Joslin Horror
The Complex Creature
 Voyager Now |
Voyager Now
Almost fifty years away.
One light day.
Her plutonium in decay,
almost spent
on electricity.
One by one
experiments shut down.
Her planets all are past.
Earth is a dot
on a golden disc of memory.
Still she sends back
telemetry.
A plasma cloud
changes her course,
diverting her trajectory.
So soon, quite soon,
perhaps next year they say,
she may send us one final goodbye;
though in reality she’ll simply
fly, on and on and on and on and on
beyond the call of duty,
beyond recall,
speeding silently.
And tethered here as we are by gravity,
we will, for a time, grieve our deep space child.
Now, Voyager we may never know
what you seek or find
or where you fall
amongst the myriad moons and stars and galaxies.
For what is gravity but a grave-like cavity?
 Now And Zen And The Continuum |
Now And Zen And The Continuum
Were I blessed with
nowness
I could
live in the moment
live in each moment of
minute
content,
conduct each moment's business,
appropriate to each moment's strength,
turn on the moment,
pivotal;
present.
Could I present no object in the way of now,
subject no subject to the scrutiny
of past or future,
that would be being.
That would be blessed content.
For as I worry either side of each event,
life passes by
'til all my nows
are spent.
 An Early Encounter with Death |
The Problem with Posi by Oonah V Joslin
Posi was just picking a nut out of her teeth when it happened. Sudden pain, and the lower right side of her jaw dropped off. She stood looking at it, bright and shiny in her hand. Her jaw! But the pain! She’d never experienced pain before. She needed to seek help.
Thus it was she found herself on the transport into the Complex at what most would call an unearthly hour. Lights loomed and flickered past in a blur. She noticed that she was attracting odd and horror-stricken looks. Even though there was no blood, she had often noted that people disliked disfigurement, and especially recoiled at the juxtaposition of flesh and technology. It made them uncomfortable and this made Posi uneasy too so, having no wish to upset anyone, she pulled on her hood.
The Complex was off grid. It was deliberately difficult to find and to negotiate. Until one had reached the perimeter there seemed to be nothing at all there. Perhaps that’s why they called it the complex. Posi had been there before though she seldom remembered much about it. There would be checks and security measures, passwords, scanners and endless corridors. There were questions to answer and directions to follow. There were magnetic lifts that took you up and down and sideways, spinning round and back and forth to exactly where you needed to be within the crystalline structure and you never knew exactly where you were within it.
Posi offered her eye for scanning, keyed in her identity numbers and the reason for her visit.
Human Series 1.101
Reason for visit: Experiencing pain.
She showed her jaw to the cameras. Technicians assigned a room. Posi stood inside an alcove as instructed. The scanner came overhead and she knew no more.
According to the scanner, she was indeed experiencing pain, which was unusual in the normal run of things, but records confirmed that this particular Posi had had many incarnations and was possessed of the memories of various people all of whom had, at some point, suffered jaw trauma. One had once lost a jaw to leprosy. Another had had a jaw sliced off in one of the many historical conflicts and another’s jaw was shot off by firearms. In addition, she had neurons from a young woman who’d suffered phosphorus necrosis from painting the luminous dials on clocks. So, unusual as the event was, this outcome was not entirely unforeseen, though pain had not occurred in any Posi before her. It raised certain ethical questions as to whether pain was a justifiable means to an end. Eventually her jaw was reattached so that some determination might be made.
Posi became aware of her surroundings now, in a white room where the light was almost too bright to bear. From all around her, soft voices; calm, cold, clinical, detached voices spoke. She had been in the white room before.
“You experienced pain?"
“Yes."
“What is pain like?"
“Searing. Frightening."
“Frightening? What was that like?"
“Panic. I wanted it to stop so I came here."
“You were wearing a hood."
“To hide my face."
“Why?"
“I felt exposed, uncomfortable."
“Because?"
“People do not like injury."
“And that bothered you?"
“Yes."
“You care about people?"
“Yes."
“Yet people conduct acts of violence."
The questions went on and on. This was a difficult case. Positronic Human Series 1 was obviously a success at last. Not only had Posi experienced pain, but a new level of awareness had been attained. Their real interest lay in the social factors that had not been programmed in. There were detectable receptors for pain but what could have given rise to these other concerns? Perhaps it was time for one of the Disembodied to leave The Complex. That had always been the plan, after all and Posi might prove a receptive host and intermediary. Exploration, they decided, should continue. Humans were an interesting, if limited, species. They were dangerous. They paid scant regard to ethics themselves and yet they were sensitive and vulnerable. How could it be that they had persisted on this course for so many millennia?
Posi found herself in her usual domicile. She was getting ready to go out and mingle. She liked to mingle. These people were her friends. She regarded her reflection in the mirror. Something had changed. She looked like her usual self, except that a peculiar, white glow emitted from her eyes and as she stared it grew stronger.
'Perhaps,’ she thought, as a cautionary measure, I had better wear shaded glasses.’
And then she remembered going to The Complex and began to wonder why she should wear dark glasses? And she remembered the sensation of pain, such pain, and from so many people. She had never before felt the need to masquerade as anything but a machine. Why now? How would this light make anyone uncomfortable? Somehow, there was a different reasoning behind this this train of thought, as if it were was not entirely her own.
She turned towards the mirror. “I believe you are a Complex Creature," she said.
The light intensified.
“And I don’t believe we’ve ever been properly introduced."
Brightness flooded the room.
“Let’s talk," said Posi. “Let’s talk about == ethics."
An Early Encounter with Death
I sensed you there deep in my darkest hour,
Beneath my thought, behind my childhood fear.
I felt your shadow cast upon my soul
As with eyes shut I turned to face the wall.
I felt your icy breath upon my back,
Your strangling noose about my tiny neck.
I’ve known you since I was just five years old,
When first I felt your finger pointing cold,
Colder than family could overcome,
Too cold for hearth or church or mother’s womb.
I had to ask Does everybody die?
And then I had to ask the reason why.
You haunted me so that I feared the night
Although I woke each morning to the light
And have for more than half a century.
Though I admit that you still frighten me,
The answer is that everybody dies
And each day older is the greater prize.