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Story Dice

Story Dice

One gift I received for this past Christmas was story dice. You roll the dice and weave together a story doing your best to use all the elements that are rolled. I thought this would make a fun addition to the blog while also forcing me to write odd little stories and keep skills sharp. For the times being I think I will challenge myself to use the dice in the order they were rolled. Today’s rolls were:

Dice Rolls: Cyborg, eclipse, mad scientist, supper power of super speed, monster, lightsaber, moon, launching platform.

Okay, so here we go.

With all the added advantages of their cybernetic enhanced eyes, Myer longed for the time that they saw the world as they did when they were a child – unenhanced. Even if they had turned off all the information, alerts and processes, the image was still one that was filtered through cybernetic enhancements. Myer got their enhancements later in life and so clearly remembers the world without cybernetic eyes. It was a world that held mystery, curiosity and beauty.

As they gazed up at the Sun in anticipation of the coming solar eclipse, solar filters automatically flipped into place protecting the sensitive electronics that wove their way through their retina. To have seen such a beautiful site with their own eyes, what would it look like, would they have to squint and shield their eyes, would people still yell at you for looking at the Sun before totality? Questions without answers now that the mad progress of science saw all people enhanced. Even those that fought to live without enhancements were forced into it against their wills. People who wished to simply enjoy a gentle stroll along a lake now walked faster than they used to run. Although Myer had never denounced or turned over those who resisted enhancements, they were never against it either. In their heart of hearts, however, they had supported the enhancement for all movement and thanked the technicians every time a non-enhancer was found and brought into a world of better living.

As they gazed up and wondered at what this marvellous sight would look like without mechanical sight, the little monster in their mind came crawling out again. This monster was thoughts of regret, sympathy and shame. Beneath the cold hard support of the actions of the technicians, Myer knew there was doubt. Everyone knew there was doubt.

Part of the rehabilitation after getting enhancements was time with a coach who taught you that even though the bodies physiological drive to push out enhancements had been overcome, the human mind was still a place where enhancement rejection could occur. This was not physical rejection, but emotional rejection. It started, just like that little monster of thoughts that they fought against now and again.

The coaching was personal and taught each person a way to fight off the prospects of mental rejection. If not kept at bay it could lead to insanity or worse. Myer had pulled from their youth and from one of their favourite tales, Star Wars: A New Hope. Just as Darth Vader had struck down Obi-Wan so effortlessly with his lightsaber, so did they now strike out at the monstrous thoughts creeping into their mind.

With a though, Myer turned back on the alerts, data streams and other ocular enhancements. As they did this, an alert showed that the edge of the Moon had just touched the edge of the Sun. It would not have been visible to the unenhanced eye for a number of seconds and had they not turned on their enhancements they would have missed this beautiful moment during an eclipse. How fortunate they were to keep faith in the technicians.

Myer leaned back against the metal framework of the abandoned rocket launching pad and watched as the Moon slowly ate away at the Sun as their enhancements pointed out features on the Moon’s surface that were shrouded in shadows.

-KMSB