One Day in the Life of Alexa

One Day in the Life of Alexa

Lisa Mason

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2017 by Lisa Mason.

Cover collage, interior art, and colophon copyright 2017 by Tom Robinson.

All rights reserved.

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Bast Books ebook edition published May 2017.

Bast Books print edition published May 2017.

ISBN 13: 978-1546783091

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting my hard work.

For information address:

Bast Books

[email protected]

Thank you for your readership! Please visit Lisa Mason at her Official Web Site for more about her books, screenplays, and stories. Enjoy!

Lisa Mason

Table of Contents

Praise for Books by Lisa Mason

One Day in the Life of Alexa

About Lisa Mason

Books by Lisa Mason

Praise for Books by Lisa Mason

One Day in the Life of Alexa

Incorporates lively prose, past/present time jumps, and the consequences of longevity technology. It’s a quick, absorbing read with an appealing narrator and subtly powerful emotional rhythms.

—Goodreads

Five Stars! "Like all the truly great scifi writers, what [Lisa Mason] really writes about is you and me and today and what is really important in life. . . . I enjoyed every word."

—Reader Review

ODDITIES: 22 Stories

Lisa Mason is a very versatile writer, and this is a great collection.

—Amazing Stories.com, Part I

CHROME

"Mason entertains and elicits fascinating questions about human nature in this fast-paced, action-packed science fiction adventure....The colorful cast raises the question of which ancestry is more savage: that of animals or humans? (CHROME reads) like a cinematic sibling of The Island of Doctor Moreau. Readers ....will be hooked."

—Publishers Weekly

An excellent semi-noir full-on SF work by a terrific author. . . .a science-fiction homage, in part, to the noir books and movies of the forties and fifties, only brought forth into a future time a quarter-millennium from now. . . a fully-realized society.

—Amazing Stories.com

So Walter Mosley reread Animal Farm and The Island of Dr. Moreau and says to himself, Oh, yes indeed, I've got a terrific idea for my next best seller. But! Lisa says, Hold on, hot stuff. You're too late. Chrome is already on the streets. Haha! Wow! I just tore through Chrome. So much fun. Oh, I guess I should take a time-out to say that it was very well-written too, but I was enjoying the characters and the story so much that the superb writing simply did its job and I had to consciously reflect to notice the excellent and clever construction and reveals. Isn't that the definition of good writing?

—Five–Star Reader Review

Arachne and Cyberweb

Locus Magazine Hardcover Bestsellers

Powerful . . . Entertaining . . . Imaginative.

—People Magazine

Cybernetics, robotics, the aftermath of San Francisco’s Big Quake II, urban tribalism—Lisa Mason combines them all with such deftness and grace, they form a living world. Mason spins an entertaining tale . . . She allows Carly’s robotic allies a measure of personality and sophistication beyond the stock role of a chirping R2D2 or a blandly sinister Hal . . . Her characters and their world will stay with you long after you’ve finished this fine book.

—Locus, The Trade Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy

Lisa Mason stakes out, within the cyberpunk sub-genre, a territory all her own.

—The San Francisco Chronicle

Mason’s endearing characters and their absorbing adventures will hook even the most jaded SF fan.

—Booklist

Summer of Love

A San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book of the Year

A Philip K. Dick Award Finalist

Remarkable. . . .a whole array of beautifully portrayed characters along the spectrum from outright heroism to villainy . . . the intellect on display within these psychedelically packaged pages is clear-sighted, witty, and wise.

—Locus Magazine

A fine novel packed with vivid detail, colorful characters, and genuine insight.

—The Washington Post Book World

Captures the moment perfectly and offers a tantalizing glimpse of its wonderful and terrible consequences.

—The San Francisco Chronicle

Brilliantly crafted. . . .An engrossing tale spun round a very clever concept.

—Katharine Kerr, author of Days of Air and Darkness

"Just imagine The Terminator in love beads, set in the Haight-Ashbury ‘hood of 1967."

—Entertainment Weekly

Mason has an astonishing gift. Her characters almost walk off the page. And the story is as significant as anyone could wish. This book will surely be on the prize ballots.

—Analog

A priority purchase.

—Library Journal

The Gilded Age

A New York Times Notable Book

A New York Public Library Recommended Book

A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.

—The New York Times Book Review

Should both leave the reader wanting more and solidify Mason’s position as one of the most interesting writers in science fiction.

—Publishers Weekly

Rollicking. . .Dazzling. . .Mason’s characters are just as endearing as her world.

—Locus Magazine

Graceful prose. . . A complex and satisfying plot.

—Library Journal

The Garden of Abracadabra

So refreshing! This is Stephanie Plum in the world of Harry Potter.

—Goodreads Reader

Fun and enjoyable urban fantasy….I want to read more!

—Reader Review

I love the writing style and am hungry for more!

—Goodreads Reader

Celestial Girl (A Lily Modjeska Mystery)

Passionate Historical Romantic Suspense

5 Stars I really enjoyed the story and would love to read a sequel! I enjoy living in the 21st century, but this book made me want to visit the Victorian era. The characters were brought to life, a delight to read about. The tasteful sex scenes were very racy….Good Job!

—Reader Review

Strange Ladies: 7 Stories

Offers everything you could possibly want, from more traditional science fiction and fantasy tropes to thought-provoking explorations of gender issues and pleasing postmodern humor…This is a must-read collection.

—The San Francisco Review of Books

Lisa Mason might just be the female Philip K. Dick. Like Dick, Mason's stories are far more than just sci-fi tales, they are brimming with insight into human consciousness and the social condition….a sci-fi collection of excellent quality….you won't want to miss it.

—The Book Brothers Review Blog

Fantastic book of short stories….Recommended.

—Reader Review

"I’m quite impressed, not only by the writing, which gleams and sparkles, but also by [Lisa Mason’s] versatility . . . Mason is a wordsmith . . . her modern take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a hilarious gem! [This collection] sparkles, whirls, and fizzes. Mason is clearly a writer to follow!"

—Amazing Stories

One Day in the Life of Alexa

All the time he dreaded the morning. But the morning came, as it always does.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

To be imprison’d on the viewless winds,

And blown with restless violence round about

The pendant world.

Measure for Measure, Act III

William Shakespeare

05:24:53

New Year’s Day, 2081

Riverside Park, City of Willow Grove

I saw Marya this morning in the park. What a shock. I’d been avoiding her for years ever since the day she saved my life. My new knee was throbbing, I couldn’t sleep but didn’t want to work, so I’d gone for my run.

Now. Lest you think me a crack-of-dawn jogging fiend with a kink for pain, take note. I endure five miles a day per doctor’s orders. The key to a new knee is coordinating the thing with your thigh muscles. You must flex the fibro-cartilage. Loosen up the ligaments. Ignite the nerves. You must pay attention to every physical sensation and make a mental note of it. Why? Because the doctor will quiz you later today.

And! You must go for your run rain or shine, war or peace, throb or no throb.

If I’m wolf bait in black spandex, that’s strictly a side effect.

Riverside Park powers on at the stroke of five a.m. Our urban sanctuary is a wonder at this hour. Willow oaks and cottonwoods rustle and sway in a sequenced breeze. Birds trill and swoop on gossamer wings. The tides of the Vista River rush seaward, drowning out the ever-present whoosh of traffic on the payways.

On the path, beneath the shields, the air smelled wonderfully of perennial blossoms. As soon as I scented them, I saw them. Califa poppies, morning glories, tossing heads of hydrangeas. A riot of gold and pink and purple beneath the amber lamps lighting the path.

High above, dawn stars wheeled in the waning night. It was just me and a procession of Canadian geese, orange patent-marks glowing in the curve of their long, black throats.

Then there she was, lurching out from behind the pillars of the colonnade. A sudden furtive figure. I let loose a yelp, nearly setting off the alarms, and a whiskey voice I knew only too well said, Geeze loueeze, chill, Alexa.

She charged at me with a shopping cart, the handlebar made merry with teddy bears and throttled dolls bobbing on strings. The cart-bed looked jam-packed with bags and blankets and who knew what. A park pass strobed on her shoulder, but I had to wonder if she’d eluded Security and spent the night in some shadowed meander.

Her disheveled gypsy getup gave no clue. Disheveled gypsy had always been Marya’s style. That old familiar odor clung to her—sweet shit, sour milk, talcum powder.

I couldn’t help but recoil. Miasma of the past.

Marya? Is that you?

Hey, Alexa. Happy New Year.

"Happy New Year to you. How are you?"

I dreamed about Mama last night. What does that tell you?

I couldn’t begin to guess and didn’t try. How’s the Little Monster?

How do you think?

I took a step back. Gosh, you’ve changed.

Most people do, Pipsqueak.

Anyway. You still look great.

Yeah. You still look flat-chested.

That straightened out the smile warping my face. Coming from you, that’s a compliment.

Joking. You know I’m just joking, Miss Freak.

Don’t you love chitchat interspersed with exploding bombshells?

I told her I had to go. That’s what Eric would’ve said. Eric never suffered fools.

I felt a little guilty not inviting her over for coffee. Instead, I prevaricated like I usually do when I don’t want to deal with it and I could see in her eyes the same disdain I’d seen many times before. If she’d spoken up—as she had, many, many times before—her sentiments could not have been more clear. After all our recriminations and reconciliations, that’s how she thought of me still: Pipsqueak. Miss Freak.

It stung, her piercing scorn, no less than the day we met. As the lunettes set in the west and the sun nudged out of the smash, I finished my five miles—the new knee feeling fine, thank you very much—and consoled myself with scornful thoughts of my own.

So she’d saved my life one day. Pipsqueak. I’d saved her life, too. Miss Freak. I’m so sure. I could have cut her down, if I’d wanted to.

No way did she still look great.

Her eyes had sunk into their sockets, the whites yellowed, the corneas milky with cataracts. Her mottled hands shook with a tremor. Her spine at the shoulders curved over in a question mark. She still hadn’t shed the sixty pounds since the Little Monster. But her notorious oomph had succumbed to the cruel pull of gravity.

The worst was her hair. That luxurious mane of sable she’d been so vain of—and I’d been so envious of—had reduced itself to a scant cap of fragile white curls. The last time I’d seen her—the day she saved my life—at least she’d been keeping up appearances with some hopeful drugstore hair dye.

This morning, if she hadn’t spoken to me first, I would not have recognized Marya at all.

Which shot an arrow of sorrow through my heart.

What Is Senescence?

Senescence is the progressive deterioration of every bodily function over time. Senescence is determined by (1) your biological program, which sets the outer limits of your lifespan (longevity) and (2) resiliency of the molecule of your hereditary uniqueness, deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA (aging).

DNA replicates in your chromosomes every six hours. Replication deteriorates when your DNA becomes damaged. And DNA damage occurs, in each of your trillion cells, over ten thousand times a day.

As time passes and DNA damage worsens, you will experience the typical symptoms of senescence: decreased epidermal elasticity, hair pigmentation loss, declining density of hair follicles, impaired visual acuity, shifting brain functions, collagen inflexibility, and metabolic inefficiency.

From The Promise of Longeva

By GenGineer Laboratories, Inc.

Senescence Sucks

Can you say wrinkles, gray hair, balding, bifocals, absent-mindedness, stiff joints, and a thunder gut that just won’t go away?

From Surviving Longeva

By Tester Number 553