Insistence of Vision Read Online Free PDF Page A

swear....”
    I try to sympathize with her sense of betrayal. But her rage seems extreme, for a social offense... charming a young woman into talking to me, bare-eyed, for a while. Mea culpa. I would pay for it. But did I deserve a pounding with fists? Screamed threats?
    Making a best-guess, I run. Gravel underfoot for eight good steps, then grass. I correct, meeting path again...
    ...before tripping over her outstretched leg and sprawling face-first. “Jayann.... I’m sorry!”
    “Not half as sorry as you’re—”
    I leap up, stagger forward again. There was a slope down from the street, I recall. And now I hear the joggers panting. Traffic sounds beyond. With that bearing, I run again.
    No more hope of getting my specs back or reporting for work. My sole thought is to reach the sidewalk and then just sit down , pathetic and still. Word will reach my probation officer. Ellie will come get me. Lecture me. Possibly impose punishment. Though it’s all recorded and I swear, I don’t think I committed any actual—
    Traffic noise is louder. Joggers curse as they weave around me. I wish I could see even blurs.
    Someone plants a hand against my back and shoves. I hear brakes squeal.
    ᚖ
    Lying in a hospital bed, I listen as Ellie explains about how lucky I am. What a fool I was. How close I came to breaking rules and lengthening my sentence. Or losing my life.
    “Would you prefer a cell? The savagery of prison life? At least you can work. Pay taxes. Live among us.”
    That makes me laugh.
    “Among you. Right. Among the blurs.”
    She lets that sit a while, then asks.
    “Why, with so little time left on your sentence... why take such chances?”
    How to answer, except with a shrug. Was Robinson Crusoe ever lonelier than I feel, here in the big city, imprisoned by electronic disdain?
    Ellie takes silence as my answer. Then she tells me the final outcome of the fateful afternoon at Freedom Park.
    ᚖ
    Months later, I see her at the museum. Jayann sits a few steps up from where we met. Despite a thick sweater, I can tell she’s lost weight.
    I slip on my new specs. Super-farky, they supply a wealth of information. God-like tsunamis of it. Nametags under every face that passes by, and more if I simply blink and ask for it. The basic right of any free citizen.
    Under her name, flaring red:
    CONVICTED FELON
    Attempted 3rd degree murder
    I almost feel guilty. My thoughtless, desperate, well-intended flirtations led to this.
    But then, did anyone deserve what she tried to do, that day in a fit of offended pride?
    As my own punishment chastened me—perhaps made me better—will she learn as well? There are second chances. There is second sight.
    She looks around, seeming (except for those virtual scarlet letters) like a regular young woman, taking in the sun and breeze, though with a melancholy sigh. Her spec-mediated gaze passes over me...
    ...then onward. For to her, I’m just another blur.
    I turn, leaning on my cane, to leave. Only then, glancing at the calendar within my virtuality, I realize.
    It’s Tuesday.

Story Notes
    I like exploring complicated characters who are aware of the shaky moral tightrope they’re trying to cross. At the same time, I also believe we will use technology in the future to alter our approaches to age-old problems. Imprisonment for crimes began fairly recently. For most of human history, felonies were not punished by long terms in prison. Societies simply couldn’t afford it. Either your clan bought off your guilt-debt – or for a vast range of crimes, a felon was simply executed. Prison terms for non-capital crimes were a step forward, offering some chance for rehabilitation, but our descendants will likely consider it barbaric. Nothing comes without a cost.
    Are there alternatives? Beneath an intimately tragic personal story, “Insistence of Vision” explores one plausible – if creepy – possibility. Its advantages and attractive aspects only make it creepier. Our children will face