NTPWE Chapter 3: In which Jacob has his last good day in a while

In the future there will be robots, and a hologram called JACOB who doesn't realise he is a hologram until he is falsely imprisoned. As Jacob comes to terms with his new state of being, he makes friends with ALONA, a sexbot who has broken her programming

The sun shone through the window with unusual brightness. Jacob stirred and felt the empty space beside him. Still warm, he noticed.

 

He sat up and looked at the clock. It flashed 8:02 am at him in big, friendly figures, then began its morning chorus:

 

“Good morning! It’s just super to see you awake on a such a beautiful day!”

 

Jacob ignored it, but it didn’t seem annoyed by this. In fact it probably thought that was just super.

 

Putting on a t-shirt, the drowsy husband left the bed and shuffled to the living room.

 

“Linda?”

 

No reply. He moved to the dining room.

 

He called out again, his speed increasing as he searched the house. Bathroom, living room, nothing. She wasn’t even in the garden, he noticed, looking out the bathroom window.

 

Finally, he arrived at the kitchen and scanned the white and blue room.

 

He relaxed and sighed as he saw the lovely posterior poking out from the open fridge. She turned and offered him a buttered roll with a smile.

 

“Good morning! Isn’t it lovely today?” Her voice more cheery than a customer service operator.

 

“It certainly is.” He returned the smile and took the roll before sitting by the work top.

 

“I’m so looking forward to today. It’s going to be wonderful, especially if last night is anything to go by,” Linda said with a suggestive raise of the eyebrow.

 

He murmured an agreement around the roll in his mouth. “I had this horrible dream afterwards though. I can’t quite remember it, but it was like I was… fading away.”

 

“Well I had no trouble sleeping.” Linda placed two bowls of multi-grained cereal and two cups of coffee on the work top “I was exhausted. Three and a half hours! We haven’t been like that since we were teenagers.”

 

“You maybe. I spent my teenage years by the glow of a computer screen. Though, I don’t actually feel tired. Come to think of it I haven’t at all lately,” he said munching on the cereal. He got up to hold his wife and whispered, “Maybe we could try for four later.”

 

“Huh! If you think we can afford a vagina transplant.”

 

Rocking her in his arms, he said: “I should get dressed then the day of fun can begin.”

 

She gave him a smile filled with childish innocence as she waved him out the door. Some god, she was good.*  She could sell porn to a priest if she told him it was lemonade.

 

After returning to the bedroom, Jacob started to dress. Humming old love tunes to himself, he pulled up his trousers and felt his pockets.

 

“No ID card. Must have forgotten to take it to work...”

 

He did up the zipper and opened the drawer where he usually kept his personal ID.

 

That’s odd, he thought.

 

“Linda! Have you seen my card?”

 

“No. Isn’t it in your desk?” Her reply drifted through from the next room.

 

“No, it’s not. Doesn’t matter, I was going to get some extra money, but we’ll be fine. Are you ready?” He poked his head round the door.

 

“I’m just untangling my hair.”

 

She stood at the hallway mirror with a black rod in her hand. As she waved it over her bed-head, her tresses reordered themselves like memory metal. Linda had already changed and Jacob admired the choice of dress. A light item that hugged the body in all the right places, enough to make men hot, but light enough to keep her cool on a fine summer’s day.

 

“Ready!” she declared.

 

Jacob took her by the arm, and they left the house as a couple.

 

The day passed as quickly as the cumulative land speed of a cheetah running down the aisle of a speeding bullet train in motion, going forwards you understand. They went to the theatre and were almost caught amidst indecent behaviour in their compartment. They enjoyed alien cuisine in a Baladoluvian restaurant and spent the afternoon in the park, talking, kissing and walking together.
They stopped at a Chinese restaurant for dinner, though they could not enjoy the food as much because they could still taste the crakloc spices from lunch. They supped, dined and then went for a mag-lev carriage ride through the arboretum, with nothing but love in the air between them. At least, that was how Jacob felt and wished it would stay forever.

 

Jacob missed his daily visit to the newsstand. Had he gone, he would have learnt earlier than he was due to that his company, Crashno Corp. was victim to a huge extortion heist.

 

As the two lovers walked home, an anonymous call was made to the police station, the caller claiming to know who held responsibility for the crime. He said he found the relevant user code in the computer’s memory. Crosschecking the code with existing files, the police received the details of the card owner. The electric blue screen flashed the initials: ‘J. C. K.’ and the address ‘44c Newbury Lane’.

 

Jacob and Linda arrived home a little later. On their walk up their gravelled path, he stopped to pick up a sign that had fallen in the dirt.

 

“The batteries must have run out in the electromagnet,” Jacob said. “I’ll get some more tomorrow. I’m sure anyone looking for our house can wait another day.”

 

He took the sign that read ‘44c Newbury Lane’ inside with him.

 

 

*  In 2042 it had been unquestionably proved that God did not exist, and nor did he ever, so, slowly a campaign began soon after to rid the English language of the archaic phrases that kept such myths in circulation. Since it was not discounted that a god might turn up at some point - and lots of people hoped he would hurry up because there were plenty of sinners that needed eternally punishing by somebody - the phrases ended up being transformed instead of eliminated.

Author's Note

Again, these early chapters will see major revision. I don't like the list function of their day out. I'll certainly jazz that up. Enjoy. Any comments welcome.

Reviews

[Heartless Breaker]

I like this chapter. It's sweet and gives the romantics who read this something to enjoy, as well as some nicely places clues for the coming scenes.