Lex Vignettes 7
I awoke for the first time in the outcity in a bed.
My face was throbbing, swollen and bruised from the falls I'd taken learning on the stripwear. My ribs hurt, too, and I could feel the dirt clinging to my body, crusty in the scabs and caked blood where my body had met the ground.
The Stripwear, sensing I was awake began to organize itself, and I could feel little breezes as it swished through the air above my skin, lifting itself ever so slightly away from my body and unweaving itself from the blanket it had formed while I slept.
I know I shouldn't marvel at the technology, we're surrounded by so much of it now. I guess the thing that's different about stripwear is the marvelous gumption of it. Most technology today attempts to hide itself, to become part of the organic landscape, disappear out of conscious recognition.
This house was certainly a perfect example of that. Every detail of the aging mansion was no-doubt meticulously kept up by nanosystems and smart materials. The only evidence of this was the slight shimmer to many of the cracks in the ancient wood. Nearly invisible, you could just make out the spider-web like nanotube linkages in the way they splintered the sunlight as it passed over them. I could imagine the little machines, applying their microscopic wires to keep the structure stable and keep the wood from crumbling away.
I walked around the room aimlessly, stretching my battered body, and taking in the history of what I was seeing.
This was one of the things I was going to enjoy most about being outcity; the ability to see the roots of where we came from everywhere, all around me, without having to go look at holographic representations a museum.
"You're awake I see" I heard a gruff woman's say from behind me, by the doorway.
I turned, smiling. Sheila was the one person I was happy to see in this surrounding. Memories of the last night flooded through my head, images of her taking me in, showing me the various balms and antiseptics to apply to my wounds, and then sending me off to sleep in this room.
I didn't take much persuasion. It had been a long day for me, and my body was still getting used to not living a latent lifestyle.
"Yeah, sorry about that. What time is it?" I asked. We both knew that I could just check my terminal as simply closing my eyes, but it was nice to play the social game again. It'd been ages since I'd talked to anyone except avatars on newnet and my guide.
"Coming on 7:30. It's early yet, but I'd like to get you moving before the boys wake up. I can always keep 'em at bay for a night for a visitor, but they'll be wanting to know what you're going to give in return if you overstay your welcome. We've got lots of rules here in this little community, and if you stay long enough, they'll get ornery about you breaking them.
"Give in return?" I asked, a bit naively. I'd honestly not been exposed to this type of commune before, but I had a feeling I knew what she meant by the look in the men's eyes the other night.
"Oh!" She said, laughing. "No, dear, nothing like that. The men are a bit wild sometimes, and we have our share of trouble, but no, what I'm talking about is chores!"
"Oh!" it was my turn to say now, my demeanor softening as I laughed a bit at myself now. "I thought you meant?"
"No, no, honey. It's just that if you're going to eat our food and sleep in our little place, they'll expect you to be part of the harvest."
I thought for a moment. Although I'd been heading in the direction of a bigger town outcity, I still had a lot to learn and little but the stripwear on my body and my credits, which many vendors wouldn't take if they didn't match my RID. Seeing as I'd left that little identifier in the bowels of the doctor, I needed to make some grass-roots contacts.
"What would you think if I asked to stay here?" I asked, watching Sheila's eyes.
Her expression changed slightly, as if she was thinking over the options and the risks in her head. Obviously, bringing anyone into a community was a risk, and the dynamics of being one of the only other females in the group would be difficult. Having and extra able body would probably be difficult to pass up as well.
"Well" she said, coming to a conclusion. "I have to say I don't know. You're awful young, and a tiny little thing. On the other hand, you probably won't eat much and It'll maybe it'll even cal the boys down a bit if we have another woman in the mix. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal: you can stay, but on one condition, if you stick around, you've gotta stay at least 3 months. Beyond that, it's your choice."
I thought for a moment. I hadn't planned to spend that much time here, but this wasn't a bad start towards my goals. I could probably accomplish a lot more in that time too.
"Ok" I heard the words come out of my mouth before I had even consciously made my decision. Suddenly I was shaking Shelia's hand and her arm was around my shoulders, leading me downstairs.
A few of the others were up, preparing great vats of food for the others. Farm smells assaulted my nose, and the urge to sneeze was growing. Moving around again was making my wounds and joints throb, but I managed to smile at the others, learning a few names and meeting one or two of the men on better terms. Individually, they really were quite decent.
Breakfast came and went in a flurry of organic food, and I learned more names for soy then I could possibly recall as each platter was passed along the long dining room table. People talked and laughed, and ate, and Sheila introduced me as the newest member of their fold. It all happened so quickly that I didn't get to say or do much, but just enjoyed being a spectator for the moment, watching as these people took me in.
Incredible.
By 9AM I was already out in the fields learning how to manipulate the various equipment they had. They weren't in the dark ages of combines as some communes were, but their tools were antiquated enough to be a bit foreign to me. No AI and actual manipulators rather than the standard projected GUI. It meant each tool worked differently and it would be a while before I learned them all.
For today, thought, I was on tilling detail.
This was one of the things they insisted on doing themselves - part of their organic regime. Turning over the soil in a field of clover, letting this particular square kilo rest for a year, regenerate it's own nutrients and reoxygenate.
What that meant was that each bit of soil had to be turned over carefully by hand or with the one smart-tiller they had. I wasn't trained on the use of the smart-tiller yet and didn't mind a bit of manual labor, so I spend the day here happily tending to the earth. It felt good to be moving, and after a few hours, I could feel the burn in my thighs and arms, even through the lactic inhibitors. Three months of this, and I'd be in good shape.
"Hello lex" I heard my guide intone in my ear.
I stood up in the field, stretching with my hands at the small of my back,
"Hey Angel" I said. I looked around at the field, now cast in the golden-red of the late afternoons sun. Several of the other workers were resting, enjoying the afternoon breeze and beautiful view. I hadn't noticed the surroundings yet really. Our little commune sat on top of a long rolling hill, 8 kilos of farm all sectioned out and rotated. The sparkling tube of the Internode transport cut straight across the territory, and the mansion itself looked more like a dilapidated old house from here, it's size diminished by the distance.
"Well, it's not exactly what I pictured, but it seem like you've done pretty well for yourself" he said in my ear, sounding a bit distracted.
"You working on something?" I asked, picking up my hoe and returning to work, not too eager to draw attention to myself while chatting with thin air.
"You could say that. Your little stunt with your RID has stirred up a lot people Lex. I've been busting my butt all day to keep a bunch of people off your tail"
"What do you mean? Who's looking for me"
"I'm not really sure. Some committee, I guess. I didn't even know tracked this sort of things, but I've had some big AI's come sniffing your way in newnet already, and I've just kinda been whistling and humming and going "nothing to see here, nope, be on your way""
I laughed at the image of Angel dopily pretending that nothing was going on and passing it off on some big stupid bouncer. In reality I knew it must be more complicated, and if he was working this hard to keep them off my tracks it must've been pretty close, but my guide had a habit of talking about the digital world like it was real.
"We're OK now?" I asked
"For a while yeah, you're going to have to keep moving eventually Lex, but something tells me that's not really an option."
"I just signed up for three months here."
"Great news." My guide said, not hiding his sarcasm. "Anything else happen while I was busy?"
"Umm, nope? Oh wait, yeah. I slept in Sheila's bed and we made wild passionate love all night"
"WHAT!?" I winced a bit at the volume of his exclamation in my ear, laughing openly at my guide. I could almost hear him pout at being the brunt of my joke.
"just kidding, of course. I did sleep in Sheila's bed last night, but it was a guest bed. I just wanted to see if you'd be jealous. I missed you last night actually.
"I don't know whether to be appauled, hurt, or flattered, Lex. I think I'm going for a little bit of all three"
"Aww, come on!" I said, teasingly
"You come on!" My guide said "You know we can't really play until you find yourself a good rep so we can make a new EMF harmonizer.
"You mean the dream thingy?"
"Yes, Lex. And your vocabulary never ceases to amaze me." "Geez. You gotta learn to take a joke Angel, I'm only teasing."
"Yeah yeah. Well, bottom line is, until you get to a bigger town or find a replicator, we're both celebate."
"Well, that's not completely true. You've still got control of my systems, I just don't have any input on yours at the moment."
"That is true" he said softly in my ear. I felt the stripwear tighten slightly on my wrists, pulling them down gently, and the stim hummed ever so subtly to life.
"Not here" I whispered, closing my eyes. "Later"
"I know" he said , and I felt the pressure release from my wrists, but the stim didn't quite subside.
The rest of the afternoon was enjoyable torture as I worked in the field, just on the edge of arousal. My guide was teasing me, tormenting me with tiny bursts of the stim and little caresses by the stripwear. No one would have noticed to look at me except for the occasional contortion of my face as he brought me a little too close the edge, and then let me go back down as I returned to work.
By the time I was done with my shift, the sun was below the horizon and I was exaughsted and randy, focused almost solely on getting to my new room so that my guide and I could finish the slow crescendo that had been building while I worked.
"Lex" I heard a low male voice say as I was heading up too my room, nearly delirious with the delayed gratification of this drawn out tease.
"Uhh, yeah?", I answered, intelligently.
"Dinner first. No one heads upstairs until dinner. One of the community rules.
"Great, I'm starving" I said, smiling to the towering black man, trying to hide my desperation to be alone, and not make an enemy here.
Just then, my guide juiced the stim deep inside me. I closed my eyes and calmed myself, intent on being perfectly still, and not letting on that there was a monsune of sensation and emotion running through me to the man standing next to me.
"You ok?" he said, softening a little.
"Yeah" I said, "just a bit tired, and stiff. Actually, where's the bathroom?"
"2nd and 3rd door on your left. It's ok, you've had a long day I bet." he said, smiling.
"Thanks" I said, smiling back at him, as I sort've shuffle stepped inn my hurry to get to the wc.
"Cut it out!" I subbed to my guide as soon as the door was shut. "What're you trying to do"
"Aww, come on Lex you've got to learn to take a joke. I could stop you know" He said, as the stim suddenly went silent.
I felt my knees buckle and caught myself against the counter. I didn't know what I wanted. I heard the word "no" come softly from my lips, as if disembodied. The long tease had left me complete in his control, and this was private enough.
"That's what I thought" Angel said, as the stim returned to full power. I began to moan a bit, and quickly felt the stripwear gag me, drawing my wrists down again.
It took only seconds before I peaked, the storm coming in waves as I sank to my knees on the floor of the bathroom, my head resting against the counter.
The stripwear released me and the gag receded, and I quickly regained my composure, standing and looking at myself in the mirror.
My hair was starting to come in now, and there were little black bits of fuzz on top of my naked scalp. I was slowly becoming used to my new appearance. It was becoming me.
I cleaned myself up from the day in the field, and used the bathroom for it's intended purpose and then joined the gathering community for dinner.
In my post coital buzz, I was much more talkative and relaxed than I was at breakfast. I learned that the man who I'd talked to on the stairs was one of the leaders, appropriately nicknamed tiny. Many of these people had strange stories of how they'd come to this little farm in old Pennsylvania, and I learned more about the ripping of roads and moving them much as the early farmers had hauled the original stones from the earth then I cared to know. The more I learned about this little community, the more I liked it. I could see a few of the less social hanging out on the fringes, and recognized a few of the "wolves" from my first encounter with them. I was even introduced to a few of them as members of the "security" team that patrolled the borders of the farm, watching for trouble and drifters.
I talked with a few of them into the evening, and a cask of wine was dipped into in honor of my first day as a working member. I saw Sheila occasionally, but she was content to see that I was taking care of myself and only smile at me from across the room as she acted as den mother to the crew of men and women coming in from the day.
There were other teams at the commune, and I'd talked with a few who made trips to the remote towns, and found that there was a repicator one or two nodes from here where the farmer had traded has land to be autoharvested for the replicator and 4 shares of food a season.
In my mind, I made a mental note of how close I'd come to being on the frontline of this little war. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was here to stay for a few months at least, and I didnn't know where else to start. For now, I was content to drink the wine, and see where this path would take me.
