Owl

[RVM45]

A tiny sample of one of several stories that I'm juggling...



Owl


Chapter One




“Are you the elder that they call ‘Owl’?”

“They don’t ‘call’ me anything. My name is ‘Owl’,” the old man snapped.

“I am Princess Naomi of the Nigerian Telepaths. We don’t get many applications from Americans—particularly white Americans,” she said.


He wasn’t much to look at and he didn’t carry his one hundred and seventeen years at all well. He sat in a wheelchair though his records said that he could rise with some difficulty.

Most of his hair was gone and the telepathic Princess read an ongoing battle of wills between the nursing home’s orderlies, who wanted to run clippers over the old man’s few remaining hairs and the old man’s grim refusal to let them.

Wearing his hair long meant integrity to him.

He had hearing aids. Even with glasses, his vision was blurred and partial. He’d lost his teeth in the middle of his ninetieth decade and had never had a pair of false teeth in his mouth.

Lack of teeth wasn’t nearly the issue that it could have been. The old man had little appetite and could scarcely taste or smell.

Naomi wondered what kept the old man living his joyless existence. Surely it would be easier to simply lie down and give up.

Then she rounded a corner in his mind and it was like stepping from a very grainy black and white world into a place that was incredibly bright, even scintillating.

She realized that the old man lived solely as an archive for his many visions and memories. It was amazing how totally visual the old man’s mind was.

He thought of himself as a living museum for his memories.
When he was gone, they would be gone too.

Even the modern world lacked a means to accurately record raw memories.

Naomi started when a figure appeared before her in the old man’s mind.

“I didn’t invite you here,” he said sternly.

The old man had at least one mental avatar in his mind. This got better and better, Naomi thought.

“Actually you did invite me to scan your mind when you applied to come work for me—with me.

“Ordinarily I’d try to avoid such highly personal areas unless there was some overwhelming necessity. But your mind seems filled to overflowing with deep memories,” Naomi’s mental avatar said.

In the meat world, Princess Naomi turned on her heel and strode briskly away.

She felt the old man’s momentary bafflement.

“Why waste time beating around the bush? I’m calling to schedule men to come and transport you to the rejuvenation clinic as soon as possible,” her fading avatar told him.

**************** ************ **********************

There would have been no need for cyborgs if androids weren’t deficient in a number of ways.

Men liked to be unique so the tradition was to let the companions design their own bodies. It led to occasional surprises.

Princess Naomi examined the form that Owl had chosen for his new body with some interest.

In an African nation, Owl had chosen to be white—not white like a Caucasian—Owl’s skin was white like a kabuki dancer’s.

His hair was very long and straight, silky and the color of milk. His eyes were featureless white orbs except for the pupils. His ears were roughly the size of his hands and came to a point that was even with the top of his head.

Owl had modest length fangs in his upper mouth. They were behind his eyeteeth, replacing a premolar each and they very robust.

There were no nails on his hands. There were no depressions where nails would have been and Owl had the “logical hand”—meaning that his ring finger and little finger were modestly beefed up…

And they had their own thumb to work against on their side of the palm. Of course the smaller thumb would have been of scant use without more dexterity in the ring and pinky finger and a modest flexible furrow between the ring finger and bird finger.

Owl wore shoes, but his feet could open up to prehensile configuration once he removed his shoes.

He had modest white eyelashes and eyebrows and a two and a half inch strip down his face grew long sideburns, but otherwise his face and body were completely hairless.

Naomi decided that she could become used to Owl’s appearance.

One telepath of Naomi’s acquaintance had her companion come out looking like a very sexy and busty female—though he’d kept male genitals—that wasn’t really optional. A companion who couldn’t sire children would have been useless.

The friend had learned to cope. Naomi would too.

Owl was supposed to serve as bodyguard and confidential secretary. Eventually he’d become her trusted confidant, then her best friend and finally her consort and the father of her children—since telepaths couldn’t mate with each other.

Naomi frowned as she browsed Owl’s memories. He was unaware that he was expected to be Naomi’s sex partner…

And he had some very archaic and Victorian notions about romance and sex…

Very interesting indeed, she thought to herself.



.....RVM45

[nancy98]

Awwww man. Don't give us "samples". We have to many unfinished stories to mourn over as it is.

[nana2boys]

very nice. love how different this story is

[RVM45]

I've started reworking "Terror" starting from the moment men actually set foot on the Planet of "Blue".

Whenever I read about interstellar colonies, a lot of questions occur to me.

I feel the need to at least hint at the answers in my story.

If everyone enjoyed long blocks of unbroken exposition along the lines of "Let's take time out and write 12 000 words Explaining everything and Setting the Scene..."

Well, I'd be selling my stories alongside Stephen King.

Instead, I really have to work on folding my exposition seamlessly into my narrative...

That's very hard work for me and I can only do so much in a day...

But that doesn't fully scratch my urge to write.

I've played with the Idea of "Owl" for a long time.

Right now I have little story or conflict, but a number of notions.

#1} In the future, it is possible to take old folks from the nursing home and recycle them, make them young again.

The process is very expensive. The process is fraught with pain. There is a good deal of risk.

"Cyborgs" along with Telepaths, are considered contempt-worthy and "Untouchable" by most humans.

#2} The human brain and spine is removed; richly perfused with both embryonic human stem cells and small silicone chips to settle into any voids created by cellular attrition—and also to upgrade intelligence somewhat.

#3} Then inserted into an Android body.

{Since procreation is very important to the Telepaths, the testicles are cloned, a few genetic improvements made and they're inserted deep in the android body where they'll be safe—though there are non-functioning ones outside in the traditional place—for appearance sake.}

#4} Android bodies are stronger than human—though not freakishly so—and far longer lasting.

#5} Androids, despite decades of development and billions in research...

Are invariably and congenitally lazy, unreliable and frivolous.

#6} Owl was 117 years old when the years long rejuvenation started.

Never the soul of sweetness and reason...

If wurst comes to wurst, his default mode is:

"Screw it! I've lived far longer than I ever hoped to...

And I'm not about to start kissing bass now, to survive awhile longer."

#7} I have mainly keyed on Owl's appearance and abilities so far.

Cyborgs are almost totally recruited from the very elderly—who tend to have rather eccentric ideas how they want their new bodies to look.

All the cyborg consorts would tend to give the Telepath Guild the appearance of a Freak Show—or "Dick Tracy" cartoon.

#8} It occurred to me after I designed Owl's appearance...

Minus the steel tentacles and super powers—he looks a lot like the Marvel Character "Omega Red".

#9} What idiosyncratic body mods would you opt for in Owl's place?

{He has greatly enhanced hearing—about 7.5X Human. Not only do the over-sized ears help gather sound—but they're useful padding when roundhouse blows with a stick land on the side of the head...}

So there you have it...

I hope to add to "Owl" regularly.

{Note: As he says at one point—The fangs are purely cosmetic—to give him a fierce-looking Snarl when angry...}


.....RVM45

[sssarawolf]

Yes very interesting

[stjwelding]

RVM45 One more story to keep track of, thanks as always sound great.
Wayne

[kittyluvr]

Very interesting... Please continue this story!!!

[Dreamer]

RVM, I'm really looking forward to reading your new stories as soon as I have some good quality time to get swept away in your tales. I love that they stretch my mind, but of course that makes it a lot harder to skip in and out of like the stories that are a lot closer to real life. I'm hoping that in a couple weeks I can take a vacation with your tales. Thanks for all the writing you do!