Circa 1989
My hands have always felt as though they were too big: pendulums at the ends of arms just too long for the rest of me. For years, they have been clenched in fists in the depths of my pockets as I walked among my collegues in this institution academia. Now I work unceasingly, yes even frantically, to finish this that is my life. I cannot be sure when I last ate, nor can remember when I last slept. Ever since they decided not to renew my grant, I have had to release my graduate students and continue the project with my own savings and my own hands.
They said it had no purpose, that cuts had to be made. They said they were sorry and that they would help find new, more relevant, research to do. Twenty-one years of painstaking work, and they’ll find something new for me to do. I am old and I am tired. My whole knowledge is environment control. What do they hope to gain by putting me on some new project that could be better served by some twenty-three year old graduate fresh from some technical school? This is my work, my life there is nothing else left; and they call it useless.
What do they know about artificial environments? With my habitat chamber and my environ-suit, I can simulate any condition anywhere you can imagine. Its very simple really, conveyor belt-like pathways give the sensation of distance and the floors are maleable enough to provide general surfaces, while the a myriad of tiny studs in the suit apply pressure in various ways as to give textures to these surfaces. All the detail is provided by three-dimensional optical interfaces and computer generated sounds. Even smells are reproduced by introducing traces of different chemicals into the breathing mixture. Vents provide the sensation of wind. The suit is an exoskeleton and supports itself so that after all that sensory input you forget that you are wearing it. Subliminal suggestion provides much of the realism, the rest is handled by the computer. All you have to do is ask for a specified file from the library and you are in an new world in the blink of an eye.
A few more adjustments and it will be done. Until recently, all control had to be conducted from another room. Now, after who knows how many days, control can be initiated by voice from within the suit.
* * *
And when it was finished he paused and looked with pride at his accomplishment before putting it on. Once settled, he spoke into the mike:
“Activate.” and the suit came to life with an almost imperceptable hum.
“Initiate Program 0063:’Let There Be Light’.” And he saw the light was good. Walking across the lawn to his old home in the country, he greeted his wife Martha whom he hadn’t seen in twenty years, and went to sleep.