Peter's Head

Peter's Head

Flash Fiction by Kenn Brody

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved

I had just emerged from the elevator of the high-rise office building and was studying the directory to see who our new neighbors might be. Behind me were three figures seated on a a settee in this large lobby. I heard them speaking, but ignored them until I heard my name:

"I did, though. I discussed hospitals with Kenn Brody, and that's where I went. Mass General Experimental Ward. I was their first ever total chyrectomy."

The voice was somewhat familiar, but it was subtly different from my memory. I turned, waded through the lobby traffic and observed the three figures. There were two business men in suits and one torso, like a diver's suit, sprawled on the settee. Where its head would be I saw a large screen, like an iPad, with Peter's face. He had the same round, brown face with a white fringe beard, the same soulful eyes, the same gentle smile that seemed to forgive the world its sins.

The bulging torso contained what remained of Peter's head.

"Peter! What a happy coincidence! Did you come here by accident or are you here to celebrate our new offices?"

"Well, no. I was here to see a new client, an Esthetics distributor. eNuance. You know them?"

How could I not know them? They were my clients as well. My business was creating Esthetics, subtle digital experiences for the gourmet consumer market. Pandemics and revolutions had changed the world. After decades of enforced and then accustomed isolation, people were hungry, famished, really, for the full human experience. It started with porn, of course, but that was formulaic — tab A into slot B, no subtlety, and ultimately boring. My digital offerings included dining experiences in the worlds' finest restaurants, storms at sea, notable rock concerts, soirees in exotic places, flying suits in the Alps, climbing Everest, Chinese New Years. Anything that required exquisite detail and fulfilled the essence of being human. It was high art and high tech, and we were the best in the business.

Peter was a professional critic. He was the blogger that reviewed Esthetics products and rated them. He had the taste, the culture, the appetite. His head was gone. He was now some brain tissue attached to neural circuitry. As a chyrectomy he had credibility. Digital experience was the only kind of human experience he had left.

"Peter, please come and visit us. I promise you some new stuff before anyone else gets it."

"Sure, old friend, I'd love that, but I can't promise a rating, you know. I'll probably be under contract."

I stood in front of the construct that housed my old friend. "Peter, we've been through so many things. Did you ever think we would be sitting on top of the world, getting people to upload smiles, hugs and ordinary human contact?"

He laughed, "I was more concerned about becoming a box on a rubber robot."

"Isn't it amazing? The absolute hunger people have for Esthetics? Almost a trillion dollar market now!"

"After inflation, my friend. Still, it's huge. Good to be here. And it's mostly your doing, your creations and technology. Don't be embarrassed to take the credit."

"Well, without you, I would never have had the credibility. I mean, it isn't until you lose the richness of human experience that you understand it. You put Esthetics on the map."

"Well, we both share that same hunger. Kenn. I'm the headless critic who used to be human...'

"...And I was never human. I know. See you upstairs?"