The Rebirthed Dream

What is the dream when it becomes all too real........does it stop becoming a dream?

I began to ponder this thought as i got up this morning at 6am, Damn alarm clock, lol. I thought i had forgotten to push the snooze or turn it off before going to bed, just so i could have an excuse not to get up to go to work, but after having a week off, it was "back to the grind" again. At least when i awoke from my slumber, a good song was playing on the radio alarm to put me in a good mood.

"Kira", my digital management assistant, "play sunrise melody#1."

"Sure thing, honey bun." Sometimes i can't help but love when Kira responds in her sultry voice, it makes the day just a little more pleasant. Kira starts my morning tea, starts my shower at my preset temp, and sets up my morning breakfast from the fridge.

"Honey bun?"

"Yes, Kira?"

"We're currently out of eggs, should I text a reminder for you before coming home?"

"Sure, plus anything else I might need. got a feeling it's gonna be a long day!"

"Will do, Honey Bun!"

I jumped in the shower, the warmth of the water mixed in with the fragrance of the body wash felt like just the right mix to wake me fully from my sleep. Even as i got out, dried off, got dressed, and sat at the corner table with my breakfast sandwich and tea ready to be eaten, the lingering thought came back to mind, "the dream...too real?"

Two months into 2050, and the news was reporting about an attack at a medical clinic from some radical group claiming to be "purists", that too much dependance on technology was a bane to society and a rotting away of the "human soul." I would've asked them about all the good that technology has done for the last 30 years: the prevention of the near zombie plague of the second half of the 2020s, the beginning of cyberware and nanotech in the 30s, the A.I. upgrades and nature/city balance in the 40s up to now. Not everything's perfect, but it's better than the alternative. Some cities lay in shambles, abandoned due to viruses and conflict, both from human and nonhuman, you almost think that some of the cartoons of the past may have foretold just a taste of what we were in for. Maybe, i don't know, maybe they have a point, who knows.

I look at my bare hands and laugh a little. Funny that in 4 months i celebrate my 110th birthday, kept young and strong by nanotechnology, working as an "Integration Specialist", helping to bridge to gap between nature and technology. I sometimes think they keep me alive just as some walking reminder of decades past.

I get on my gear, charge up the bike and get ready for work.

"Bye Kira, lock up for me!"

"Bye Honey Bun!"

Gotta love that voice!

I step out of my 2-bedroom house to greet the rising sun, the fog just barely rising above the pavement. Yeah, it felt like it was going be one of those days, a little bit of community and company meetings, with the majority of field work. It's a good thing i live outside the metro area, never really could get used to the cramp feeling of city life. As i drive down the block towards the main road, i get to catch some of my neighbors just starting the day.

From someone looking from the outside in, they would think that the neighborhood i live in was a dump. decade old houses, some empty and falling apart, slowly being reclaimed by nature, while other homes, while maybe plain looking, have more stories to tell than other newer homes that had been built. I live in what some would call an mixed "alter-community", where you have humans, cyberware humans, mixed race, and androids all living together in this little area. I remember during my first few years at the job, i was tasked with safely integrating some of these new communities, and believe me, it wasn't easy. the economy was in a temporary standstill, and the Droid Sentient Act of 2039 was in its 2nd year, and there was nothing but finger pointing and bigoty the likes you wouldn't believe. It took some time, but things slowly turned around for the better. Despite some of the anti-droid hate that sometimes happens, most people have learned to get along with our android brethren. I remember during one of those integrations lead to the creation of two city gardens, ran and tended by human and android personnel. Though i was pulled away for a rescue in a badlands area outside the city limits, the creation of the city gardens was a big success.

Now with the sun shining high, the fog now just a distant memory, i get on one of the main roads into the city. Driving in from a distance, the city buildings tower like metal castles rising to the sky, with the clouds floating between them. The metro area, pristine, almost like polished glass as men, women, and androids walk the sidewalks on their way to work going into one building or another.

I worked for not only for the city, but the state as well. Depending on the situation, my job was to assist in "community matters", and to help in regulation not only of nature/metro areas, but to ensure as a backup to local police that current laws were being followed and/or enforced.

I pull up to the door of my building, lock my bike up and go inside.

"Hey Joe, what u know!"

"Nothing much Sal, just dreading coming back to work."

"Sure you were, you can't stay away from work that long."

"Sal, if i could have, i would have retired..for the second time, lol!"

"Nah, don't believe it, lol!"

We both have a good laugh before parting company.

"See ya at the meeting Joe, got some interesting ones this week."

"Just what I wanted to hear, crap."

Through the front door, and up the stairs of the 3 floored building i went, then straight to my department, where my day was to begin.