Augmentia (Final Chapter)
Augmentia (Final Chapter)
Serialized novella
Footsteps echoed through the hall as Ellen approached the stage. Murmurs from the crowd rose to a faint applause. She entered with a determined stride; her demeanor was cool and collected. This was not the Ellen we knew from the start.
“Hello, my name is Ellen Brooks. Today, I’m incredibly excited to introduce OcuTron Eyewear.”
There was a small metal stand beside her that was covered with a white sheet. She pulled the sheet, revealing the latest version of the OcuTron glasses. This pair had the sleekest design yet: clear frames, thin steel temples, and a newly designed reflective logo in the middle of the bridge. She fit them over her eyes.
“This is the future of human interaction.” She gently tapped the left temple and the lenses glowed green. “Can someone in the audience please stand up? Don’t worry, I won’t need you to join me on stage.”
There was a brief silence before a heavyset man stood up in the third row. He had a thick mustache and deep-set eyes. A microphone was quickly rushed to him.
“Hi,” Ellen said.
“Hello,” the man responded.
“How are you, Steven?”
The man was taken aback by the use of his name.
“That is your name, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re wondering how I knew that?”
“Not really, you probably have an attendance list,” Steven smirked.
“You’re right. That’s perfectly plausible. A list of the audience members,” Ellen said, stepping closer. “You’re fifty two years old, divorced, with three children from two different marriages. You manage a 3D printing store downtown, on Cooper Street.”
There was a few murmurs in the crowd and Steven’s complexion turned pale. His nostrils flared, and suddenly, he regretted ever standing up.
“You recently purchased a Ruger LCP pistol from Amazon Firearms. How do you like it?”
Steven started to sweat. Beads formed on his forehead as he struggled with a response.
“Is it for home protection?” Ellen continued. “Or protection for your store? I see here that your store was broken into two months ago.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Steven stuttered. “It’s protection for the store.”
Ellen’s accusatory tone suddenly turned playful as she lifted the glasses from her eyes and rested them on top of her head. “Thank you, Steven. I appreciate your cooperation. You can sit down now.”
Steven quickly sat, looking awkwardly at the people seated around him. Judging by the look on his wife’s face, she had no idea he had purchased a firearm.
“You see, everyone has an identity,” Ellen declared. “But there’s a growing disparity between the identity we show to the public, and the identity we hide. That hidden identity is kept on your computer. On the internet. It’s your digital identity, and it says more about you than your social one. In a society that is becoming increasingly cyber-oriented, we have a right to know who a person really is.”
Just as the crowd erupted in applause, the piercing sound of an alarm clock cut through the room.
Jimmy swam out of a dream and back into the morning. He lay on his back in the twin bed of his tiny studio apartment. He swiped off his phone alarm, took a deep breath, then rose to his feet. He had found a useful reserve of discipline in his subconscious that he never knew he had, and since then, had no trouble waking up.
He splashed watcher on his face. Brushed his teeth. Flossed. Mouth wash. Q-tips. Hair clay. His daily routine.
He crossed over to his tiny closet and pulled out a uniform. Not his Particle Pizza uniform, but his young professional uniform: A fitted button down, pair of slacks, and a baseball cap with the OcuTron logo stitched into the front panel. He folded the brim of the hat to his liking, then moved for the exit.
Jimmy sat in a crowded subway train, surrounded by tired droopy faces. This was Monday morning in the oppressive city.
He unzipped his backpack and retrieved a small booklet from the front pocket. The laminated cover read: Handbook for New Employees.
Below the title was a photograph of a perfectly diverse group of twenty-something-year-olds, all grinning behind their OcuTron glasses.
Jimmy flipped a few pages and continued reading. This was the third time he had read through it.
Jimmy stood at the base of the stairwell of Ellen’s apartment building. He used a tissue to wipe the oil from his face, then began his ascent. Ellen’s apartment was on the seventh floor, and there was no elevator. It was, of course, illegal to run a business out of her apartment, but she had assured Jimmy that this was only temporary. Soon, they’d be moving into an impressive office space in the financial district.
Jimmy approached Ellen’s front door, which now featured a stylized stencil that read:
Seeing Is Believing.
He gripped the doorknob and opened it slowly. Ellen’s apartment had been transformed into a bustling little office filled with young professionals. Three rows of metal tables were lined up parallel to the back window. A half dozen employees, all in their mid to late twenties, were spread around the room, chatting furiously. Jimmy thought he recognized a few faces, but couldn’t really place them. Perhaps Ellen was running an internship program with his college? Nonetheless, he sheepishly waved to everyone and looked for the seat with his name on it.
In the back corner, a little placard on the table read:
Jim Cooper, Head of Marketing.
Ellen Brooks, the founder and CEO, was standing in the center of the room, reviewing the latest cut of an OcuTron digital branding spot. Jimmy thought it looked strikingly similar to the original Apple “Think Different” campaign. This was most likely intentional.
Ellen was dressed in grey jeans and a dark green blazer with shoulder pads. She wore a laser shape expression on her face; supremely confident and self-satisfied. Any vestiges of the old Ellen had been disposed of. This was the new Ellen; more authoritative than ever. Jimmy liked it.
Ellen turned to greet her latest employee, and perhaps her favorite. She hadn’t forgotten that Jimmy was the one who motivated her miserable duplicate to get back on track.
“Welcome, Jimmy.”
“I like what you’ve done to the place.”
She grinned at him like a great white shark.
“Just wait ‘til you see what we’re doing to the world.”
