Panicking Through Time.

written by VELVET ISHTAR.

The big banner on the wall said CYBORG CLUB but really it was just a room full of people with too many piercings. One woman had a split tongue and another had dyed their sclera. Pretty cool stuff, but no real cyborgist post/trans humanist stuff. Not even a guy with a magnet spliced into his wrist, or even a dude with a USB drive grafted to his thumb. Abigail was disappointed.

She considered taking off her EEG headset and Meta Ray-Bans. It was straight overkill. She wanted to pull up to this thing feeling like a true cyborg, in every sense of the word, but all she had managed to accomplish was to turn herself into a human surveillance node. A total fucking joke. She was no cyborg, just a woman who now owned the most compromised cellphone in the room.

She figured that now would be a great moment to bail on the entire thing when a man with a blue glowing neck harness went up to the podium and announced-
“Alright everybody, we’re starting now, so if you wanna just grab your seats, yeah. Our speaker tonight should be very interesting to all of you.”

Well, shit, she couldn’t leave now. Fine. She slithered away from the wall and plonked down into one of the many cold metal chairs that were filling up fast. She found herself sitting next to a young woman with really curly purple and black hair. She took another glance and noticed something strange about her right eyeball. It was a strange, almost sickly neon yellow.

“Hi, I’m Asura,” she extended her hand. Abigail shook it. Her palms were smooth, like glazed porcelain, and also warm, seriously warm.

“Cool name. I’m Abigail. Are you a cyborg?”

“We’re all cyborgs here sweetie,” Asura smiled. Her canines were filed down to fangs.

“Right, right, Cyborg Club. Is anyone here actually a cyborg though?”

“That really depends on how you define the word.”

Asura looked up at the podium. The speaker was still sorting out his notes. The projector came on. Abigail looked at the screen and saw the title laid out in a garish green, PANICKING THROUGH TIME.

“Ah,” said Asura. “I know him, and I’ve seen this presentation. His essay is better.”

She turned to Abigail. “I’m going outside for a smoke. I’ll see you later.”

Asura got up and left. Abigail watched her leave, her clothes all black and simple. She looked down at what she was wearing, screaming hot pink and blue with fishnets. She looked back up at the speaker and saw that he was still panicking through his notes.

She got up and followed Asura outside.
She closed the door behind her and found herself in an alleyway. It was getting dark.

Asura was there, next to a bright green recycling bin. She smiled. “Figured as much,” she said, blowing out smoke.

“The room was making me antsy.” Abigail fumbled for her cigarettes, but she wasn’t used to clothes like these and her fingers couldn’t figure out how to get into any of the billions of pockets.

“Here,” Asura said, handing her a Marlboro.

“Thanks.”

Asura lit the cigarette for her and they stood there smoking, not saying a word for a few minutes. Then she spoke.

“You don’t even need to read the essay. The whole thing can be summarized with the phrase moving sideways through time.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to worry about how you move forwards or backwards in time if you just move sideways.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Abigail was confused.

“It’s more fun if you figure it out yourself.”

“Huh. Anyways, what’s up with your eye? Did you dye your sclera?”

“Nope, it’s a replacement.”

“Like a glass eye?”

“Bionic.”

Abigail tilted her head. “Bullshit. No way.”

“Yes way,” Asura smiled.

“No way you’re an actual for real cyborg.”

“We’re all cyborgs here, darling.”

“But you have like actual robotic components in you. Real cyberpunk shit.”

Asura scoffed. “So does my mum. And my uncle. Pacemakers, hips. My dad never takes off his bone conducting headphones. My girlfriend’s in a wheelchair. It’s all cyborg shit.”

“Those are just medical things,” Abigail was beginning to get annoyed. “Besides, I call bullshit on the eye.”

“Fine then,” Asura stubbed out her cigarette. “Check this out.”

With one hand, she tapped her right temple with her index and middle fingers, and pushed her right cheekbone inwards with her thumb. There was a loud click, and her eyeball slid out of her face.

“What the ACTUAL fuck,” Abigail jumped back, the hairs on her neck standing.

“Told you,” Asura smiled. “Bionic.”

The eye was still connected to her. The optic nerve was shiny. Abigail calmed down and leaned in closer. The nerve was all metal. The eye itself was organic at the front, and looked like it was tucked into a gold plated cube, like some sort of sensor.

Asura clicked the eye back into place. She blinked hard three times, and the eye rolled around freakishly before settling into place.

“That is so cool,” Abigail said. “But, how?”

“Medicine’s come a long way, y’know. It really is all just medicine. You can say cyborg if you want but really, it’s all just medicine.”

“I’m sorry, this is all just a lot right now.”

“I can imagine. Why don’t you come inside and meet the rest of us? Lots more than just bionic eyes in there.” Asura started walking towards the door.

“Wait!” Abigail still had the cigarette, almost burnt down to her fingers now. “Does it hurt?”

“Only the first few weeks. After that, smooth sailing. Why, you want one?”

“Kinda yeah.”

“I can hook you up with a great surgeon.”

“Thanks.”

“Cool. Finish that and come inside.” Asura opened the door and went back in.

The alleyway was cold. Abigail puffed the last out of the cigarette, took a deep breath, and went inside to meet the rest of the cyborgs.