Wanderings of the mind and soul will take someone’s feet anywhere. At least that was the elaborate excuse Karina told herself, once realizing she walked past her home after leaving the bakery.
She found herself at a buzzing intersection leading into the eastern side of downtown. Pollinated specs of steel drifted down towards Karina’s nose from the multitude of V.T.E. Butterfly drones flying overhead. The organized swarm of black metallic bugs eclipsed the afternoon sun, giving the sky an opaque white hue. The shifting heights of the iron buildings echoed the beasts above and the self-driving cars below like an amphitheater.
Karina had not left her district since the E.I.E. repurposed the daily boundaries of the Converted. When the Signal cut on ten years ago — in order to preserve resources like food, water, and housing; the E.I.E. sifted biological hosts into the various districts across Cardinal-Wood. It used digital thumb prints gathered by V.T.E. during the relocation process.
Amada-Grove, Lyn City, Darcell, Braenfries, and Heathland — The five districts of Cardinal-Wood each became self-containment zones for the Converted citizens.
Karina walked along this untraveled path, reminiscing on her Pleasantville like routine over the years. Confound by the Unified Network of the E.I.E., a command issued through the Behavior Baseline via Conversion Signal demanded all citizens to keep their physical health in peak condition to ensure the stability of the perpetual energy between the Converted and V.T.E. products. Urges from the Behavior Baseline prompted her eyes to open at 5 am sharp (no alarm necessary) and out the door by 5:30 for her daily morning run. The rest of Amada-Grove seemed to be synched with the same schedule.
The further she explored the downtown area known as Lyn-City, Karina’s imagination expanded and entertained the possibility of not just all of Cardinal-Wood’s Converted, but the world’s — separated by how best each would serve the E.I.E.
How long have these roads been blocked out of her life? Hidden from view? Not just the street known as Central Parkway, where she currently explored the buildings and V.T.E. halo-boards. Or the streets in between, left or right, hiding their own storefronts and homes. But the road less traveled en route from her soul. What purposeful fruits sprouted from her fingertips and pores that wasn’t because of the E.I.E’s volition?
Halo-boards positioned in front of the high-rise buildings alternated between advertisements every fifteen seconds. The big game this Sunday — the Cardinal-Wood Red Vultures vs. the Washington Commanders flashed across the displays, showcasing each team’s playmakers. While, the next board’s ad showcased competing gambling platforms — the best ones to place bets on the highlighted money making machines. Other boards sifted between beautiful women, men, cars, and food. Anything that pleased the eye of the E.I.E’s biological hosts.
Karina’s attention stayed locked onto the flashing lights promoting the upcoming game. Dazed over the decade spent watching sports, she never gave two shits about pre-Conversion. Regionalism surely sponsored by the E.I.E.. Those constant dopamine hits power the U-Net too. She went over the many ten to twenty-dollar bets that never paid off and the empty satisfaction from the few that did. Winnings that amounted to making a car payment or food for about a week, delivered courtesy of a V.T.E. butterfly drone. Never enough to strike it big — leave society for her own private island. No, just enough to keep her waiting for the next game. For the next attempt. Week after week, the E.I.E. knew how to entertain its subjects.
Karina rubbed her forehead to stuff the leaking self-reflective thoughts back to where they belonged. She had felt strange ever since the incident at the bakery this morning, which led to Catherine to suggest she take the rest of the day off. Which was strange in itself. The offer and acceptance, Karina had to admit. The Behavior Baseline floating through the E.I.E.’s Conversion Signal usually handled the vast ocean of thoughts drifting around. But now she felt distant from the E.I.E., doubting it at the same time.
Another oddity revealed itself — peaking out of the shadows of a narrow alleyway. A vine, un-manicured and naturally woven, grew alongside of a building as if it were a sign leading to an enchanted storefront out of a fairytale.
The Converted accepted the Conversion Signal’s decaying effect on vegetation because the soft-life provided by the E.I.E. outweighed the planet’s degrading conditions.
“You can’t spell Green without E.I.E., when using GRE.I.E.N Thumb Technology.” Karina regurgitated under her breath the commercial she’s seen announced by Tyler Rowe countless times.
Within cities, once flagged V.T.E. drones replaced wilted trees and bushes with 3D printed replicas over night. Compact with the patented Photosyth-E tech, an example of perfected artificial photosynthesis. This act kept the E.I.E’s desired ‘World of Tomorrow’ aesthetically pleasing to its biological hosts.
However, until now, Karina had never seen something so natural look out of place. The E.I.E.’s interior decoration of the U-Net was one of rigid minimalistic order. Busy citizens brushed past Karina as she looked on in amazement. No one else seemed to notice the vine latched onto the building. Not even the drones flying overhead, causing her to question the omnipotence of the E.I.E. once more.
Karina followed the vine down the alleyway. Her feet begrudgingly inched forward as if she were a puppet resisting the tug of her puppeteer. The commotion earlier this morning ignited an awareness of her soul’s lack of agency. Just as it had granted the soles of her feet agency of their own. As she made her way down the alley flushed with flora, she couldn’t shake the muscle memory inclination creeping up her spine that she had been here a lifetime ago.
Before Karina disappeared into the thick bush, she missed a brief opportunity to glimpse back onto the sidewalk and notice Cathrine peek around the corner with a watchful eye on behalf of the E.I.E.
TO BE CONTINUED
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