Download - Read
Stories
What's New
Dream - Write
Writer's Area
Create a Story
Character Database
FAQ
Just Another Face
Lisa quickly swiped her hand under the scanner next to the door.
She waited quietly while the light near the scan box turned from red
to green and the door popped obediently open. As she entered the apartment
the lights came on and she heard the click of the coffee maker as it began
to percolate. All the comforts of home. She smiled wryly. Sometimes she
could do with a few less comforts and a little more human intervention.
Whatever anyone said she wasn't Technophobic, she was just wary of having
everything done for her so efficiently. It took the control out of her
own hands.
Cat came wondering out of the kitchen and slowly wound himself around
her . The soft rhythmic purring sending vibrations right up her legs.
She bent down and lifted him into her arms allowing herself the luxury
of feeling his warm fur next to her cheek. At least Cat was real. Warm
flesh and blood. She found his presence reassuring, even though he was
a part time tenant in her life. Pets weren't banned in her apartment building,
but neither were they encouraged. However, Cat was an exception. Not long
after she moved into the building he had somehow found his way into her
apartment and taken up residency. She had never bothered to give him a
name. Instinctively she felt it would be below his dignity to be tied
down to such a sentimental tag.
Almost automatically she found herself in the kitchen. Placing cat on
the floor, she poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter.
Picking up the remote, she switched on the Vid-com, and listened with
half an ear as the newscaster began spouting the usual mix of news. It
was always the same combination of carefully channelled information. The
newscast's balance between serious reporting and humorous antidotes, carefully
monitored so it didn't effect anyone's personal balance, or evoke really
strong emotions. Lisa listened to it in the same way she would listen
to background music. It was a strangely comforting hum.
Suddenly her attention was caught be the screen, a tearful women was
being questioned by the familiar neutral tones of the reporter on the
screen. Lisa tried to remember the name of the newscaster but failed.
His identity had never been important. He was just part of the wall paper
that created the carefully designed structure of the station.
Lisa concentrated, her mind on the screen retuning her ears to what the
tearful women was saying.
"My boy is in intensive care and they don't know whether he is going
to pull through."
The newscaster's expression was carefully sympathetic but there was a
tinge of condescension that suggested he was not totally sympathetic with
the women he was questioning.
"You blame the VR company for this accident."
"Yes I do. What were those controllers doing, letting them in unsupervised
like that." The women's voice became accusing, attempting to defend
her son.
A hard light entered the eyes of the newscaster and Lisa knew he was moving in for the kill.
"But Mrs Wedrin, isn't it true that the company claims the boys were in the system illegally?"
The newscaster looked into the camera for a moment, his expression communicating
to the audience his own opinion, and then he turned his gaze back to the
nervous mother, who was obviously suddenly uncomfortable under the glare
of the camera.
"My boy's a good boy, he wouldn't do anything wrong", but her
tone was not convincing. Her body seemed to sag. As the camera moved in
on her face she seemed totally defeated.
Lisa felt an intense dislike for the young reporter. His bias obviously
against the mother. He probably felt her son had got what was coming to
him.
She turned off the screen, not wanting to hear anymore. Her sympathy
went out to the mother of this unknown boy, but there was nothing she
could do, however sympathetic she felt. The newscaster was probably telling
the truth, yet his treatment of the women had been callus. It was just
another case of VR addiction, the implications far to close to home for
Lisa's peace of mind.
The report had served to put her on edge. She wondered cynically who
had leaked the story originally. It had probably been run on one of the
independent stations. VR was too profitable for both commercial and government
run companies to allow this sort of story to get out intentionally.
She tried to blank the incident from her mind. Her good mood shattered.
She switched on some soothing music, hoping it would divert her attention,
and mellow her mood in time for her date with Jeff.
She didn't want another confrontation about his job. It was already a
sore point between them.
Dark Lethe Copyright © 1995 - 2000 L J Winson and Individual Authors
Web design L J Winson in association
with the Reactive Writing
site.