SCIY.Org Archives

Originally posted on sciy.org by Debashish Banerji on Thu 08 Dec 2005 01:32 PM PST  

MINNIE’S SITUATION

By Michael Miovic

 

 

  I.                                                            

 

As Minnie reviewed her situation, she decided it was not good.  Ted wasn’t exactly the fiancé she had hoped for, her parents were only mediocre, her job was lackluster, and all in all her life had grown quite boring.

 

She blinked her eyelids to activate the communicator, ran through the list of numbers in her neurobook, and intruded into Sandra’s thoughts rather abruptly.  “Sandra,” she said impatiently, “where are you?”

 

“On Pluto with Jeff, looking at the new golf course.  The grass looks really real, you should see it, it’s just like on Earth.”

 

“Oh,” Minnie said absent-mindedly, “that sounds nice.  Listen, can you go down to Genmart with me?”

 

Sandra paused, which was not a good sign as far as Minnie was concerned.  “How about Tuesday?”

 

“Okay,” Minnie said, the disappointment coming through.

 

“I bet you’re gonna go there right after we terminate, aren’t you?” Sandra said.  “Aren’t you?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well, have a nice time….oh, and call me Tuesday.”

 

“Fine,” said Minnie, tuning out Sandra.  She drummed the tabletop with her fingers.  Most of her friends were into the planet-touring thing, zipping around with their boyfriends or husbands, but Minnie didn’t much care for other planets.

 

She snatched her purse and stepped out of her homedome.  She walked a few minutes to relax and take in the greenery and smell the gentle breeze perfumed with pine scent.  She passed a patch of bioluminescent roses and stopped to enjoy them.  They came in all colors—scarlet, yellow, flaming orange, violet, white, indigo blue—and they self-illuminated every time the breeze swayed their stems more than about 10 degrees from resting position.  “Beautiful,” she said to herself as she bent a stem and cupped her hands around a blossom in order to see the bioluminescent action better.  “Must be firefly genetic code that someone spliced in.” 

 

She considered plucking one, but then decided not to disrupt the patch.  She set on her way again, feeling more relaxed.  In a couple of minutes she pushed the button and transported to Genmart.  Inside the store was the usual buzz of excitement, with crowds of people milling around the new display cases.  She checked her bank to review her account: 500 solars.  That was enough to get started, and in a pinch she could always trade some years off her life for more, at least temporarily.  She approached one of the counters, hoping for a decent sales rep.  She disliked the kind that played up the shock factor, as though anything could be truly shocking anymore.

 

“May I help you,” a mid-30ish blonde said to her cordially, “looking for an enhancement, or maybe just some information?”

 

Minnie pushed up her sunglasses and used them to hold back her jet-black hair.  She looked down into the display case at all the little holograms.  “What’s that one over there?” she asked, pointing at the green dragon eating its own tail.

 

The rep tapped it and it grew to half life-size.  “A genetic reconstruction of a 13^th century Chinese dragon,” she explained, “it breathes heatless fire so it won’t ruin the furniture.  House trained.  Nice pet.”

 

“Oh,” Minnie said, tapping it back down to micro-size again, “I thought it was one of those salamanders that regenerates every time you accidentally step on it.”

 

“Sold out,” the rep said apologetically, “but we can make one for you in three days, if you want.  The new models are crossbred with warblers so they sing when squashed.”

 

“No need,” Minnie said, moving on impatiently. 

 

The rep watched her respectfully.  “Contemplating marriage?” she inquired discretely, sounding as if it were just a guess, although it was clearly a mindscan.

 

Minnie nodded, putting her shades down over her eyes for no particular reason. 

 

“We can help,” the rep offered.  It was a sincere offer, and that annoyed Minnie almost as much as if it had not been.  She had developed a distaste for helpful bureaucracies and altruistic marketing.  The smoothness of it all was irritating, like years of perfect weather without relief.

 

But Minnie decided to give the woman a chance since she meant no harm.  She pushed her shades back up and sighed.  “I’m confused by the choices,” she began, “you know, it’s not like I’m unhappy with what I have, but, sometimes, well….”

 

“You dream of more,” the rep finished her sentence.  She paused to think and review the millions of options.  She was intent on her work as she consulted the desktop brain.

 

Minnie watched with growing fascination.  After sometime her curiosity got the best of her.  “What do you think of those new desktops?  Do they get grumpy like the old ones did when the glucose level drops?”

 

“Oh, these?” the rep looked up from her labors after a moment, “they’re great.  Amazing new features.  The cranium is featherweight helico-carbon for extra protection, and the frontal cortex coils 360 degrees around the surface of the brain so you get major cognitive enhancement.  The limbic system has been entirely re-engineered with an affective sympathy regulator, so it literally cannot get grumpy, and the downsized cerebellum contains homeostatic glucose-regulating cells that essentially eradicate any problems with blood sugar levels.  You could forget to feed this thing for months and it would still produce at full speed and in a good mood.”

 

“How ‘bout the oxygen?”

 

“Absorbed through the nasopharyngeal ports or split off from water molecules if need be.   These brains work at the bottom of the ocean and in deep space equally well.  Of course, in space you need a supply of nutritional pellets, and in all extreme environments the voice function doesn’t work so you have to use the telepathy function or holographic mind-projector.”

 

Minnie nodded and let the rep return to her search.  She was querying the desktop brain through a subvocalizing interface and listening to the replies on some frequency that Minnie couldn’t capture; no doubt a copyright patch had been placed on the transmission.

 

The rep paused for a moment.  “How important is money to you?”

 

“It’s not all of happiness,” Minnie replied.

 

“True, but have you heard about the new mega-merging man?  We’ve got several models now.”

 

“What’s that?” said Minnie flatly.  The name itself sounded vulgar.

 

“Well, these are mentally and physically perfect men, of course,”

 

“Of course,” Minnie echoed with ennui as she inspected her fingernails.

 

“Who migrate to distant solar systems, grow large corporate business there, and then conduct a series of buyouts and takeovers culminating in intergalactic mergers.  The profits are considerable.”

 

The rep paused to look at Minnie for some sort of clue or reaction, but Minnie was nonplussed.  “And the point is?”

 

“The point is you can then use the profits to buy back years on your life at very advantageous exchange rates, which we guarantee contractually with the original purchase.”

 

Minnie shifted her weight back and forth from one heel to the other as she considered the option.  At length she said, “and love?”

 

“Good question,” the rep said, querying the desktop brain again.  “No love in this model, but we can give you the love module upgrade when it comes out in a few years….”

 

“No thanks,” Minnie said cheerily, happy that at least one thing in her life was clear.

 

“Minnie!” her mom’s voice burst into her mindsphere suddenly, “Minnie!”

 

“What mom?” said Minnie, annoyed at the intrusion.

 

“Minnie, are you down at Genmart again?”

 

“Yes, mom, anything wrong with that?”

 

“No, of course not, Minnie, we respect your freedom.”  Then came the obligatory sigh, followed by the usual silence, capped with the inevitable advice: “Minnie, why don’t you just settle down with Ted.  He’s a nice boy.  You’ve both got so many options, what with all the new enhancements that come out every year.  Your father and I are happy, and when we were young we didn’t have any of these tools.”

 

“Thanks mom,” Minnie said in a nasal drone.  She winced and nodded to the rep apologetically.  “Okay mom…..yeah, I love you, yeah…..we’ll be there, don’t worry….no, I’m just looking…..when, Sunday?  Okay, love you, bye.”  As soon as mom was gone from her mind, Minnie zeroed in on the rep again.  “So what can you do for me on the love front?”

 

The rep hesitated, well trained to handle that most ambiguous of all customer requests.  “Well, love is a multi-faceted thing.  It really depends on what you’re looking for.  Could you tell me more about what you might have in mind?”

 

Minnie played tough.  “You guys are supposed to be the experts.”

 

The rep didn’t miss a beat.  “For you, I think it will be important to focus on the heart-chakra connection, and build a portfolio around that.”

 

“Let’s not forget the sex,” Minnie quipped, immediately sorry for being flippant.

 

“No, of course not, that is part of the package deal.  But you have spiritual influences in your aura, so we have to keep that in the foreground as we consider the options.”

 

Now Minnie leaned forward, definitely more interested.

 

“Of course we have several different lines of soul-mates, both de novo and upgrades for your existing partner, and many of our customers are quite happy with those….”

 

Minnie lost interest again.  The last phrase rung of platitudes and predictability.  “What about the boredom of routine, what can you do for that?”

 

“A lot” the rep answered confidently, “we now have several different strategies available for our clients who prefer adventure.  We can program a random-event generator into your man’s genetic code so as to produce any variety of novelties at unexpected times, and we can risk-stratify these unpredictability factors to suit your tastes.  We have high, medium, and low-risk programs.”

 

“Tell me some of the risks.”

 

“In the mild category we have weight change, odd breath odors, skin-color alterations, stupid hobbies, easy tearfulness, excessive wish to communicate, minor vices, attention deficit disorder, unusual hair growth, to name but a few.”  She paused to catch her breath, then continued on at a rapid rattle.  “In the moderate category we have job loss, affairs, marital separation, both normal and premature aging, alcoholism, bankruptcy, compulsive hoarding behaviors, and sexual dysfunction—all to test your commitment.  And in the severe category we have sudden and tragic death, wife-beating, participation in cults, terrorist sleeper-cell involvement, perpetration of child abuse—“

 

“Child abuse?” Minnie squawked in dismay, “you wouldn’t!”

 

“Of course we can repair the child,” the rep added hastily, “and in several ways: psychotherapy, neural reprogramming to erase the event, willed reincarnation in another body (either identical clone or new baby), spiritual intervention by angels to prevent the crime, time travel to return to the past and seek other options, and massive lawsuits against the perpetrator.”

 

Minnie nodded her head to check off each of the proposed reparations, miffed at herself for having reacted with outrage after all these years of shopping.  “Lawsuits?” she quizzed the rep, “how will that help the child?”

 

“It won’t directly, but you can get pain and suffering awards to finance any of the other options.”

 

Minnie still looked skeptical. 

 

“The high-risk program is probably not for you,” the rep said diplomatically, “most of our clients who it are pathological novelty-seekers and historians interested in sampling more primitive motifs.”

 

“What else?” Minnie said gruffly.

 

The rep looked down at her hands for a moment, showing professional contrition for having offended Minnie’s tastes.  “I would be happy to introduce you to a colleague, if you prefer” she offered quietly.

 

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Minnie answered.  This was the only part of shopping she disliked--the pained rep who induces a guilt trip.  â€œSo, what do you have in the sex line?” she said flatly, not because she was interested but simply because she was irritated.

 

“Several new items and improvements,” the rep perked up again, going about her work brightly.  She moved over to another display case and retrieved a handful of enhancement kits discretely packed in jewelry boxes.  “Let’s see,” she said, reading the tags on the boxes. “We have kundalini amplifiers, ecstasy neuropeptides delivered in liposomes, high potency pheromones, time-circuit regulators, spatial perception discombobulators….”  And her voice droned on as Minnie’s attention drifted to the dressing rooms down the hall, where customers of all ages were going to try out various enhancements.  A couple of teenage girls went in together giggling and came out giggling in short order.  Several professional-looking women spent considerable time evaluating their products, then went to the legal counter to haggle over contractual issues.  A gay guy went in and made a lot of noise, then an old man entered and was followed shortly by paramedics who carted him away on a stretcher, apparently dead.  Minnie turned away, disappointed with the banality of human desire.

 

The rep had stopped talking and was watching Minnie respectfully.  Minnie fell silent and looked ashamed of herself.  She didn’t know what to say.  “Sometimes,” the rep offered tentatively, “ordinary sex is actually the best thing.  It’s comforting not to have to be perfect.”

 

Minnie looked up, relieved.  That last comment sounded like the voice of experience.  “You think?” Minnie queried her hesitantly, unsure of herself.  Their eyes met briefly and the rep blushed.

 

“Well I’m not allowed to express personal opinions,” she replied hastily, snapping back into professional role in case Minnie was a mystery shopper.  “I’m just repeating what various customers have reported.”

 

There was an awkward moment of silence as the two women looked at each other across the eerie gulf of a glowing display case, wishing for more friendliness than company regulations permitted.  “It’s okay,” Minnie said confidentially, “I won’t tell your manager.”

 

The rep averted her gaze.  Minnie looked down and noticed that one of the rep’s index fingers was quivering slightly on the display case, and that her wedding band was not new.  The rep brushed the blonde bangs out of her eyes, looked around furtively, and then said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Let’s just say that one of our most regular clients tried these new enhancements to spice up her marriage, and she said it felt like eating too much dessert.  Okay as an occasional treat, but too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and anyway you feel healthier without it.”  Her voice trailed off and then she stood up straight and added in stiff legalese, “Customer feedback is available on our company infospace.”

 

Minnie smiled and relaxed, satisfied that she had gotten to the heart of the matter.   “Thanks,” she said casually, “I’m not really interested in this line of enhancements anyway.”

 

The rep smiled back and packed away the enhancement kits.  “Anything else I can help you with today?” she asked politely.

 

“No, not really,” Minnie said, scanning the display cases for anything she might have missed.

 

“Then may I make a suggestion for a small gift item?” the rep offered.  “Very popular right now.”

 

“Sure,” said Minnie, her curiosity piqued. 

 

“Antigravity cell-gel.  Good for any part of the body.  Many of our older clients use it for breast lifts.”

 

Minnie looked intrigued, so the rep showed her a bottle of the colorless miracle liquid.  Minnie turned the bottle back and forth in her hand and then opened the top to smell the potion.  It was odorless.   “Hmm,” she mused.  “Okay, sounds good.”

 

The rep charged it to her account, looking pleased that Minnie had found something she liked.

 

 â€œOh, and can you gift wrap that?” Minnie added as an afterthought.  “Purple, for my aunt, her favorite color.”

 

The rep did as requested and Minnie left the store in a better mood than when she had entered.

 

 

II.

 

 

When Minnie woke up, she found that Ted was gone and the homedome had drifted into a stand of redwood trees.  She went to the window to see: the dome was resting on a branch about 50 yards above the ground.  She yawned and lazily directed it back onto the clearing, dropped to 10 yards altitude, and put it on autopilot circulate to follow the baby deer in the glen.

 

She had a cup of tea and roamed around the dome aimlessly.  The floors were too stiff for her taste.  Ted liked it that way, God knows why.  He was always cranking up the tensile fibers up to full strength, like concrete.  Minnie dialed the modulator down to trampoline tenor and bounced around for a while, making all the living room furniture roll to and fro.  After she had done her 30-minute cardio exercise, she set the floor at boxing ring firmness and brightened the transparency to translucent in order to see the morning light filtering up from below her feet.  Then she took a jasmine-scented sonic bath and played with her skin settings for a while.  One tap and she had the Chinese charm look, two taps for Aryan appeal, three for South Indian sultry, four for Aborigine ardor, five for Egyptian elite, six for classic Cleopatra, seven for African absolute…..she settled for Persian princess and plopped down on the couch to fiddle with the wallpaper a bit.  After scanning the galaxy for novel inspirations, she fired up the Top 100 on morning parade.  The patterns danced and drifted across her liquid-crystal lined walls with accompanying music.  The one from Vega 7 with astral moonscapes wasn’t half bad.

 

Finally she was ready to make the call.  She did a short meditation to harmonize her chakras, and then connected with Padmini.

 

“Minnie!” said Padmini joyfully, “what a pleasure to see you!  How are you my dear?”

 

“Fine” Minnie said cheerily, “I like your diamond necklace.  Wouldn’t want to try anything new, would you?”

 

“Diamonds are forever” Padmini joked back.  “How’s Ted?”

 

“Said he was traveling out of body, but I can’t find the body, so who knows,” Minnie replied.  â€œAnd the kids?” 

 

“Oh, they’re down swimming in that new icky green stuff from Genmart, what do you call it?”

 

“Sea Slime 3.3”

 

“That’s the stuff,” Padmini said.

 

“My brother’s kids, Jeff and Anne, are into it, too.  They collect all the versions and swap them at school.”

 

Padmini nodded silently, and gazed upon Minnie with her doe-like eyes.  There was a long pause, then “So, have you set a wedding date yet?”

 

“Oooohhhh” Minnie wined in frustration.

 

“Oooohhhh” Padmini mimicked her with affection.

 

“I can’t decide,” Minnie said, “I was down at Genmart yesterday and—“

 

“Minnie!” Padmini scolded her.

 

“Ravi and I are so happy together without all these things,” they both echoed each other simultaneously.

 

“But it’s true,” Padmini protested, “think of love Minnie.  You don’t need these silly enhancements, they’re just after your solars.”

 

“Easy for you to say,” Minnie pouted and fished for sympathy.  “Pre-arranged Hindu marriage and all that.  At least with Ravi you knew ahead of time.  What if Ted isn’t perfectible?”

 

“Nonsense,” Padmini said, “you know that you can be happy if you are both sincere.”

 

“Tell me about pre-arranged marriages again,” Minnie said, like a little girl wanting to hear the same fairytale for the 100^th time.

 

Padmini indulged her.  “Well, it goes like this: when the astrologers said the time was right, my parents went to their guru, Dharmananda Swamiji, and with his blessings they prayed to God for a perfect match.  A council of yogis and yoginis was convened, and they did tapasya for 100 days and 100 nights.  In their meditations they saw that two souls were ready to take on this auspicious human birth together—“

 

“Is this really true, Padmini?”

 

“Absolutely.  How can I speak untruth when I have just invoked the guru’s name?”

 

Minnie remained quiet.  Sometimes Padmini was a little over-serious.

 

“So these two souls were located,” Padmini continued.

 

“You and Ravi.”

 

“Correct.  And then a puja was performed to invoke blessings of the supreme Mother.”

 

“Why not just do that part in the first puja?” Minnie teased her.

 

“Ah,” Padmini said, “because this is different and that is different.  Everything has an order and a process, this is what our shastras say.”

 

“Okay,” Minnie acceded, “so then?”

 

“So then, with the grace of the Divine Mother, and having followed the correct process of invocation, my parents met his parents and together the two families hired a team of genetic engineers.”

 

“That’s in Bangalore, right?”  Minnie interrupted.

 

“No, Mysore, because my uncle is stationed there at Atmagen.”

 

“Oh.  And?”

 

“And the genetic engineers consulted some astrologers and also did their own pujas to Lakshmi and Saraswati and Ganesh—“

 

“But I thought they were genetic engineers?”

 

“Hanh,” Padmini honked a nasal affirmative in the Indian fashion, and added a traditional head-wobble for good measure.

 

Minnie wobbled her head in return.

 

“Stop mimicking me” Padmini retorted.

 

“Sorry.”  Minnie apologized.  “And then?”

 

“So, having obtained blessings from all the gods and goddesses for their project, the genetic engineers took a list of qualities to include in the code from my parents, Ravi’s parents, Guru Dharmananda, their Guru Swami Brahmananda, our teachers and their teachers, his boss at Atmagen, my music teacher Srimati Nalini Premashree, auntie, uncle, his godparents who are Christians, two mullahs in our family’s home village, technical advisors at IIT, government advisors Delhi branch, researchers at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Spiritual Technology, Auroville….”

 

Minnie stopped listening after awhile as the list rattled on.  “And then what, I mean, after they got all the recommendations and blessings?”

 

“So when all the genetic codes were solved, matched, and cross-checked, then finally our two families held maha-puja together and on Shivaratri the implantation was downloaded by process of bio-telepathy from Mysore.  Both Ravi and I have perfect memory of that auspicious event as our souls were fully conscious of the conception.”

 

“Wonderful.  And then?”

 

“We have been happy ever since.”

 

“Never fight?” Minnie prodded.

 

“Never” said Padmini solemnly.

 

Minnie mulled that one over for some time.  “Don’t you get bored?”

 

Padmini’s answer was swift and authoritative: “Beauty is a continually unfolding evolution that moves from perfection to higher perfection, from harmony to higher harmony.  How can there be boredom in that?”

 

Minnie was stumped.  “Okay, enough of the serious stuff.  Where are you going this weekend?”

 

Padmini’s tone lightened up.  “Oh, Ravi and I are taking the kids to Satyaloka to watch the Supermind pour down from the Sachchidananda.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“That is a plane of the Divine consciousness.  It is very beautiful and harmonious.”

 

“Didn’t you just go there last weekend?”

 

“No, we went to Anandaloka to enjoy the bliss of Lord Krishna’s dancing and—“

 

“But isn’t that also God?”

 

“Hanh,” Padmini wobbled a yes, “of course, these are all different forms and levels of God.”

 

“And weekend before last?”

 

“We went to listen to the Gandharvas sing in the Intuitive Mind.”

 

“What are gandharvas?” Minnie asked, baffled.

 

“Those are like angels, only we wanted to see and hear them on this particular level of consciousness.”

 

Minnie was quiet for a while.  She feigned profound meditation, and after a long silence said ceremoniously, “And have you been to Skopjaloka?”

 

Padmini’s eyes widened in wonder.  She quickly scanned all the Hindu shastras for a reference, but in vain.  “No,” she answered, preoccupied and puzzled with the fact that the Indian sacred texts were still incomplete.  “Where’s that?”

 

Now Minnie had her.  “It’s a medieval town in Slovenia.”

 

“Do they have gods and goddesses there?”

 

“No, but they have an old castle.”

 

Padmini mulled over this new information, not seeming to catch the humor.  “Well,” she reflected at last, “architecture is also a form of God, so we can take the kids there next weekend and notify the Ministry of Shastras in Delhi.”

 

“Take the Sea Slime along,” Minnie suggested.  “The kids can swim in it after eating some ice cream.”

 

“That is a good idea,” Padmini acknowledged.  “Okay, bye love,” she said, sending Minnie a beautiful rainbow of love from her heart chakra.

 

“Bye,” Minnie said, reflecting it back with amplified harmonies from the Intuitive Mind, “see you at the office tomorrow.”

 

“Nice,” Padmini commented.  “See, you are capable of happiness.  Settle down with Ted.”

 

“Ciao” Minnie said as they faded out of each other’s awareness.

 

 

                                                            III.

 

Minnie hadn’t passed more than a minute contemplating Padmini’s wise counsel before her younger brother, Todd, exploded into the middle of her living room in a shower of sparks.  He picked himself up, batted out a few flames spurting from his legs, and held his arms out wide to greet her.

 

“Minnie, my lovely sister!” he bellowed.  “Give me a kiss.”

 

“Yuk,” she grimaced.  “You look like a friggin’ iguana.”

 

“What?” he asked in mock indignation.  “What’s wrong?  Don’t you like my new enhancements?”

 

“No, not really,” she said, eyeballing him with disgust.  “You’ve got the skin of a lizard, hair like a red porcupine, and alligator eyes.  It’s revolting.”

 

“What about my new webs?” he replied, spreading his fingers wide and proudly showing off the dark green interdigital webbing.  He turned sideways to display his spine as well, “and check out the new vertebral spikes.  Taken from dinosaur code.  Wicked wonderful, eh?”

 

“Yeah, right.  Have you asked Jenny to kiss you yet?” Minnie said sarcastically.

 

Todd was offended.  He stalked around a bit and sulked.  “Awe, c’mon Min,” he whined.  “You know I’m just kidding.  It’s all for show anyway, it doesn’t mean anything.  Hey, I love you big time!”  He moved to hug her, but she recoiled.

 

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” he advised gaily.  He beckoned her towards him invitingly.  “C’mon, give your kid brother a smooch right here on the cheek.”

 

Minnie was reluctant, but her resolve was waning.  After all, she thought to herself, he is okay for a teenage male. 

 

“Hey, didn’t you hear,” Todd pressed his advantage, “I’m celibate now.  I’m gunning to get into one of those new Tibetan sanghams for Wild Westerners.”

 

“No way,” Minnie said in disbelief.

 

“Yes way!” he boasted.

 

She gave him a hug.  “I’m proud of you.”

 

He was much pleased and plopped himself down on the couch, put his webbed feet up on the coffee table and changed the liquid-crystal wallpaper to the lizard-on-an-acid-trip motif.

 

“Cosmic,” he quipped, “hey, when are you and Ted tying the knot?”

 

“Dunno,” Minnie said glumly, “soon maybe.”

 

Todd inspected her with compassion for a moment, then spouted precocious wisdom: “you know what you need to do?”

 

“What?”

 

“You need to join a spiritual community, get some collective consciousness.  No couple is an island unto themselves.”

 

“Thanks guruji,” Minnie said, “how cometh this profound insight?”

 

“No really,” Todd protested, “don’t just dismiss me ‘cause I’m your kid brother.  All my friends are doing it and it’s profoundissimo.  Tom and Sarah are in the Christ Consciousness collective up by Seethrough Woods, Aman joined the Society for Gnostic Scientists, and Arati is a Buddhist nun now.”

 

“What’s the point?” Minnie inquired skeptically.

 

“Evolution, my dear.  Biology recapitulates theology.  Survival of the most sacred and all that.  The soul embodies ever higher levels of consciousness and—“

 

“Have you been talking to Padmini again?” Minnie interrupted.

 

“And what if I have?” Todd retorted testily.

 

Minnie just snorted.  “Hmpf.  We’ll see how long you and your friends last in the new fad.  I bet it’ll end as soon as you have to get up at 4 AM to meditate.”

 

But Todd wasn’t listening anymore; he was busy playing with the liquid-crystal wallpaper.  “Whoa!” he groaned in amazement, “check out this one, Overmental Ocean!”  Swirls of deep blue and milky white slowly drifted across the entire interior surface of the homedome, as lotus flowers and gods and goddesses occasionally blossomed out of the shifting eddies of color.  A soundtrack with temple gongs and resonant “Oms” accompanied the vision.

 

“Superb,” Todd said, as he materialized some popcorn from the food generator.  “Or how ‘bout this one?  Supramental Sunshine.”  Now the whole dome turned golden orange, with subtly modulated coalescing and dissolving forms that defied description but were always on the verge of turning into something recognizable.

 

“Wicked!” Todd exclaimed.  “Feels like liquid bliss!”

 

Minnie snatched the control pad out of his hand and set the pattern back to her original settings.  “Okay, tell me the truth now.  Why are you really here?”

 

Todd feigned indignation and innocence.  “Hey, what’s up?”

 

Minnie glowered at him.

 

“Okay, okay” Todd threw up his hands in defeat.  “Can’t a man take a little break anymore?”

 

“From what?”

 

Todd was silent for a long while, looking disgruntled and embarrassed in alternation.  “It’s not my fault,” he said at last.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing,” he said. 

 

“Nothing?” Minnie raised her Persian princess eyebrows to form sharp angles that became her more than she had expected, so she quickly saved a snapshot in the mirror.

 

“Nothing remains of mom and dad’s new intergalactic camper dome.  It attained nirvana.”

 

“With you at the controls,” Minnie accused him.