Louise turned off the feed to her lenses and ears so she could enjoy the sight of the rising sun illuminating the deep canyon between the glass and steel megatowers that flanked her. She felt that RA (Reality Augmentation) should only be used if one’s surroundings were unpleasant and she found the play of light in her urban surroundings to be quite beautiful.
If she chose, she could turn her RA back on and select the “naturalize” setting. With this enabled, the concrete would appear as a savannah, the buildings as towering cliffs, the busy city street would become a river and lamp posts would appear as trees. This setting was created early in the development of RA as a salve to combat the depression that used to occur when people spent too much time in artificial environments. Now this deadly depression, known as grayscale, could be treated with an infusion of Vigortone, better known by its street name of Joy Juice. But its prohibitive expense made it the province of people with data banks much deeper than her own.
“Anjay, is that you?” Louise called to the figure standing on the corner waiting for the traffic light to change. He turned towards her.
“Hey,” he replied in a faint voice, lifting his hand weakly in the air to acknowledge her.
“I haven’t seen you in weeks. Have you been ill?” He shook his head.
“No. I’ve been online.” Louise’s jaw dropped.
“Online? You look like shit. You know I would have been more than happy to give you a few terabytes if you’re going through a rough patch.”
“I know you would have, Lou, but I was desperate.”
“I just don’t get it, Anjay. Why would you give up a part of your real self just to have access to the virtual world? What did they take? Blood plasma? Stem cells? DNA? How can you stand to be in one of those online forums with all of those IVs and electrodes hooked up to you? You know it’s not healthy and access to the RA won’t matter if you’re dead.”
“I know. I sold the rights to my DNA years ago and my body is going to be repossessed the instant I die. Now I’m selling the only thing I have left.”
“What’s that?” Louise asked. “You used to have a healthy data account, good looks and good health. What have you got left to harvest?”
“It’s not just any online forum. I’m working for Boerne Pharmaceuticals.”
“The company-state that makes Vigortone?”
“Yeah. It’s more than I’ve ever earned before. I get a whole month’s worth of RA data for every 48-hour harvesting session.”
“Why are they paying that much? What exactly are they taking from you?”
“Neurochemicals. That’s what Joy Juice is made from. I’m helping to cure grayscale.”
“But isn’t the harvesting causing you to have grayscale?”
“That’s why they’re so generous with the RA. It’ll take a month for me to get back in the pink.”
Literature in Small Doses 