Expelled From Paradise

Chapter 3 Part 3

Further away from Jed, the rover stopped. The desert became dark, a myriad of stars shone in the night sky. On the roof of the car, Dingo lit a single lamp and played on an acoustic guitar. Soft and quiet chords were heard. Even Angela, who was lying on the bed, heard them.

She opened her tired eyes. For some time she kept listening, then quietly got up. She climbed the stairs and opened the hatch that led to the roof and looked out. Angela saw the back of Dingo. Hearing her, he stopped playing and turned around.

“Are you sure you should move?”

“I can, a little.”

“Well if you’re feeling better, you will recover soon. But if you overwork, you will collapse again. Don’t hurry and continue to rest.”

“Yeah.”

Angela answered obediently, looking at the swaying flame of the lantern.

“Hey, you said that you need to feel the music with every part of your body.”

“Huh? Oh, yes I did.”

“Is it that amazing?”

“Well, I’m sure it can’t be compared to the amazing things that can be experienced in Deva.”

“Yes. Depending on the amount of memory, you can extend your perception range to a level beyond a physical body.”

Angela looked at the starry sky.

“When a star died, I was able to listen to a burst of gamma radiation, which occurred billions of light years from here. I could feel the Higgs field at the molecular level with my fingertips. I could feel a fertilized egg hatching. But I’ve never heard of feeling music with every part of your body.”

She looked at Dingo again.

“Are you not scared of me? Does this not bother you at all?”

Dingo answered: “Why should I be scared? The security service of Deva is my client. I’ve done work together with you so many times. It’s not like you’re ghosts or monsters.”

“Exactly. You have to understand. Digitized humanity is a new round of evolution. People who have remained on Earth, are the passed, they have no future.”

Dingo just grinned and kept silent.

Angela continued.

“You just get hungry, tired, or ill, and then you can’t even move. Yet you’re still communicating with me despite your frailty. Are you not interested in Deva and the new humanity at all?… Why are you so confident? Is it because we have discarded our physical bodies and you can feel the exceptional value of your body? Is it because you can feel music with every part of your body?”

Dingo silently stood up with his guitar and lantern in his hands.

“You are sitting in the wind. Go sleep.”

Having said this, he went downstairs.

Angela didn’t like his attitude but didn’t interrogate him either. She glanced up at the night sky. There was the unseen beauty of the Milky Way. From here it was much more clear and majestic than if she were looking at it from Deva. In this filthy place with lifeless land, Dingo, as well as the people in the city, were enjoying themselves. They all looked so alive. It was unlikely that Angela would understand this. But the sprout of this desire grew.