"It was inevitable," he said, in a sad, despairing voice.
"What was inevitable," she asked cautiously; afraid in advance of what he might say.
"That our molecules would be tagged with barcodes. That our lives would be like commodities. They're trying to track our soul-stuff, Olivia," bemoaned Kane, who was now noticeably irritated. "They're trying to put Big Brother right
into our very atoms."
With a sudden intensity, Kane added, "They're marking us all, Olivia. Making us into their things. Don't you see that? They want to
craft individuality as they see fit. They want nothing less than the ability to enforce
selective uniqueness."
Then, with a new found resolve, Kane added through clenched teeth, "Tag, scan, succumb—that's their master plan. I can't allow that to happen, Olivia. I just can't. They must be stopped. They must be...punished."
Tendrils
Designer genes express the arrogance of man.
Will Angels use scanners at the Pearly Gates?
Privacy today is a like a unicorn — a myth and a dream.
They say that your sense of identity comes from within; that it's what's inside that counts. Barcodes in our bodies turn the sense of self into a sense of societal control.
"So there I was, just relaxing on the beach, when I felt something in my palms. Not
touching me, mind you. Nothing like sand or water against my skin, but something
in my skin. I looked at my palms and was horrified. My skin was raised slightly, and red, and formed this:
Sunblock patent SB-VGFU-YUL343341. Restricted public use."
"Price check on intelligence cells - aisle four."
You have been scanned and we have determined that several of your parts are damaged; several are obsolete. Therefore, you are damaged. You are obsolete. You will be
erased for the greater good.
Barcodes serve a critical purpose and I can't imagine modern business without them. I just don't want them
in me.
About
A vignette and a batch of Tendrils, all loosely coupled by barcoding.
© Copyright 2009 Christopher V. DeRobertis. All rights reserved.
This text composition is a work of fiction. Names, places, institutions, events, incidents, characters, persons, locations, and/or organizations either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Full Creative Writing Disclaimer.
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