, Rami doesn't budge. She pushes him out of his seat and stands behind him. Holding his arm with one hand and pointing the gun at his back with the other, she guides him as he slowly makes his way towards the edge. He freezes as he gets closer. Seeing the ground so far below makes him dizzy. He takes a quick glance around and except for the little girl who eyes him suspiciously, there is still no savior in sight. A small light of hope fills his heart as he notices the drone turning this direction and hovering towards them.

"NOW!"

He startles as the woman screams from behind him. A high-pitched whistle pierces through the room from the very far right. The passengers turn their heads towards the loud sound. The man in the suit stands there, as large as two men standing side by side, his head almost touching the ceiling. Rami glimpses a silhouette gliding past the opening. A massive bird of prey spears towards the drone, grabs it with its huge yellow claws and knocks it on the wall with such immense force that it drops dead on the floor like a steel marble. Rami marvels at the majestic creature, he has seen drawings of it before. He remembers its name. A hawk, or a falcon, or is it an eagle? It doesn’t matter, they should all be extinct! How could he be staring at one?

The whole shuttle fills with panic.

“Oh mommy!” The little girl pulls on her mom’s dress as she points at the bird. “It’s so pretty!”

"Stop panicking!” shouts the woman with the gun. She elbows Rami, “Okay now you need to jump on the other shuttle!”

He shakes his head, she pushes him again. He almost falls in the bottomless void and as he stands at the edge, he wonders whether he deleted his iLens browsing history, nobody should see it after his death. At least thirty centimeters separate both shuttles, he shakes his head again, he refuses to try. He steps back frightened, and feel the pressure of the gun. This way is not an option either.

"Come on man," she pleads with him, "we don't have much time!"

He freezes and drops to the floor.

She looks at him puzzled. "Seriously…?”

He curls up like a ball.

“Change of plan Jan Margen!" she shouts at the man in the other shuttle. "We've got a fraidy one here" she adds with disappointment.

"No time for that Roxxie" replies Jan Margen from the other shuttle, "just push him."

"What?!"

"He'll get over it" he answers casually as he inspects some wires coming out of the knocked-out drone.

"No need for that" says a deep voice coming from behind Roxxie.

Rami recognizes the abnormally large leather shoes that are now standing in front of his face.

“Aw Teddy” says Roxxie affectionately, “I almost forgot about you.”

Rami looks up at the giant who smiles down at him. "Jan doesn’t know how to treat guests, but don’t worry, I’ll take care of you."

Frightened by the size of the man, Rami shuts his eyes as Teddy picks him up, takes a few steps back and runs towards the edge, leaping like a horse into the other shuttle. He gently lays Rami on the floor and walks towards the bird that flaps its wings upon seeing the man.

“Hey there Pretty.” He crouches and rests his hand on the floor in front of the bird.

It lets out a single, soft, high-pitched note as it steps off the drone and hops on Teddy’s wrist. He brings it closer to his face and it rests its forehead on his nose, rubbing it affectionately. The shuttle doors start to shut. Roxxie looks at the confused passengers frozen in their seats, and slams her gun onto the floor. It breaks into little pieces that slide towards the little girl’s mother who stares at the fake replica, her mouth opened in a silent scream.

“Can I have a toy like that? Please mommy!”

“See?” Roxxie grins at the mother. “No need to panic.” She throws the red backpack onto the first shuttle and makes the jump. She lands next to Rami's head, who is still lying there like a dead fish. He looks up at her, eyes wide open, as she leans towards him until their noses almost touch and stares at him, curiously observing every inch of his face.

“Is this what denial looks like?”

Rami's iLens blinks 9:00 AM. A bright light peeks through the windows and the whole shuttle shines. It makes Roxxie's face radiate like an angel's as she looks down at him. In the midst of this chaos, he feels himself calming down as he stares at her. For a moment, he feels like home. Her angelic fingers move towards his face. They land on his cheek and softly slide towards his forehead. Appeased by this gentle moment, he smiles at her. Then he lets out a shriek as she pokes his left eye.

“Let me take this shit out for you!” She struggles to keep him still while at the same time reaching into his eye.

Teddy laughs as he strokes the bird's wing while Rami tries to push the crazy woman away. She doesn't hesitate to use her strength and he moans in pain as she slams his head onto the floor.

Roxxie stands back up. "Eric mentioned that you didn't talk much," she mumbles as she stares curiously at the lens between her fingers. "You must be lacking human interaction with this tech addiction, ha?"

The crackling sound of his iLens being crushed between her fingers gives him chills. “No!” He begs.

“Pesky little thing" she says as she proudly drops the tiny pieces on the floor.

Surprised by Rami’s watery eyes, she suddenly looks at him with sympathy. "Oh wow, you really cherish this stuff…" Her voice softens. "Don't worry, you’ll be a new man without it, I promise.” She reaches inside her shirt and takes a colorful cloth out from her bra. "I need to put this on you now, okay?" She gently wraps it around Rami's head, and ties it at the back, completely blinding him.

"This thing in your ear, on the other hand, might be useful for now."

Rami feels a tender touch on his earlobes and then, he can’t hear a thing, except for the faint humming of his own ears. The shuttle starts to move again, but differently this time, not quite as smoothly as before. What can these crazy people want from him? The big man called him ‘guest’, what can it mean? The infinite horrors of what could happen next flash through his mind and overwhelm him. The cloth smells of Roxxie and, somehow, focusing on it brings him peace. Her voice echoes in his silent darkness, "don't worry", she says and he falls into a deep slumber.

It’s pitch black, the cloth is still wrapped around his head. He is sitting, it's smooth under his butt. His back is upright, leaning on a rough surface. His hands seem to be tied around his knees which are drawn to his chest. There is a strong smell in the air, similar to Roxxie's scent, but stronger, much stronger. He senses movement around him. Crunching sounds on the ground, people walking, things moving. A whistle. A flapping sound above him. Then nothing. Silence again, but a special kind of silence. A breeze blows gently and a soft rustling sound accompanies it. It is a rare kind of silence, one that cannot be experienced in the city, in transports, or anywhere else he can imagine as a matter of fact. Other than the wind, it seems like the whole world has vanished from this place and time. It is the kind of silence that invokes stillness. A stillness that awakens a man’s long lost inner voice.

What is this place?

A deep and soothing voice breaks the silence. "Aho Rami."

This voice.

"I cannot even imagine how you must be feeling right now."

I’ve heard it before.

"I went through this moment quite a few times in my head, and now that you are finally here, I honestly do not know where to start."

Such a familiar voice.

The voice gets very close to his face. "Before I take this thing off your eyes…”

Yes, I remember!

“Well, I guess I can’t really ask you to trust me at this point...”

Can it truly be him?

“Trust is earned… I only hope that one day you will forgive us for our methods.”

Roxxie mentioned the name.

The veil lifts off and the young man is crouching in front of Rami, facing him at eye-level.

Eric! It is him!

He smiles at Radi and the three folks from the shuttle stand behind the man. All around, an abundance of greenery spreads as far as Rami can see. Leaves of all shades of green cover the ground, from which tall grass and all sorts of plants and colorful flowers grow. Rami thought such a place only exists in history books. He is sitting in a shaded spot. The craggy surface he is leaning on is round, brown and large. It stands so tall above him that it almost touches the sky, where it spreads in all directions, becoming thinner and turning into leaves. The same that cover the ground around him. He is awestruck as he recognizes what it is.

How can it be?

"A tree?" Rami asks.

"Welcome to technopenuria land.” Eric puts his hand on Rami's shoulder. "Or as I like to call it, the secret camp of Radical Dreamers. Make yourself at home brother.”

Chapter Two - A Secret Wonderland

Yes there is glory in the ozone shield, how could I deny the protection it offers us from the scorching rays of the sun? But let us not forget why that armor needed to be built around our Earth in the first place. Let us not forget that it is the very same worship of technology that pushed humans to destroy the ozone layer. Let us not forget that a natural shield once stood there, and that our ancestors bathed in the sunlight like gods and greeted the sun like a companion. Let us remember the doubled-edged sword of technology.

- Earth of a Free and Natural Adult, by Eric Eisenstein.