Boredom in Kodoka Ⅰ

Meine Ratten: Whitney

My old photos.

My photos from the late 19th century. I've been looking through them for over an hour. It has my memories.

My graduation.

My certification.

My little lab rats. They were supposed to be just that.

My giant field rat. Born from a dying mother a month prior.

My colleagues. And the messy work.

My friends. And our inventions.

My best friend. And my rats again.

My wife. And my aging rat alongside the younger ones.

And my magnum opus: my son.

The one I was one of the first to extract an egg for.

The one my wife and I sacrificed sleep for.

The one to be one of the first humans to be covered in synthetic fluid instead of vernix.

Such as shame my beautiful creation couldn't meet my old rat, even with that extended lifespan.

But at least I know I can inch closer and closer to never having to say goodbye to my loved ones again. At least I know I could see them again in another cycle.

At least I know I can always look back at the times we had. At least I know he's in a good place. At least I know she's in a good place.

My fingers gently brushed on a photo of my rat. I can still feel his soft fur and hear his tiny giggles. 

10 years. Half a cycle. Five - some even say ten - times the life span of a normal pet rat, nevertheless a wild field rat. I knew he would not last as long as my wife and I, yet I was underprepared when his body finally went cold.

110 plus years. Five and a half cycles. I taught him well. He lived longer than most humans and taught many more during his life time. I still remember the call from the hospital. I still remember ripping out of my human form just to go see him.

I still remember the last conversation we had before he passed in my arms, already boarding the train to the afterlife. I still wish I could've greeted him there next to my wife, yet the only thing stopping me is my own immortality.

I gently put the photos back into the old, dented, metal box and closed it.

~~~~~~

"You had really strange PhD advisor, didn't you?"

"Well to be fair, he did have a completely bonkers childhood. He loved going on mildly related tangents about the weird stuff he did with his mom along with trying to emulate her. I still remember that one time he told us he was a test tube baby and never mentioned it again."

"He sounds quite familiar." Blakeford already knew who he was talking about; it was their twelfth time having this conversation, second since his husband's death.

"Oh really? Tell me about him."

"Well, two or three cycles ago, my sister had this baby she grew in the same method as the way your advisor was birthed. She used to always talk about how he was doing as he grew up. Even after moving onto the next identity, she'd somehow find time to send him a letter for updates.

"I still remember the time she raved on about him inheriting his mother's brilliance and information absorption when he announced his completion of his post-doc. Considering the amount of crap she had to deal with when making him, I don't blame her for talking about her son so much."

"It was Keira, right?"

"Nah, it's not in her personality to pull that kind of risky shit. Keira's smart, but she's not mad scientist smart like Wynton or Whitney. She also was not around for that cycle."

"Ohh, I forgot. I'm so used to being around you two I forgot about your other siblings, haha."

"But yeah, I think we're talking about the same person. Did your advisor have any rats perchance?"

"He did. Sometimes he'll bring them in and freak everyone out from how big they are. I thought they were cute, but I do see why everyone else was so afraid. Once in a while, he'll get some of them to show off some tricks to the class."

"Yep." Blakeford claps his hands. "That sounds like my nephew."

"Oh, so that's why he freaked out when I brought you along to a research trip."

"To be fair, my employer probably didn't want me there either."

The two men chortled.

"Say, how's the soul transfer going so far?"

"Oh you know the answer," the man on the computer display teased. "Absolutely terrible. It used to be way faster before the epidemic and pandemic. They're apparently still stuck on the epidemic even though it's been decades ago! Absolute insanity!"

"I know, right?" Blakeford sighs. "You'd think bring in priority queue meant you get to your new body faster, but it's so clogged up now that you're just paying extra for the same wait time."

"Oh man, I can't wait to see you again once I get out of here."

"Me too, mate. Me too." Blakeford glanced at his phone. "Ah scheiß, time for me to go."

"Oh already? I must be getting old because that felt like a few minutes!"

"To be fair, you are now."

"Oh you know what I mean," he chuckles. "Bye dear!"

"Bye [REDACTED],"

The video call ended. Blakeford got out of his seat and changed out his clothes to on something more put together. He quickly fixed up his hair before returning to his computer.

Blakeford opens up the recording software on his computer & opens up a streaming platform.  After some setting up, he clicks the "Start Stream" button.

"Helloooo humans! It's your favourite duncehead, Brandon."