Raymond Reyes falls for the wife of the man he traveled back in time to replace. He's planned his mission to the minute, yet he finds himself unprepared to meet the woman all his files are wrong about. History wants to repeat itself -- Raymond is ju...
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Raymond
"Yes," Raymond said. "We don't use our bodies, it's considered unhygienic."
The worst part of how Claire's mouth failed to form words was the complete silence that lasted for a few seconds after she'd stopped trying, forcing him to continue:
"I know it's difficult to understand, but we've reproduced every sensation, every detail. I've been in your house, sat on that sofa, and it felt the same as when I did, here. It's perfectly valid -- otherwise humanity would've never settled for it. It has been our purpose to use as little as possible, live as long and as comfortably as possible. Eternal happiness."
"You mean, you never had sex, like, in person?!" Claire ignored everything he'd said, eyes doubling in size to match the disbelief in her voice. "With another person?"
Humans in 2019 still didn't believe any virtual experience could ever match the 'real thing' -- the only life they knew. Being able to run was still considered a necessary part of being human, conveniently setting aside how people who couldn't walk were also equally human. People with prosthetic limbs, enhanced by medicine, prescription glasses. One with their phones.
"I have plenty of experience in the area," he realized he wanted to impress her.
"Yes, literally in your dreams!"
Raymond was more insulted than he should've been by that sting, "It's the same thing!" She didn't believe it, but she would.
Claire shook her head, "Oh Raymond..."
She jumped out of her chair, walking helped her process information better. She turned to him, "So you've never been with a woman before?"
"I have been with a lot of people," he emphasized, but she wasn't listening. "There is no man or woman in my time. Everyone is 'he'."
"Why the male pronoun?" Claire asked
"It was just the most used when we decided to go common. At the time, there was no more inequality, so the choice leaned towards the practical. Yes, if you choose now, it would be better to use a non-default one. We didn't have that problem, so we chose the most frequently used in the language so far."
Claire stopped fidgeting, "You mean... You're not... a man?"
"Depends on what you consider a man. If it's the body then I am. If it's the mind, I'm not. Our names are thirty-two characters unique identifiers. I chose Raymond Reyes from a baby name book." To make her trust him more, his GUID name would've set them further apart.
"You're gonna have some sort of epiphany--" she said, reading off the empty walls as if they prompted her. She stopped, hit by a thought, "You can't cry during sex!"
"What?!"
"I'm just saying, there's a reason I liked Tony," she winked, then stared at him.
"Why would I--" The comparison, obviously not in his favor, hurt Raymond, making him stop before finishing his thought.
