Year 2395: Embracing the New Age
Step into the future, where bodies are but vessels. And relationships are always — Available.
In the year 2395, society has evolved to embrace a new age where physical bodies are interchangeable vessels and relationships are fluid and constantly evolving. The process of changing bodies is routine and painless, akin to updating a computer file. Traditional concepts like monogamy and family have faded, replaced by fluid connections and individual pursuits.
Despite the conveniences of perpetual youth and stasis, the protagonist, Taxi Eon, feels a sense of nostalgia for the finite nature of life and the value it once held.
Chapter 1: 1st April, 2395
Call me Taxi Eon. I’m waiting at the reception area of the New Body Inc for my turn to get my vessel (or as the old timers called it — the body) exchanged for a new one. I’m 155 years now & am weary of the nightly trips to the bathroom, the ache in my molars, and the thinning of my once-luxuriant locks. So, I have scheduled an appointment with New Body Inc for getting my current vessel upgraded. Plus I plan to turn into a woman again.
This isn’t my first transformation. At 14, I had my first. I was born a woman but wanted to be a man. It had cost my father a fortune back then to indulge my whim. The process was seamless, painless, taking no more than 15 minutes to complete the transference — no mumbo jumbo as is shown in the movies from the 21st century!
Let’s say it’s as easy as changing a pen drive — you just need to update the consciousness stored in a coin sized chip.
Before bidding farewell to my old vessel, I snapped a photo — for nostalgia’s sake — of the vessel I was leaving behind. My former body would be recycled, its organs and tissues repurposed for another one to enjoy.
My father, understandably, grappled with the strangeness of the new me, just as I had struggled to connect with his transformations. My father was into his 3rd vessel and his partner at that time in her 2nd. I don’t have much connection with him — but he has paid for my transformation — so I talk to him whenever he calls.
By the way, did I tell you my father is a Level 3 vessel. Level 3 is the crème de la crème of vessels — it’s consciousness packed inside an indestructible alloy body. Imagine a robot with a consciousness — that’s what my father is. ( More about Level 1 and Level 2, later)
About 200 years, ago he was an early partner in New Body Inc. As you would have realised — he is a trillionaire now.
Chapter 2: Physical Memory Expert
This time around, however, the procedure will be longer. The transfer would include about 100 years’ worth of data. New Body Inc people have proposed a faster process where they won’t upload the digital experiences but only the physical ones. Maybe I should consider it. I work as a Physical Memory Expert — so Physical memories are very important for me.
You might be curious about what a Physical Memory Expert (PMEs) is. Well, think of it as the counterpart to Digital Influencers from the 21st century. While Digital Influencers shared their adventures and experiences on platforms like Instagram Reels, we, the Physical Memory Experts, traverse the physical world — all around the globe. People question the necessity of such stupidity when Cyberia offers an experience far better than the chaotic reality of physical existence.
PMEs like me meticulously record our experiences and then sell them to anyone willing to purchase them using Digollars, the digital currency of our time. While the denizens of Cyberia remain ensconced in their digital pods, individuals like me venture out to create memories for these less adventurous souls.
In this age of perpetual stasis, bodies decay swiftly without regular movement, prompting frequent changes for most individuals within a span of 25 years. Most of the time people around me lay dreaming with their visors on. I am physically active so my vessel survived so long.
Chapter 3: Idaniko
At 13 years old, my daughter has already undergone her own transformation. Like me at that age — she hated her old vessel. As a single parent, I find myself among the dwindling few who still have a children by their side. I anticipate that after my own transformation, my daughter and I will inevitably grow apart. She has seen me as a father for 13 years — now I am not sure whether she would like me as a mother.
Families, once the cornerstone of human connection, have dwindled in number, replaced by solitary pods where individuals spend their days immersed in the Cyberia and get identities change every few years.
In a world where partners shed their skins (and sexuality) every few decades, the notion of monogamy had lost its relevance, giving rise to a new era of fluid connections and evolving unions. The older idea of monogamy primarily revolved around the preservation of physical fidelity — once we took out bodies / identities (and sexuality) out of the equation — monogamy more or less fell out of fashion.
It’s not as if we don’t marry now. About 50 years back, I was married to a Level 1 vessel. My wife, Idaniko and I were happily living together for 15 years but then she slipped off a mountain where we were trekking. We were poor and couldn’t afford her transformation. She died leaving my daughter behind.
Chapter 4: Fountain of Youth
This time around, I’m opting for a Japanese vessel. In my previous iteration, I inhabited a Nigerian vessel.
With the dissolution of our physical identities, or rather, as physical identities have became more fluid, the notion of nation-states has lost relevance. Earth is simply Earth now. And New Body Inc our number one corporate.
Do you know, some individuals are experimenting with inhabiting vessels resembling dogs or cats, but I find such ventures too adventurous for my taste, man!
What I have gathered from watching movies of yore is that — people struck together due to fear of old age. They always talk of growing old together in the movies. Once we kicked out Old Age (and sexuality….and identity) out of the equation — what was left was infinite permutations of relationships.
All of us now are drinking from the mythic Fountain of Youth everyday. At least the Level 2 and Level 3 of us. The Level 1 are slowly perishing away.
Chapter 5: Perpetual Stasis : The past holds a strange allure.
I find solace in revisiting old Earth films, relics from a time when mortality was an unavoidable reality. My daughter, born into a world where death has become obsolete, view such concepts with a mixture of fascination and disbelief.
As I contemplate the impending transformation, I can’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia for the bygone days of mortality, monogamy, and disease. Time was finite so Time had value. Love had value — as what is love when Time is unlimited. Joy was real as life was not there for ever — there was a sense of urgency.
Anyhow , I prepare to embrace the future with a new body. Will take few snaps of this vessel too. Farewell to the old, and welcome the perpetual stasis.
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https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/how-ecmo-is-redefining-death
