Welcome to Oceanopia! - Katharine Sparrow

IT WAS ANOTHER PERFECT DAY in Oceanopia. The hot weather was tempered by the oscillators, which created the right amount of breeze. The Craven pipes cooled the breeze to 68 degrees. The sun rose at 6:02 and would set at 18:02. There would be twelve hours of uninterrupted sunshine: the same as every day. Nothing ever changed on the equator. Nothing ever changed in Oceanopia. Except for Zaria: she was getting older.

Trix had planned to "Find the Perfect Birthday Present for Zaria!" from 8:00 to 9:30, but it was 9:27 and she had come up with nothing. She stared up at the sky and made slow figure eights along the path as she rollered forward, then back to Ronnie and Winton.

"Melodious and fabulous showtunes about her life! I'll put on a long black wig and slinky sleeveless dress. You can play Isaiah, Ronnie. It'll be kinky-rific!" Trix trilled as she skated past her two friends and raised her right leg over her head.

Ronnie looked excited. He clapped his hands and flipped his bleached-blond hair out of his face. Ronnie was always excited about everything: he was part Labrador.

Winton spoke so slowly that Trix wondered if his circuitry had gotten messed up. "Zaria will hate showtunes. It will remind her about all the other humans who are gone. We shouldn't even have a party - it might kill her." He sighed as though coming up from the depths of the ocean and pushing air out of his blowhole. Winton was part gray whale, and Zaria would not be surprised if he disappeared into the ocean some day soon.

"Win-ton, solemnity is never sexy!" Trix said. She did a back handspring to emphasize her point.

"Anything might kill her, the medicos say so," he replied.

"No!" Trix said and rollered away from him. She went up the hill toward the yellow townhouses that glittered in the sun with all their broken glass.

As she crested the top of the hill, neural connections sparked and shimmered in her. They fell into place in a way she thought must be similar to a human's imagination.

"Perfect! Sublime! Impeccable!" Trix yelled and skated back down the hill on one leg.

Ronnie stared at her with confusion and hope, Winton with contempt.

"I have the most wonderful best present for Zaria!" And that it would save Oceanopia forever was just chocolate frosting on the huge cake the cookbots were assembling for tonight's party. "Sorry boys, but she's going to love me the best!"

Trix spun around in circles on her rollers, faster and faster as she savored the pulses of joy that ran out from her middle and spread to her fingers and toes. No aniborg could feel any pleasure unless they served humans, and with only Zaria left, it was hard to stay happy. Trix felt her squirrel and robot parts pulse with joy compounds as she started to plan her perfect present for Zaria.

"Kismic! Majestic! Heavenly!"

Ronnie looked sad at being left out. Trix gave him a hug and spun him around, wishing she could give him pleasure like a human could.

Everything will always be perfect! Trix thought as she whirled around. I'll give her the best present ever. A boyfriend! A brand-new perfect boyfriend! Zaria would become so happy she'd get to make a True Birthday Wish, and she'd wish away death and become just as immortal as the aniborgs. She would never die! Trix knew not to tell Winton her plan: she knew not to tell anyone. They would only make fun of her until she didn't believe anymore, and then it wouldn't happen. Trix zoomed away from them - there was so much to do!

"Run-through for Zaria's birthday tonight at 15:04, three hours before the Green-Flash-Party-Extravaganza! Everyone's presence is mandatory!"

"You've already announced that three times today," Vicki responded over the comwave with her annoyed, stupid cat voice.

"Sedulousness is always sexy! Smart girls prepare for success!" Trix replied and jumped into the air to do the splits, then twisted around and landed on her hands.

"Ta-da!" She popped back onto her feet and rollered past the flashing lights of the long-empty casino, then down the hill toward the edge of the island.

"Ocean-o-pi-a!" Trix sang. "Ocean-o-pi-a, the great man-made island where dreams come true on the ocean blue!" She held the last word out on a long note as she rollered along the smooth wide paths as fast as she could go, which was really fast. "Ocean-o-pi-a!" It was her favorite song and sometimes she even made up her own lyrics and sang them when no one else was around. "Ocean-o-pi-a, a floating island where aniborgs will do whatever you ask and will perform any task!"

Which reminded her she was scheduled to visit her sisters from 9:45 to 10:00. Every Monday Trix visited them, and she was just bursting to tell someone about her present. Her sisters were the only ones in all of Oceanopia, besides Captain Estrella, who could keep a secret.

* * * *

"Hello Trix? How's Trix?" she yelled into the quartz house at her sisters. She paused for a moment, pretending they could hear her and might respond.

"Tricky!" She answered herself. Trix never got tired of saying that: it was wired in. She made the rollers disappear into her shoes with a thought as she stepped into the house where all the extras were kept. The Trixes were lined up between the Estrellas and Vickis with their eyes closed and bodies inanimate. Five of them hung from the ceiling in clear plasticene casings. Buxom, blonde, and very beautiful! They couldn't hear Trix, or know anything at all until they were animated, but family was family. Trix had learned that from the humans. Sometimes you could hate your family and be mad at them, but you never abandoned them.

Besides, Trix didn't hate them. In fact, more and more over the last 73 years and 41 days, she had been wanting to wake a Trix up. Maybe that meant that she would go into the ocean, or maybe it meant that there would be someone like her to be around, with the same combination of robot and squirrel on the inside. Not that another Trix would matter without humans to serve, but it might be nice to have another one around. She had imagined conversations with one lots of times.

"Welcome to Oceanopia, the best floating island ever made! You get to live forever! Humans will love you because you are so pretty and fun, and you were made to be likable! You look like the most beautiful perfect human! You are going to be so happy when you serve and protect them. Welcome to paradise!"

But Trix would have to tell new-Trix other things, things she didn't want to think about. Like how the water and food had gone bad in the world, and how even though Oceanopia used the best filtration system, the transgenics had gotten in anyway. They had all the best medicine and had done much better than the rest of humanity, but the Oceanopians had gotten sick and died anyway. Trix didn't want to see herself learn that all over again.

Sad is never sexy! Trix told herself and made herself smile.

"Guess what I'm getting Zaria for her birthday? A hot new boyfriend! I hope you all have a terrific day! See you next week, Trixes!" Her rollers popped out and she zoomed away fast, accessing where Zaria was and heading straight for her. "Ocean-o-pi-a! Where the food is great and the girls are first-rate!"

* * * *

Zaria's garden was the most awful place on the whole floating island, and Trix hated it that Zaria was always there. The woman had always insisted on growing the old Cascadian plants by herself. As Zaria got older, the garden got worse. Hollyhocks grew like weeds everywhere. A black-leaved plum tree with dead branches sat amid a bunch of shasta daisies who stole water away from the roots of the plum. Imperfect! Nasty! Trix itched to relocate the daisies and prune the tree. She wanted to add mulch and amendments to the soil, and make distinct borders everywhere. The thought of helping sent a trill through Trix, even though she knew Zaria wouldn't allow it. Lavender crowded into rosemary and mint, all fighting with each other. A cherry tree was being strangled by a blue morning glory vine that wrapped its way up the tree's trunk. Wrong! Invasive!

It made Trix jittery on the inside to look at the garden, but then she saw Zaria lying out in the grass under the cherry tree, small and withered. An aniborg had helped her out of the float chair that hovered nearby. Tubes ran from the chair to Zaria's belly, wrists, and nose. Cherry blossoms had fallen like snow on top of her. If Zaria wanted snow, they could close off one of the hexes and make it. They could dress up in slinky body suits and go ice skating! It could be a lot of fun!

Trix just remembered to keep herself from offering to make snow for Zaria. All the aniborgs, for the last 7 years and 132 days, had been asking to do things for Zaria, and the human had done a fine job of keeping most of them busy, most of the time. But because it was her birthday, Trix wouldn't ask. That seemed to be what Zaria wanted most of all - to be left alone. Outside the garden other aniborgs worked at imaginary chores, keeping an eye on the woman. Just being close to her felt good, even though she was so wrinkly and white-haired it hurt to look at her. "Hiya, birthday girl!" Trix stood over her.

Zaria opened her brown eyes and stared upwards. "Hello, Trix." "It's your birthday, your 99th birthday!"

A small smile on Zaria's face sent bolts of joy through Trix. She spun around twice before flopping down on the ground beside the old woman.

"For your present, I have to ask you some questions. Answer them but don't think about it, okay?"

Zaria nodded her head.

"What are you looking for in a man?"

Zaria laughed aloud, then it turned into a long, rasping cough. "Do you need water? Inhalants? Heimlich?"

"No, I'm fine," Zaria said weakly.

"If you could have any man in the whole world, what would he be like?"

Zaria took a long while to answer, and when she did her voice came out very slow. She always spoke too slow these days. "Any human at all would be good, Trix. For all of you though, not for me. I'm ... beyond that."

"Of course for you! It's your birthday, and I want all your wishes to come true!"

"My wish is that you find people then, lots of kind, healthy people. But you know all the humans are dead, right? No matter what any of us might wish."

"Do you like tall men?"

"I suppose."

"Strong, sexy, and rugged?"

"Not too strong. Not too rugged. You remember Isaiah, Trix? That's who I'd like."

"But he's dead."

Zaria nodded. "A long time dead, but I still love him."

"When you're gone, we'll still love you, forever," Trix whispered, because it felt like something she didn't want any of the other aniborgs to hear - something private and true.

"I know," Zaria whispered back. It seemed to make her sad.

"Gotta go!" Trix got up and ran away from Zaria's garden, just wanting to go and go and go! There was so much to do to make the best birthday ever for Zaria. Trix would make it so wonderful and spectacular that she would never die! Happiness could do that, it really could! It had to!

"Ocean-o-pi-a! Where you can live forever if you only endeavor!"

* * * *

As soon as Trix was far away from that rotten garden, she slowed and went to go sit on the Blue Sand beach to think. Half of it had been blasted away during one of the battles, and there was a pretty white fence built around where Oceanopia had broken off. There was still some burnt sand, black mixed in with the blue, along the beach. Trix accessed the outgoing message that announced they had openings at Oceanopia.

Manmade floating island seeks any human life.

It repeated the message drearily in an endless loop. Trix could see why no one had contacted Oceanopia for 73 years and 41 days. It had no dazzle-raz, no snackle-pop! Next Trix accessed information on propaganda. She plucked out the most proven effective strategies and saw immediately what was wrong. The outgoing message had no glittering generalities, or intentional vagueness, or misleading slogans!

Trix adored slogans, and Oceanopia had a lot of them. "Mall of the ocean!", "The ultimate gated community!", "The cruise that never ends!" But Trix would have to come up with something even better and more misleading. All the people out there ... she looked at the empty horizon. All the people ... somewhere, just needed to be convinced what a paradise Oceanopia really was, and then they would come and date Zaria!

No. The whole world is dead, reason told Trix.

She told it to shut up and perk up! Trix decided she would find a glittering generality from her most sparkly day ever! She accessed the first day of Oceanopia, and her first birthday, too!

* * * *

267 years and 301 days ago, Trix had been animated with all the other unique aniborgs. She'd been given all the information about what she was and what she must do. They'd all been let loose on the brand new Oceanopia to mingle.

"Welcome to Oceanopia! Hiya, I'm Trix. The Co-director of fun! How can I make your fantasies come true?"

Trix told people about all the dances, shows, and parties she would throw for them. They all stared at her, and she felt her squirrel parts wriggling around happily with all the attention. There were so many people to make happy, and so much to explore on Oceanopia!

There was the room of Seafood Madness where mounds of red lobster tails, squid rings, and bright pink salmon were arranged to spell out "Oceanopia!" There was the Laguna Luau with leis. Trix watched Winton croon calypso songs as he poured rum and lime into coconuts, then shook it all up. There was the Gypsy Tent where people smoked water pipes and the music was turned up extra loud.

Trix met up with her Co-director of fun, Ronnie, and they walked in unison, shoulder to shoulder, down the shiny red road that made a circle across all six conjoined hexagons of Oceanopia. It was 6.6 miles long. They stopped to look at the center of Oceanopia: it was a calm expanse of ocean, shielded by the island that surrounded it on all sides. Children splashed in the water, and there were three floating fountains in the middle of it. Ronnie and Trix juggled, did gymnastics, and told jokes to every human they met as they wandered from the Orange Sand beach, to the Peach Sand beach, to the Acapulco Lounge.

The founders of Oceanopia stood on the Grand Titan stage. Elevated above everyone else, they made speeches. "Reasons why Oceanopia is better than anywhere else," "The genius of Aniborg pleasure receptors and how it makes them the ultimate servants," "Oceanopia, the ultimate sustainable island!" The last speech was Trix's favorite, and she would listen to it over and over in the years to come whenever she felt scared.

"Oceanopia needs nothing from the outside world to exist. We get our power from the ocean's heat: our Stirling engines provide for every need and luxury! We have inexhaustible fresh water from our Craven pipes: using convection they draw cold water up from the ocean, then create fresh water through condensation. Our rich fertile farmlands use humanure and fish fertilizers to keep healthy. We have unlimited supplies of seafood, of course! And if we are ever attacked? Our defenses are impenetrable! Every day in Oceanopia is a perfect day!"

Oceanopia was so wonderful, and the day was 100% perfect, almost. A wonderful human had followed Trix around and asked her lots of questions about the aniborgs. He was really impressed.

"You're the hottest woman I've ever seen!"

"I'm not a woman!"

He had taken her to his condo had done terrific things to her, but then he took some pills and decided it would be fun to cut Trix's leg off and see what was on the inside. Trix felt, for the first time ever, a combination of good and bad that she would often have with the humans. She was serving him, so that made her happy, but she was made with pain analogs, too. As soon as he said it would be okay, she screamed so loud the security aniborgs Hans and Hiro had shown up. Later, they made laws against mutilation. Aniborgs were too expensive to serve humans in that way.

* * * *

Trix analyzed all the data of that day and found the best glittering generality. "Every day in Oceanopia is a perfect day." It would make any human want to live here, wouldn't it? And mostly, it was true.

"Run-through for Zaria's birthday tonight, three hours before the Green-Flash! That's in 32 minutes!" Trix announced to everyone.

"Shut-up. You've told us 4 times today, already. We're all eidetic, Trix," Vicki said as though she would like to bite her.

Trix was too polite to respond - snarkiness was never sexy! She sent a special message up to the locked cabin on the highest point in Oceanopia. "That means you, too, Captain Estrella! You have to come to the party!"

No one had heard from the Captain in 9 years and 12 days: she had locked the door to navigation when the human Captain, Johnathon Jones, had died.

"Hell-o, Captain Estrella? You'll be sorry if you miss it! Hey, I need to send a new message out. I need to send it to every part of the world, all at once. How can I do that?" Estrella was the only aniborg to have access to all of Oceanopia's technology. "It's for Zaria's birthday present, but I can't tell you why. It's a surprise!"

Silence.

"Please, please, please, Captain! It's important. It's something she will love."

A long sigh came from navigation.

"Please, please, please?"

"There are ways to amplify our frequencies in order to be heard across the world. They are only to be used in emergencies though, as they would interfere with every other radio transmission." Estrella's voice came over the comwave, followed by a long sigh.

"This is an emergency! A birthday emergency!"

"I guess is doesn't matter anymore," Captain Estrella sighed, then transferred the codes to Trix to enable the transmission.

Trix launched herself into the air and did two somersaults, then landed tiptoe on her left leg. "Thanks Captain! See you at the run-through in 29 minutes! It's wonderful to hear your voice!" Trix lied, and hoped the lie would make the captain feel less sad. She knew it couldn't, but still, it was important to try.

Trix rollered down the red road that wasn't very red anymore, but more of a dusty brown. She jumped over the missing parts and bumps of the road, and headed toward Green Sand Beach, which was at the far end of Oceanopia. She timed it perfectly so she got there just in time, not early or late. Smart girls were always punctual!

28 aniborgs were there, all that were left on Oceanopia, except the Captain. They all stood in front of the Starlight Stage with their heads down, not talking to each other, except for Ronnie. He had climbed up one of the Craven silos. Trix ran down the beach, then jumped onto the Starlight Stage and smiled at them all. The stage had lost one of its support beams and tilted towards the ground. "Confirmation: Zaria is outside of eavesdropping range?" Trix yelled out.

"Confirmed!" Ronnie shouted back. He jumped off the silo and did helicopter flips until he landed on the stage. Not that it mattered, without Zaria watching, but Trix made herself grin at him anyway.

"Are we ready to give Zaria the party of her life?" she asked everyone.

No one responded.

Vicky yawned and raised her hand. Trix could feel the cat in Vicky studying the squirrel in her. Not that any dumb cat could ever catch a squirrel. Trix tossed her hair from side to side as she looked at the golden-skinned, red-haired woman. "Yes, Ms. Vicki?"

"This is stupid. Zaria's dying, she doesn't want a party. Leave her alone."

"And when she dies we are all doomed," Winton added.

The Astrids, Hanses, and Hiros all nodded their heads in agreement.

"First, we will close the dome and have light confetti in Zaria's favorite colors - red, orange, green, and blue! Then we will sing her a song and bring out her favorite foods!" Trix cocked her head at Ronnie.

He tilted his head toward her and showed off his perfect white teeth. "Then Trix and I will do the birthday dance!" He grabbed Trix around the waist and threw her 3 meters up, then caught her on the way down. They polkaed across the stage and krumped back, then added in some boogie moves and ended with fractal-jacks and magic fingers.

"Ta-da!"

No one clapped.

"Zaria will love it!" Ronnie yelled at them.

"Then we will do the presents! What are people giving her?" Trix asked.

The two Hiros and three Hanses stepped forward and raised their hands with military precision. "We are giving her some handmade jewelry," one of the Hiros barked out.

"I'm singing her an old blues song. Real sad," Lola said. Her heron blue eyes gazed listlessly out from the lanks of long black hair that hung in her face.

"Let's keep it positive, aniborgs!" Trix said.

"I wrote a po-em," Winton said. He recited it -

At the end of the world every day is the same,

Dig, except Zaria gets older.

It's so very true.

True blue.

Every day is the same, except soon she will die,

Dig.

At the end of the world, we all wish we were dead.

No one clapped for Winton.

Chubby Mario with his seal skills juggled 27 objects and made his eyebrows go up and down at the same time. Tall Gus and short Josie showed off a quilt they had made with octagonal three dimensional images. All they ever did these days was work with geometrics, and Trix wondered if their carpenter ant and bumblebee parts had taken over within them.

"Okay, razz-tazzle, more presents, and at the very end I'll bring out my present! The best one of all! Then we'll have cake and she will get to make a True Birthday Wish!"

"What's your present?" Astrid asked moodily.

"You'll see, it's a sur-prise! She'll love it! Okay, that's a wrap!"

The other aniborgs shuffled away with their heads down.

Trix sat down on the edge of the stage and watched everyone go. It was time to finish the rest of her message. She had decided that there needed to be some 'intentional vagueness' about what had happened at Oceanopia, and accessed an overview of its history. Before she delved into it, she sang, "Ocean-o-pi-a! Where we still live on even though most of the humans are gone!"

* * * *

46 years and 72 days after Oceanopia first set sail, lots of people began getting cancer and diabetes. Babies were born funny, and lots of people couldn't have babies at all. There was nothing the scientists could do. "It's in all the food's molecules, like trying to take the salt out of the ocean," a biologist had said.

10 years and 317 days later, the first attack came. Huge ships tried to get on the island. All the Hanses and Hiros, made with lion and wolf parts, were animated. They led the battles, even though it hurt them to kill humans. The sea battles continued for the next 85 years and 57 days. Sometimes the boats that came didn't have any weapons and were easy to sink. Other times there were bullets and bombs. Trix remembered singing and putting on puppet shows for the children as they all hid below in the underground rooms. Their fear and unhappiness made Trix feel like someone was cutting off her leg again.

Over the course of many battles, Oceanopia was invaded by the Free Achinese, then the Boers, the Samoan Gangsters, and the Cascadians. The original Oceanopians ordered all the aniborgs to kill the invaders, but they couldn't. Aniborgs were programmed to protect all Oceanopians, and that parameter was defined as anyone on the floating island. The old Oceanopians were angry all the time, complaining that they had not come to Oceanopia to live with people like that, and they should have the right to kill them. The aniborgs protected all the humans from each other.

54 years and 102 days later, they got the last radio message saying all the humans were dead. The net had long since stopped working.

For the last 73 years and 41 days, there was nothing. Silence. In that time, one by one the humans on Oceanopia died off and no more came. Zaria had been a fantastic gift, born with all her limbs and a brain that worked right. It was a shiny miracle that she had lived this long, aided by all the best technology. For the last 7 years and 212 days, Zaria had been the only human left. And after she was gone? Humans would be extinct and there would be no more happiness, and no more joy, ever.

* * * *

Trix shook her head and slid off the Starlight Stage onto the beach. She walked down to the water, then sat and let her hands play with the kelly-green sand. Its warmth filtered through her fingers. How could you say all that with intentional vagueness? It took her a long time to find the right words, and even when she did, she was not sure if they were all the way right.

Oceanopia has survived hard times, yet still we are afloat!

Trix walked to the nearest recharge station and plugged herself in, so that she would be fully energized for the party. She accessed the old outgoing message, deleted it, and replaced it with her own. She used the access codes to amplify the announcement across the whole planet. Before she sent it off, she added in some misleading slogans for good measure.

Oceanopia is the dreamiest dream! Oceanopia is the very best place in the whole world! Every day in Oceanopia is a perfect day! Oceanopia has survived hard times, yet still we are afloat! We are seeking new members: please be tall, not too strong or rugged, and very sexy. Beautiful woman seeks man. No humans will be turned away.

Trix paused, then added, even as she worried that it might sound too desperate -

Very nice staff waiting to serve your every wish and dream!

She translated it into 67 languages and sent it out. Trix then worked on the finishing touches of the party as she powered up. She ordered lesser robots to decorate and send out reminders for everyone to come.

7 minutes and 47 seconds before the party was set to start, screams erupted across Oceanopia. First one, then another, and another, all crowding on top of each other and jumbled. It took Trix a moment to individuate what different aniborgs were saying.

"Zaria is dead! Dead! Dead!"

"Her heart has stopped!"

"She can not be revived!"

"Throw yourself into the ocean, life is over!"

Trix couldn't turn the voices off, but she could make them quieter in her head. She unplugged herself, accessed where Zaria was, then rollered lightning fast to the old woman's garden. Her small human body lay out under the cherry tree. It was still, gray, and motionless.

Zaria was gone. The last human, gone. Aniborgs stood ringed around her body. Some yelled while others were mute. Zaria was dead, really dead. Despite Trix's stupid hopes, they were all extinct forever.

It's all over, Trix thought. She saw the Hiros and Winton turn away and head toward the nearest beach. They would keep walking into the ocean until they were so far away they would not be able to obey the compunction to return and recharge. Their batteries would run down and they would stop working.

Ronnie came up beside her and put an arm around her. Why did he even try? Trix pushed him away and glared at him.

Lola threw herself down on the ground and made fake crying sounds: aniborgs had no crying analogs. Vicki beat her head against the side of the cherry tree, but not very hard: aniborgs could not willfully injure themselves. Trix looked up from Zaria and saw that Estrella was there. A hushed silence spread out from her. The Captain's dark black skin and long dreaded hair were an echo to the crow within her. Her gaze met Trix's. Desolation. Despair. Pain without end.

Trix turned and ran toward the ocean, eager for the dark depths, then the greater darkness, that would make all this end. It was all finally over, and the loss of the humans hurt more than Trix could have imagined. Hurt more than anything she had ever felt by a magnitude of 5.2. She longed for it to stop, for all of it to just stop.

By the time she reached the beach, Mario was already in the water. He swam into the ocean, and seemed to become part seal as he dived into a wave. Trix followed behind him, and felt the pull of the tides beckoning her into the water. Just keep walking. It will be over soon.

Knee deep in water, something requiring attention flashed within Trix. It opened automatically. It was a message.

"Hello, Oceanopia! Are you really out there? We are tall, not too strong or rugged, and very, very sexy. There are no humans left. They are extinct. This makes us sad. However, we are part human. That is, 52.75%. The rest is robot. We hope you will let us live on Oceanopia with you because we are lonely. Please, will you help us?"

The message then gave coordinates of where the human-robots were located.

Trix let out a squirrelly squeal and flashed the message to all the other aniborgs. She ordered those who had gone into the ocean to come back immediately. She told Captain Estrella that they must head toward the Horn of Africa as quickly as possible.

Trix did a one-handed handstand and started to plan the party they would throw for the new Oceanopians. She would make them love it here, and every day would be a perfect day!

"Ocean-o-pi-a! Where the aniborgs survive and are very alive!"