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Description
It’s another gorgeous sunset in the Cognitive Union. I swear they put extra little scattering particles into the atmosphere, just to make it prettier. Of course, the fact that I can pick a dozen different views of it that other people are broadcasting helps too. The guy with the infrared vision is getting quite a show.

The day went by quickly, as Thursdays often do. They’re a busy time for those of us who work for CerebraScape. Thursdays are when the new mindscape lenses ship, and there’s always a last-minute scramble to fix bugs, add last-minute tweaks, that sort of thing. It’s fun stuff. Everyone who works for CS does well in a pressure-cooker kind of environment. This week was all custom jobs, so we had to push the general releases off until next week. I must have clocked about 750 hours of fast-time this week, maybe 200 of that just today. I could check and find the exact number, of course, but I don’t really care. We got it all done and sent out, and that’s the important part.

Tonight I think I need some exercise. I spent a little too much time up in the infosphere, not enough time in analog space. The electrical twitch-muscle stuff some people do is fine with me, but I prefer a nice run.

After the sun goes down I head over to the park and do a few laps around the pond. I was never that interested in nanotech, but I have plenty enough to feed my mesh extra light and see well in the dark. There are kids playing hide-and-seek in the darkened trees, a couple people playing lawn sports, even a few swimmers tonight. This part of the Union really speaks to me; I like the 30-hour days and the thinner air, the collection of cognitech engineers they have going on. It really helps to have us all closer together; infosphere lag is such a pain, especially when your mesh is ramped up to thirty times speed.

Once I’m done I join some of the folks doing calisthenics on the beach, and then cool off with a nice stroll home on the slidewalk. Everyone smiles and waves, and I greet them as I go past. There’s a moment when I’m crossing the street that I have the urge to look up, so I do. A few other folks on the street look up too. There’s a shooting star going past — no, wait... that’s something else. I watch it until it passes out of sight, a point of blue light with tiny flashes around it. I consider checking the local infosphere to see if anyone else got a better look, but drop the idea. Whatever it is, the authorities will take care of it — and I even got to help.

Everyone does their part around here.

Finally I get home. I’m good and tired; I’ll sleep well tonight even without using any lenses. The apartment looks just a little empty to me; nothing’s missing, of course, but maybe it’s time to think about having a social life, looking for a partner. On a whim I toss my name and tags into the social sifting pool; we’ll see if someone interesting comes out.

I take a minute to just look out the window before bedtime. The city is as beautiful by night as it is by day, a million lives working together. My last thought before I sleep was, “this is a good place to live.”

Description
It’s another gorgeous sunset in the Cognitive Union. I swear they put extra little scattering particles into the atmosphere, just to make it prettier. Of course, the fact that I can pick a dozen different views of it that other people are broadcasting helps too. The guy with the infrared vision is getting quite a show.

The day went by quickly, as Thursdays often do. They’re a busy time for those of us who work for CerebraScape. Thursdays are when the new mindscape lenses ship, and there’s always a last-minute scramble to fix bugs, add last-minute tweaks, that sort of thing. It’s fun stuff. Everyone who works for CS does well in a pressure-cooker kind of environment. This week was all custom jobs, so we had to push the general releases off until next week. I must have clocked about 750 hours of fast-time this week, maybe 200 of that just today. I could check and find the exact number, of course, but I don’t really care. We got it all done and sent out, and that’s the important part.

Tonight I think I need some exercise. I spent a little too much time up in the infosphere, not enough time in analog space. The electrical twitch-muscle stuff some people do is fine with me, but I prefer a nice run.

After the sun goes down I head over to the park and do a few laps around the pond. I was never that interested in nanotech, but I have plenty enough to feed my mesh extra light and see well in the dark. There are kids playing hide-and-seek in the darkened trees, a couple people playing lawn sports, even a few swimmers tonight. This part of the Union really speaks to me; I like the 30-hour days and the thinner air, the collection of cognitech engineers they have going on. It really helps to have us all closer together; infosphere lag is such a pain, especially when your mesh is ramped up to thirty times speed.

Once I’m done I join some of the folks doing calisthenics on the beach, and then cool off with a nice stroll home on the slidewalk. Everyone smiles and waves, and I greet them as I go past. There’s a moment when I’m crossing the street that I have the urge to look up, so I do. A few other folks on the street look up too. There’s a shooting star going past — no, wait... that’s something else. I watch it until it passes out of sight, a point of blue light with tiny flashes around it. I consider checking the local infosphere to see if anyone else got a better look, but drop the idea. Whatever it is, the authorities will take care of it — and I even got to help.

Everyone does their part around here.

Finally I get home. I’m good and tired; I’ll sleep well tonight even without using any lenses. The apartment looks just a little empty to me; nothing’s missing, of course, but maybe it’s time to think about having a social life, looking for a partner. On a whim I toss my name and tags into the social sifting pool; we’ll see if someone interesting comes out.

I take a minute to just look out the window before bedtime. The city is as beautiful by night as it is by day, a million lives working together. My last thought before I sleep was, “this is a good place to live.”