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Itty Bitty Bigger World: Flushed
Nov. 3rd, 2014 12:30 pmFICTION FICTION
Captain Amy - not that I would ever call her that - walked me down to the capsule station after another half-hour of comparing notes. The psuedo-suicidal mook had indeed been blasted further from the edge by the combined pressor beam and mass stun charge from the CHP lifter that had gifted me with such a massive headache. He was in hospital under heavy guard. Interestingly enough, he did in fact have cancer.
The bioengineering of the human immune system is now thoroughly understood. There are several approaches to cancer treatment, all of them so effective that dying of most cancers is like dying of malnutrition - could happen, not likely, and suspicious as hell, with neglect a factor. The classy approach is genetic retro-engineering. Boosting the immune system is another approach, but support for removal of waste products is needed as the body basically becomes a constant battlefield. Sufferers require daily medical appointments and often feel tired all the time. The odds of a cancer growing large enough to require surgery prior to detection is small - but pre-emptive removal of precancerous tissues and organs is a common procedure now. There is still chemo and radiation and other treatments that basically make the body more hostile to the cancer than to itself, but these are fortunately rare and typically require hospitalization for secondary support.
The only cancer we can't really do much with is brain cancer. And that is the cancer which the poor mook has. Nanotech treatments can remove growths but cannot restore damaged neural tissue. I wondered if he'd attempt a sanity defense -- or if his poor health made his legal defense pointless.
That someone had "given" him cancer was even more interesting, with its overtones of biowarfare and nanotech warfare. We don't have armies, but we do have Treaty Enforcement, and if Cairo has to get involved in a nanotech outbreak because the locals cannot handle, they can get everything out of the box from individual detentions through wholesale warrantless search-and-seizure up to and including fusion weapons, if they feel that is what it takes to cauterize a particularly nasty outbreak. Their call - unless the locals do it first. No one fucks around with self-replicating nasties.
In a post-military world, the peacetime functions of the various armed services have been transferred to other agencies. Coastal aerial intercept for example remains a Federal function, but is now the US Coast Guard. San San's experts on explosives were divided between the regional rescue teams, the US Corps of Engineers (note that they dropped 'Army' from the title), and CalFire. All three remain familiar with fusion weapons but only CalFire actually has any in inventory.
Even now, it is so strange to live in a world where the Feds don't have nukes but the fire department does. But it makes sense when nukes are no longer used for warfare, but clean fusion weapons might be needed for truly heavy rescue.
The one Federal agency that still gets some play is Immigration & Customs Enforcement. Over ninety percent of their activity is focus on illegal movement of persons - and even today, illegal traffic _in_ persons. Not much of that in San San, where help is as close as the nearest public corridor, but not all of North America is so helpful to distressed persons.
Local governments retain local authority over contraband. One place where SanSan is either a global leader or a repressive regime is with respect to licensing of foods and drugs. A doctor's prescription is required for most drugs and some foods. What used to be called "OTC" or "Over The Counter" medications are now available only by prescription. Getting a prescription requires evaluation by a physician. The physician is monitored for excessive prescriptions and can have their license revoked based on statistical analysis of over drugging their patients.
This means a booming black market in everything from aspirin to heroin. The safety valve that makes this even tolerable is that drug offenses are not permitted to be felonies under the Treaty of Cairo. You can be fined, you can be cited, you can be hassled, you can have certain life activities restricted for your own safety -- but you cannot be incarcerated and your freedom of movement is sacrosanct. So we still have junkies, people who are addicted to drugs and are mentally ill enough to refuse treatment but not so mentally ill as to require civil commitment. But they have ready access to the necessities of life including food, fluids, excellent supportive care, relative safety compared to the 20th century sidewalk, and the biggest drain on their health other than their addictions of choice is sleep deprivation from being moved along when wandering aimlessly through the corridors. But they have plenty of warm places to sleep and plenty of chances to get help, if only they choose it.
It also means that being a gastronome is halfway to being a smuggler. Foods that have not passed San San's aggressive testing protocols are not licensed for bulk sale. Some of these foods (or imitations thereof) are arguably pretty nasty. The only good news is that would-be consumers can test for contamination themselves, casually and with better and faster results than a 20th century biolab.
What is really annoying, from this point forward and until I figure out who is trying to take me down, is that contact poisons are relatively cheap and easy. Yes, public biosniffers look for such things - but an agent can carry precursor chemicals openly, or dangerous chemicals in sealed containers, and dose an object or victim with relative ease and safety.
Where a wealthy person eats regularly is a mark of trust, not in your chef but in your chef's security.
Public food dispensers are pretty much what they sound like on the tin: pre-packaged foods, prepared and served by machine, which are free for the taking. I suppose a police bot would frown on someone who took thirty burritos and threw them at the walls, much like wasting toilet paper a half-century ago (yes... people used to wipe their private parts with processed paper... that this neither gets the parts clean nor is environmentally sound is tolerably obvious).
The other comparison between public food and public toilets is straightforward -- most people only use them when they 'have to' and prefer higher quality options whenever available.
But that is how most people feel about public food dispensers -- something to use when you're busy, desperate and suffering from a biological necessity -- but the only option for the very poor.
I suppose I must mention that modern sanitary systems self clean, air gap and can be used entirely without personal contact with a surface, even in a squatting or seated position. I remember when some idiot filed to protect outhouses as a cultural artifact. What they got instead were pit-vault toilets in their place, commemorative displays at key points, and two museums (one North, one South) in which the daring tourist could "actually use" an ancient outhouse simulator. Then some creative curator realized that with a little 21st century engineering, they could remove the air quotes and offer a real genuine outhouse use experience. With optional commemorative video. It's a must-stop for San San tourists nowadays...
There are times when living in San San is entirely too surreal for words.
Captain Amy - not that I would ever call her that - walked me down to the capsule station after another half-hour of comparing notes. The psuedo-suicidal mook had indeed been blasted further from the edge by the combined pressor beam and mass stun charge from the CHP lifter that had gifted me with such a massive headache. He was in hospital under heavy guard. Interestingly enough, he did in fact have cancer.
The bioengineering of the human immune system is now thoroughly understood. There are several approaches to cancer treatment, all of them so effective that dying of most cancers is like dying of malnutrition - could happen, not likely, and suspicious as hell, with neglect a factor. The classy approach is genetic retro-engineering. Boosting the immune system is another approach, but support for removal of waste products is needed as the body basically becomes a constant battlefield. Sufferers require daily medical appointments and often feel tired all the time. The odds of a cancer growing large enough to require surgery prior to detection is small - but pre-emptive removal of precancerous tissues and organs is a common procedure now. There is still chemo and radiation and other treatments that basically make the body more hostile to the cancer than to itself, but these are fortunately rare and typically require hospitalization for secondary support.
The only cancer we can't really do much with is brain cancer. And that is the cancer which the poor mook has. Nanotech treatments can remove growths but cannot restore damaged neural tissue. I wondered if he'd attempt a sanity defense -- or if his poor health made his legal defense pointless.
That someone had "given" him cancer was even more interesting, with its overtones of biowarfare and nanotech warfare. We don't have armies, but we do have Treaty Enforcement, and if Cairo has to get involved in a nanotech outbreak because the locals cannot handle, they can get everything out of the box from individual detentions through wholesale warrantless search-and-seizure up to and including fusion weapons, if they feel that is what it takes to cauterize a particularly nasty outbreak. Their call - unless the locals do it first. No one fucks around with self-replicating nasties.
In a post-military world, the peacetime functions of the various armed services have been transferred to other agencies. Coastal aerial intercept for example remains a Federal function, but is now the US Coast Guard. San San's experts on explosives were divided between the regional rescue teams, the US Corps of Engineers (note that they dropped 'Army' from the title), and CalFire. All three remain familiar with fusion weapons but only CalFire actually has any in inventory.
Even now, it is so strange to live in a world where the Feds don't have nukes but the fire department does. But it makes sense when nukes are no longer used for warfare, but clean fusion weapons might be needed for truly heavy rescue.
The one Federal agency that still gets some play is Immigration & Customs Enforcement. Over ninety percent of their activity is focus on illegal movement of persons - and even today, illegal traffic _in_ persons. Not much of that in San San, where help is as close as the nearest public corridor, but not all of North America is so helpful to distressed persons.
Local governments retain local authority over contraband. One place where SanSan is either a global leader or a repressive regime is with respect to licensing of foods and drugs. A doctor's prescription is required for most drugs and some foods. What used to be called "OTC" or "Over The Counter" medications are now available only by prescription. Getting a prescription requires evaluation by a physician. The physician is monitored for excessive prescriptions and can have their license revoked based on statistical analysis of over drugging their patients.
This means a booming black market in everything from aspirin to heroin. The safety valve that makes this even tolerable is that drug offenses are not permitted to be felonies under the Treaty of Cairo. You can be fined, you can be cited, you can be hassled, you can have certain life activities restricted for your own safety -- but you cannot be incarcerated and your freedom of movement is sacrosanct. So we still have junkies, people who are addicted to drugs and are mentally ill enough to refuse treatment but not so mentally ill as to require civil commitment. But they have ready access to the necessities of life including food, fluids, excellent supportive care, relative safety compared to the 20th century sidewalk, and the biggest drain on their health other than their addictions of choice is sleep deprivation from being moved along when wandering aimlessly through the corridors. But they have plenty of warm places to sleep and plenty of chances to get help, if only they choose it.
It also means that being a gastronome is halfway to being a smuggler. Foods that have not passed San San's aggressive testing protocols are not licensed for bulk sale. Some of these foods (or imitations thereof) are arguably pretty nasty. The only good news is that would-be consumers can test for contamination themselves, casually and with better and faster results than a 20th century biolab.
What is really annoying, from this point forward and until I figure out who is trying to take me down, is that contact poisons are relatively cheap and easy. Yes, public biosniffers look for such things - but an agent can carry precursor chemicals openly, or dangerous chemicals in sealed containers, and dose an object or victim with relative ease and safety.
Where a wealthy person eats regularly is a mark of trust, not in your chef but in your chef's security.
Public food dispensers are pretty much what they sound like on the tin: pre-packaged foods, prepared and served by machine, which are free for the taking. I suppose a police bot would frown on someone who took thirty burritos and threw them at the walls, much like wasting toilet paper a half-century ago (yes... people used to wipe their private parts with processed paper... that this neither gets the parts clean nor is environmentally sound is tolerably obvious).
The other comparison between public food and public toilets is straightforward -- most people only use them when they 'have to' and prefer higher quality options whenever available.
But that is how most people feel about public food dispensers -- something to use when you're busy, desperate and suffering from a biological necessity -- but the only option for the very poor.
I suppose I must mention that modern sanitary systems self clean, air gap and can be used entirely without personal contact with a surface, even in a squatting or seated position. I remember when some idiot filed to protect outhouses as a cultural artifact. What they got instead were pit-vault toilets in their place, commemorative displays at key points, and two museums (one North, one South) in which the daring tourist could "actually use" an ancient outhouse simulator. Then some creative curator realized that with a little 21st century engineering, they could remove the air quotes and offer a real genuine outhouse use experience. With optional commemorative video. It's a must-stop for San San tourists nowadays...
There are times when living in San San is entirely too surreal for words.
