They always used to say that beauty was pain, and that darkness could come from light.

Still, looking at the humans that came from the grim new world of smog and nanomachines, one would have to wonder if those proverbs held any water. The composition of a human body had changed so much since the current society had taken hold that the definition of human itself was in the process of being revised. So much of a human body was synthetic now, and what was synthetic could potentially be altered in ways that humans of the past could never dream of. "Modded" humans were on the rise every day, sporting whatever new appendages they thought they needed or decided they wanted. Sometimes this meant prehensile tails, sometimes it meant extra arms, sometimes it meant scaly dragon wings that weren't terribly useful but looked cool.

Naturally, tensions arose between "pure" humans that rejected modifications and the modded humans. The modded humans declared that they were capable of evolving to nearly any environmental challenge, and that the "pures" were going to die out if they didn't take on the adaptations. Some pickier sects argued that there no longer was such a thing as a pure human anymore, as everyone bore traces of nanomachines in their body to some extent. The pures, conversely, argued that the human race had no future if it ceased to actually be human, and that staying unmodified was a form of resistance to what was being imposed on them.

Every once in a while, there would be rallies, or gatherings of pures or moddeds that got crashed by members of the other party. Those cases would show up on the news for about a day or two, then dissipate with minimal impact. Generally, in this crazy modified mixed up world, people just learned to live with each other. They were too busy navigating the pitfalls of the post-nanomachine release life to start any huge rebellions or squabbles, and some people had a feeling that was what those in power wanted.

In that way, those in power had won, whether society's rebels liked it or not. Daily life was too busy being daily life for anything significant to happen. Yes, that chafed a few people, pures and moddeds alike, but there was nothing to be done about it at the time.

Liana was becoming something of a superstar in the modded community; she would shift her mods at least once a week, if not more, and show off all the new appendages and functions she could come up with through streaming services. A favorite episode was when she sprouted a bunch of small claws out of her back and used them to hold one object from every room in her house, resulting in her going around with a popsicle stick, her tooth brush, a rolling pin, and a vintage gaming console joystick sticking out of her back. She relished the wacky looks she was given, but also the opportunity to put those items down.

Today was a rare quiet time in Liana's house; the stream was off, and she had folded all her bits and bobs away. She would almost have passed for a pure if not for the subtly off-color patches of skin where she couldn't match her "real" skin precisely. She had peculiarly precise control over her nanomachines, but still, she couldn't manipulate them perfectly.

The quiet came to an end with a knock on the door. Without hesitation, she got off the couch and opened it, revealing her boyfriend, Drew. Drew seemed unusually red-faced, his modded tail swinging anxiously as he shuffled in. "You haven't read the news or watched it yet, have you?" he said through panting.

"No?" Liana began to look around for her data tablet.

"They're saying they're stepping up the use of tracking nanomachines, and possibly using them to 'shut down' people who are participating in riots or anything like that. They didn't say what 'shut down' meant." Drew continued to stand and fidget, though occasionally he'd look at a chair like he wanted to sit down. "People who make extensive use of nanomachines already are even more vulnerable than pures," he added.

Liana shrugged. "This is old news," she mumbled. "If the government wanted to use me as a drone or blow me up or do whatever to my nanomachines, they'd have done it already. Thanks for being worried for me, but things are fine, you know?"

"It's not just you," Drew said. "I think this means the government is shifting to favoring pures. A pure got elected Chairman not too long ago, and now they're doing things that hurt modded people even more? I don't know what to do."

"There's nothing to do," Liana said. "Let's just live our lives and handle it when it comes."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Drew asked.

"Like I said, if the government wanted to mess with me, they would have," Liana said. "Now, have a seat and catch your breath."

Such ebbs and flows of calm and panic were common in this day and age.

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I am looking for voice talent see post below for more details.

I would like to make some AudioBooks out of them, I am looking for people who are very great at reading with personality and are able to give the listener a sense of being part of the book.

I am not looking for experienced Voice Over talent I am looking for Steemians that are English speakers, character actor and improv artist. A smooth, professional and polished vocal style. That are capable of delivering recorded material to me in mp3, m4a, wav, or aiff formats.

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If you are able and willing to provide I will pay 5 SBD per AudioClip of the story done, please keep in mind the Stories are very unique and should require a unique voice. They are between 500-800 words, I currently have about a dozen short stores on steemit and will continue to write more, thus give more opportunities to people that want to earn and help out.

Some things I am looking for

• Voice must be dark, with emotion
• Must understand this is a dystopian setting
• Able to make the listener be part of the story
• Above 55 Rep just means you know how to get around here and you are somewhat active.

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If you have not yet read some of my stories please have a look below.
2045- year of the apes, ft. Dr. Chrono - A ChronoCrypto Short Story
Dystopium: It’s not better, it just feels that way - A Chronocrypto Story
Reptilian Alien Precursors- Human POV Part 2 - A Chronocrypto Short Story
Reptile Alien Precursors – Alien POV - A Chronocrypto Short Story
Minds Can be Hijacked - A Chronocrypto Short Story
Robots and their rights - A Chronocrypto Short Story
Current Tech leads to Dystopia - A Chronocrypto Short Story
AI Drones - A Chronocrypto Short Story
A Chronocrypto Short Story - Corporate Conglomerate Dystopia
Singularity - A Chronocrypto Short Story
A Donald Marshall Inspired Story.
A chronocrypto short Dystopian Story: The Creation Animid Unit S-01
Technology and its upcoming dystopian effects.
Robot Equality - Is it here?
Beta JR World's AI Server(Fiction/Non-Fiction)
Clone A-2 (Fiction/Non-Fiction)

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In order to be a good fit please read some of these stories to get a feel of how they should engulf the listener.

If you are interested in doing this small project with me and earn some SBD and of course your name as the narrator please contact me on Discord name chronocrypto. Hopefully we can get a wide variety of voices for the project.

The piece will be read in addition to this introduction.

[Title]Written by: @chronocrypto[Narrator]

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The Audio files will be uploaded on @dsound by @chronocrypto, you will send me the audio clip through Discord, so that everyone can listen to the stories.