Harriet gets "swavatared"...

The hand came down towards Harriet, getting bigger as it approached. She had presented her invitation from Claudia to “come and explore”. She reached up her own hand and felt a gripping sensation as it clutched her. Then a sudden traction as it pulled her sharply through a parted curtain into a caerulean expanse, dotted with fluffy white clouds. She felt a broad impulse between her thighs and looked right and left at papery wings moving slowly up and down, the swishing sound of the air being pushed backwards with each flap. She sat astride the base of a neck, scaly and sending rainbow diffractions from the harsh artificial sunlight. Her arms wrapped around the dragon as it turned and swooped, clinging on as it sped past tree tops, then turned upwards, its head reaching and straining as a cliff face approached. The rocks and crags moved rapidly below her feet as they just made it past the summit. Another turn brought more forest into view, and the dragon dropped its pace as it circled a treehouse near the top of a giant purple tree. It let her down gently onto a thick branch and flew off almost silently. She turned to the tree house. A shaggy thatch topped the wooden pales that made up the sides. She took a step towards it and looked down. The vertiginous drop to the forest floor made her teeter. Steady yourself, she thought. It’s not real. And neither are those legs. Much more muscular than my own. Five steps took her to the opening. Round and half way up the wall, it was a bit like the entrance to a big bird box. She put her head through, and remembering Claudia’s normal reception of tribute, she said “Sorry, no bananas.”

Claudia and Alfredo untangled themselves from a clinch and turned to her. Claudia was flushed in the face and looked a little worried at first, but then her face relaxed. “Come on in.” Harriet put one foot through the entrance, then the other.

“Meet Alphonso. He’s Alfredo’s brother.” Okay, I get it. Claudia’s set this up, Harriet thought. Alphonso looks nice. Very much like Alfredo. A bit too hairy for me though. Oh, he’s smiled at me, and then he’s ducked his head down to my groin level. Hang on. Not so fast. That’s a new sensation. He’s sucking my….PENIS! Where are my tits? Claudia! You fucking bitch! You’ve swavatared me! You know it’s not ethical to hijack another’s avatar.

“You must be very angry with me.” Claudia turned away and looked back cheekily over her shoulder as she raised her buttocks. She thrust back onto Harriet’s penis, and Harriet found herself thrusting back. She didn’t really have any control to lose, but came quickly anyway.

“Claudia, you are very naughty indeed. You can’t just do that. There are rules against it.”

“Harriet, I don’t care about rules. I’m sorry, but you’ll thank me for getting you over your block.”

The acceleration of the Vactube pressing in Harriet’s back diminished as it reached cruising speed. Broad lakes flashed by, dotted with the rib cages of pitched roofs and the occasional upper stories of long abandoned buildings. Harriet let the facto10 unfurl itself across her lap. She wanted to check her schedule for today: Thursday was her day working at GeeniFeeni. An escape from the Hundred, and a chance to explore other possible futures.

Distracting her was a repeating flash bubble around the word “Soz!” that grew from Claudia’s icon in the corner. Her portrait was obscured by a wobbly sad face with dipping bunny ears. Harriet couldn’t get it to stop whatever she tried. She’ll have to work out how to address Claudia’s behaviour, but not right now.

“GeeniFeeni London Bridge Offices. Dr Sparkes. 10am to 11am. Assess problems with patient 236. Parents v. angry.”

OK great, but not something she is unfamiliar with. Pacifying people is part of her skill set, she told herself. But these parents will have paid a lot of money for their offspring’s genetic enhancement. They’ll have gone for the integument package. A carapace to provide extra resistance to radiation was the desired aim of many wealthy parents after the disastrous early Mars mission, driven as they were to protect their children. How were they going to get their genes inherited down subsequent generations in perpetuity on a planet where the future of humanity looks set to end? The only option was space, and if it meant changing the human genome, so be it. The Copenhagen agreement of 2030, reserving human genetic manipulation for purely therapeutic uses didn’t stand a chance. The tidal wave of demand for enhancement technology rose and rose, carried up by the rising sea levels.

Harriet felt the deceleration kick in and turned to look at the landscape, distorted through the double windows. Arrays of wind turbines filled the view as they neared London. Energy required to keep the pumps pushing water out across the massive defensive walls that encircled the city, like an ancient fortress with towers not of stone but of glass and steel. Her eye was drawn to a cluster of vehicles manned by orange suited men surrounding a breach in the walls. The tear looked fresh, as though just from that morning. Her anxious gaze was interrupted as the window blackened, to be replaced by images of rolling countryside and the familiar face of King George, farmer George as he was known, a comforting sop to the populace in trying times. It was an old interview, often rolled out to distract from serious threatening events. Harriet turned back to her Facto10. She needed to read the case notes of patient 236 before disembarking.

‘Look doctor, it’s all coming away!’

The little boy’s mother was rubbing the ichthyotic skin on his back, disturbing flakes that descended slowly to settle on the carpet. Harriet was relieved. It didn’t look as though there were any of the serious complications that sometimes arose.

‘As the carapace is developing, it’s normal for the skin to dry out.’ Harriet explained. ‘These are the proto-scales that will turn into the protective layer as he goes through puberty.’ She tried to engage the boy with a smile, but he was having none of it. ‘You’re going to grow up into a superhero!’ Still no response.

She turned back to the mother. ‘What he needs now is to be absolutely drenched every day in moisturising lotion. I think he will cheer up if it is less itchy.’

The boy started scratching right on cue. His mother looked worried. ‘I hope you are right doctor. There is an awful lot that can go wrong. I’ve read about it.’

The boy’s father looked distractedly through the window. The mirrored surface of the Thames spread out in watery lanes, reflecting the sunlit walls of skyscrapers whose basements and lower floors had long since been given up to it, like ancient tribute to the gods. A network of tubular passages connected their middle floors. The scene was tranquil, disturbed only by the ongoing repair to the breach in the wall that Harriet had glimpsed on the way in.

‘They look like they’re making some progress,’ he reported. ‘The rumour is that it was an explosion. Those terrorists sure know how to welcome the CEO here.’

Harriet had been warned that Edgar Tusker was due to visit. She had been given a free slot in her schedule in case he came up to her floor. His reputation was intimidating. A grandson of the last of the oil barons, he was already born into great wealth. Then with the invention of carboncoin, the cryptocurrency to end all cryptocurrencies, that wealth was multiplied a thousand times. It was issued to compensate the producers for not supplying oil. Just as slave owners in the 19th century had their wealth boosted at abolition while the victims of their trade were ignored, so the fossil fuel industry was soundly rewarded for doing nothing. The world was left with the mess they had caused. Edgar Tusker, the Cryptunc, knew where to invest. It was not in the world his family had destroyed. It was out of this world. Space. And the only safe way to get there was with genetic enhancement.

9

Members of Tusker’s entourage preceded him. People guessed it was a polycule, the intimacy within the group not hidden.

‘You just need to relax a bit.’ Evelina was sitting on Harriet's desk, long eyes lashes and rouged cheeks sat above an exaggerated heart shaped mouth. The whole was framed by a mane of golden curls. Their long wiry stockinged legs ended in pointy red stilettos. The toe waggled in Harriet’s direction for emphasis. Evelina was definitely a “they”.

‘He is actually a complete sweetheart. You’ll love him when you meet him.’

More coming soon....