no growth My hulk-daddy is paying : Chapter Five

[Hialmar]

The Prelude may be found HERE

The preceding chapter may be found HERE

My Hulk-daddy is Paying

Chapter Five

He returned home. Their i-house behaved predictably:

"Welcome home. Dr. Nelson. Your body temperature and perspiration level are. Above. Average. Do you want me to prepare a cooling bath?"

"No."

Rob took the thick skiing jacket off, and began to remove his clumsy but sturdy ski-boots. He was tired, but satisfied.

"Robbie?", Nates familiar voice greeted him from another room.

"Yes. Home. Missed you."

The Machine turned around a corner, approached him and hugged him, saying in a mocking tone:

"Ah. The hero has returned! How did it go?"

"Two dead, but we saved the lives of twenty-six. Those who say that Civic Hancer-chapters don't fill a purpose, don't know what they are talking about. After the avalanche, us brothers were able to do certain things the baseline rescue team and the machines weren't able to. I'm exhausted, but it's times like this I feel that my life serve some sort of purpose. I didn't just get big for my own sake."

"I would have joined you up there, if Coach had allowed me, but I had to prepare for that match."

"I know. I don't blame you. Family. Work. Neighbourhood. Citizenship. Fun. You know what I think."

Nate didn't answer. He kissed him instead.

"Podotelly released it a few hours ago."

Rob tensed. Nate enjoyed when Rob tensed his muscles, but not in that particular way. Rob sighed.

"Disaster? How did they edit it?"

"Could have been worse. I want to have fun with you, Hancer-guru. Before or after watching?"

"Fun after watching. I will probably need to let off some steam after Podotelly, and Marketing will probably hunt me down as soon as they hear, that I'm back from the snowy great outdoors, to put a spin on it. I don't like Marketing. I don't ..."

"Hush. I've heard it before. I prepared some lentil salad for your return, and ... i-House!"

"Yes. Nate.? How may I be of assistance?"

"Mix four litres of vanilla flavoured Hulkabolic Gro Bro 3000."

They could hear the sound of a mixer starting from the kitchen.

"Come, join me in the sofa, so we can get rid of it all. Calm down. I began watching. It could have been worse."

Nate activated the i-screen, left Rob in the sofa, and went to the kitchen, to fetch the food. The scene on the screen looked exactly the way Rob expected it to look.

"Hello, and welcome to Podotelly's Widescreen, the television pod for you who like how television pods used to be back in the good old days. I am your host, the hologram of the late Mr. Jeremy Paxman, and tonight we will discuss Hancing and Trans-speciesism: Threat or Opportunity? But first a pre-view on next episode's debate: Are horse-carts the solution to Inner City environment in the Deluge Economy?"

Rob sighed. Nate returned with the food. Rob stuffed himself. The pod continued:

"... and famous psychologist, debater and nmlogger Dr. Ernest Schuster-Slatt. Well, we all watched the initial clips from a commercial produced by the company where Dr. Nelson work. They grow big boys bigger, or so they say, and you have studied this matter for quite some time now, haven't you?"

Dr. Schuster-Slatt was a thin-limbed and slender individual with a pale complexion and a receding hairline, wearing a two-piece suit in the new modern plastic fabric, but it didn't look flattering:

"We live in a society lost in nostalgia, but not a nostalgia about the past as it actually was, but an imagined past. Men and women have been working side by side in almost all lines of professional occupation for generations, and already before the Crisis some young men struggled to come to terms with what it mean to be a man in the modern age. Some sought the answer in their embodied existence, began to valourize muscular strength and size, and spent significant amounts of time on physical exercise, nutritional supplements and enhancing drugs. The Post-War era saw the rise of Hancing technology for non-military and recreational use, and it attracts a certain segment of the male population today, characterised by narcissism, hedonism, immaturity and a low level of self-esteem. From a psychological point of view, Hancing – as it actually is used in our society – isn't a solution to a problem. On the contrary: It constitute a problem on an individual and public level."

The hologram interrupted:

"Before you continue, let us allow Dr. Nelson to share his point of view on the matter. You have heard a summary of Dr. Schuster-Slatt's criticism. You work at a Hancing company, and you are a publicly visible high-profile Hancer yourself. What do you have to say?"

If he had known about the heat from the spotlights, Rob hadn't chosen to wear a three piece wool suit. Sweat trickled from his temples, and it caused him to look dodgy. Something about the lighting caused his icy blue eyes to look arrogant.

"To begin with, when we talk about 'Hancing in the modern sense, we are talking about two things. We are talking about a particular biomedical and physics-based technology, and like all technologies it has to be used responsibly. All and every tech can be abused. At the company where I work with Hancing, we take particular care to ensure, that people who want to buy our products follow a stable psychological profile. Secondly, we are talking about a particular sub-culture, which has emerged around the possibilities enabled by Hancing-technology. I have personally been involved in the emergence of the Hancer sub-culture, and I can assure Dr. Schuster-Slatt and all your viewers, that it is a sub-culture based on certain values. Chapter-affiliated Hancers improve their bodies in order to better be able to improve their neighbourhoods. Hancers talk a lot about 'The Common Good'. Something the Interplanetary War taught us who grew up in those years was a sense of duty."

"I can't allow this debate to deteriorate into some sort of commercial for Hancing.", Dr. Schuster-Slatt interrupted, "In my profession, I have seen countless of men, who had their lives ruined either by violent and abusive Hancers in their surroundings or by Hancing-processing of themselves going wrong. They shouldn't be allowed to modify their bodies at all. Authorities ought to prohibit all tampering with human DNA, hormones and morphic fields."

"Excuse me?", a shrill voice interrupted from another chair. The voice belonged to an anthropomorphic person of undecided gender with purple fur, cat-like eyes and a distinctly feline shape of their head. A purple cat-like tail moved in an upset way. "Do you say, that you want to rob thousands of Anthro-identifying people out there of their cure?"

"Don't interrupt me, young lady.", Dr. Schuster-Slatt snubbed the being in an arrogant and harsh tone, but his snub was met by an upset shout:

"Did you just assume my species?"

The debate turned worse from there.

Rob sighed again. 

"I want to watch it to the end, but, if they didn't edit it more severely, the quarrel between those two shifted much of the focus away from Hancing, which might be just as well. Not my proudest moment."

"You didn't tell me how purple they were.", Nate said, and kissed Rob's ear. "Have I told you, that your sweat smells good, when you just have saved human lives?"

* * *

Next chapter is found HERE

Edited May 18, 2021 by Hialmar
link, continuity