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Ultramodern Love Or, Romance Near the Singularity

May 18, 2021/ Soramimi Hanarejima

[fiction]

After placing a bottle of consciousness decoherent in my basket, I look up and find myself locking gazes with a shopper at the opposite end of the recreational delirium aisle. Instantly, I am enchanted by her augmented eyes. Which themselves aren’t an uncommon enhancement, but her modified irises are clearly a bespoke customization. They give her an incisive look, even though I know the violet nanocrystals glimmering around her pupils are simply a mechanism for dynamically directing light toward or away from her retinas in response to ambient conditions.

Of course, it’s not surprising that my ancestral human nature (i.e., wetware psychology) finds this charming. With the critical role vision has long played for our species, there’s little choice but to have my attention piqued by seemingly acute eyes. And why not go along with it?

So I walk over and ask if she’d like to get together sometime, to try the deliciously maddening botanicals I’ve picked out. Her eyes glint all the more beguilingly as she smiles kindly—probably to soften the blow she’s about to verbally deal, having no doubt read the increased blood flow in my facial capillaries.

“Sorry, I’m not looking for anything biological right now,” she says.

I’m about to bounce back with, “No problem. I’m game for some intellectual discourse—or even avant-garde cinema,” but she’s already saying, “No guarantees, but I’ll put you on my list of potential liaisons. For now, here are my psychometrics so you can run some simulations.”

She beams the info to me. Eagerly, I accept the surprisingly large dataset, appreciative of the opportunity to get acquainted with a virtual version of her that has all the key elements of her personality.

“Thanks, I’ll compile the compatibility scores,” I say.

“OK, but I didn’t mean that kind of simulation. I just gave you a full cognitive inventory—with no restrictions.”

“Oh. Well, that’s rather… generous of you.”

“For a second, I thought you were going to say egotistical. But you’re right. I am trying to be generous. Why not offer the essence of ourselves when others take an interest in us? Nowadays, it’s virtually impossible to spread ourselves thin, when it comes to our identities.”

I nod along, intrigued but dubious. Is this what we’re heading for, magnanimity of self? To be knowable to everyone whose fancy we catch? An oversharing of ourselves renormalized into routine psychological promiscuity? Though I should offer to reciprocate, I cling to the privacy of my selfhood.

She must sense my reservations and says, “It’s OK if you prefer to take things more gradually. Get those compatibility scores, then decide for yourself.”

She smiles again, then turning to leave, adds, “You’ll know how to find me.”

And I will have to find her. I owe her now. The only question is what exactly. Maybe some nootropics in aisle three can help me figure that out during a mixed reality session with her data. Or is some other product here in the psychotropics shop better suited for the task?

So, it’s back to browsing the shelves.

Author Headshot replacement
Soramimi Hanarejima took this photo and retains the rights to it as its creator.

Soramimi Hanarejima is the author of the neuropunk story collection Literary Devices for Coping (Rebel Satori Press, 2021). Soramimi’s recent work can be found in AMBIT, Pulp Literature, Constellations and Vestal Review.

Issue Archive

  • Issue 21: Summer/Fall 2022
  • Issue 20: Winter/Spring 2022
  • Issue 19: Summer/Fall 2021
  • Issue 18: Winter/Spring 2021
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  • Issue 16: Winter/Spring 2020
  • Issue 15: Summer/Fall 2019
  • Issue 14: Winter/Spring 2019
  • Issue 13: Summer/Fall 2018
  • Issue 12: Winter/Spring 2018
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  • Issue 4: Winter/Spring 2014
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  • Issue 1: Spring 2012

Genre Archive

  • Creative Nonfiction
  • Essays
  • Fiction
  • Flash Prose
  • Lunch Specials
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Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published every Friday.

Today’s course:

Where Are You From?

August 5, 2022/in Blog / Majella Pinto
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The Old Folks’ Home

July 22, 2022/in Blog / Karen Gaul Schulman
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Peace, Love, and a lot of Loud Rock & Roll

June 17, 2022/in A Transfer, Blog / Sunee Lyn Foley
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Midnight Snack

A destination for all your late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

QVC-land

May 6, 2022/in A Transfer, Midnight Snack / D. E. Hardy
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Escape Artists at the End of the World

April 29, 2022/in A Transfer, Midnight Snack / Lisa Levy
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The House in the Middle

April 15, 2022/in A Transfer, Midnight Snack / Megan Vasquez
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More coming soon!

Amuse-Bouche

Little bites every Monday to whet your appetite!

Today’s plate:

My Mother’s Hands

August 8, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Annie Marhefka
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Defy Gravity

August 1, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Megan Peck
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Little Shrimp

July 25, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Karen Poppy
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School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

May 12, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Brendan Nurczyk
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A Communal Announcement

April 28, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Isabella Dail
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Seventeen

April 14, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Abigail E. Calimaran
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Word From the Editor

The variety in this issue speaks not only to the eclectic world we inhabit but to the power of the human spirit. We live in an uncertain world. In the U.S., we’re seeing mass shootings daily. Across the world, we’re still very much in a pandemic, some being trapped in their homes for weeks on end, others struggling to stay alive in hospitals. War continues to wage in Ukraine. Iran and North Korea are working diligently to make nuclear weapons. The list goes on. Still, we have artists who are willing and able to be vulnerable with one another, to share stories and art to help us try and make sense of our world.

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