EagerDog.shurpa pushed thas damp nose into Eager's hand and gently licked thas palm. Eager removed thas VR workstation headset and saw that tha was wagging thas tail. "Thanks Dog," he said. "Time for a break? How long have I been under? Four hours? Got to get some fresh air." Tha put thas hands behind thas head and stretched back in thas chair, exhaling "Ahhhhh".
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| Eager |
A FLO guide initiated contact with Eager as tha crossed the threshold. Tha inquired whether Eager would like to interact with the system through a personal shurpa. Eager briefly considered assigning EagerOrga.shurpa, but decided against since tha was already fully occupied on a project task.
Instead tha accepted the standard guide and increased thas pace according to whispered instructions. Tha gazed at the people around tham as tha matched stride to the music selection, Fine Young Cannibals, from the last century.
Like Eager, each individual was listening to a FLO guide's personalized program. A few smiled back at tham, but most were concentrating on their instructions or absorbed in some edutainment. Each one knew from experience they were free to do what they wanted, but that following the FLO guide was by far the easiest and fastest way to get to their destinations.
Eager made thas way to the TransPod station and moved directly into a pod heading to the North Shore. Tha had requested an East window view, and was now instructed to step across a recumbant ecyle, through a semi-translucent shurpa dressed in black leather -- something tha wouldn't normally have done on his own -- to reach the window. In Eager's estimation, the FLO had done an excellent job of navigation.
Up past the end of the TransPod line, in the cleft between two mountain peaks, was Eager's destination, the North Shore shanty town known as Baker's Unrect. It was named for a Californian called Jeremiah Baker who leased a mining claim here in the 1850s.
It was said Baker died a pauper after wasting all thas energy, time and resources digging in the barren gravel. Dissenting opinion had it that Baker had struck it rich but didn't declare any of thas treasure before absconding to San Francisco and the high life. Whatever Baker's fate, no one currently here had found any gold, or none that they'd admit to in public, keeping with the optimistic view of Baker's history.
"UnRect" was the bureaucratic abbreviation for Unrecorded Territory, areas of crown land where sensor networks had not yet been installed.
Eager's FLO guide dropped tham at the city limits. The pavement, signage and sensor network ended as tha entered crown land. Here there were no building codes, services or any organization beyond what people could negotiate between themselves. Houses were DIY shacks, some inventive and artistic, others crude and falling down. Some were abandoned and collapsed or pushed over by their neighbours to salvage the building materials. Many of the boards and corrugated steel sheets had been recycled many times.
The people who lived here were mostly recent migrants, people looking for a better life, waiting for their wave, their chance to move down the mountain into the city and get connected. The odd thing, Eager thought, was these people looked happier than people down in the city. There was actually joy here. Further down the mountain people seemed more often preoccupied by their FLO guides.
Here in the shanty town people waved and smiled and looked tham in the eye. They stood in their doorways chatting to each other, even eating and drinking beer on tables set up in the dirt street. The smell of cooking permeated the air. Musicians played in impromptu concerts. Adults danced. Kids and animals ran wild.
Eager loved this place. It wasn't actually a happy place, tha knew. Everyone here would rather be somewhere else. But for most it was better than where they came from. It was at least a step forward, with the hope for another one soon. There also seemed to be a sense that as long as they were here now, they might as well enjoy it and worry about life's problems another day.
Eager found what tha was looking for in the confusing maze of alleyways: an old style wooden fishing boat sitting upright, propped in position by old railway ties, above the surrounding shacks like Noah's Ark. This was Zero's place. Hanging over the side was a rope tied to the ship's brass bell, on which Eager rang four bells, ding-ding, ding-ding.