Mad-Sci-Soc by Arrand Pritchard

Author:Arrand Pritchard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, robot, comedy, superhero, timetravel, cyborg

Wednesday, January 29, 2118.

Jenny breezed into Terri's dorm room without knocking.

Terri sitting at her desk turned sharply with surprise and grunted “Er!”

“Oh, ah...” said Jenny squirming. “Awkward!”

The non-verbal communication was clear, the boundaries of formal protocols between Terri and Jenny had been lost in November and December but new Terri was without those friendly memories having gained new levels of paranoia and she had reacted accordingly.

'Uh, oh, Jenny... “ Terri said uncomfortably as she quickly assessed and understood the situation.

Jenny sat on the bed. “We were BFF-pledged, pal. I'm guessing you don't remember.”

“I'm so sorry, Jenny. I feel so klutzy. Some BFF I turned out to be.”

“Don't worry, sweetie. We'll have it all resolved soon. Did you get my message?”

“What message?”

“On Mind-dancer.”

“Mind-dancer?”

“Oh drat. I thought at least your G-Phone would have remained up-to-date.”

“No, I managed to lose my old G-Phone too. So Mind-dancer is an app?”

“It's a terrific app. The best MMI I've come across. Intuitive and reliable. Isn't it poochie?” From Jenny's bag, her robo-pet dog, connected via the MMI, ventriloquised a bark in agreement. Regarding the Mind Dancer app... Terri, like most people, could not use the MMI, being unwilling to have the techno implants and unable to afford the Zen Meditation training courses required to make the machine work reliably.

“New is goo to me. So what's the message?” asked Terri politely.

“Well, I saw you two at the medical centre. I just wondered what was going on,” said Jenny friskily. “You know... Are you poorly? Or getting some secret skin care treatment again? Cos all the girls in the gang want to know how you do it.”

“Know what?”

“Your skin. It's so baby fresh. What's the trick?”

Terri touched her wrinkle free face. She had not noticed that the re-gen had removed all blemishes. “Just keep out of the sun... but, Jenny, I wasn't there... I wasn't at the Medical centre.”

“Or are you getting back together with Max again and need my advice,” she said with air quotes around “advice”.

“Back together?”

“I said I saw you... You and Max… Smiley face...” Jenny began to repeat.

“I wasn't there. Certainly not with Max.”

“But I saw you!”

“At the medical centre?”

“You don't remember?”

“No.”

“Are you back with your boyfriend?”

“He's not my boyfriend.”

“So you are not going out with Max again?”

“I'm not.”

“Terri, is this another part of your sickness? Were you going back to the hospital to get checked out?”

“Four-col, Jenny!” said Terri with exasperation. (“For crying out loud”)

“Well I saw you!”

“What time was this?”

“An hour ago.”

“I’ve been studying here all afternoon,” said Terri with edge, internally raging as she cursed Max.

Jenny got up. “If you don't want to tell me then that's your business but...”

“Whoa, there BFF. I'm being straight with you. Perhaps he was with a replicant that just looked like me?” suggested Terri, clinging to straws.

“You waved to me. A replicant wouldn't do that,” huffed Jenny.

“Waved? Did we talk?”

“You waved but your boyfriend then sort of told you off and guided you into a treatment room.”

“OMJ. This is so weird.”

***

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