Descending Road - THE VAT by Dana W. Paxson

THE VAT

1551 4D

Tyll was the name of an andro, developing in the vats of ArCorp. Periliath was Tyll‘s vat-partner, a female; ArCorp preferred to manufacture its andros in male-female pairs. Tyll‘s first memory was of Periliath‘s wide eyes, the color of rust-flecked steel, looking into his through the eyepieces of their biomasks. He floated with her deep in the dim tank of fluid, their bodies exuberantly growing, fed by the juices of ArCorp‘s gene machinery, their minds shaped by the umbilical sensi feeds in their masks.

Over and over, his lips and tongue formed her name, practicing language. They floated in a tower of sea, feet of others above them in window-blocked segments, heads below the windows under their feet. These were the andro farms of ArCorp, where each andro embryo fell through stage after stage of accelerated growth until it emerged at the foot of one of the many-storied vats, whole, adult and trained for service.

Tyll and Periliath played, running hands and feet over each other, copulating, twining, floating in the tank that seemed to grow smaller with every beat of their new hearts. Wrestling with him once, she twisted his leg so hard he cried out in the fluid, and faces appeared outside to look in. The leg never again felt right.

Seed-memories from the sensi flowered in Tyll: compressed experience that would guide him when he would leave the vat. He discovered his name and pseudohistory of life as a human in a strange world outside the tank. Time convolved in Tyll‘s brain; reliving what had never been, he limped in a childhood high in a wind-ripped mountain land, and Periliath walked beside him.

Together Periliath and Tyll learned of other humans, and the biomasks taught them the Prohibitions: never to harm a human, always to obey in service to humankind. And the Punishments: the inner pain that wracked and terrified the disobedient until they took their own lives. Periliath shook in fear as she tasted these; Tyll held her to calm her. Somehow, in his turn, he shrugged off these treatments.

His brain elaborated to fullness, and he found innerspace, limitless and enthralling, the refuge of all andros. Deep in a shared brainworld, he and Periliath became whatever they wanted, generated radio and chemical senses, took nameless shapes, flew on wings of threaded words, plunged in seas of silver cinnamon, communed in symphonies of prayer and longing.

He loved Periliath so much that he made himself into clothing she wore in the innerworld winds, wrapping himself about her arms and legs and body to warm and tickle her as she flew in hyperskies layered of amber and chocolate and violet unguent. In this way he heated her to the fever-edge of lust, and they made love in fast-evolving forms plunging through sky and sea and rock to the seething heart of their interior planet.

And in that fire she vanished. After he searched and waited long and cried her name in words of questing light, he sat a long vigil by the innerspace portal; and then he closed the way forever. He returned to his body in the tank to feel her lifeless shape drift, cooling, against him, blood like rust spreading slowly in her dead-open steely eyes. Dark hands removed the body; her dangling feet rose past his face.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	THE VAT 1551 4D Tyll was the name of an andro, developing in the vats of ArCorp. Periliath was Tyll‘s vat-partner, a female; ArCorp preferred to manufacture its andros in male-female pairs. Tyll‘s first memory was of Periliath‘s wide eyes, the color of rust-flecked steel, looking into his through the eyepieces of their biomasks. He floated with her deep in the dim tank of fluid, their bodies exuberantly growing, fed by the juices of ArCorp‘s gene machinery, their minds shaped by the umbilical sensi feeds in their masks. Over and over, his lips and tongue formed her name, practicing language. They floated in a tower of sea, feet of others above them in window-blocked segments, heads below the windows under their feet. These were the andro farms of ArCorp, where each andro embryo fell through stage after stage of accelerated growth until it emerged at the foot of one of the many-storied vats, whole, adult and trained for service. Tyll and Periliath played, running hands and feet over each other, copulating, twining, floating in the tank that seemed to grow smaller with every beat of their new hearts. Wrestling with him once, she twisted his leg so hard he cried out in the fluid, and faces appeared outside to look in. The leg never again felt right. Seed-memories from the sensi flowered in Tyll: compressed experience that would guide him when he would leave the vat. He discovered his name and pseudohistory of life as a human in a strange world outside the tank. Time convolved in Tyll‘s brain; reliving what had never been, he limped in a childhood high in a wind-ripped mountain land, and Periliath walked beside him. Together Periliath and Tyll learned of other humans, and the biomasks taught them the Prohibitions: never to harm a human, always to obey in service to humankind. And the Punishments: the inner pain that wracked and terrified the disobedient until they took their own lives. Periliath shook in fear as she tasted these; Tyll held her to calm her. Somehow, in his turn, he shrugged off these treatments. His brain elaborated to fullness, and he found innerspace, limitless and enthralling, the refuge of all andros. Deep in a shared brainworld, he and Periliath became whatever they wanted, generated radio and chemical senses, took nameless shapes, flew on wings of threaded words, plunged in seas of silver cinnamon, communed in symphonies of prayer and longing. He loved Periliath so much that he made himself into clothing she wore in the innerworld winds, wrapping himself about her arms and legs and body to warm and tickle her as she flew in hyperskies layered of amber and chocolate and violet unguent. In this way he heated her to the fever-edge of lust, and they made love in fast-evolving forms plunging through sky and sea and rock to the seething heart of their interior planet. And in that fire she vanished. After he searched and waited long and cried her name in words of questing light, he sat a long vigil by the innerspace portal; and then he closed the way forever. He returned to his body in the tank to feel her lifeless shape drift, cooling, against him, blood like rust spreading slowly in her dead-open steely eyes. Dark hands removed the body; her dangling feet rose past his face.