Within the Walls, A 21st Century Tale of Love and Technology

By Stephanie Bennett

Within the Walls brings us to the busy world of the character, Emilya, a creator of virtual vacations in the year 2071. What with micro-sleeping, sixteen hour workdays, and her total immersion in virtual relationships (both at work and in her flat), at 29, she hasn’t seen much of a need to think about for anything beyond the walls of her fast-paced, highly productive life. But the discovery of a mysterious letter sends her world spinning. Enter the inner chambers of Emilya’s search for meaning. Take a careful look within the walls; her story may be closer than you think.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wild Flower Press, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9780990961611

Book preview

Within the Walls

A 21st Century tale of love and technology

by

Stephanie Bennett

Within the Walls

Copyright ©2012 by Stephanie Bennett

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for purchasing and downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase and download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by Copyright laws.

This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual products or events is purely coincidental.

Published by Wild Flower Press, Inc.

P.O. Box 2532

Leland, NC 28451

Website: www.wildflowerpress.biz

ISBN 13: 978-0-9909616-1-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012949810

Dedicated to:

My Beloved

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks to Chris Jefferies whose eye for the wonders of nature translate into some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen, including the one used to create the cover of this book.

Many thanks, as well, to those who listened to this story long before it was complete; who gave me encouragement to continue; who heard various versions and made helpful comments. Earl Bennett, Sondra Knight, Terry Craig, Marc Goldberg, Julie Mikula, Ann Cadaret, and many others who read bits and pieces of the early drafts of this story—thank you!

Table of Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication and Acknowledgements

First Words

March 15, 2071

The Rant

Chapter 1—The Trouble

Chapter 2—The Letter

Chapter 3—The Questions

Chapter 4—The Tag

Chapter 5—The Words

Chapter 6—The Return

Chapter 7—The Wall

Chapter 8—The Confrontation

Chapter 9—The Discovery

Chapter 10—The Decision

Chapter 11—The Breadcrumbs

Chapter 12—The Drive

Chapter 13—The Escape

Chapter 14—The Cry

Chapter 15—The Connection

Chapter 16—The Community

Chapter 17—The Truth

Chapter 18—The Choice

Chapter 19—The Vacuum

Chapter 20—The Beginning

Epilogue

About the Author

Other Books by Stephanie Bennett

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In that desolate land and lone,

Where the Big Horn and Yellowstone

Roar down their mountain path,

By their fires the Sioux Chiefs

Muttered their woes and griefs

And the menace of their wrath.

Revenge! cried Rain-in-the-Face,"

"Revenge upon all the race

Of the White Chief with yellow hair!"

And the mountains dark and high

From their crags re-echoed the cry

Of his anger and despair—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

March 15, 2071

Addison Avenue

5 p.m.

There is no time to waste.

Even now it is hardly probable that you will get this in time.

This log is the record of all that has transpired, leading up to the circumstances that have now become so dire. I still don’t understand completely why I am in this precarious position, nearly frozen and utterly lost, but I now know that the danger is more than just my own. It will impact all of us. Of that I am certain. This is my last chance. I have nowhere else to turn. I am desperate. The rant that follows is the result of my findings. I’m sure I must sound half-crazed, but I promise that it will not be the tone of my entire story. It is just the only conclusion that I am left with. You need to know where my heart is at this very moment. Someone needs to know what brought me here. Please read it and do what you know you must, not just for me but for all of humanity.

The Rant

What worlds collide that favor a notion of technological extremity, the kind that accept as suitable replacement for human functioning the workings of rigid men and mechanical women who—constructed of spare change and recycled rubbish, lacking a soul or even the awareness of what it means to be without one—turn away from what they see in hardened disregard? What worlds, I ask? Are they bastions of ideas borrowed by the spoonful from the great weight of positivity, pragmatism, and prospects of the ultimate goodness and worthiness of humanity? Or, do they emerge with rancor and angst—situated in the minds of those desperately looking for a way to avoid the often stupefying and grievous suffering of humanity? In the end, could it be more simple than all that?

Perhaps it is a hopeful view, that which stems from the ability to persist and press through the forces that are continually attempting to overtake the livingness of life? Whatever the reasons, they are all contained in the mechanized man; he—even she—who endeavors to supplant the ever-fallible human judgment (overturn us, yes) with a dedication to empirical evidence and numbers that never lie . . . or so they say.

No matter that the answer is unknown. What is known is that in the first quarter of the 21st century on October 17, 2021, a baby was born to Emma Hoffman-Bows, a child that grew to question the foggy curtain that blanketed her existence. Yes, it was the Hoffman-Bows, a third generation physicist and Nobel prize recipient, the woman who was the very last to receive this prize of human innovation before it morphed into the Global Circle of Achievement. She was the first to uncover the presence of the nanoslat within chemically-charged atoms and this was what won her the honor of being called Mother of the New World, even to this day. Using the advances that were made in early nanolithography, Hoffman-Bows expanded the crystallizing process used to program matter and paved the way for the world to continue a happy existence through augmented reality. It was this discovery that years later ended The Devastation and ushered in a new era of hope, realism, and longevity for people all over the globe. Upon reception, the prestigious award ended what had been called the Postmodern era and was heralded as the new Age of Innovation—a renaissance of technological splendor that surged throughout the civilized world.

In those early days, nanolithography had become the new electricity—the currency, actually, with which governments exchanged rates, set value standards, and embarked in dialogue across the seas. It was a time when the golden triangle of nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology married the new worldview—the glorious new age of real hope for continued life on this planet. Since that time the Hoffman-Bows Circle of Achievement has only been awarded twice and continues to set the bar very high, recognizing innovation that not only uncovers genetic anomalies that prohibit life extension, but advance that which strikes at the core of the new world’s foundational principles and highest values—Superbia, progressio, absolutio. These three, the Pride, Progress and Perfection of the human race, continue to stand as pillars holding up all other human values.

It was as far back as that day that my grandmother tells the story of the amethyst ring that Hoffman-Bows wore when she won the prize, a ring that I most definitely saw and remember with vivid enchantment, a ring that changed my life and is changing it still. This is my story. This account is the only certain thing I have left. I hope you will listen and make your own judgments.

First, here are some of the notes I’ve been keeping. Trust me, you’ll need the backstory.

Chapter 1—The Trouble

I’d better start by letting you know that I have always obeyed social protocols, especially when it comes to using our most vital resources and tools. Our cell-saving technologies are the most coveted in the universe and I would not dream of compromising the intricate web of connections they hold together. For heaven’s sake, my life depends on it! Everybody knows that messing with interior levels of the nanoslat’s algorithms in any way immediately compromises the fragile layer of both the breathable oxygen surrounding earth’s surface as well as the sacred epidermal layer that blankets each human being