721 Views 6 Favorites 4 Chapters 0 Chapters/Week 17 Readers 0 Reviews 28.4k Words Jan 14, 2022 theInmara For a system like the Pembers, the neural terminal offers a kind of freedom never even imagined by singlets, the ability for separate system members to interact with the outer world simultaneously, even if it is just over the Network of the Sunspot (the generational star ship we all live on). But with the blessing of the secluded and mysterious Crew, the Pembers' AI tutor, Metabang, offered them and their friends something even better. A new kind of neural terminal made from the ship's ancient construction nanites promises a faster and more complete connection to the Network, combined with the ability to provide microscopic therapies for illnesses, injuries, and even, possibly, the physical dysphoria that
... more>> some residents of the Sunspot seem to suffer from.
Perhaps someone foresaw the social upheaval this new innovation might cause. Perhaps they even foresaw how quickly that change would come. But it sure took most of us by surprise and shook the entire ship to its core.
And the Pembers, along with their friends, Morde, Tetcha, and the Flits, get to learn and show what can truly be done with the long dormant technology of the nanites.
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The Sunspot is a small world, designed to support the lives of billions of people, but for some reason is dramatically underpopulated with only a few million. The populace are conceived from genetic algorithms to each have a unique body, expressing possible adaptations for some unknown reason held by the Crew. On the surface, this means that there is no "typical human". There is also no assigned gender, and children get to pick their own names and pronouns as they grow, changing them whenever they feel the need. Everyone's material needs are met by the ship's systems. There is no economy, only artistry and exploration of life itself. And the human rights of consent and autonomy are held as sacrosanct.
And this society has been stable for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.
It's like someone set out to make their own ideal civilization, and got some things phenomenally right. And some things are less disastrous than they could have been. And other things... Well, they still need work.
We took our own inworld and the way it seems to function to elaborate on it for a fiction. Half wish fulfillment and half exploration of popular queer visions of utopia, this story is just the first novel in planned series about plurality, consciousness, identity, hubris, and healing.
We have finished writing it, and the first draft is up on our own website. We are in the process of editing it, however, and have scheduled to release each edited chapter here on a weekly basis.
CN for themes of: suicide, eugenics, transfer of consciousness, severe physical dysphoria, and acts of terror
(We intended this story for all ages, but some may be sensitive to those topics and the very few uses of strong language)
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