Today is a day of promise

Her touch is electric.

I turn to greet my companion. Her iridescent eyes never fail to captivate my gaze.

"Christina." I speak her name intimately, aloud, and slide my hands around her waist.

"Christopher, today is a day of promise."

For her, this is a unique expression, one I've never heard from her before, and she conveys it warmly, erotically, telepathically.

I reflect it back to her, in the privacy of our space, a virtual space reserved for feelings and desires: "Today is a day of promise."

I kiss her tender lips, and together, we rise on a pleasurable surge of warmth and gratitude.

I caress the rim of her jaw. "I would be alone, Christina."

In response, she applies a delicate touch to her temple, leaving me alone with my thoughts, and moves aside gracefully.

I go inside to my enclosure and call on my colleagues.

Yesterday, the Council made a move that threatens the peace and prosperity that is everywhere present.

In the Free Zone

As I walk through the living area of my luxurious suite, its interior warms ever so slightly, casting a muted yellow-orange hue. Everything I need, and everything I could possibly want, is literally at my fingertips. For now, from my balcony, I am content just to watch the sun rise.

In the Free Zone, the silence is pure, the ultimate in quiescence. All day, every day. For the remaining persons, like myself, who still carry some trace of the organic human, this silence might pose a problem. But for me, I can no longer imagine what it would be like to live without it.

And for this silence, we have the Synthetics to thank for the peace and prosperity that is everywhere present.

In such a world as this, one might imagine that there is little anyone needs to do, and in a way, this image rings true. Our every need is met with a wave of the hand or the caress of the fingertips. But the image also rings false. In the Free Zone, we're as free to do as much or as little as we aim to do.

In the Free Zone, there is much we can do, if that is our wish.

My wish, for now, is simply to be as I am and let the sunrise saturate my awareness with its beauty and splendour.