‘Click’- a short story by Extropia DaSilva
In the picture, the two main characters at a Cosmic Engineers meeting in Second Life.
‘Click’- a short story by Extropia DaSilva
——
Extie DaSilva had suspended herself in the middle of a semi- transparent cylinder, the inside of which was studded with many colored buttons. So far, she had not reached out and pressed one of those buttons, let alone all of them. This, after all, was a big step for her.
She was in edit mode. There were countless ways in which the edit function could be materialised, and just as many options concerning the degree of control one had over every choice. The real artists sculpted digital people from scratch but Extie was not that skilled. Even back in the early 21st century, when editing amounted only to changing the appearance of some ‘toon rezzed on a screen separate from the primary self, few people had the talent to sculpt beautiful or interesting avvies. The rest fiddled with the sliders, created something butt-ugly, and soon tired of seeing results so far removed from the ideal form they had in their minds.
Now, what with the ability to mould personality, edit and insert memories, shape every aspect of a person’s mental and physical being, one was even more wary of diving in and mucking about with the edit options maxed out. Extie had seen one too many psycho screaming blue murder because invisible pigeons were devouring their brains, or holding a teardrop in their hand and intoning, ‘there I am, and when it evaporates I will be nothing’ to risk any attempt at rebuilding herself from scratch.
At the other end of the scale was putting on a ready-made personae. Extie DaSilva was not going down that route, either. It just seemed too sudden. If her mind was made up and she knew for sure she wanted to change, things would be different. But her state of mind was best described as…well…like she had this vague notion that change would be better. Being pretty undecided, it was better to take it easy, take it
one step at a time. That is what each and every button would enable- the ability to alter a Self using steps that were as large or as small, as many or as few, as each prior self felt comfortable with. Press a button, and one of your memories would be erazed and a memory belonging to this ‘other’ person would be incorporated into ‘your’ personal history. Press another, and something about your physical appearance would subtely transform and be ever so slightly shifted towards the appearance of that ‘other person’. She could press all the buttons at once and instantly transform herself into another person. But Extie was not really sure if she would feel comfortable being that self and so, she was going to take it slowly. One button at a time. Each time she pressed a button, something about her physical or mental being would be erazed and replaced with the appearance, memories, attitudes, of that ‘someone else’.
She reached out and pressed the first button. ‘Click’, it went.
At this point, Extie DaSilvy paused and tried to determine what had changed. As far as she could tell…nothing. Whatever change this button had brought about, it was too subtle a difference for her to identify.
‘Click’.
Extir DaSilvy saw herself from a third-person perspective, panning the view as if she were a remote camera hovering in the air in front of herself. She was not sure, maybe it was just in her imagination, but her hair seemed less black than usual. It was a shade lighter.
‘Click’.
Some mental image was trying to form in her mind. Extir IaSilvy concentrated, using an effort of will to focus the cloudy and disjointed ‘memory’. Whatever it was, it seemed pretty sexual but somehow, just as it was about to resolve into crystal clarity, the memory would slip back into semi-consciousness.
‘Click’.
Exter IaSilvy realised something obvious. Why she had not grasped this simple fact before was something of a mystery, but she grasped it now and acted accordingly. Clothes were unnecessary. With a simple, mental wish, her clothes popped out of existence and she stood, admiring her naked body with its covering of tiny, pinkish hair.
‘Click’.
The memory was clearer now. Exter IaSilvy remembered a sexual encounter, how she had given and received sensual pleasures, one body among a writhing mass of happy, sighing participants.
‘Click’.
Exeer IaSilvy’s pinkish hair had grown thicker, and two stubby..somethings were beginning to sprout from her head. She smiled inwardly at memories of cuddles with people she loved. She loved a lot of people.
‘Click’.
She was two. Exer InSilvy never realised it before, but her self occupied two bodies. She was able to be in two places at once. She giggled at some memory of snuggling up to a woman..whose name..no that memory was not yet forming. All she knew was, if you loved someone it was better to snuggle up with them with two of yourselves either side- twice the fun!
Exer Infilvy looked down at her feet. They had changed quite a bit since she had started pressing those buttons. Where once they had been quite small and definitely ‘human’, now they were getting rather big and fluffy. Well, nothing wrong with that. Big fluffy feet went well with her cheery personalities.
‘Click’
Exer Infinvy ran a hand over the two ears that were once two stubby somethings growing out of the top of her head.
‘Click’.
The name! Exer Infinivy remembered the name of that woman she had snuggled with. It was…but no, the name was stuck firmly and teasingly on the tip of her tongue. In a rare fit of frustration, she stamped her foot and formed her paw into a fist, shaking it at some invisible tormenter. Looking at the many buttons still unpressed, she wondered why she was only pressing one at a time. In the back of her mind, she had this vague notion that pressing groups of buttons would eraze…some kind of identity, but the memories she now had access to would not connect back to that identity and to why its preservation should mean anything to Exer Infinivy.
‘Click’.
She was a friend. Exer Infinity had a clear visual image of the woman. She was slightly taller than Exer, if you did not include Exer’s big rabbity ears as part of her height. A tallish woman with dark hair, and eyes without whites, sometimes entirely blue, other times green…It was all too much. Those remaining unpressed buttons taunted Exer. ‘We contain the clues you are missing, press us, and you will remember the answer to this question’, they seemed to say. Whatever tiny glimmer of doubt and uncertainty there had been a second ago was gone, now. Undefinable anxieties over tampering with some identity that had nothing now to do with Exer Infinity’s sense of self was ludicrous.
‘Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick…..’
Of course! Peer Infinity recalled her name with ease. How could she forget Extie DaSilva’s name? She certainly could not forget the fun times she had, snuggling up with her and making her giggle and squirm with sensual pleasure whenever Peer rubbed her cute and furry body against her flesh. ‘oo’, thought Peer Infinity, ‘I could do with some more of THAT. I wonder when Extie will come online again?’ Well, come online she would. In the meantime, Peer Infinity could enjoy the company of all her other friends. But, in the back of her mind was the hope and anticipation of seeing Extie DaSilva. But that was OK, Peer could wait.
And wait…..and wait…..
Posted by giulio on 06/07 at 05:58 PM