Inventions of the Future: Mobile Homes

George sat down on the curb and almost cried. Rita was gone again. She promised she would stop running away. She promised she would be there for him. Sure, they had been through some rough times but things had been better lately.

She hated the cat. He had given the cat away. She wanted her floors clean. He made it a habit to take his shoes off at the door. He had kept his part of the bargain. She didn’t even leave a note.

In place of his cozy home there was nothing but a big empty hole. Nothing to do but go to the bar.

“Hey George, haven’t seen you in here for a while.”

“I just needed to get out for a while.”

“Uh, huh. Did she at least let you know when she was coming back?”

“Piss off and give me a double.”

He staggered back to his empty lot just in time to see her lowering her chassis on the docking frame. Her white gingerbread trim was almost luminescent against her blue siding. Her front curtains were drawn, as if to shut him out.

There was nothing he could do but walk up to the porch. The door chime played his favorite song.

“You didn’t let anyone else in, did you?”

“No, I just wanted to spend some time with my sister. She just had a garden shed.”

Inventions of the Future: Better Luck Next Time, Inc.

“Does it really matter? I was a different person back then.” Jenny shrugged as she tended to her lilies.

“But you still own the rights to those memories. It wasn’t a complete neural wipe.” Gerald sighed. “You even specified certain personality traits be kept intact.”

“I don’t actually remember anything before the wipe. It’s just like watching a movie.” She carried some dead leaves to the compost bin.

“From a legal standpoint, you will be better off if you just settle it.” Gerald mopped the sweat off his bald head.

“The legal stuff is still murky and I don’t want to set a precedent.” She dusted off her hands.

“Why, so other wipees won’t have to be responsible for their pre-wipe actions? Spare me the bullshit. You’re just looking after your own interests.”

“I made a pre-wipe announcement. If she had any rights to my property she had time to come forth to claim it.” Jenny picked up her favorite cat and stroked it.

“I don’t think your arguments will hold up in court. It’s not like you died and were reconstituted. You didn’t even have a full wipe with the required life style changes. You only had a partial and you are still living in the same damn house.”

“Don’t lecture me! I had to go to that charity organization, Better Luck Next Time, for the procedure. They did what they could for me. I wasn’t some bored debutante who was just craving something new! I needed help.” The cat hissed and hid behind a bush.

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t think it will go well for you.”

“Thank you for your concern. I don’t want to keep you from your other appointments. The door is over here.”

Pug-Monkey Hires an Escort

Cream tugged at his faux schnauzer mustache to make sure it was on straight and almost lost his balance. He felt awkward. His tail was tucked into his trousers and his fur was dyed dark grey. It was the best disguise he could manage. Hopefully it would fool Turmick.

He was grateful his escort was wearing an outfit that provided purchase for his pawgers. Shirley ambled along the private tunnel as if she were showing him off but even she was occasionally jostled in the small space. Cream kept slipping down her torso and catching his rear pawgers in her cleavage until he finally climbed up on her shoulder.

No one was giving them dirty looks and muttering about species mingling. A few beings in the public passageways had. Cream began to relax even though his grip on her was tenuous.

Not much further, he thought. The luxury liner is just around the next corner.

They were almost to the loading dock when they saw the crowd. A man was waving a space suit liner and yelling.

“Blown seals! The crew of Victoria doesn’t care about your lives! They only want to turn an obscene profit!”

A large man in uniform came out of the airlock. “Get out of the way you charlatan! He’s just angry because he doesn’t have the credit for a trip. There’s nothing to worry about gentlemen and ladies. Step right up, never mind the madman. That liner was never even on this fine ship!”

“We should be able to get past him and into the ship” murmured Shirley.

“I have a bad feeling about this” Cream whispered. “He doesn’t look like Turmick but he is about the right size.”

“Time for an alternate entry?”

Cream nodded. Shirley knew what she was doing, but if she had to move fast he would have a hard time holding on. He slowly eased the fly of his trousers open. He let his tail snake out and wrap around the sturdy collar of her outfit.

Much better, he thought.

Shirley strutted down a side tunnel until she found a small private bubble ship. A very pretty, very rich young man was leaving the airlock.

Shirley swiveled her hips and slid halfway into the lock. “I’ll leave the internal cams running” she winked.

The man’s eyes got big as he saw the tip of Cream’s tail running down Shirley’s neck. Then he smiled.

Shirley hot pulsed the ship, turned off the cams and slid out of the dock. She guided the ship around the station until they could approach Victoria from behind.

“I thought there was only one way to board.” Cream was confused.

“Oh, this is only one of Victoria’s secrets” Shirley smiled as the little ship kissed Victoria’s hidden airlock.

Inventions of the Future: Alternate Nourishment

“It not easy” Floyd said with a grin.

“Look asshole, you don’t have to repeat that tired old cliché every time I’m upset about something.” Choe stretched her olive arms over the table.

Floyd tried to look serious as he adjusted his tailored jacket and sipped his latte.

Choe rotated her arms in the direct sunlight.

“I’m sorry your mission didn’t get approved. With your talent another chance is sure to come along.”

“Missions aren’t like transit shuttles. This one was special.”

“Because it had Ike the bastard on it.”

“You can say whatever you want about him but he was willing to give a ‘synthesis girl a break.”

Floyd frowned into his cup.

“Don’t give me that look. It wouldn’t interfere with the zero-g adaptation I’d have to get.”

“I don’t think the technical issues are the problem” Floyd said uncertainly.

“It’s an identity issue.” Choe sounded tired. “My ancestors didn’t cut and run when things got too hot. None of the spacies like to be reminded of that.”

“Sometimes the attitude doesn’t help either.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s a bad word to use. I’ll remember to call them dispersed population from now on.” Choe snorted and propped her feet up on a vacant chair. Her dark legs gleamed in the bright light.

Floyd shook his head. “Then you’ll have to call me that too.” His pale hands clenched around his cup.

Choe was quiet for a moment.

“It’s also a modesty issue.”

“Oh please, that is so outdated. I can’t believe that people are still serious about it.”

“Some religious groups are.”

“All I’m doing here is nourishing myself. It’s healthy not immoral.”

Floyd tugged on the cuffs of his white shirt. “Which is fine down here on the surface. Up there they have regulations about wearing a space suit all the time in certain crafts. You wouldn’t be exempt.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem.”

“You would have to start eating solids.”

“I know that.”

“But could you live with it?”

“My system is a hybrid. I can switch between fuel types indefinitely.”

“But, do you want to? Your people were too stubborn to leave before, why the change of heart?”

“It was a challenge to stay back then. Now that the climate has settled it’s a challenge to leave.”

Inventions of the Future: Meat Jackets

Freedi sighed as he slipped his thin frame into the jacket. Being Minister of Fun was hard work and he was looking forward to the vacation. As the jacket zipped up around him he tried to ignore the disorientation caused by two nervous systems synching up. He wouldn’t be fully integrated for a few moments but he was in good enough shape to navigate to the airlock.

After the lock finished cycling it dropped in directly into a pneumatic transit tube. He was smiling by the time a puff of air gently set him down on a landing pad. He was sure that the smile translated to the outside of the jacket. It didn’t matter. Silly hoomins were rushing around on their own business and completely ignoring him.

They had no idea that Freedi and his cluster mates still inhabited the station. Build us a deep station, they had asked his queen, one close to the Antivish nexus. We will pay you for it and then you will leave.

Because the request had been childish and silly, Freedi had been sent. He built the station. He accepted payment. He did not leave. Why should he? They weren’t advanced enough to detect his presence much less make him leave. Besides, cruising around in a meat jacket pretending to be one of them was fun. And that was his job.

Inventions of the Future: Clones

“You can’t keep pushing me this hard. I can only do so much work in a day” huffed Sean.

“Well, don’t blame me for that. You have alternatives.” Jenny smirked.

“Huh. I don’t see some of your ‘choices’ working out so well.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“What about the one who ran off with the asteroid miner?”

“No process is perfect. You have to expect a few anomalies here and there. The payoff more than justifies that.”

“But you don’t have control over any of them. They aren’t extensions of yourself.”

“Most of them are perfectly happy to accept the assignments I give them. I know for a fact they can do quality work, unlike certain colleagues who would rather sit around complaining.”

“Well, I guess that means I hit a nerve. Don’t they make you wonder how your life would be different if you had made different decisions, had different opportunities?”

“Well of course I wonder about things. Doesn’t mean I have any regrets.”

“Haven’t you ever thought it might be kind of weird and creepy to have fifty versions of you running around?”

“It’s all a matter of perspective and yours is warped by jealousy.”

“It’s not like you allow them any kind of individuality. You even pick out their hairstyles and clothes.”

“I’m the original! I know what’s best for all of us!”

“They do have their own thoughts. Stifle them too much and they will all start rebelling like Jenny 12 did.”

“They are free to make their own decisions. I only act as a guide and advisor.”

“Are you sure you don’t control too much of their personal lives?”

“I don’t control them at all. How dare you suggest that?”

Sean leaned back with a confident, cocky smile. Then he went in for the kill. “Well, if you aren’t trying to stifle them, I guess it won’t bother you to know that my last three dates with Jenny 45 have gone very well.”