Tiberius offered the man a warm smile, fighting back an urge to retch at the smell of him. “Are you comfortable, sir? We’ll be ready to begin shortly.”
The man frowned behind an unkempt growth of beard, “I don’t know if I’d call this comfortable. You sure these straps are necessary?” He pulled ineffectually at the leather straps that bound his arms to the examination chair.
The tall Intaki nodded, his eyes never showing the contempt he felt for the homeless man, “The straps are for your safety, sir. Some subjects experience a few minor convulsions during the scanning process. Nothing to worry about, but we wouldn’t want you to hit your head.”
The man grunted, an animal sound. “And my money?”
Tiberius chuckled softly. The ruse of payment was no longer necessary, but he enjoyed the theatre of it all. “Of course. Another thousand credits, planetary currency, as soon as we’re done here.” He nodded to a holographic projection of a blonde Gallente woman in a lab coat, “Audrey, could you start the scanner up? I believe our friend here is in a hurry to be paid his due.”
The woman made no reply, but a low hum began emanating from the apparatus surrounding the medical chair. The homeless man tensed, unleashing a loud and odiferous fart. “I’m not sure about this.”
“Control yourself, sir,” Tiberius chided, the mask of kindness slipping momentarily from his face. He lowered a ring of electrodes over the man’s head and tightened it with a quick, unfriendly pull of the strap. The man was shivering now, but he voiced no further complaints. “This will only take a few seconds,” Tiberius reassured him, placing a set of bulky blue goggles over the man’s eyes and connecting an octopus of cables to the ring of electrodes. “Audrey, I believe our friend is ready.”
“Initiating scan in five seconds.” The metallic voice of the AI seemed to issue from every direction at once.
“Smile for the camera,” Tiberius advised cheerfully as the homeless man’s shiver of fear escalated into a fit of racking convulsions.
***
Name: Salbir Deroux. Age: 36. Occupation: None, former construction supervisor.
The artificial intelligence known as Audrey sifted through the man’s incoming mental data, sorting it neatly into her ever growing database of cognitive reactions to electrosensory impulse. The holographic avatar that served as her physical representation smiled brightly. This man had been a drifter, useless to his society, but she could learn so much from him. There was something poetic in that, a simple beauty that even a machine such as she could catch a glimpse of. She saw that Tiberius was smiling as well, and she knew that they shared in the recognition of that beautiful moment.
***
The man awoke on the damp pavement with a head full of cobwebs and a body full of ache. He sat up with a grunt and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim light of the alleyway. Something about the place seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. He couldn’t place much at all to be honest.
He had been - what had he been doing? For that matter, who was he? He scratched his beard and made an inarticulate sound that he was sure should have been a word. Someone had told him something, something to do. Smile? Smile for the camera. With some effort, he twisted his face into a grin, revealing a mouth full of crooked rotting teeth.
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Topic: [Story] Smile For The Camera (Read 789 times)