Barber by the docks
Barber by the docks#
Sometimes, there’s a distinct smell of seawater down by the docks, a scent reminiscent of the old days, a reminder that there are still living organisms in the sea. It’s not something Jordan thinks about as he shivers and turns up the collar of his jacket, protecting himself from the cold evening air that drifts in with the fog.
Lost in his thoughts, music playing through the built-in communication and noise protection of his helmet, he nearly jumps when the AutoShuttle, almost completly silent glides up in front of him. The doors slide open and Jordan takes a seat by the window. Only a handful of other dockworkers ride this route in the evenings, mostly supervisors and technicians. After all, there’s little need for manual labor anymore with AI-powered humanoids doing the heavy lifting.
Down by the docks, corporate neon signs perched atop distant buildings blur in the fog, growing brighter and clearer as the AutoShuttle comes up to the personnel transit station. Although the ride takes only 15 minutes, Jordan usually spends 45 minutes walking from his control pod to the station. But today is Friday, party night and he needs to get a haircut.
The AutoShuttle stops outside the personnel entrance leading to the changing rooms and cafeteria. Jordan feels a buzz on his wrist when he steps out, a new message. He opens the message on his wrist terminal: it’s a reminder from his girlfriend not to forget the haircut. The AutoShuttle door closes behind him an pulls away with the familiar whine of electric motors.
Jordan grabs a fresh towel but leaves the mesh bag stocked with soap, shampoo and conditioner from the open compartment on top of his locker, which gets refilled every day. It’s nice to see that Hayashi Industries doesn’t skimp on quality, treating their employees to their own top of the line shower products. The product packaging is unbranded so that it can’t be sold on the street. Some employees have tried, but it turns out the packiging is geo fenced and triggers a silent alarm. No one really knows what happened more than “a breach of trust” and the person is no longer welcome at Hayashi Industries.
As many other Japanese zaibatsu Hayashi takes cleanliness very seriously. The changing room area is quite small, but the bath and shower area is almost a luxury spa with open and closed showers along with four different pools with a total capacity of 125 people, 155 if you include the speed pods. Jordan usually goes for the shower and then chill in room temperature pool having a beer served by one of the sealing mounted robotic arms. Since he is in hurry he jumps into one of the speed pods, selects the complete shower program along with a haircut and the door closes behind him.
Jordan places his feet in the foot-shaped markings on the floor and grabs the handlebars hanging down, stretching his body into an X-shape. An intense cloud of water sprays from every direction, much like the mist from a spray bottle used on flowers. His entire body is soaked in seconds as the water cloud hits him. Almost immediately, another follows. A robotic arm places an oxygen mask over his face, shielding his eyes and lungs from the fine particles of the body shower, that is sprayed on him. He smells lavender—the trademark scent of Hayashi Industries. Four more robotic arms reach out and begin scrubbing his arms and legs, starting at his hands and feet and working their way inward. Just before reaching his private areas, they retract, another arm extends a loofah, pre-lathered with soap, for Jordan to scrub himself. When he’s done, he simply drops it, and a robotic arm retrieves it, disappearing into the pod wall.
The oxygen mask retracts, and yet another arm lowers a large helmet-like sphere over Jordan’s head. Hundreds of tiny water jets gently massage his scalp and shampoo his hair for thirty seconds, then rinse it clean and the hair cleaning pod retracts. Three water puffs in short succession hits Jordan’s body and what can be described as a monsoon rain starts.
A ring of green light around the pod begins to pulse slowly as the dryer activates. Perfectly tempered air flows from the floor and walls, while a vent draws the humid air out. An extremely thoroughly shower done in less than three minutes. A message in red is projected on the pod wall — Haircut module is not available due to scissor maintenance. 45 credits has been deposited to your Hayashi wallet for you to spend at barber of your choice. We apologise for the inconvenience. You can say a lot about Hayashi Industries, but they have excellent employee care.
Frustrated by the fact not getting a haircut, but happy for the credits Jordan steps out of the pod and wraps himself with a new towel, he better get that haircut, his girlfriend will not be happy otherwise. While getting dressed he remembers seeing an old school barbershop not far from the personell entrance, it might be open, he decides to to check it out.