The Sleepless City

- Aomori, 4th Asiatic Regional Capital -
- Present Day -

"Find me...Eric..." the voice echoed in his mind. "Find me..."
"Who are you?" 
"Only I can help..."
"What do you mean? Help what?"
"Find....me....."
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Eric Morgan's eyes slowly opened as he drifted back into the waking world. In the last seven years, He had become accustomed to the disorientation that came from waking in his pod. At first it made him feel ill, but now he was able to silently lay there and wait for the saline purge that he knew was coming. The sleep inducing chemicals that coursed through his veins gave him the closest feeling to being inebriated that Slumbers were allowed to experience. Then, after several moments of bliss, the cold saline solution slammed him back into sobriety. It was time to wake up. A second and a shudder later, he was fully awake and sitting up in his bed.

The first class pods were quite nice. Warm lighting and soft, delta inducing music filled the temperature controlled space. It had been designed by a committee to be the most stress free environment possible and allow for the greatest amount of quality sleep. It certainly was better than his second class accommodation, that's for sure. Eric was sitting on the edge of the bed when a notification at the door let him know that his nurse had arrived. "Enter."

The door slid open with the whirl of hydraulic motors and in slinked the First Class Nurse android model. This, like everything here, had been designed by committee to be the most pleasing to look at and the least stress inducing for the Slumbers. Morgan had never seen one but he had heard that there were male models as well. His nurse wore a single piece jump suit that accentuated her curves. Every movement she made was designed to make her patients feel at ease. Slow and careful, she bent down to remove the IV from his arm. Horizon had installed an immunofiltration system when he became a Slumber. The socket in his arm was grafted onto his vein so a perfect IV could be administered each night when he came to work. Then, once the IV was removed, it was time for the uncomfortable part. He leaned forward and exposed the back of his head to the nurse. Just behind his left ear was a connection port. It had been drilled to lead directly into his brain. Currently in the port was a flexible metallic tube connected by a secure clasp at the end. The tube led to an active centrifuge next to the bed that had three small vials of orange liquid filled to the brim. 

The nurse rubbed his back robotically. There was no actual reassurance to be had from the machine. It was simply following its programming after all. Eric tried to relax but instinctively he tensed as the clasp connecting the tube to his brain was loosened. A sharp pain shot through his neck for a brief second and before he could cry out he felt the plug settle into the metallic socket in his head. His body twitched for a few seconds but he soon was back in control. 

As he got dressed and the nurse was securing the vials of orange liquid, she turned to him and spoke in an ethereal voice, "You have produced a good crop. Thank you for your service." She then put the vials into a vacuum tube canister labeled with his name, sealed it, and placed it into the delivery system duct that was adjacent to the pod entryway. The duct sealed with a high pitched whine and Eric could hear the canister slide upward towards its destination. The nurse gave a bow and turned to exit the room. Her hips robotically swayed as she walked out the door and down the aisle to another pod.

Eric grabbed his jacket off the rack by the door and took a step outside. The peaceful environment of the pod was replaced by the sounds of organized chaos. Vacuum tubes splayed out in all directions and canisters could be seen shooting through them before disappearing into walls, the ceiling, or one of the thousands of pods on the floor. This was the largest Somnus manufacturing facility in the entire Asiatic Region. There were roughly 3,000 Slumbers with a first class designation and over 7,000 with a second class designation registered at this facility. 

As he walked through the aisles of pods, he was looking for pod Gamma802. It was directly across from where the tram stopped. When the door to the pod opened, out came a young man with short unkempt black hair and wearing a loose fitting jumper. Eric waved him over.

"How many did you get tonight?" Eric asked the young man.

He rubbed his eyes and through a hoarse voice responded, "Seven. Had started on an eighth when the alarm rang. What about you?"

"Only three."

"Three?" the young man's eyes opened wide. "There's no way they'll let you keep your First Class designation if this keeps up. Have you talked to medical yet? Maybe somethings wrong?"

Eric smiled and gave the young man a soft punch to the arm. "Don't worry about me, little brother. I'll be fine. You just focus on keeping your production up. Now that we're both making good money we can finally make sure that mom and dad are taken care of. Besides, isn't Hitomi expecting any day now? You've got more than enough on your plate. No need to add my troubles to it."
The young man's name was Nakano Tatsu. Eric came under the care of the Nakano family when he was a boy and the two have been like brothers ever since. A few moments later, a single-cabin autonomous rail car came to a stop and opened its doors. They and several others piled in and grabbed onto the hand holds. After a few more stops, the cabin was full and began the ascent back to the surface. The railcar slowly climbed the slope that was built into the wall of the massive underground chamber. The field of pods and tubes below became enshrouded in a blue haze and fell out of sight as they rose higher. Eventually, the tram turned right into a tunnel built into the chamber wall.

Several minutes later, the tram exited into an open air path on the mountainside. Beyond the window a sprawling city landscape could be seen stretching northward towards the Tsugaru Strait. Aomori, the capitol of the 4th Asiatic Region, was rebuilt and repurposed after the war to simply be a provisional capitol. Until the ruins of Tokyo were rebuilt, this was the center of East Asian government and commerce. Due to it being the largest global exporter of Somnus, Aomori gained the moniker of The Sleepless City and Eric thought it was a good name for the place.

The tram stopped at Hakkoda Station where all the passengers disembarked. Tatsu said his goodbye and made his way to a woman waiting just outside the station gates. She smiled and waved at Eric and he returned the gesture in kind before continuing on to his connecting train. As he sat on the train he began to check his messages and the news through the neural receptor implanted in his neocortex. In front of him, flashes of images and text that only he could see moved and danced to his mental commands. Sounds that only he could hear were transcribed directly into his brain.

Before Somnus, neural receptors like this one weren't possible since they interrupted healthy sleep and overclocked the brain's processing. As a Slumber, he was not permitted to take Somnus and was thus unable to have any neuroware. However, since being designated first class he was given access to the latest models and Horizon-Yasunari Group had finally perfected a receptor for slumbers to use. Those who took Somnus regularly had access to this kind of tech for years and were able to equip the devices without frying their brains.

Eric was scrolling through the latest news when he was pinged with a message. It was the Horizon automated delivery system. It read, "Attention: Slumber First Class, Eric Morgan. You have been scheduled to have a meeting with the Head Sleep Officer today at 10am Asiatic Standard Time. Acknowledged?" He sighed and mentally gave an affirmative answer. Great. Just great. He changed stations at the next stop and began making his way to the Horizon Pharmaceuticals main office.

Along the street as he walked, the daily assault of ads and news both in his neural receptor and externally hit from every angle.

"Need a job? Work for Horizon-Yasunari Group today! Find your local recruiting office and plug in! Hiring across all sectors!"

"In other news, three members of the terrorist group known as Somnafatalis were captured by regional forces yesterday during a raid in Hiranai Ward."

"20% off the latest neuroware! Cheapest deals in the entire city! Come to Takeda's to see for yourself!"

"Having trouble keeping your skin healthy around your implants? No need to worry anymore! Horizon Pharmaceuticals, the creators of Somnus, have released a revolutionary new beauty product called AuraSpray. Protect your skin and your implants."

"I was able to make 10,000 nari in just one day and I did it by operating a business by myself on the net. Go to my personal site and sign up for a free course on how you too can be living the life you've always wanted and still make a living!"

Once he arrived at the office building, Eric signed in and was escorted to the proper sky lobby on the 45th floor. There he followed the receptionist android and was delivered to a small waiting room just outside the Head Sleep Officer's office. He waited patiently for his turn. The waiting area was a small room with a padded bench against the wall opposite the executive's door. The south wall was occupied by an abstract neon art exhibit and the express elevator that he had taken to get up here. The north side of the room was a window that stretched from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Beyond it he could see bright spots of sunlight reflecting off of the glass towers below and the pale blue sky above. He had been here once before when he was given his Slumber First Class promotion. Sadly, he didn't think the department head was going to be as friendly this time around. His delta score last month was atrocious and only yielded two liters of IAD. This is definitely about my poor numbers lately. This isn't good.

A subtle notification on his neural receptor brought him out of his thoughts. A countdown from seven minutes was displayed in the upper right of his vision. Another thought popped into his mind. Is this about my dreams? He knew he should have been reporting on his dreams but just didn't see a need to. He actually liked them and wanted to experience them. They started out simple enough. He would dream that he was floating through the air or running in slow motion. Soon, though, he was experiencing hours, days, or even weeks worth of time in vivid detail. It was an incredible experience but it did come at a cost. Ionized adenosine deaminase was the chemical compound used to create Somnus and Slumbers produced it in excess. That excess is then used to create the pharmaceutical so others can gain the benefits of sleep without having to sleep. When Slumbers dreamed, they produced far less IAD than normal. So, all dream instances had to be reported so that the IV could be adjusted to produce dreamless sleep.