Ma'am, This Is Open Concept!
The Realtor glanced at the glowing alarm under the skin of his left arm. His client was late. He would give her the usual five more minutes. He glanced at his listing and was impressed he had so much property for sale/rent.
She came running up to him at the last minute. She was spry for such an old woman.
They rode the elevator to level 62 where he led her to the apartment of the week. The list to see it was over 100 citizens and she was the first. He opened the door, waiting for a gasp. Nothing happened. He looked at her and she asked what this room was.
"Room? This is the apartment! It is open concept at fourteen by sixteen feet." He beamed with pride, but she frowned and began opening every port she found.
"Bathroom, kitchen, closet, balcony in the smallest space I have ever seen." She said.
"Have you been in cryosleep lady?" He asked her.
"Why, yes! How did you know?" She smiled and kept walking around the room.
"It is your idea of apartment size and some things you said. In 2071, this is luxury."
"Oh yes, that makes sense. When I was frozen, houses were up to 4000 square feet many times, and this is one room, so it is a shock."
He nodded and couldn't imagine someone living in that size space. "Let me show you some features, because I have 99 people after you."
She gasped. "Ninety nine? So I have major competition and I hope I didn't blow it with what I said, but I have been asleep since 2013."
"No, no. I will keep that in mind and the fact you have been banking money for that long too helps." He chuckled.
"Yes, I can definitely pay, but let me not stop you from the tour." She followed him around.
"The kitchen has a cold box and a hot box, water and a ceiling garden." She looked up and was shocked to see food growing from the ceiling.
"Amazing!"
"The toilet is a composter and there is no flush, but there is a dump. Instructions are clearly posted in that area." She gasped again.
"Wow! So much has changed! My last bathroom was the size of this whole apartment!" She shook her head. "I'll take it!" She knew she better, for she had been told at the CryoScience Center that the main thing in demand was personal space.
Paperwork done and money paid, she was a home owner. She stepped to the "balcony" but immediately stepped back. She still had vertigo, it seemed. She pushed the button that said SLEEP and a double bed dropped slowly to the floor. Now half of her space was bed. She tried it and it was fairly comfortable, so that was a plus.
Her next stop was the bathroom, well, a new age bathroom. A circular metal door slid into the wall and you backed up to the toilet, which was truly filled with compost, not food stuffs, thankfully, but dry plant matter. The dump lever was apparent.
To shower, the toilet slid back as the opening was covered with a sliding metal plate. The shower head then appeared. Showering was allowed anytime, but only one minute of water was provided at a time.
"Oh boy!" She said aloud. Shrugging her shoulders, she stretched out on the bed. Her memories were still returning and it was shocking to realize that the cryosleep had actually worked and all her infirmities and diseases had been cured. She felt twenty-seven again.
There was no mirror in the apartment, so she needed to go shopping and also to see what she looked like and what nanosurgery she wanted for her old body. It was hard to look over sixty, when your body was as healthy as a twenty something again.
Back down the elevator, she felt she was being watched, and of course she was. She waved and then saw her reflection in the shiny door.
"Holy crap! I need a face-lift!" Her fast departure was stalled by the "doorman" though. He was really just a cyborg, but you had to be nice to cyborgs, she had been told and this one was over six feet tall.
"Madame Lockhurst, step this way." The non-human voice directed.
"Yes, sir." She responded automatically.
"I am not a Sir, madame, but a CB1110. You are here for your implantation, which is mandatory and only a bit painful." He was so fast that she couldn't have stalled had she wanted to.
There was a quick sharp zap to her left deltoid and it was over.
"What was that for, CB1110?"
"You may call me, CB. There are no keys, so this allows you entry to the building and your abode. It is also a GPS should you be abducted. I can find you anywhere and anytime."
"Uh, thanks, CB. Could you tell me where I can have my hair cut and a nanosurgery location, a good one?"
He tapped a lot of keys very quickly. "I have programmed the location into your GPS and you will be guided there." He walked away.
"Guided?" It felt like I was being pushed from behind, but it was kind of pleasant.
The location was a shabby looking store front, reminiscent of a seventies adult book store. Inside, well, 21st century chic!
Another cyborg greeted me and had all my information, and my bank balance, it seemed.
"Please, Madame Lockhurst, this way." I followed and missed my push.
Two very modern looking young women took me in tow and tsked a lot. "So, you are all young on the inside and all old on the outside, right?" One asked with an old fashioned British accent.
"Yes, that is just about it. What can you do for me?"
"We do it all! We make a plan and you check and then you decide how much you want done and when." I nodded.
"Could I have my hair and face done today?"
"Oh yes! We begin!" I was sedated and whisked away.
"Madame? Madame! You must awaken!" I stirred and looked around, groggy from drugs. They were smiling above me.
"We had photos of you from your beautiful years and you are now young and beautiful again!"
The stretcher slowly lifted and I gasped yet again. It was me, but me from the 1970's!
"Oh my God! How wonderful! Thank you!" My hair was rich and dark and thick again and my face was the young me. I sighed and then scheduled other surgeries to be done a week apart.
"Can I leave now?"
"Oh yes, there will be no pain and there was only minute blood loss, so go shopping for that new apartment and maybe one new outfit. Your new body will have you buying new clothes again, so only one new outfit." I nodded.
The cyborgs stopped me at the door and I could actually see beams scanning me.
"Ah, Madame Lockhurst, of course. We have provided a CB for you for your outing. She will remain with you and keep you safe. The fee was included in the surgery." I nodded.
The female CB was also six feet tall and looked very fit and able. She directed me to a shop for both my shopping needs and then told me I needed to eat.
"Why?" I asked.
"You have not eaten in eight hours and 13 minutes and your blood sugar is dropping. You also need water due to medications from surgery. Eat here." She stopped suddenly and guided me inside a creepy looking place, but again, modern and spotless on the inside.
"Will you pick optimal nutrition for me?" She did. I ate and then we shopped.
By the time we arrived back at the apartment, I was very tired. CB1110 greeted us and my new CB said she would sleep outside my door.
***
A tickling in my upper arm awakened me and then I heard a tapping at the door. CB1337, the female one, was standing there and then walked past me.
"You have slept for exactly six hours and now need food and water again." She walked to the kitchen port and opened every section. "You have no protein." She left the apartment and I went back to sleep.
The tapping had been replaced with a hard knocking the second time I awakened. CB brushed past me and filled every kitchen portal with healthy foods. She then prepared me a healthy breakfast and watched as I ate every morsel and drank every drop.
"You may sleep again. Your body is tired." I went back to sleep and dreamed of my large home from 2013. I was smiling when the tickle awakened me and this time, I was going to stay awake.
CB helped me decorate my new home and asked many questions, pausing as she searched for further data to try and understand things I had told her.
"I still do not understand why you need "pretty" in your abode."
"I like color and fabric and textures and they can be combined to be pretty, or pleasing, to the eye." She nodded and then "slept."
She came to life suddenly and walked to the door, standing in front of it, facing out. She was tensed and a red light was blinking over each ear. Pounding began at the door.
"Step away from the door, human!" CB commanded.
"Let me in you piece of metal scrap! The woman was my wife long ago and I intend to see her!"
I was shaking my head violently.
"You are mistaken. Step away from the door or you will be vaporized."
I panted and heaved violently and then CB came to me. "He is gone. He had ill intent. He will be dealt with. A dispatch has been sent to track and arrest him."
I nodded. "I thought he had died long ago! He tried to kill me many times."
"I have sent the appropriate records to the dispatch. I will protect you."
"May I call you something other than CB?"
"You may call me anything you like."
"How about, Susie?"
"Susie." She repeated.
***
In the weeks after, I found out my ex-husband had been vaporized, Susie liked CB1110, my new body "rocked" and I was very much in demand at gatherings and parties.
My apartment was the setting for a party as well and I was amazed at the compliments about colors and art and all my decorating. The small space held twenty people comfortably and everyone knew to turn away when the bathroom was utilized. Amazing!
It was a new life, a big life, a small life... a life.
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