Chapter 1 The Product
It was a perfect day for Myla and her daughter to go
to the mall for a mother daughter bonding shopping
experience. They were walking down the main lobby way
trying to decide where their first shopping and buying
experience would be for the day. "Don't say it wrong,
say it write, it's Isleeees," the jingle played softly
as they paused by the malls anchor department store,
Isle's Department Store. All of a sudden there was a
crashing noise; 'Kaboom! An explosion. Glass flew,
walls crumbled, people screamed, panic everywhere. A
drone gog flew overhead and landed in front of Myla and
her daughter. It hissed as it morphed into a Grantulon,
a large green lizard like creature, ready to tear apart
any human it encountered. Lazer snipes fired around them
holding the Grantulon back from its attack, momentarily.
More breaking glass, gun fire and an explosion.
"Quick. In here." A magnificent looking man,
three hundred pounds if an ounce, dressed in torn
fatiques, dirt grime and sweat, with ammo belts across
his muscled chest, jumped into view and then dived into a
roll to a standing position between Myla, her daughter
and the Grantulon. He shifted his lazer rifle to his
other hand as he pushed the door open for them to enter.
"You'll be safe in here," he said pointing to the store.
Bored, Myla steps inside. The man and the monster
dissipated into digital nothingness as calm and soft
music took over their surroundings.
The scene fades to another part of the Isle's
department store. Bob is glancing at the new Senso Image
Tool Kits (SITK). With a SITK anything you can imagine
will be automatically sculpted and placed conveniently
before you, for your assembly, or the SITK can assemble
it for you. Bob's wife is in another part of the store
when he hears a soft, sexy, breathless female voice call
his name; "Bob." A stunningly beautiful, scantily clad,
voluptuous woman looks at Bob and bats here eyes.
Breasts heaving behind a tight t-shirt; "Bob", she
whispers seductively. "Can I show you something?". She
gestures towards the deluxe SITK.
"Huh? Me?" Bob was day dreaming. The women
caught him off guard. He steps towards her.
"Robert." A bleating sound is heard from Bob's
front shirt pocket. He pulls out his Slim. His wife's
head appears, 3-D, between him and the woman. "Robert,
can you come here and look at this? Will this fit in our
bedroom?"
Bob does another double take as the digital
woman fades away into nothingness.
"Uh, okay. Be right there." Bob heads towards
the furniture department.
Isle's was one of the last department stores to
stock physical inventory.
Sure grocery stores stocked food items and other
perishable goods, anything with a shelf life, but most
things people preferred to assembled it at home. Some
still believed, however, goods made at the factory would
last longer, and department stores like Isle's filled
that need.
Most dwelling places were stocked with Senso
Image and Imagination Tools. All you had to do was
imagine it and the tool would fabricate it. Controlled
items, items that needed a state approved digital
signature to fabricate, were created by the Senso Image
Tool with three votes from the Senso Interface Council
(SIC).
The Sensor Image Design company, SID, has cornered the
market on holography, reproduction, imagination
algorithms and manufacturing in the World economy. The
company motto: "If you can't eat it, we'll make it,"
was blazened across every promotional outlet in World.
Employees wore the motto on their uniforms. The higher
ups, had a smaller motto, usually on their cuff or lapel,
while people working in the lower echelons had it
blazened across their backs or chests. No one was
allowed into SID headquarters without the motto printed
somewhere on their uniform and guests were required to
don overalls with the motto blazened several times on
available surface. You could instantly tell a person's
position in the company by how and where the motto was
printed on their uniform.
