173 The Price of Living Comfortably

"This is the first time ever I've heard you mention feeling lonely."

"Don't attach too much importance to it," Kirk said. "Everyone feels that way sometimes."

"Yes. But you've never talked about it, before."

"And I don't intend to do so, in the future. It just slipped out."

"Maybe that's good."

"No it isn't. It's best not to talk about things like that."

"Why? Sincere communication - "

"Sincere communication is very overrated," Kirk said. "To begin with, it's never sincere. Words stop being sincere the moment they leave your mouth."

"I'm not sure I understand that."

"You do. You just aren't honest with yourself about it."

Adam laughed.

"You've changed a lot in the past couple of months, Dad," he said.

Kirk shook his head.

"I haven't," he said. "People don't really change. They adapt. Deep inside, they stay the same."

"Well, you definitely behave and talk differently."

"I'm adapting," Kirk said. "It's a new situation, so I'm adapting. So are you. So is everyone else. Bernard has been forced to do a lot of adapting, very fast. Did he tell you he got his head cut off over there?"

"No!"

"Yes." And Kirk went on to tell Adam about his younger brother's misadventure. He concluded by saying:

"Bernard thinks the Mexicans are plotting to take over California in the New World. I gather Hank Vorner shares that view, too. What do you think?"

"It's not impossible," Adam said.

"Really? I thought Bernard was just getting paranoid. You know, getting your head cut off is not a pleasant experience even when it takes place in another reality."

"Well, I've been talking to a guy I used to hang out with at the university," said Adam. "He's a district governor in Florida now. He told me the Cuban emigres in Florida are planning to take over Cuba in the New World."

"Adam, surely that's different. They're Cubans, they want Cuba. California is American!"

"It used to belong to Mexico, if I remember right."

"Hell! So did many other states. Are they going to invade U.S. territory in the New World to take them back? They'd be stupid to even think about it."

"I have the feeling, Dad, that they indeed might be thinking about it."

"Impossible. Insane! That's like asking for punishment."

"They might be stronger than us over there, Dad."

"You think so?"

"It's definitely possible. It's an equal start for everyone."

"But it doesn't make sense! We have a world government. The whole world is truly united, for the first time ever. Anyone can move and live and work anywhere."

"Ethnic groups! You're suggesting we're going back to tribal level?"

""We've certainly moved back in time technology-wise," Adam said diplomatically. "And you know something, it looks like the bottom feeders are rising to the top. That poor farmer in Africa or Asia or South America or wherever who works a tiny plot of land, and makes his own clothes and tools because he can't afford to buy any - that's the guy who is king today."

"Surely you're exaggerating."

"I'm not. He produces food, and knows how to use his hands other than for jerking off. Jerking off and operating a computer mouse and keyboard - that's about the only manual activity many people know how to do."

Kirk was silent as he reviewed his own manual accomplishments. After a while, he said:

"You might have something there. Yes, a highly developed civilization can make people soft. There was this Molito woman in New York. Carlton invited her along with a guy called Katz - I think she was dean of psychology at Harvard, and he was dean of sociology or something like that. I recall they said people from highly developed countries are going to be disadvantaged in the New World."

"Can't argue with a Harvard dean, Dad."

"Yeah. Those guys go on and on until everyone's asleep. Anyway, I think that's what I'm going to do now - get some sleep."

"Are you going to stay tuned out?"

"Yes. Why?"

"You haven't been to the New World for a while, Dad."

"Is it a problem?"

Adam shrugged.

"It doesn't seem so," he said. "I mean, your guy over there is you. But you know how it is with problems. Everything seems to be okay and then all of a sudden it turns out that there is a problem after all, and that it's been there for a long, long while, only no one paid any attention. You ought to check in from time to time, Dad. Check in, and have a look at things."

"All right," sighed Kirk. "All right. I'll tune in before I fall asleep."

Kirk did not go to sleep right away. He looked in on Debbie first. She was still sleeping! Stretched out on her hiber bed, she looked both comfortable and happy. Kirk thought he could see a faint smile on her face.

Bernard was asleep too, but he was frowning. Kirk decided he'd definitely have to tune in, and find out what was going on with Bernard in the New World. Then he remembered that in the New World, he and Bernard were separated by a nearly thousand kilometers in a straight line, across both land and water. Getting together required a journey that would take half a year, there and back.

Well, he could talk to Bernard over breakfast to find out what was going on in Fort Lander. Judging by the expression on Bernard's face, something definitely was going on there, and it wasn't pleasant.

For a brief moment, Kirk wished things were the way they had been in the old times. In the old times he simply hired the right people to do needed jobs, and spent his time making speeches and attending parties and playing golf. He made speeches on automatic, he just had to switch on the tape appropriate to the current circumstances. Parties were kinda similar, with the option to drink alcohol. Golf! Yeah, that was the best thing of them all. Golf involved doing something productive with his hands.

Kirk thought about his forthcoming visit to the New World, and shuddered. He definitely liked it better in the Old World. Yes, there were many new privations, but they were nothing compared to the barbaric existence he was condemned to when living in the New World. Taking a fucking bath was a major endeavor!

That gave him an idea of what to do next: he would take a bath before he went to bed, or rather hiber bed. He directed his steps to the private bathroom he shared with Debbie.

When he entered it, it was immediately obvious that it hadn't been used in a while. His wife had ceased to wash herself! It wasn't as much of a problem as it would have been if Kirk was younger, but nevertheless he felt an angry sadness. Something had passed into the past, something was gone. It went against his will, and it went unnoticed until it was too late to do anything about it.

Kirk spent quite a while lying in the jacuzzi, soaking in the scented water - he put in plenty of his favorite bath salt. While he was bathing, he did a quick calculation. He'd used a couple of hundred liters of heated water; most likely, the combined cost was close to a full dollar. A new dollar, or a hundred old ones. A hundred bucks for a fucking bath!

After some intense mental calculations, Kirk reduced the price to fifty. It still was a lot, a whole fucking lot. It suddenly dawned on Kirk that light and heat were becoming luxuries. They were both a given, in the old times. Everyone had electricity and everyone had heating, people who didn't were truly rare exceptions. And the combined cost for the whole month, per person, used to be less than the money Kirk spent on his lunch.

Light at night was a luxury. Heat was a luxury. And if it was too hot in general, fucking forget about air conditioning. Running a couple of air conditioner units would cost something like a dollar per hour in electricity bills. A new dollar - hundred old dollars. Insanity squared!

Kirk stayed in his bath until the water became chilly and uncomfortable. He rubbed a towel over his body looking at the emptying bathtub. He knew he ought to clean it, because there was no longer a maid to take care of stuff like that; Maria had never returned from her holiday in her native Mexico. Was there really a Mexican conspiracy to conquer California? Fuck!

The mirror over the hand basin wasn't too clean, either. Kirk examined his face and found several new lines. Maybe they'd been there for a while, and he'd forgotten about them? No, they were definitely new, new signs of old age.

He entered his bedroom and was instantly hit by yet another wave of sadness: Debbie didn't sleep there any more. Those days, she chose to sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. She wanted to sleep by herself. She did not want to be woken up by someone else, she didn't want her time in the New World interrupted by anyone, including her husband.

Kirk took a fresh pair of pyjamas from the bedroom dresser and discovered that they had a musty smell. Frowning, he put them on anyway and got into his enormous double bed. He wasn't using a hiber bed, he wanted to spend as little time in the New World as he only could. It would have been different had he been living in Fort Lander over there, together with Debbie and Bernard.

He checked the time before he fell asleep and calculated he would be arriving over there around noon. It was winter over there and although winters in both New and Old World California were mild, it still was the worst season of the year.

Noon! He'd probably arrive in the middle of some fucking meeting. Grimacing, he raised his hand to the implant behind his right ear and began to rub it, tuning in.

When he was done, he lay back on his bed. He felt himself drift away - 

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