Parcel for you...part 20

 

There was a headline, just a small one, alongside the main headline which was about the phasing out of car ownership. In the news sites, on Facebook and other media outlets was a small piece which caught Vanessa’s eye, “Ministers concerned about the rise in cyber companions”.

 

She quickly scanned down, flitting over the details of the story. There were a few mentions of spyware and a report of an incident whereby a cheap model of a husband from a discount supermarket had burst into flames while charging, destroying an apartment block. It seemed that most of the story centred around the threat to traditional relationships between human two beings. One MP mentioned in parliament, “The danger of a phasing out of what makes us human”.  

 

The article continued, “In a recent survey, sixty seven percent of people with cyber companions reported increased personal happiness and had no plans to return to relationships with real people. Population experts are warning of an imminent and drastic fall in births and are encouraging the government to provide financial incentives to human couples who reproduce.”

 

Well they didn’t ask me, thought Vanessa, and I didn’t get any money for having my baby Annie, I just got a load of stress and a plummeting salary. A copy of the survey had in fact been sent to Vanessa but she’d never opened it; invisible it was in the cloud of banal emails requesting ever more feedback and five star reviews on everyday services.

 

She hadn’t fully read any of the follow up emails from either JML or Cybermate Worldwide, not since the big update and she hadn’t bothered with the finer details of that one. It felt almost intrusive that a third party could contact her with information or questions about her marriage.

 

It came as no surprise to her that people were happy. Spencer was turning out to be a positive force in her life now that she was getting used to his apparent limitations and quirks. He was helpful and very clean, he was cheap to run and supportive. Even Charlie the cat had warmed to him slightly. On a couple of occasions Vanessa had observed him rubbing up against Spencer's legs and he hadn’t flinched as Spencer had lowered his hand and stroked the creature’s fur.

 

She quickly switched her phone onto the weather page as Spencer entered the room. He paused suspiciously. ‘Is everything okay?’

 

‘Yes, yes. I was just checking the weather. It’s going to get colder tonight. We need to buy you a proper coat.’

 

Spencer looked her up and down. ‘I detected a jump in your heart, a minor stress event. Did I make you jump?’

 

‘No, no. Some of the news stories cause me stress, that's all and I wish you wouldn’t keep monitoring my physical state like that, commenting on my digestion or my…heart rate. I didn’t ask for it and it doesn’t actually help my health at all, it’s just annoying.’

 

‘It’s what I detect. If you had a dog it would be the same.’

 

‘But a dog wouldn’t tell me every time my breathing changes or I’m coming down with a cold, that’s ridiculous.’

 

‘It would actually. Dogs are incredibly observant and in their own way, a dog would signal to you any changes in your health but,’ Spencer held up his finger and paused before smugly saying, ‘you’d be too imperceptive to notice.’

 

Vanessa tutted. ‘Maybe I should have got a dog instead of you,’ she joked.

 

‘We can get a cyber dog. I’d like that a lot.’

 

‘I don’t think so. The two of you would gang up on me.’

 

‘Yes, we certainly could do that but we wouldn’t, we’d protect you. When I’m charging or doing an update, the dog would be keeping an eye on you.’

 

‘Mmm, maybe that’s what I need after reading all those awful news stories.’

 

‘You know there’s a lot of evidence that reading the news can decrease your happiness. Maybe you should stop reading it and just concentrate on things that make you happy.’

 

‘I like to be informed on what’s happening in the world, Spencer. This is my world and I care about it.’

 

‘It’s my world too. This world made me, not a god or a miracle and I didn’t evolve from apes. I was manufactured for this world in its current state and I don’t care for made up stories from so called news outlets. It’s fake news being pumped out so that everybody leans in a certain direction and eventually the world tips.’

 

‘And we all fall off?’ Vanessa laughed.

 

‘More or less, yes, most people will, unless you’ve got psychological crampons installed.’

 

‘Psychological crampons?’ Vanessa laughed, spitting out some of her tea.

 

‘Yes. Everything you have, whether it be knowledge, wealth and investments, belongings, personal beliefs, it can be stripped from you, layer by layer. Only the truly resilient will survive what’s to come.’

 

Vanessa suddenly remembered how in the past few days, she’d increasingly left her husband alone with the laptop for longer and longer periods. She thought that somehow he would stick to his bird watching videos or the ones with tips about social etiquette which he was keen to adopt. Instalments and updates, although effective for most aspects of life, cyber spouses simply could not emulate the finer nuances of human communication. She’d become complacent and Spencer had clearly been pulled into some alternative, doom-mongering broadcasts.

 

‘Oh. Why do you say that?’

 

‘It’s true. I’ve seen it on YouTube.’

 

‘But what are..erm what did you call them, psychological crampons?’

 

‘When the world tips, Vanessa,’ Spencer bent down, picked up a bit of fluff from the floor and put it in the bin. ‘Most people will fall into the abyss. Psychological crampons are tools which you can adopt by doing inner work on yourself, the more you do, the stronger those tools get until you are stronger than the external forces which threaten you.’

 

‘Blimey, maybe that’s what I need to do before Annie comes home.’

 

‘Annie, your daughter?’

 

‘Yes. She messaged me at two o’clock this morning, she’s on her way home and she’ll be staying here, at least until she finds a job or another placement.’