RELEASE DATE: 15 March 2021
Habitat? Earth. Not Prima, where the poor wind up. Not Stellar, the moon base where the wealthy and well-educated dwell. Just… Earth.
Identity? Slot 37B-12D5. Housewife.
Purpose? Nothing. Beyond merely existing, anyway.
But secretly, she dreams of something more…
A futuristic sci-fi story for everyone dreaming of breaking free.
The Dog is Dead
A pale half-moon hung above the pine trees as I walked in the noon sun, wishing instead that I could run. It mocked me with the promise of a life I couldn’t have, shouldn’t want. The wind whispered, stirring the flowers around my feet as they wilted. I was no good at gardening.
I wasn’t good at much, actually. But it was no big deal. Maybe a few hundred years ago when humans had eked out a living by growing their own food it would have mattered, but in the modern world where schooling was a matter of tissue programming and roles were chosen for everyone by a government program decades before they were born, being useful wasn’t necessary.
The entire purpose of my life was to exist. My parents had money, which was nice. It meant they could afford to own land here on Earth and buy me a modest education when I turned ten: three hours of reading, writing, and basic mathematics programmed straight into my cerebrum.
When I was fifteen, my parents bought me a secondary education, allowing me to discuss classic literature with everyone else in my social strata. We’d all been programmed with the same six lectures, so our conversations usually devolved into recitations, seeing who could remember them best.
At eighteen I was tested, found intelligent enough to receive a basic civilian file (programmed into my head in fifteen minutes), and shunted into Slot 37B-12D5: housewife.
If my parents had been poor, we would have been relocated to Prima, the main lunar base that hung like a golden star over the moon’s surface.
If they’d been wealthier, I would have received a fuller education that prepared me for more than balancing a checkbook.
If I’d been more intelligent, I would have earned a place among the scientists who filled Stellar base on the far side of the moon, the ones who’d be first chosen for any new colonies in the stars beyond.
In the secret watches of the night, when I stepped away from my cold bed to gaze at the stars, that’s what I wished for.