Abbot Asa: An Introduction

The abbot stood on the highest dune. On one side he could look down on his community of little hovels and on the other he looked out across the expanse; a rolling sea of dunes as far as the eye could see. The sun stood directly overhead and Asa lifted his face towards it, arms outstretched and eyes closed absorbing the stinging hot rays. His skin, once pale with the silver tattoos, had grown dark with the sun. He loved the heat.

Home in the city had been small drafty apartments kept cool to aid the servers in not overheating. Sounds were muted, music didn’t exist in the Physical sense and the only time he had physical contact with people was when he was taking care of those who had burned out or couldn’t pay their bills. His thoughts were interrupted by the children playing below- squealing with delight as they splashed about in the fountain.

The servers and wires could not handle the heat of the southern desserts even with their massive air conditioning systems. After the revolution the cities had formed along the ancient border of America and Canada leaving those who unplugged in the wasteland of the southern desserts. He shrugged and brought his face away from the sun and turned to look at his home. This space was sacred to him and he loved it so.

As he walked down the dune he wrapped his faded white habit around him and headed home. Inside he picked up the large red stole, faded almost pink with the sun, and placed it on his shoulders. He sat at his desk, looked at the old screen and began typing on his keyboard. The community in Texarkana had some bad weather last week and he needed to check in with the abbot there.

Irony was not lost on Asa. His priestly duties when Plugged had mostly been done in person and now Unplugged they mostly were done on a keyboard. He sighed, just as Abbot Josiah picked up the video call and heard him. They chuckled and then began to speak a prayer together.