The Cat and the Computer
By King Kangaroo’s Sister
Seth grimly stood at the front door of his home after walking home that evening from college. His cat ears and tail flickered with discontent at the sight of another man’s truck parked in the driveway, and cigars burnt out on the pavement. When he opened the front door of his home, the kitchen and living room was a mess. There was beer bottles scattered on the floor with some light garments, as well as bread crumbs. He also noticed a small pot of noodles still boiling on the stove top. Seth sighed then went straight to his room.
This had been a typical night for Seth since the time he was in middle school. After leaving his book bag in his room, he got to work cleaning up both the kitchen and living room. With both rooms finally clean and homework to finish, Seth sat down at his computer desk and began typing codes that appeared on the computer’s screen. He pushes enter on the keyboard and within five minutes his tail disappears, and his ears return back to normal. Seth takes off the nanochi around his neck and places it next to his laptop. Unlike his mother, Seth did not like wearing his nanochi for more than seven hours each day. He only wore it when he felt the need for some amusement to help him relax after doing work around the home or for school. His mother, on the other hand, used her nanochi in many attempts to find another suitor. Seth’s father died when he was a young boy, so she tries to make up for the lack of a father by finding a new husband. It was almost midnight before the man who had been occupying their house finally left and Seth’s mother appeared from her room. She walked slowly into the living room where Seth sat at his computer desk doing homework the whole night.
“Thank you Seth for cleaning up the place. Did you turn off the stove top too?”
“Yes mom, everything has been taken care of.”
“Thank you sweety. I also made some spaghetti sauce so you can help yourself to dinner if you’d like.”
“No thanks mom, I think I’ll just wait until tomarrow.”
Seth was subjective with psychology and ethics before his father died, but now his is more careful of his health and habits. He used his nanochi less and decided that he would learn how to healthy without the nanochi or nanotechnology embedded in his body. Seth had become more curious if life could be improved if he and his mother stopped using nanochi. She constantly uses her nanochi to change her appearance and leaves it on her arm day and night. Seth can only hope that she will learn to appreciate her life without the device.
“I’m going to bed mom see you tomorrow!”
“Good night Seth…Thanks for the help…”
The next morning Seth got up early to take a shower, put clothes on, and grab his things to get ready for school. He progressed past his mother’s room and into the living room where he dropped his stuff on the couch close to the fireplace against the wall with pictures. The house has only two bedrooms, a fireplace next to a couch, a kitchen with a sink and stove top protruding from the wall, and a dinner room with a cherry stained table and chairs of similar furnish. Seth stood in front of the wall next to the stove top and pressed a button that opened the wall up to the fridge compartment. He grabbed a small bottle of milk and consumed it within a few minutes. Although the nanochi by itself is capable of many things the device is still in need of outside sources to perform certain commands given by the user. After disposing of the bottle in the trash, Seth walked back to the living room and sat at his computer desktop where he had left his nanochi that night. Seth placed the nanochi around his neck and began typing the familiar codes he had used before. His mother at this point was already out of bed and began making her way into the kitchen. She was wearing a thin tank top and short leopard print boxers, as well as her nanochi that was left on all night.
Researchers of the time suggested that people should not wear or use their nanochi’s for the duration of a full 24 hours. They considered it to be a hazard to people’s health and a problem for the device. Seth knew how much his mother loved using the device to change her appearance into younger women with large thighs and breast of proportionate value. No matter what Seth would sat to her, his mother would not change her ways or her usage of the device.
“Seth why do you bother doing such stupid things with your body. You’re never going to catch the eye of a lady looking like that all any day.” She said sharply to him. By the time she had reached the fridge compartment, Seth’s cat ears and tail had been regenerated.
“Sure mom I guess that’s why you’ve already gone through so many “successful” guys in the past year. Maybe I don’t want a girlfriend right now and maybe I just don’t care what anyone says about my looks. Perhaps you should stop trying so hard all the time.” Seth replied coldly.
“Do what? How about you start doing something useful with that device and stop acting like some little kid for once!”
Oh yeah well maybe I should just start using it to get a bigger penis. Oh that’s genius mom cause that’s exactly how I’ll get the job and the girl isn’t it!” Seth answered as he slammed the door shut. On his way to school, he thoughtlessly threw the nanochi to the ground where someone’s vehicle was sure to hit it. All he could think about was wanting to do away with the nanochi device and return things to normal, or at least try. Seth’s only problem at this point is that he used nanochi before damaging it. Once a nanochi is damaged, it cannot be used again, and now Seth must deal with the permanent changes for the rest of his life.
Up until now Lyria never noticed how much her own son was against her ideas about the device. She had taught Seth everything he knows and more about the device. For Lyria, the device is a gift from divine powers and has given her everything she wanted. With the device Lyria can grow muscles that help her to do any kind of construction around the house, or even kill cancerous cells before they begin to spread and multiply. In her mind life without the device would be unthinkable and terrifying to say the least. She was a little girl when the technology was first introduced and when she became a teenager the device was everything to her. Lyria grew up lonely and liking nothing more than learning how to use her nanochi. When she gave birth to Seth and had him sent to the local nanotech department, she hoped to imprint her beliefs in him as a gift of knowledge. Now Lyria wants nothing more than to be left alone and bothered by Seth’s pure nonsense. She opened the fridge and got a small container to chocolate pudding. Between the stove and sink there was a corner of the wall that contained the coffee maker and spice cabinet. Lyria never had to wait for her coffee to get hot, and because Seth doesn’t like coffee it’s always the same pleasing taste for Lyria. Under the stovetop there was a button that opened the oven and a built in open container for utensils. She went back to her room and clapped her hands for the television projector to turn on. Just before sitting on her bed, Lyria touched the lampshade on her nightstand to turn it on as well. Lyria had the world at her finger tips and she was content. However, she was concerned for her son and was not sure what to do.
Seth emerged from the back of the college physically exhausted and mentally weary. Today his physical education class ran a mile then played dodge ball for the whole class period. He wanted nothing more than to collapse on the ground and rest. His mind was plagued with all sorts of thoughts about the devices everyone was wearing: could people live without them?, what would things be like?, how long could we live then? Seth was physically weak but his emotions were strong and he wanted to try something drastic. With a firm grip on his stuff, Seth walked over to a nearby pole on the college garden turf. He walked around it until he was facing a set of numbers and dialed the number to the local nanotech’s department. A faint ringing could be heard from the speaker next to the number box as the pole was calling the nanotech. Within a few minutes, the tech’s picture showed up and he began to speak through the speaker.
“Hello! This is Mike’s nanotech department how can I help you?”
“Hey Mike my name is Seth Norman and I want to know if I can stop by your shop today.”
“Yeah Seth that’s fine, but I’m only going to keep it open today for another 3 hours.”
“Thanks Mike. I am an hour’s walk away from the shop, so I’ll be there by 3:30.”
“All right Seth I’ll see you there then, but can I ask what’s the occasion?”
“Not right now Mike. I’ll tell you when we get there.” Seth walked to Mike’s shop that was right down the road from the collage and his home. The department was for his office work and business meetings while the shop was there for mechanical work. He often used it to work on people’s nanochi or their internal nanotech frame for any problems that might have occurred. Mike was already there since he drove his car from the office straight to the shop. Seth showed up 10 minutes later and dropped his things by a pile of scrap metals and damaged nanochis. His ears began to lower as his was starting to tuck closer to his body. It had been years since the last time was at Mike’s shop, and every time Seth went there he felt a deep sense of mystery.
“Ha ha ha don’t be scared Seth it’s just an old shop. Come on in buddy!”
“Thanks Mike. I always get the creeps coming in here.”
“Yeah I guess this place has its mysteries you know. So, what can I help you with today?”
“I want you to turn off the nanoatoms in my body…just for today.” Mike looked at Seth with a confused expression for a minute then removed his hat as he spoke.
“So…you want me to turn off every single nanoatom in your body for a whole day?”
“yes I know it sounds weird and complicated but I really want you to do this for me Mike.”
“I’m am sorry Seth, but I am held under government contract to not to do that. I cannot turn off your nanoatoms or I will loose my job and my career.” Seth looked on it disappointment as he dropped to the ground on his knees. His hope to be free of his nanoatoms was crushed in one quick conversation and he had never felt so lost in his life. Mike felt sorry for the boy and didn’t know how to help him any other way.
“Hey Seth don’t worry about it. Okay? Maybe sometime in the future these people will change their ways and things will go back to the way they used to be.”
“Yeah sure they will…” Seth whispered as he ran out after grabbing his stuff.
The door bell rang twice before Lyria answered the door and saw Seth standing there like a lost dog. He slowly walked in and sat down on his bed with his stuff scattered on his floor. Lyria could not understand what was bothering him so badly, but decided to give him his space until he was ready to talk to her about it. For the rest of the day, Seth was a bucket of tears and all Lyria could do was supply him with tissue to wipe his eyes. The following day was a Saturday so Seth decided to sleep in and eat his breakfast later. He quietly lay in his bed with his ears curled back and his tail wrapped around one of his legs. His mind drifted in and out of focus for hours as he faintly remembered what happened the day before. He enjoyed his prolonged sleep until he had to use the bathroom, so afterward he went into the kitchen for a quick snack.
“So you want to talk about what was bugging you yesterday?”
“…I tried to have my nanoautoms turned off…but I couldn’t.” Before Seth could sit down, Lyria approached him and slapped him across the face.
“I can’t believe you tried to do something so stupid! After everything I taught you, this is what you do behind my back?” Lyria was furious and the only thing she could think of was how betrayed she felt by her own son. Seth sat down and sung his arm at a lamp close to him out of range from Lyria’s reaction.
“I can’t believe how ignorant you Lyria. I thought I was trying to do the right thing, but now I see how blind you really are.”
“Blind! You think I’m blind?! You’re the one who can’t even do anything purposeful with your nanochi! Where is your nanochi anyway?”
“It’s broken. I dropped it on the way to school…”
“You liar. You probably broke it on purpose. What on Earth were you even hoping to prove by turning off your nanoatoms?”
“I was going to prove that it is possible to live without them. Haven’t you ever thought about not having these things always keeping us healthy and changing our bodies when we want them to?”
“No Seth because that’s why I decided to get them when I was young you idiot.”
Lyria walked over to the couch and sat down with her head in her lap. She felt as though she had truly lost her son and now she was going to be living with a stranger for years to come.
Seth got up from his computer desk and went back to his room feeling broken on the inside. He knew that some day they would clash on ideas and now Seth was left with nothing to say to her. Hours went by with neither one saying anything to each other before Seth noticed the lights starting to flicker. The lights stopped flickering for a few minutes and then blacked out. Seth sat up on his bed after hearing Lyria scream from pain. She had been sitting at the computer desk altering her appearance again, but this time she would fatally an invisible terror. Seth ran out of his room and found her lying on the ground shaking in pain. Within minutes the computer screen blew up and Lyria died because of her nanoatoms suffering from a computer virus.
Years went by since Seth’s mother had died and he was taken in by a friend of their family. He continued going to school and eventually got his bachelors degree in psychology and a job with Don’s Mental Check, which was a group that helped people deal with problems they saw using their nanochis or other computer advanced tools. Seth loves the work he does now at Don’s Mental Check, especially when his associates call him the psycho cat.
