Perfect

They awoke, as they did every time sleep left them, into darkness. With the ease developed by maneuvering through an unseen world they left their chamber and removed the accumulated toxins and liquids from their body quickly and efficiently with the extractor then moved towards the replenisher to restore their electrolyte balance.

As they made their way through their chamber the temperature of the abode shifted to maintain their ideal core bio-reading; the floor, walls, and ceiling worked together to provide the Perfect living environment for its occupant.

It was efficient to have done away with unneeded heating and energy-wasting details such as windows and lights: no heat or drafts entered to disturb them. It was Perfect.

They reclined and their body was welcomed by the surface that rose to meet them the instant their downward motion began. It molded itself to their contours, gently cushioning their body and cradling their neck with two soft supports that bubbled from the wall. The effect was similar to a body-temperature waterbed welcoming someone back in the day home after a weekend binge. Womblike, all encompassing. No stress. Perfect.

With no distractions, no unmet tasks, no unfulfilled needs, the time passed without measurement for them. They couldn't have put a number to seconds, minutes, or hours since there was no longer need for those constructs.

Their body and its surroundings existed in harmony as the gentle fronds that capped the top of their head collected the electrical impulses their thoughts generated, storing it in the biobanks that in turn were siphoned to the community creche and channeled to the world womb. All beings were one now, just as it was always meant to be. Perfect.

"Surely", they thought, "it was a privilege to exist at this time and in this manner."

Everything within their chamber had been carefully honed to provide the Perfect environment for their body. There was no ugliness to create discord as there was nothing to see within the chamber's darkness. The nutritional needs of their body had been met by the daily replenisher dose and the effect of the supplements ensured a calm and quiet neurological response continued throughout the hours they spent quasi-awake in supportive recline.

Everything was as it should be. Everything was as it always was. Everything was as it would always be. Everything was Perfect.

Until. Until it wasn't.

The fronds still cupped their head. The surface still cupped their form. The darkness still enveloped the chamber. There were still no tasks. No duties. No distractions. No disturbance.

There were no unmet needs. Not, however, because things were Perfect. There were no needs because they were no longer the same.

Gradually the surface changed and solidified; a hard surface not that their was no need to coddle the human form. The blades emerged, stripping skin, tissues, organs, fluids: all were siphoned and bundled, moved through the porous membrane that held the chamber in its place. Taken to the world womb to be used as needed, or sold for harvest.

There were no announcements; those belonged to another time. A time of light, knowledge, relationships, families. A messier time when they were part of groups that had differing opinions. A time less Perfect than existed now.

Now all are part of one. No one is singular. No one is adrift. No one is alone. All are connected, all are part of the one. Within one they exist. Within one they perform. Within one they contribute. They dream. They drift. They exist until they do not, and then are returned to the one to continue their existence.

Recycled through the replenisher, again and again. Perfect.