Uprising of the Elderly

Research is currently being performed with artificial limbs that would allow individuals not only to control those limbs but also to receive accurate feedback, sensations, from the prosthetic limb by utilizing lasers as a transmitter to individual nerves.

It is the year 2023. Hundreds of elderly people have undergone elective surgery in order to replace non functional or weak limbs with superior mechanical ones. However these same individuals are facing hard times as society begins to exponentially increase health and life expectancy. The elderly are perceived as unneeded group, leftovers from centuries past. The majority is simply waiting for the last of them to pass so that the age of endless youth can begin.

Tensions build as two retirement homes are attacked by young white males eager to find some remaining group against which to commit hate crimes and prove whatever if it is they hope to prove to one another. The government does little to compensate or protect those retired communities which are at greatest risk. In fact retirement as we know it is expected to be legislated out over the next two years.

The elderly are forced to take up action on their own. They alter their artificial limbs into powerful weapons. The old people cyborg uprising is begun.

Baulo

Baulo was a cursed being. He lived among humans, but could never fully become one himself.

Baulo awoke to the sound of a strangers voice.

Are you alright? How did you get here?

Baulo could not answer because he could not understand.

The stranger’s name was Earl Benton. He was at this moment Baulo’s only friend on earth.

It won’t do to leave you here now will it?

Baulo lived with Earl for three years. He learned the language and learned a trade. He was a carpenter now, a fine one at that.

One windy Sunday afternoon, Earl introduced Baulo to an old friend of his. Baulo and Liola made marvelous companions. Liola returned twice a week to teach Baulo how to play piano. A lesson ran late one night. The moon glowed full through the window leaving blue squares on the carpet and mantle. Before Baulo could protest, Liola touched her lips to his cheek. Baulo instantly turned to stone, just as he had been moments before Earl discovered him.

As always, Baulo would not reawaken for another three centuries. In the mean time, his sturdy figure would haunt many obscure museums before falling into dark boxes in forgotten storage rooms.

Dated

Three people have just finished watching an old film from the 20th century in their comfortable room. They proceed to share their impressions about the film. The film in question is Harold and Maude. Let’s listen in, shall we?

I thought that it was a very interesting film. I especially enjoyed the sense of rebellion that it had about it. I’m not sure I fully understand the end though.

Yes. What exactly happened to Maude?

Maude killed herself.

Well, why on earth would anyone do that?

It is a bit of an outdated ritual these days, but as you might recall there was a person just this last year who did the same thing.

I still don’t understand it.

Was she unhappy? She seemed so happy.

She was old. People had a life expectancy back then and it wasn’t very long. In those days when people got old they started to degrade. She liked being in control of her life.

How interesting.

That’s so sad. Why, I can’t imagine living in such a barbaric age.

I know. It is quite terrifying to think about.

Shall we watch another one of these old relics?

How about this one? The Matrix.

Alright, let’s do it.

Sequence

A quilt of dreams…

A person sleeps in a bedroom. A shadow come sup the stairs. No footsteps. The person awakens but the person’s body does not. The person knows something is wrong. The person attempts to wake its body and fails. The creature is in the doorway. It has a featureless face. It grows larger, inward, its neck moves unnervingly.  The creature floats closer. The person backs up against a closet door. When the person opens it, a portal appears. As the person backs into the door, you see the creature looming over the person’s body.

The person runs over beautiful rolling hills away from the dark rift. Away from IT. Trees part and the person discovers an ovular pond with a rock in the center. The person jumps onto the rock and looks at the person’s reflection. The person’s reflection is alive and goes deeper. Strange creatures and plants live in the pond. A large creature attempts to eat the person. The person swims back up to the surface and grabs the person on the rock. The person in the water grows very old. The person in the water gets swallowed and the creature goes back into the deep.

The pond becomes dark like the rift. The person jumps from it. The person jumps high. All the way up to clouds. Mountains, building, etc are no higher than a stepping stool. There is a cliff. The same pond and rock seem to be over the edge at much larger scale. The featureless visage appears in the pond. An arm reaches toward the person. The person is terrified. The person gathers courage. Tears are in the person’s eyes. The person refuses to be intimidated. The person becomes larger. Larger than the entire world. The creature shrinks back. Asteroids and satellites and cosmic phenomena circle the person’s head as eyes follow them. The person closes its eyes. A real person is asleep. The same person attempts to wake that person as a shadow grows larger. The sequence takes place in slow motion.