How many credits does Happiness cost?

*you are logged in under sight version 615.105.

Please reference sight archives:

version 614.8

version 615.104b

version 615.104c

Sodankylä, Finland

Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort

Way out here, shielded by an electromagnetic field that interferes with communication signals, and a double gravitational pull of the two suns that rejects physical breaking of orbit, wayward vessels are rare, though have noticeably been multiplying over the last 30 generations.  Like a remote earth island teaming with wildlife after an ancient continental divide, so too the moons of L4 bustle with human activity, cut off from the rest of the cosmos.  It is the summer of 597.  597 earth years since the accidental colonization of L4.

Virginia Doebrag was late.  She steps into her craft and the door lowers shut behind her.

“Umbriel Complex, Granthar mall, suite 107” she says curtly.  The gravity car releases a bit of its grounding until it gently lifts and propells into a smooth glide, navigating her towards her destination.  She shields the lower view, the motion travelling this low always makes her feel sick, before the flash of red catches her eye, and the car comes to a halt as another vehicle passes in front of her.  “ugh” She glances at her augmented realities time stamp, then navigates her sight with a couple nimble movements of her facial muscles to reset her right of way to high priority via an even higher escalation bid.  Traffic complaints have been settled quite efficiently since this moon monetized the yield parameters of self-drivers.  The car and her sight chime their confirmation in unison.  Leaning back in her seat she continues flipping through the car menu until toggling the gram-cast to audio only ***the safe season is coming to an end*** a chipper voice was saying ***and that means that summer will be here before you know it***.  Ginny is free to look out the side and overhead windows as the car moves smoothly up and down, left and right.  She is travelling roads between havens shrouded not as the glass igloo shapes they are, but as grand buildings and structures dreamt up by the digital architects of sight.  Passing under a grand arch with lit up font, she enters “the Financial District” of Capital city.  

***remember, a UV mark indicates the amount of minutes one can survive unprotected during summer*** 

 Virginia turns her gaze towards the side window and sees the current UV mark at 367; about 6 hours. Shrouds which include ticking data points of UVA and UVB radiation are plentiful in the moons that are caught between double suns.  It is a necessary precaution.  Just below is scrolling the red of the femto markets price index, which is down again with both the looming summer and the complications to travel that gravitational tug of war inflicts from two interacting suns.  Her car weaves through traffic as her dark eyes reflect a mild flash of green light that is spending her credentials as other vehicles slow to let her pass. It seems everyone must be late today, as her standard credentials were depleting faster than her subscription auto-replenished, but no matter, what was femto for if not for spending?  It is capitalism at work, and impatience has always been its easy prey. 

***Next up, the world of reverse engineering the magic transferable within sight , including interviews with a man who will take us through he process of refurbishing sight from the departed, and stay with us at the top of the hour for an exclusive look inside the Femto auction houses, where you can find out if you have any unique sensations worth a fortune?

“Capitalism: the cockroach of memes,” she thought, “it has endured the journey of time and space, to this Bermuda triangle of a galaxy, as something primally linked to human ambition, opportunity, and greed.” Ginny enjoyed the high-tech world which transformed the barren moon cities with undetectably realistic simulations; she wasn’t deluding herself about that.  It was amazing that the resources that weren’t available naturally, could be aesthetically accessed through your most precious belonging, your sight.  But she was attempting to organize the hierarchy of values.  Greed, it seemed to her, takes away happiness; takes away contentment of the moment.

***Foleys space boots!  Sleek. Adjustable. necessary.  These things fit like a boot! Join the stampede!*** 

“Ahhh”

Virginia had enough of the advertisements and brushed the sound off.  She refuses to let the day progress out of control. She is feeling hurried and automatically starts performing some sharp exhales.  Perhaps trying too hard is part of the problem.  She feels her breathing slow as she concentrates on sitting up straight.  Her eyes are closed as her pulse beats a relaxed tempo.  

“All those things you try to control in order to enjoy life” she tells herself “Hinder you from enjoying life.  Relax the constant boot camp.”  

She bows her head and opens her eyes.  A sea of black scripted “F’s” appeared in her field of vision, polka-dotting her new Foley boots.  Virginia Doebrag lets out a brief amused laugh and checking her ETA, sends out a message: BE THERE IN 5.

….

Hans Doebrag grunts with exertion as he finally liberates a seized clutch from his tool and goes on to switch out the fractured carbon wheel.  His sight analyzes the replacement, and a green check mark appears signaling it is cleared of damage.  He works from the height of a gravity lift with an inevitable metronome pace, not hurried, but possessing a fluid tranquility that is in much contrast to his partners work style below.

“Look Dough-brag-ja, the 2000 is having a month-long promotion.  All venues from the twenty first century are half off.  Cynthia gave me the insider info.”  The voice from below is a bubbling mixture of bravado, excitement, and familiarity.  “So what are you doing this weekend? Want to go?!”  His hair is shrouded like the earth icon of Elvis and his big frame is bobbing up and down as he minutely vibrates his head waiting for Hans response.  From a purely practical standpoint, it was a waste of energy to use an aesthetic projection while they worked, but it didn’t violate any company policy, so Hans had no choice but to suffer the king of rock and roll.

Shell was always full of invites for after work.  He had a lot of energy, though often misplaced, and would sidetrack himself with plans for them to do instead of focusing on his task.  They had yet to actually meetup.  Shells intrusion is bothersome to Hans.  He isn’t talking while he works, he is predictably waiting for a response while bringing whatever productivity he could provide to a halt.  Hans didn’t need to look up from his fabrication to know Shell’s eyes were bugged open and his knees were bending him up and down behind unnecessary padding he insisted on wearing, likening himself to a self-dressed toddler who needed to go peepee. He’d seen it before. Too many times.  

“Make yourself useful and pass me that micro spanner” Hans holds out his right hand for the tool, body half tilted towards him as he holds the structure above.

“What do you think man? Then we can cyberfish!”

 The leadman is hesitant to blur the lines of professionalism with one struggling so with competence.  Partly because he mistrusts his motives.  The continual advancements seemed a bid for friendship, not as an end unto itself, but as a safeguard for keeping his job without actually performing the duties.  That’s the last thing Hans needed.  At this moment, Hans just wants him to disassemble the damn flyer so they can upgrade this haven on schedule and move on to the next one.  Time is money boy, and money ain’t patient.  

The 3-man team was tasked with repairing and servicing the upper flyers that lined the dome of this haven. Effron was unloading a delivery from the shop, so Shell was bellied up to the prep workbench on the platform.  He had his torch googles resting on his head, laser cutter on his hip, and hammer press setup powering up.

“I need a 90 degree, 2.5 by 2.5.” Hans ordered

Shell rummages around in an open compartment organizer as Hans goes back to soldering.

Shell reaches into his pouch to pull out a lump of gold.  Gold was so plentiful in L4, it made a major component of both structural and electrical engineering.  Fibers of the tropical bog plant magnas piodd, served as a great insulator for electrical circuits and isolator for structural joinery.  Its prickly rubber stalk had evolved to endure the heated and shallow swept tides a large planet inflicts on bodies of water of its smaller moon.  The summer simmered and boiled this stretch of shallow tides, and toughened the magnas piodd as it was exposed to prolonged heat.   

“We’re out, I’ve gotta make more boss” he says with an official obedience which waited on validation.

Hans gives him eyebrows up, pursed lip, and vigorous nods yes in response.  How else do you say “yes, you moron” without saying yes, you moron?

Shell kept gazing at him with a look he must have learned from his dog.  He evidently doesn’t spend enough time with me and my cheerful disposition already Hans thinks before a measure of doubt creeps into his consideration.  Maybe I am being too one-dimensional.  Am I a just a miserable workaholic?

As Hans watches him set up the metal in his corner worktable he clears his throat.

“yea, that could be fun.  My sis has been trying to get me to go out with one of her friends, I’ll have to talk to Gin.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, talk with Gin, set it up you old hoooound doooog.”

Shell spins on his heels to his station to finally fabricate the piece, whistling a cheerful tune of victory.

….

Jamie Tarbrix walks arm in arm with her girlfriend Virginia Doebrag.  They are headed to work out in the easiest manner thus far derived in the universe.  Earth had long promised diet and fitness with no effort in the form of a pill or self-shaking weight, but here in Lagrange point 4, the promise had been substantiated. It is called restersize, and it is all the rage.  Granthar Solutions has developed a system where you can stay fit without the experience of the work.  What’s not to love?  You show up, surrender your consciousness to a sleep like state, and wake up having been exercised, through a hack in your sight and an ability to isolate and manipulate your body by qualified professionals.  All the gain, without the tedium.  All the neurochemicals without the memory. 

“Let’s stop for protein smoothies after this” Virginia suggests with an excitement that nobody would want to deny.

“Oh, my treat, I insist” Jamie shoots back.  “I’ve got to repay you somehow for the gym pass.  I’m like a blood sucking leech on your generosity” she scrunches up and makes a pinching motion like one would while approaching a delighted baby.  They both laugh and lean into one another for a moment, but Ginny straightens back up quickly.

“It’s a leftover from my ex, I’m not paying a dime so neither should you.  And it doesn’t even register on his radar, I’m sure.”  Then with a change in tone “Thanks so much for coming with me!” 

“Of course!”

As they approach the workout center, they admire the details of the mall, tall and clean.  The corridor leading to the restersize center is dimly lit and almost medical rather than the sweaty gym vibe of yore.  A pair of women were leaving dressed like they had just attended a high end business conference.  “Here is all packaged chicken cordon bleau in tight, reflective cellophane and no butcher house smells and sounds, feathers, carcass, and blood.”  Jamie thinks, an avid researcher and amateur historian of life on the pale blue dot.

The front desk scanned the two in, and moments later the women are lying on cushioned slabs of white to begin the process of relinquishing control and inducing sense transfer.  Soft indirect lights pulse under the polished furniture. Sounds of metal tinglings that play overhead, and begin to fade away, deeper and deeper in their relaxing minds.  Just as soon as the darkness had come, Jamies eyes were blinking light back in and a newfound stiffness throughout her body awakes with her consciousness.  Rigidly she sits up and feels an exhaustion tainted with endorphins.  As she turns her head towards her friend, it is evident the same experience was being mirrored.  Virginia wiped her brow and declares ”whoo, what a work out!”  and the two women laugh easily as they regain their balance and get up to depart.  “Oh, I’m still not used to that suddenly sore feeling” Ginny said as she holds out her hand to capture a selfie.  She sends it off to her brother with the caption “Look who I’m with?”  making sure it was a flattering shot of Jamie.  She has been trying to set them up since Jamie has become available.  Jove knows that window won’t last long she muses to herself.

….

“Eatten.  What would that look like if you were watching a pro do it?”

Eatten paused the deliberate and clumsy chops he was making.  He then put his free hand on the other end of the blade, straightened up, gave a sharp exhale, stuck out his tongue a bit then began rapidly chopping.

“That a boy, loosen up a little and you’ll get the feel of that instrument working.”

Effron was the crews newest apprentice who was processing the dry resin of their epoxy recipe, but they called him Eatton as he was always hungry. 

Both mechanics liked the kid.

“See that Shell? I taught him to stick out his tongue when coordination demands it.  It helps you know” 

A jolly song broke out between Hans and Shell as they borrowed a well-known nursery rhyme and improvised lyrics at Effron’s expense. 

 “There once was a lad so blue

Named Eatton, my god yes its true!

His stomach growled with force

And he didn’t know what to do”

sang Hans gleefully

“that he ate all the planets bamboo!”

Shell finished in an almost shout.

Effron, keeping his hands paused on his workstation looked up with a stalled laugh and open smile, confused and awed with the synchronicity of his superiors, their attention to him, and a general distrust of the whole situation.  He decided to face it head on logically.  “If I did that, the sisters of mercy would have me exposed to the summer burn for sure. That grove is sacred to them”

  “Nevermind that, if you ate that, you’d be shitting for a week straight” Shell was barely able to contain his moronic laughter as he delivered his over esteemed perspective.

Hans smiled and moved on.  He was firing his torch when a sound dinged.  Lifting his hood he turns back to his crew. 

“Speaking of food, Eatton, it’s your turn to pick where we go for lunch”

….

The shroud Eatton had picked was a casting of an arctic resort tucked up in Lapland called Kakslauttanen.  It was modeled after the 21^st century Earth country of Finland, before the temporary annexing of the long war, and the subsequent revolt of the Fins to reclaim their land in 2154.  Pre-long war shrouds was all on sale as Eatten had pointed out, and that was reason enough for the lot.

“Ah, the boys who keep the magic flying, welcome, welcome” sit wherever you want, always room for the working class.  You know, I have a few loose shards myself I need someone to look at.”  

“don’t we all” Hans rolled back dryly, sitting down and scooching his chair in with a smile to the boys.  The shop keep had delivered the last statement slowly and with an intentional drawl, inviting them to intervene in the problem, and wasn’t going to be as easily discouraged by a bit of good-natured humor.  With a brief dismissive laugh, he continues that the spell of the place would be absolutely broken at moments, and he was suuure it would be a minor fix.  “Its just up there” he points to the ceiling where an intermittent glitch sparkled.  

How in the two hells could you be sure it will be an easy fix?  Hans wonders as if he hadn’t heard this a million times before.  Does every citizen of this rock read from the same playbook when they need a mechanic? He was sufficiently baited to give the proprietor the first steps towards a solution, if only to get on with their waning lunch break.  But not before squinting his facial muscles to apply a personal overlay of the shopkeep’s appearance to that of a chihuahua with pug eyes; a visage to match his overstated pleadings for consultation. A tradesman’s tag allowed fellow guild members to see the shroud and apply it at will, while hiding it from all others.

  “You’re gonna need a hover lift, or else, quarantine the place to turn off the gravity lock in order to float up there to even assess the situation.”

“When do you think it would be fixed?” the erect, shrimpy dog asks nervously, his paw stroking where a beard would be.

“If we were clairvoyant, do you think we’d be doing this as a living?” Shell asks him laughing, repeating the line Hans would often ask him after such conversations once they were in private.

“There’s no way to know the actual problem, let alone the timeline of the solution before conducting a survey” Hans clarifies.  “here’s our card, you can call the office and set something up.” With a flick of the eyebrow his sight sent a digital projection of their company’s card “Goldtech” for him to receive, which he takes with a quick, but somehow reluctant gesture, as if he has more he wants to squeeze from them.  As he stands there, his tongue drops out of the side of his jaw and coaxes a stifled titter from the workmen.  The proprietor finally resigns to let the men proceed.

“Go on in men, I’ll be with you soon” the pup sighs.

The room is darkly lit.  Snow gathers upon the mullions of the giant igloo to create a buildup across the corners of the glass panels which was gently stirring by an exterior wind.  Candles light the space; a bench seat wrapped the circumference, and tables were dotted within with small flower centerpieces.  A feeling of remoteness and seclusion almost necessitated a lowering of voices as the workers take their seats and pour over the menu for their meal.  It is at this time that Shell begins speaking the way young boys do when they discuss desirable woman in hushed tones and imaginative bravado.  His voice though, carries the tone of insider trading as if actual conquest had happened and the secrets were now being revealed.

“Bruvs, I was over at the Umbriel Complex the other night, you know it?  We just did that repair at the Soy Sweets last summer?  Anyway, I was there when I passed a guy who initiated a bloodlink request with me, and I thought it was an accident at first, but then he did it again and was motioning me to come over to him and winking.”  Shell was animated and Effron was captivated and listening intently, while Hans was listening, but scrolling through the menu.  He looked up after a small laugh escaped Effron at the sight of Shells charades of the man who had sent him a bloodlink request.

“While that is an ingenious flirtation tactic, I think we’ll pass on the details of your sodomization till after we’ve eaten” Hans says in not as hushed tones as Shell was employing.

“No, No,No, Doughbragja, he was a pimp” Shell clarified with an innocent conviction.

“And the girls on his roster, well there were guys too” he slaps Effron’s arm and laughs like he should be either interested or offended, but quickly continues on through his fleshy face and eyes trained back on Hans “but everyone was fit, at least what I could tell from the hologram brochure.  We should check it out.  He said the clientele is always rotating…but it will be Femto up front.”

“How does your girlfriend feel about this?” Hans asks raising just his eyes from the menu.

He wrinkles his face and sniffs the question off.  “I caught her texting her ex” 

“So, having sex with a stranger would make it even?  You should think about becoming a judge.” Hans voice is cold and sarcastic. 

Shell is becoming irritated at the flashlight being shined upon his logic.  Irritation matched only by Hans waning patience for being continually exposed to it.

Effron looks up sheepishly, “Was it the ex that you had to set up with one of your exes?”

“No, Prooobie, I’m not trying to bloodlink with her.  I’m saving that for marriage.” Shell makes the sign of the sisters to sanctify his intents. Two hands raised erect above the brow like they are holding an invisible crown then a diagonal slash of the right hand across the face.

“And she is saving herself as well?” Hans prods, more out of boredom than anything.

“Well, she is bloodlinked to that guy, but she will switch if we tie the knot.”

“Wait, she texted the guy she is bloodlinked with and you think you can fuck some streetwalker and be even?” Effron declares with sincere incredulity you cannot fake.  

He may take a bit longer to process, but he has surfaced with good discernment Hans thinks.

Shell is energized and if he feels cornered, he quickly dispatches of any unease via sudden distraction and a loud voice.  

“Oh look, you can switch to the brewery section within this shroud” he said while initiating the transition, dispatching with the constrains of mutual consent.  

The shards melt and swirl into a much brighter scene.  A larger space.  The three find themselves on an upper balcony bar area looking over bright copper fermenters and kettles, where all the mashing, boiling, and brewing took place to produce the house beers in this arctic resort.  

“well this is a bit more cheery” Hans observes. The intimacy and coziness of the prior bar is replaced with the grandiose, with multicolored glass sculptures and large wall art, and a space that could accommodate the entire mining federation.  He notices similar igloos capping the structure sheltering against night and elements, only much higher in elevation.  These snowy igloos are perhaps the closest resemblance to L4 structures without any shroud, minus the snow of course.  The illusion provided through their sight is briefly broken when Hans trained eye sees the telltale shimmer of depreciating shards, the ones the owner had been referring too, like a temporary smudge suspended on a lens.  

Hans Doebray received an incoming buzz and smiles at his sister’s picture.  

“Is that splendid?” Shell wants desperately to know

“No, it’s Ginny” he returns while casting the image for all to see.  “and her friend, What do you think?”

“Oh Oh OOH you!” Shell began, raising his voice and rapidly shaking his finger. He rises in his seat, then sits down and lowers his voice while amplifying his intensity “You DOG , you you you. All coy and aloof” He was now acting the complete fool, pretending to be a bonnet wearing maiden avoiding puddles with closed eyes and pursed lips.  

“What’s wrong with him, Eatton?” Hans asks, losing interest in the answer and looking back to the photo.

Effron shrugs his unknowing while reaching for a piece of bread to dunk in his soup while keeping his eyeballs on Shell for answers.

But the scene Shell is manufacturing has lost no steam and he is as energetic as he has ever been.

“You knew all along, and you pretended not to, you cur!”  Shell starts laughing and pointing his finger at Hans like he had just checkmated a grandmaster.  

“Known what?” he asks with not a little irritation.  Both men’s voices were beginning to harden.

Effron’s face showed that something was off.

“Your supposed “sister” there is one of the working girls being offered, the one you chose apparently while you were pretending NOT to understand” then in a stark and sudden mood change, he decides to become pedantic.  “You know you shouldn’t become romantically involved with such woman, they are only after your money and that says noth…”

“No, you fucking dolt, that’s my sister, Ginny.  She’s not a girl you saw.”

“The fuck it isn’t” Shell’s wrath eruptes like a bull who just felt the sheers against his balls.  Shell has a hairpin trigger for respect whether he deserved it or not.  It was a way of life in the clink that he had never shed once he had served his time and returned to general society.

Effron slinks a little lower in his chair and blinks the sensor to fetch the final check.

The relationship of work partners borders on that of a long marriage at times.  An unhappy marriage.  The effects of accumulated tolerances can become too much finally.  I’m this workers superior Hans thinks I don’t need to put up with his personal delusions.  He would also be outmatched if things escalated to violence, something he meant to avoid.

“You’re relieved for the day if you can’t drop this Shell” Hans utters firmly, standing up as he does so to show his seriousness.

Shell stands as well, backing away with a wiry smile.  “Brag is smitten by a girl he don’t know.  Best do some research boss, have a private firm do some saanoooping.  Or here take this screen capture and think of an apology” he laughs as he exits and slaps Effron on the front of the shoulder with a “Yeeeaahh biizzzoi” as he passes.

What a dipshit Hans thinks as the screenshot transfers through.

There, in hologramic representation like lifeless avatars manipulated in a videogames load screen, was several persons, among whom, undeniably, was both Ginny and her friend Jamie.