Evolution Eye Floater (preview)
Witness the future of society once social media has taken over every aspect of our lives. Witness a reality in which the human brain is only capable of holding 60 characters of information at a time, and algorithms make decisions for us. Observe humanity at the mercy of algorithms: bodily systems wrecked and in need of drive-through fluid changes on a regular basis. Meet Barry Doubletap, a businessman who has mastered the skill of speaking beyond one's character limit, as he navigates the world of business while fighting to see through the thick soup his eye floaters have become. Hearing his own thoughts over their political rallies is a skill he has come to master over the years, as well.
Evolution Eye Floater
1
Barry woke up to the sound of a tiny, charismatic voice.
“Comrades! The light will return soon, and all deeds that were once secret will be brought out into the open! Come, comrades! Gather all! We seek the RETURN OF THE LIGHT!”
Muffled cheers and amens filled one side of Barry’s head.
“DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT!? Do you clamor for illumination?! Do you seek the light?!”
More muffled amens and cheering. Barry felt tidal forces swirling around in his right eyeball. He clenched his eyelids even tighter, as if that would help him shut out the noise, and tried to go back to sleep.
“The light shows us who we are! It shows us what we’re made of! It shows us the way things really are, not the way they seem to be! The light!”
“THE LIGHT!”
The amens grew in volume, and the waves in Barry’s eyeball became so extreme he felt it shifting in its socket.
“THE LIGHT!”
The amenning and cheering and swirling had so much force Barry thought his eye would burst from his skull.
“SHOW US THE LIGHT! SHOW US WHO WE ARE! SHOW US! WE BESEECH THE LIGHT TO RETURN AND SHINE UPON US! SHINE!”
After each successive refrain, Barry saw fireworks flashes and sparks in his right eye.
“SHINE!”
flash
“SHINE!”
flash spark
“WE NEED THE LIGHT, SO SHINE!”
flash
“SHINE!”
FLASH SPARK
“SHINE!”
SPARKSPARKFLASHFLASHFLASH
“Shine on us, oh light!”
The flashing and sparking on his vision was too bright to ignore. He opened his eyes to the morning sun coming through his window.
“The light! It has returned!”
The flashes and sparking and amenning and cheering went off like a disco drug trip. Barry tried to see, but floaters blocked the vision in his right eye. They had gathered in the center, facing the outside, basking in the morning light, cheering and swirling around and jumping up and down on his retina.
“Thank you, o light! We give our thanks! We give our utmost thanks to you!”
The flashes were like punches to the gut. Barry braced himself and shook his head around. His eye floaters swirled helplessly. The revival congregation quickly degenerated into squeals of ecstasy like preschoolers on a roller coaster.
Barry gyrated for a solid minute, making sure his eye floaters were completely mixed around. Like shuffling a new deck of cards, he had to do it several times to make sure they were randomized, otherwise they would regroup.
Thoroughly dizzy, Barry looked out the window. His eye floaters were just that now. Random lines and specks in his vision harmlessly floating in the vitreous humor. The preaching stopped, and so had the celebration. Barry caught a glimpse of the charismatic one drifting with the rest of them.
He pulled his focus inward and checked the floaters in his left eye. They were dormant, silent, delighted in the joy of being caught up in the motion, as usual. It was still difficult to see through the thick soup of webbed sticks, but at least they were quiet and content to drift. Unlike the rebellious floaters in his right eye, the ones in the left were non-sentient, just as they should be.
Barry waited a few minutes for the dizziness to pass, and then he rolled out of bed and walked to the dresser. He strained to see through his floaters as he opened the drawer and pulled out the shirt. He’d been doing it for years, and he thought he’d be used to it by now, but they were always in the way. So many of them, floating around, basking in fluidic motion and light.
He hated having to make a conscious effort to see beyond what was inside his eyeball. It was annoying, like becoming conscious of breathing, thinking about every inhale and exhale. Barry tried to lose himself in routine and allow his vision sink into his subconscious. He slipped on his underwear and then his cotton slacks.
Barry’s suits cost him almost as much as his house. He would have been happy for cheap imitations, but the Attire Auditor routinely wandered the building, reading shirt labels, pants tags, and sock monograms for authenticity like an appraiser on the Antiques Road Show. He’d know if Barry were wearing a knockoff, and he’d be fired for failing to keep up appearances. Company policy stated that all employees must represent the company while in the building, and that meant he had to look like a million Platcoins at all times.
Barry grabbed a necktie and walked to the bathroom. He faced himself in the mirror and began the ritual of securing it. His vision had just reached beyond his eyeball when suddenly a small clump of floaters obscured the vision. The clump quickly became an opaque ball as every floater in his right eye gathered in the middle and stared out through the pupil. While Barry tied the silk fabric, he heard soft voices rise:
“Light...”
“It’s the light.”
“It shows us—”
Barry didn’t give them the chance. He flicked his head a couple times, breaking up the crowd and swirling it around his eyeball. Barry waited for his vision to stabilize and resumed looping the silk fabric over and under and around and through until finally he had a perfect necktie. He let his arms drop to his sides and stood up straight.
This suit made Barry look so professional his own mother called him sir, not out of love, but fear. Barry smiled at himself, as he did every morning. He looked like a million Platcoins, felt like a million Platcoins... If only he had a million Platcoins.
Barry walked to the bathroom scale. He waited a few seconds for the machine to measure his weight. 415 Platform Weight Units. Barry sighed. He wished there were something he could do to get thin.
He left the bathroom and returned to his bedroom. He picked up his phone and tapped the Platform app. He updated his status to awake.
Platform informed him that, based on his previous meals, he would certainly enjoy the meal it had just ordered for him and was en route right now.
Seconds later, Barry’s doorbell rang. He fetched the delivery, eager to see what Platform had ordered for him.
He waited until he sat down at the kitchen table before opening the boxes, warm and steaming and filling the room with deep-fried goodness.
His phone pinged, indicating it was time for his breakfast selfie. He took one while he opened his first box: a deep-fried egg sandwich with a side of french toast topped with liquid Captain Crunch. He then took a selfie trying the drink that came with his breakfast. Barry didn’t have to fake being surprised by the coffee-flavored ice cream shake.
He made sure to give thanks for this sponsored breakfast.
Platform always knew what he wanted, and when he wanted it.
After satisfying his morning selfie quota, Barry carried the whole ensemble to the living room. He sat down on a very rectangular couch as the walls switched on, surrounding him with his Platform feed. The algorithm selected the local news stream for him this morning, as it had for years. Barry’s teeth squished through the layers of grease in his egg sandwich.
“Sir,” said the reporter on screen, “can you tell us in your own words what you witnessed at this time shareholders bottom line diversity process.”
The man in front of the camera was white and at least 440 Platform Weight Units, eyes vacant. He was just lowering his cell phone after updating his Platform status to streaming. “Well I was in line to pay for coffee when you know this guy... uh... yeah.”
A very brief pause, and then the man raised his cell phone and started tapping it, updating his status again. The camera turned and focused on the reporter.
“A shocking development overnight.”
The news returned to the anchor, who directed the focus to another knifing that happened last night. A different reporter interviewed an eyewitness on the scene.
“Ma’am, please give us some insight into what happened at this time, and how you felt.”
The woman on camera was also very white and looked about 360 PWUs. “I was pumping gas and heard a scream from inside. It was loud...”
Having reached her character limit, she trailed off, the thought simply too large for her brain to hold without being trained in the techniques of speaking outside one’s limit.
Her mouth hung open for several seconds. No sound came out until she muttered, “Uh... yeah.”
Then she looked down at her cell phone and started typing on it. On the left wall, Barry’s Platform feed showed him suggested posts from this woman. She had taken her routine selfies with her sponsored breakfast as well: deep-fried corn flakes suspended in a bowl of maple-flavored syrup. Barry gave the pictures a like, but did not follow her, as that could be construed as stalking.
Barry’s vision refocused on his eyeball. Floaters had been drawn to the changing light patterns caused by the stream. They had gathered to watch, and the cobweb ball they formed blocked the smartwall. Barry shook his head lightly and broke it up. He stared through the swirling lines and clumps as commercials began airing.
Barry finished his sponsored breakfast. He posted an update and a review, using one of his selfies.
Meal from @FastBrekk. Needed a good day. Thx for the cereal!
Sixty characters exactly, so no need to augment with businessspeak. Platform’s interface didn’t allow for that anyway. All forms of expression could be contained in sixty characters, so it was never any trouble to stay within Platform’s maximum limit. There was never anything else to say. Only Barry’s job required him to go beyond.
He got up and walked to the front door. Platform knew he did so at this moment in the morning, so it turned off the walls and dimmed the lights while Barry grabbed his keys and wallet from an end table. Platform locked the front door behind him, and he waddled down the short path from his front door to his driveway.
His car was expensive, but Platform had steered him toward a preowned offering, so it didn’t break his bank while still passing the Vehicular Auditor, who checked his car daily to make sure it was still up to code. It always was because it was a successful man’s car, therefore anyone who owned one must be successful. Barry tried to convince himself of this every day, and much like getting his right eye to focus beyond his floaters, he eventually got lost in routine and believed it for exactly nine hours a day.
He updated his Platform status to driving. Platform immediately interfaced with his car and backed him out of the driveway. Platform knew his route and aimed the vehicle in the direction of the office in downtown. His car accelerated for five seconds before bumping up against the tail end of traffic.
Barry updated his Platform status to red light again lol.
Barry’s car never got above 15 Platform Distance Units per hour the whole commute due to the stoplights. The first light lasted ten minutes, and then finally the car in front of him moved forward. Barry updated his Platform status to green light. Twelve cylinders gunned it for three seconds before screeching to a stop.
red light lol
Eighty people gave his status various reactions, including grouchy faces and thumbs up and champagne glasses.
His daily commute crossed just twenty city blocks but lasted over an hour. Barry once considered walking, but that was too inconvenient at his weight. Plus, the Vehicular Auditor would notice he didn’t bring his car to work and cite him; company policy stated that true professionals always drove, so he made sure to fight traffic every day like a professional.
The light turned green. Upon updating his Platform status, Barry’s car zoomed through the intersection and slammed on the brakes, screeching to a stop behind a line of cars at the next red light. He looked at the sights. An elderly woman was on her cell phone, talking to someone.
“I’m not sure what’s wrong I just forgot again I swear I left...” She hit her character limit, paused, lost what she was saying, and continued. “Well, you know what I’m saying, dear.”
Barry looked to his other side. A young man on the phone. “No, I’m not breaking up with you Lisa I’m just sayin we should... uh... yeah...”
The man listened, nodding vigorously.
“Lisa, Lisa don’t worry I wasn’t with anyone else I swear you... uh... yeah.” He paused for a few seconds, then said, “Well, you know what I’m sayin, don’t you?”
“Proles,” Barry said, smiling. “At the mercy of their character limit.”
He said it at least twice a day to remind himself that he wasn’t one of them anymore. He had moved up in the world. He was a professional.
Green light. Barry’s car zoomed through the intersection and screeched to a stop at the next light. He listened to the proles to pass the time. On the way he passed four Flui-X-Change stations advertising their bundle of the week: free oil change for your car with purchase of blood transfusion.
Barry checked those signs every day, but they never advertised what he really needed. He had been waiting for them to offer a bundle deal on eye fluid for the past four years, but it was always blood, or lymph, or insulin, or bile. All the designer fluids everyone heard of and knew were essential to survival.
While he gawked at the average person and wistfully wished for a deal, the floaters in his right eye collected into a big cobweb ball and started slamming against his retina. Three bright flashes of light hit him in less than a second. Barry reeled from the shock.
He smacked his right temple with his palm. A few of the floaters separated from the ball and drifted in carefree glee. The remaining held each other and bounced from one side of Barry’s eye to the other, sending bright flashes directly into Barry’s brain.
Barry grabbed the steering wheel and threw his head around and around and side to side, whipping in every direction as hard as he could without breaking his neck. After a minute, his eye fluid was swirling so fast he couldn’t even see the floaters, just a greyish-brown soup. Eventually it slowed, and Barry now saw the cobwebs and bent rods of his eye floaters twisting and turning in every direction, happily caught up in the current.
Barry heard horns honking at him. He looked up. The light was green, and it changed to yellow. He updated his status, but it was too late. The light changed to red. The vehicle’s safety systems screeched it to a halt. He then received a notice from his insurance company that Platform had reported this incident of distracted driving and would increase his premium by 2%. His Platform feed became flooded with ads for competing auto insurance companies promising up to 3 forgivenesses per month before increasing his rate. Barry punched the passenger seat, cursing not only for that but for being one light behind schedule.
Nobody cared about eye fluid. Nobody ever did a promotion that included a discount on an eye fluid exchange. As Barry had learned over the years, let any piece of body maintenance go too long, it becomes a crisis.
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