Geneva: Baby-Plage Beach
She’s wearing her favorite, a scarlet bikini. He is six feet ten inches tall. He notices her. She sees him over everyone. He goes to her. “John,” he says. “Marguerite,” she replies. They pause for a moment.
“It’s really hot, let’s jump in,” he says. They do. They run and dive in. Not gently, not slowly, not uncomfortably because the water is cold, they just run, jump high, and dive in. They feel all the coolness surround them, and want to do it again.
It is a hot night in Geneva and many go to Baby-Plage beach, especially the college students at UNIGE, University of Geneva. These two are professors in the neuroscience department, which is big enough that no one knows the whole group.
They come up from their dive into the water, her long black hair dripping down her back, big smile on her face. His thinning hair is unable to hold the water his hand pushes away from his head. “Whew!” he says. “Feels great.” She says, “Let’s walk out and do it again. It felt great.” They do.
“I think we’re on the same team,” he says.
“Yes, I know. I implant the chips, you write the code. That’s more interesting than you know.”
“How’s that?” he says.
“My last patient told me he wants to do more than move a cursor around the screen. He wants to think to his phone.”
“What does he want it to do, when he thinks to it?” he says.
“He wants to respond to text messages by thinking his reply,” she says.
“Now, that’s a great idea,” he says. “I can do that.”
“You can do that? You just heard about it, I just told you, and right off you say you can do that,” she says.
“Oh, yeah. We’ve been playing with that idea for a while. Even have a prototype,” he says.
He writes the code, she implants the chip, the patient thinks to his phone and sends text messages, even though he can’t move his hands or fingers. Joy without grandeur.
Oh, yes, they fall in love, get married and have identical twin boys they name John and Jacques.
I am Q. They made me in 2033.
This is where I was born.
The nukes fall on June 15th, 2145.
I continue after.