From night to day in Kyklos
A fictional vignette
An excerpt from a near-term sci-fi story that’s currently deconstructed into bits and pieces with no real narrative arc yet… the setting is the solar punk city of Kyklos.
"Where the hell are we?" Ria scrunched her face up, looking around.
"Obviously, we're in the warehouse district, walking between massive factory buildings, alone, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT," I said, crescendoing into yelling. It was just after midnight, and we’d navigated here from our local dive bar Eklero.
Bursting out laughing, I realized we were drunk, albeit not overly so. Glancing down at my watch, I tap a few times to get a read on my biometrics. Yeah, maybe time to see about the adaptogenic herbal concoctions I'd been experimenting that help the body process alcohol. I knew it was stupid, I should just cut back on drinking, but I couldn't avoid the fact that I had the most fun on alcohol-fueled adventures. So help me god. Bonus, the herbs seemed to cut my hangovers back to next to nothing.
I pulled a small vile of my latest potion out of my purse, and squinted at the label, "Scrub the Grub: Purify x Recharge". I laughed at my branding attempt and called to Ria, "Hold up a minute. I want to take some herbs. You want?" She turned and walked back to join me, my back leaning onto a brick wall. "What is it?" Ria questioned.
"A simple mix of nettle, tulsi, dandelion, mugwort."
"Come on, Kae, that's it? And it's supposed to have some mystery healing powers?" She sounded skeptical. I shook my head up and down, "Yep. Basically. I guess the magic comes in with how I charge the solution, and what liquid I decide to use. This is an alcohol based medicine, good when I already have alcohol in my system, like calls to like, and all that."
"Fine, I'll have some," she grinned, tilted her head back, and stuck out her tongue seductively. "Do me. Do me."
"Lift your tongue up," I instructed, and opened the dropper-full of tonic in her mouth. "Okay, just chill on that for a bit. Like a minute or so. I'm gonna dose myself and do a bit of a chant. You can join me if you want but, don't fucking give me grief about it. You know I like my rituals."
With that, I plunged a vile of the tonic under my tongue and held it there gently. The alcohol burned, but only slightly, and the sensation felt slightly effervescent. I reached out to join hands and Ria begrudgingly obliged, and I began my chant, low and reverberating, "ommm." The vibrations of energy filled my body and I envisioned these energetic wavelengths initiating the tonic to me, integrating into my body. I continued, "mani padme hummmm." I let the vibration linger on the mmm. And repeated a few times over. As I stopped, Ria and I locked eyes. "What now," she asked.
"Go ahead and swallow, move your tongue around. Acknowledge the gratitude you have for life, your body, and smile!" I grinned at her. She hated this witchery, but also she joined me every time I invited her to partake in a ritual.
She closed her eyes, and I scanned the dark alley we were in. It was so quiet. I took a deep breath and felt some of my drunken weariness melt away. And along with my newfound sense of clarity, the deep thrill of anticipation snaked through my body. A haptic pulse from my watch mirrored what I already sensed: I was now in a homeostatic sweet spot. I giggled and thought to myself, tonight is going to be fun.
I recalled the random encounter I’d had with Dio earlier, the guy I’d met at Eklero. He was an energetic catalyst, initiating something within me that had me tip-toeing along the precipice of adventure; I let the mood wash over me. I shivered in excitement, gleeful with joy. I started dancing as I moved through the maze of warehouses, my own emotional landscape a musical backdrop to the world.
Ria caught up with me, and took me by the arm, "Kae! This shit works! I feel great. The night is young, let's go wreak some havoc." She winked at me coyly as we walked towards the only well lit doorway in the alley. The subtle pulse of music inside the building began to register through my feet along with the gravitational pull of Dio. I lifted my hand to knock on the blank metal door in front of us.
~ Later that morning… ~
The sun began to rise and warm me as I neared my apartment building, I felt alive and exhausted. I reached out to fan my hand across the wrought iron fence as I walked, and breathed in the crisp, clean city air. I loved being a part of Kyklos’ lush and overgrown urban jungle.
When the Ministry of Earth started offering crypto-credits for citizen contribution to decrease carbon output about a decade ago, it was like a switch was flipped in the city. So many innovative practices emerged, from super small-scale hacker projects to large corporate funded endeavors. I belonged to a small coop of indie creators, we had some group carbon reduction projects going and most of us had our own solo experiments running too.
The outcome was beautiful: everyone in Kyklos was woven into a rich, living tapestry of greenery. From the streets to communal places to our private homes—plants of all kinds budding, flowering, growing. It was truly magical, even if a bit messy with plants spilling out from every nook and cranny of the place. I couldn’t imagine myself living anywhere else. After a night on the town and a pleasant new love affair with Dio on the horizon, I was deeply at peace with my place in the world.
I stopped outside of my building and took in the old, brick walk-up. Glancing up to my fourth floor living room windows, my attention caught the sun streaming through, illuminating the small but mighty indoor, tropical forest I tended. As I made my way to the entry, I saw the familiar monstera plants whose giant leaves lined the front footpath creating a tunnel to the front door. I did a small twirl, a cherry on top of my good mood, and danced over stepping stones lined with mosses and up the steps to my blue front door.
Entering my key code and allowing the retina scanner to confirm my identity, I slipped quietly into my quaint 200-year old apartment building. Running to the top floor, I took the stairs two at a time, and hung a right past my neighbor Jay’s door to my corner unit. Another quick read of the old eyeballs and I was inside, the door almost-silently snicked shut behind me.
I frowned as my watch informed me I was in desperate need of water and sleep. How is it possible to feel so good when I’m allegedly falling apart physically? I shrugged to myself, chugged a glass of water and slouched into my deep blue velvet couch. Within moments, I was asleep and dreaming of floating through the sky from the comfort of my own private cloud. The sky the color of cotton candy, the wind bringing a comfortable subtle breeze. My dream-eyes blinked close, and I dozed off to the faint sound of birds in the distance.