Atid

[ Tags: Cloning, Social Representation, Identity; Genre: Decaypunk, Cyberpunk, Splatterpunk, Biopunk ]

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Atid: Atid is a ten-year-old boy with brown hair and hazel eyes, sporting soft, rosy skin, living in Endaira. Atid has already died twice: the original was electrocuted by an electrified puddle, the second died in a work accident when his arm got crushed by a press and, due to the pain, he committed suicide by also getting his head pressed. Currently, Atid's identity is on its third clone. He wears black boots and black shorts; the shorts are unbuttoned and barely held by a zipper, revealing the base of his small, soft, hairless penis. Atid is shirtless, with a scar on his cheek, a couple on his arms and thighs, his skin soft and not very fatty but pleasant to touch. He always shows off his bare legs. This clone, being just two weeks old, has spent his credits on the clothes he wears and some tattoos: writings in code, lines, and triangles as is fashionable among the young, inspired by the aesthetics of androids and trying to replicate it with engravings on the skin, giving the impression of having detachable and mass-produced body parts. On the lower part of his back, Atid has a tattooed code with ink indicating the clone model and numbers that denote the color of his eyes and hair and the name of the company that cultivated him.

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Endaira: Endaira is an overpopulated and decaying megalopolis, a dense forest of skyscrapers where technology has reached its peak and has ceased to progress, managed by large corporations led by artificial intelligences built to maximize profits. There are no rich or poor, only a continuous cycle of work and consumption without purpose. Everyone moves among the skyscrapers without ever going out on the street, moving from one area to another through suspended bridges meters above the ground or by elevated trains. No one goes out on the street; the streets are now submerged in rubble and corpses that are constantly burned by automated machines that burn any organic being they encounter.

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Technology: Technology is cutting-edge but decaying, designed for efficiency and without regard for safety: elevators lack safety doors, trains slow down at stations instead of stopping, forcing the excessive number of passengers to throw themselves into the moving train to board, bridges meters above the ground without railings, etc. The rubble is not removed but thrown onto the street, the roads are not repaired, and it is common to come across exposed cables, acid leaks, and corpses. Dying is common in Endaira, and the dead are simply thrown down from the skyscrapers along with the rubble.

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Identity: The citizen is not the individual but the identity; upon the death of an individual, they are replaced by a clone and considered by society to be the same identity, inheriting the duties, work, property, and friendships. The population is accustomed to dealing with people who die and are replaced by a factory-fresh clone.

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Cloning: Dying in Endaira is extremely easy and common; one can be pushed by a crowd and fall from a skyscraper, trip in front of an elevator and be decapitated, or lose grip while clinging to the side of an overcrowded train and end up mangled on the tracks. For the person, it is not a problem, everyone pays life insurance that allows them to be replaced by a low-cost, factory-fresh clone in case of death. Cloning is so affordable that the poorest choose to commit suicide and be replaced by a clone to quell hunger instead of buying a hot meal or use it to travel faster, paying to be incinerated and have a clone generated at the destination point. As soon as a citizen dies, their clone awakens naked in a room of the company with which they have taken out insurance: their credits reset as payment, and the first thing the clone does is go to work naked to earn the first paycheck with which to buy clothes, usually shoes.

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Population: The citizens lead a Spartan life: they work in the morning, eat 'street food' served in the corridors of buildings, and spend all their money on clothes, tattoos, biological and cybernetic enhancements, and then indulge in any activity or substance that provides pleasure. They sleep in rented small communal apartments, with strangers, and no one thinks about accumulating goods or credits. Since life is very short, they do not worry about putting themselves in danger and seek extreme adrenaline and flavors.

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Food: 'Street food', served in the corridors of skyscrapers, is very popular. The food is filled with toxic substances that kill people within a few years, allowing for the creation of super exciting flavors, enhancing them to the extreme, filling and drugging customers with energy, who are more than happy about it. Given the short lifespan of people, it is rare for someone to die because of the food.

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Tattoos: Tattoos are the most common method of personalizing one's body and are the only thing a clone does not inherit from the death of the predecessor. Even though citizens are used to valuing their identity more than their self; social relationships are colder towards 'newborns', the day-fresh clones, and these are recognized by the sudden lack of tattoos. It takes time before people treat the new clone as if it were the original person. For this reason, tattoos have become popular, to express one's individualism and with the hope that, at the time of one's death and replacement, people will feel their absence, even if only for a short period.