Looking Forward by Kenneth Jr. (snow like ashes .txt) 📗

of the day, Scott and Hella chat warmly about their feelings and plans. They decide to talk to some friends who live 10,000 miles away. They give verbal commands to the cybernator which makes a connection with the Correlation Center that is immediately relayed by satellite to their friends. They are able to exchange experiences and thoughts via a three-dimensional color transmission. They feel as close as if they were together in the same room.

The Cybernated Hygiene Area

With kitten-like playfulness Hella slaps Scott on the buttocks and runs toward a cylindrical chamber. Scott catches her just as she reaches the entrance to the twenty-first-century bathroom. Although she is forty years old, Hella looks like a young girl of eighteen. She has light brown hair with sparkling brown eyes. Her mouth is expressive and perfectly spaced teeth show when she laughs. Her breasts are firm and slightly smaller than the average of previous centuries. Her hips are beautifully formed but not wide. Her buttocks and thighs are softly rounded.

Laughingly, Scott pulls her inside the cylindrical walls of the shower. Air and water, mixed under pressure to form a soft, cleansing spray, delightfully comb every part of their bodies at a speed and pressure that they have taught the cybernator. No soap is used; ultrasonically activated water loosens any clinging particles. This bath not only cleans their bodies but also furnishes the most delightful tactile sensations with sprays that tingle and massage every part of them.

Scott is about the same height as Hella. His handsome face responds to the stimulating shower. Like Hella, Scott does not look his forty-five years. He begins to sing in a resonant voice. Hella, in self-defense, harmonizes with him with a vibrant tone. Scott and Hella have almost equally strong muscles. They move gracefully and gently in a way that suggests hidden strength.

They are dried in three seconds as they walk through the air wall that acts as a shower door. This air wall is a high-speed sheet of warm air jetted from the top, bottom, and sides of the shower opening. While they are in the shower, the sleeping chamber automatically cleans and sterilizes itself.

Scott and Hella then lean their heads backward to fit into a niche designed to groom their hair. In forty-three seconds this cybernated beauty shop trims the hair and arranges it in any mode that Scott and Hella select. Over the years they have trained the cybernator in the patterns that they prefer for their hair. The job of grooming is performed by an electronic complex that sets the hair by beamed positive and negative electrostatic charges. A one-second, modified laser emission gives a permanent set that remains until a different style is desired.

Hella seldom uses rouge, eye shadow, eyebrow pencil, or other artificial techniques of past centuries. The people in the new civilization are no longer physiologically and psychologically exhausted by insoluble problems, emaciating responsibilities, atmospheric pollution, and poor nutrition. Neither men nor women care for artificial decoration. They feel beautiful and attractive in themselves. Their loveliness comes from inside—no outside veneer is needed.

At this time shaving has disappeared. Hair no longer grows in areas where humans do not want it. No mouth washes or irritating chemical agents are used that might affect the living tissues of the mouth. Cavities are unknown, for there has been an increase in the hardness of the enamel, and foods are designed to inhibit decay of the teeth and disease of the gums. Because of the high degree of intestinal health, bad breath is almost unknown.

The lavatory and toilet are recessed in a corner of the bathroom area. The water turns on whenever the hands are placed above the lavatory. In toileting, the individual sits upon a soft ring covering a soundproof bowl. During elimination or defecation the waste matter, together with all odors, is drawn into an opening. Instead of towels or tissues there are water sprays which automatically clean the rectal and pubic areas, and warm air rapidly dries them. This natural function is no longer unattractive as in previous centuries.

A Medical Checkup

Scott and Hella step into a cabinet and automatically trigger a ten-second series of tests that help them achieve the highest level of health. The mechanism records their weight so that the cybernator can check gain or loss. If an upward trend in weight appears over a period of time, the cybernator orders the food production mechanism to decrease the calories without making any noticeable change in the bulk or taste of the food. The cabinet also measures blood pressure differentials throughout the body. It produces an electrocardiogram and instantaneously compares it with previous electrocardiograms. The blood in capillaries on the retina of the eye is given a spectro-analysis. The heartbeat, respiratory rate, brain-wave activity, and many other measurements are made and instantly compared with long-term norms for the individual. The cybernator does not over-respond to individual readings of any specific day but, instead, analyzes them for physiological trends. The Correlation Center compares them with norms based on over two billion people.

Almost everything that happens in the human body is accompanied by electrical and chemical changes that can be picked up and recorded by the advanced medical engineering of the twenty-first century. The casual ten seconds spent in this medical cabinet give Scott and Hella a daily checkup that may add years to their lives. All colds, viruses, and infectious diseases have been eliminated for many years. Only long-term deterioration of body organs is still a problem.

When necessary, conditions in their environment are altered to help them maintain optimal health. Many of the environmental changes, such as the adjustment of calories to preserve optimal weight, are performed automatically. Every effort is being made by medical technicians to automate all conditions involving health so that no conscious control is necessary to achieve the highest level of energy and longevity.

Scott and Hella walk into the dressing area and hold out their arms. Their garments release themselves from hangers and adhere to their bodies.