The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to New New England & Beyond

Dancing Out The Storm

There is no such thing as an absolute biological imperative. Our basic human impulses can be modified, improved, or bypassed with the right tech. This horrifies the Phobics so they call us Xombies, but we are not less or more than human. We are humanity interconnected. The whole idea of what is and is not human has always been too limited.

One example is the human need to reproduce. As we all should remember, by the mid-40s, Siberian Zika had rendered 58% of the world's human population infertile. This was a global disaster. Enough people either inherited an immunity or acquired one via gene modification therapy to maintain a low but steady birth rate in the following decades. Ironically, when humanity finally started coming out of this particular decline in fertility, 40% of the surviving humans had been upgraded and connected and had lost the majority of their interest in physical copulation, favoring mutual fantasies.

This is the conundrum in which we find ourselves today. Who doesn't like to hear the sounds of the newly born, or children at play in the lanes of our villages, towns, and commonwealths? What would we be willing to do to have more of that? For us, the answer is anything but the actual act itself, played out between two sweaty smelly bodies, slapping and panting, growing and birthing. It's repulsive. Our libidos are much better satisfied in elaborate beautiful or horrible fantasies, played out with sets of strangers or with friends, taking a myriad of forms, faces, and features. It's more satisfying than the real thing, so much more exciting and without all the mess.

– The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide, Vol. 6, lines 112 to 114

It had been an orgy, of course. As soon as the wall parted, letting the two men inside, Marto could see the flushed colors on the faces and necks of the adults. Not the sort of thing to which you invite children. It showed in the eyes of all the members of the tribe. They were goofy with the afterglow of it. How many hours had it lasted? Many were partially undressed, lazily reassembling their clothes.

This was especially surprising to Marto, not because he doubted an entire tribe could engage in such activity, but that any of them might have physically acted it out. His followers thexted like mad. The tribe thexted back, along the lines of ["so what?"] ["mind your own business,"] and ["it was fantastic."] Replays were requested and refused. The first day of his book tour was becoming an immediate success.

Inside the walls, Sherwood was bustling, full of activity. It was home to thousands of the better Merited. Sets of printed homes in circular lanes surrounded an enormous central geodesic dome. One or two of the original wooden homes remained here, patched up and rebuilt, a testimony to the tribe's history. Marto approached a contingent near the western wall, where the children and adults were reuniting.

The children were shouting "Story man! Story man! Story man is here!" Children often shouted aloud. They had seen him at Gene's house and were setting the stage for a public telling later in the evening.

Marto blushed. He had not met the majority of these children, but the older ones must have told the younger ones. They may have created reenactments of the stories he led them through during his last visit. ["Thank you, children. I would be happy to lead a story later tonight. First I want to check in with your grownups here."]

["Marto, welcome back,"] John « Maryanne « Roberta « Carla « etc thexted while walking toward him. He was a big man, shirtless, with short photosynthetic hair growing out of the top of his head and spreading down his shoulders, back, and chest. He wore blue-green loose fitting draw-string pants. ["You arrived just in time. There is a cat-4 coming up the coast. We will need to stay inside tonight. You are welcome in the dome. I see you've met Gene."]

["Yes,"] replied Marto, looking over to the old outsider, who had finally found his dog, ["He's something else. What kind of arrangement do you have with him? I know my followers are curious."]