“What do you think of it, dear? All of this end of the world business…”
“The Mayans simple ended a calendar,” Kyla-Ann gave a small shrug, “That is not to say the world will not end today, however. One never knows…”
Aside from me, she added silently.
“True,” the woman nodded, “Quite true…”
“Tell me,” Kyla-Ann finally turned to face the woman, “Mayan nonsense aside… what do you think of the end of the world?”
“Well, I have no doubt that it is coming… Some believe the sun will kill us, others believe we will cause our own destruction… and then” she laughed to herself, shaking her head, “the crazies believe aliens will come take over and destroy the human race! Can you believe it? Aliens! Ha!”
“Very amusing,” Kyla-Ann agreed tonelessly, “Can you think of a reason these… aliens… would not wish to destroy the human race and the world along with them?”
The woman wiped away a tear of laughter as she looked at Kyla-Ann, jaw agape.
“You are joking, right? That is…”
“What redeeming qualities does the human race possess?” Kyla-Ann reasoned, “Each person pretends that their existence has meaning when in reality even the entire human population are no more than a speck in the universes. Of what importance are they?”
“I have… to… um… go over there,” the woman pointed in a random direction and quickly disappeared into a small crowd of people.
“It was a simple question,” Kyla-Ann sighed heavily, shaking her head, “Humans are so easily frightened.”
She turned towards the dance floor again, watching the newly wed couple dance slowly, gazing into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two people on Earth.
What a plethora of emotions these functions evoke, she thought wryly to herself, pleased she had stumbled upon such a large gathering of humans. All of the talk of happily every after when, with merely a call, Kyla-Ann had the ability to make their happily ever after extremely short.
Even after the music faded and everyone else sat, chattering away, the couple stayed on the dance floor, isolated in their own little world. Kyla-Ann remained standing, watching the couple as well as the guests with rapt interest, though her expression gave the impression of boredom.
She listened as a group of young woman whispered to each other jealously about their friend’s marriage. At a table cattycorner from them, several young men were eyeing the girls appreciatively. Older ladies gushed about how beautiful the bride looked, comparing the wedding to theirs.
Around Kyla-Ann, life went on, completely unconcerned.
“Strange,” she murmured to herself.
The happy couple finally stopped dancing and moved across the dance floor, hand in hand, to a table. They passed by Kyla-Ann and though the bride did not spare her a glance, the groom looked straight into her eyes.
His serene smile disappeared in an instant and his expression matched Kyla-Ann’s.
“Colter?” The bride questioned worriedly, seeing his change in expression, “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he replied hoarsely, his eyes still glued to Kyla-Ann’s, “Millie, I believe your friends wish to speak to you. I shall join you shortly.”
“Okay,” she smiled up at him as he kissed her forehead before she flitted off towards a group of chattering girls.
“Why are you here?” he questioned in a low tone as soon as his wife was out of earshot, “There is a treaty—”
“We were not aware your kind kept residence here,” Kyla-Ann interrupted, “Our records show that only humans native to Earth reside on this planet.”
“Your records are outdated, apparently. I have lived here for nearly one hundred Earth years.”
“How many human wives have you taken in that time?”
“Counting Millie?” he chuckled wryly, “One. Is that relevant?”
“Curious,” Kyla-Ann shrugged.
“Now answer my original question.”
“You know why I came to this planet.”
“No,” he growled, “The treaty—”
“Is null and void on this planet,” she interrupted coolly, “As I said, we were not aware that your kind resided here.”
“And now you are aware,” he replied simply, “Therefore any further action against Earth will be seen as an act against my people… and we both know what that would mean.”
Kyla-Ann inhaled deeply and nodded.
“It seems my decision has been made for me. The Earth cannot be destroyed today due to our treaty.”
“Perfect,” he smiled, “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a wife waiting.
The End
The History Lesson
By L. M. Reed
“World History Lesson 27564-A,” the mechanical voice intoned. “Connect headset and press any key to continue.”
The glassy eyed youth seated in a black vinyl armchair in front of a console automatically pulled the sound-proofed headphones over his ears, plugged it into the correct port, and dutifully pressed the space bar. Next to him, his sister did the same.
A different type of voice took over once the headsets were in place, a smooth silky persuasive female voice, instructing the two young teenagers further.
“Please push the ‘enter’ button on your console, relax, lie back, and close your eyes,” the soft feminine voice crooned.
As the youths simultaneously pushed enter, the black armchairs became recliners and both youngsters immediately shut their eyes.
“Today’s lesson is perhaps one of the most important lessons in the history of the world,” the pleasant, dreamlike voice continued. “In the early twenty-first century the world was in financial disaster. Health care was available only to the extremely wealthy, people all over the world were jobless, homeless, starving, and terrorism reigned supreme. Thanks to the aforethought of President Harock Bartoma and his followers those problems no longer exist.”
“Once in office, President Bartoma began a health reform campaign that changed the whole world for the better. By leading the way with government-run insurance President Bartoma was able to control the spiraling costs of health care. Greedy private insurance companies were forced out of business, unable to compete with the low cost of government insurance, thereby effectively controlling the price of all health services.”
“Although the waiting period for a doctor appointment was longer than anticipated at the beginning of the program, by allowing nurse practitioners and physician assistants to see patients unsupervised by a doctor, the span was reduced to a mere 3 months insuring prompt medical attention, and of course any patients with actual life threatening problems were still able to use the emergency rooms.”
“The government—instead of money grubbing medical professionals— then began to decide which procedures were necessary according to a prescribed formula which took into account the patient’s age, general over-all health which included a diet analysis as well as their status as a smoker and/or drinker, projected life-span, and future earning potential. Because of this formula, health care costs were not only cut by more than half, but the public’s general health has improved dramatically with a drastic reduction in numbers of the medically fragile, the acutely ill, the elderly, and the mentally and physically handicapped.”
“Because of the intervention of the government, now patients can visit an automated doctor by simply using a home console furnished to each member of a family. By placing the attached medical vest over your clothing and the armband around your bare upper arm, the console reads all of your vitals, and checks your blood for signs of infection. The slide out at the base of the console provides x-ray capability when necessary. Health care made simple. Any medicines needed are delivered through the tubing systems, which will be touched upon later in this lesson. In the event of an acute illness, the information is sent to the central office and processed in due time in order to determine a treatment plan.
“The importance of the emergence o
f a government-run insurance program cannot be overstated. With the passing of this bill the floodgates opened which gave rise to the numerous other efficient and cost-saving government run programs that followed.”
“One such program dealt with the high unemployment rate of the early twenty-first century. The government’s first attempt to find jobs for everyone forced employers to hire a certain percentage of the unemployed in order to meet a quota. Although it worked for a time, many businesses began to fail, having to pay for more employees than their businesses could sustain. As the businesses began to fail, the government interceded in an attempt to bail them out and help keep the economy stable.”
“Within a few decades the government owned and ran 90% of the businesses thereby ensuring that everyone was employed.”
“Another efficient federal program which arose after the Freddie May and Fannie Mack disasters had to do with home mortgages, an outdated method of potential home ownership by individuals. The government began looking at long-term fixes for home owners in order to ensure that no one was homeless. Realizing that more government control was needed in order to protect the financial security of every constituent, the government began slowly taking over banks and loaning institutions, generously bailing-out these institutions.”
“More and more people were living in government funded housing and that spurred the extremely well thought out living facilities that we all enjoy today. Unlike those uncertain times, people no longer need worry about where they will live since the government assigns each family living quarters. In order to be fair to all walks of life, each family unit now occupies a pod consisting of a living area, food consumption area, three bedrooms and one bathroom each resplendent with stationary furniture.”
“Because of the space each family is allowed it made sense to limit each family size to four individuals. A family might be defined in many different ways, allowing for personal lifestyle choices, but once a family unit is in place switching pods with someone in another family is the only legal manner in which a change can be made.”
“To ensure adherence to the family limits placed on each pod, all females above the age of ten are required to take a pregnancy test once a month. The console is fully equipped with all the essentials for such tests and the results are automatically sent to the center for processing. Once a female has birthed two children, she must report to the center for a hysterectomy.”
“No one in any pod is allowed to marry until there is an empty pod available for them to occupy unless there is space in one of their respective families’ current pods for both of them. Newly married couples are not allowed to have children until a space in their pod becomes available.”
“Once the government had the medical, job, and housing situations under control their next move was to create a society where every one would be physically fit and no one would suffer from starvation. Since the government was paying people to work, furnishing them houses, and keeping them healthy it only made sense to ensure the continuation of good health by requiring everyone to maintain a regulated lifestyle which included a wholesome nutritional diet as well as an exercise schedule.”
“To avoid the horrid obesity of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries each family member must exercise on the treadmill attached to their personal console for twenty minutes every day. Every individual is required to wear the vest attached to the treadmill which monitors all activity and sends the report to the central office.”
“The tube system mentioned earlier in the lesson became a necessary part of daily living by the late twenty-first century in order to distribute proper nutrition to all parts of the country. Every thriving metropolis was required to build a tube system much like the water and sewer systems already in place. Through this tube, meals and stainless steel water bottles are sent to each pod on a set schedule. Everyone is required to eat three meals and drink 8 bottles of water each and every day. This guarantees that no one will go hungry or thirsty or become overweight by eating the wrong foods or too much of the right foods.”
“With the tube system in place, the government was able to begin supplying every individual with all of their personal needs including clothing, items of hygiene, as well as facial tissues and toilet tissue. All rations were based on formulas developed for an average person’s daily needs. Every morning each family member receives their cleaned and pressed uniform for the day and sends their nightclothes down the laundry chute to be cleaned. Every evening the uniforms must be sent down the laundry chute for cleaning and each member receives their night clothes.”
“Because the government was already paying the cost of keeping each and every individual supplied with food, clothing, shelter, as well as all personal items, it only made sense for the government to garnish wages in order to pay for all expenses incurred by each family. With this system in place currency eventually became obsolete with all wages going to the government which was in charge of seeing that every individual was supplied with the necessities of life.”
“Transportation is another thing that has changed for the better since the turn of the century. Once President Bartoma managed to pass laws limiting the type of vehicles made in the USA, it was a short jump to requiring everyone not driving an alternately fueled vehicle to turn in their old gas guzzling clunkers and only use public transportation and enforcing the regulation that all public transportation must use only renewable resources for fuel thus cutting down on emissions.”
“These requirements were made easier once the law stating that all children under the age of 18 must spend eight hours a day in front of their home school consoles came into effect and all young people between the ages of 18 and 25 attend and reside at the militia academy to train for future use as civilian peacekeepers. The savings on transportation and greenhouse gases has been enormous.”
“Eventually all private transportation gave way to public transportation. Now the only privately owned vehicles on the road are for governmental use.”
“Also, to conserve energy, utilities are limited to daylight hours only. All lights are turned out by the central office within thirty minutes of sundown and turned back on thirty minutes before sun up. All showers or baths are limited to 5 minutes of flow time and toilets may only be flushed during daylight hours. The use of intercom communication between pods is limited to twenty uses a day and may not be used after dark.”
“Kitchens, an unnecessary use of space many years ago, are now called food consumption areas. All food items sent to family pods arrive in that room packaged in biodegradable wrap which are sent down the trash chute located in that same area after each meal. There is no longer any need for food storage, cooking, or washing dishes therefore kitchens have become obsolete.”
“In order to assure that each living space is kept dust-free, once a day all members of the family are required to either exit the premises or stand in their specified airlock for 15 minutes while the entire pod is suctioned out of all dirt and debris by the central vacuuming system.”
“Your history lesson for the day is now complete. It is now time to hydrate. Enjoy your bottled water and a bathroom break. Return for your science lesson in ten minutes. Please remove your head set and press the red button on your chair now.”
The two youths simultaneously took off their headphones and pressed the red button. Both chairs moved into the upright position. Standing mechanically both children stood and moved towards the bathroom. Like characters in a well-rehearsed play the young girl entered the bathroom first and, after she had emerged, the boy took his turn.
Extracting their stainless steel water bottles from the tube, the two drank the water and then sent the empties down the recycle shoot to be sterilized, resealed, and reused. Silently the children moved back to their consoles ready to begin their next lesson.
The End
Wake Up Little Lucy
By L. M. Reed
“Come on Lucy, it’s just a
movie,” Eddie cajoled.
“My mom isn’t gonna let me go anywhere with you for a long, long time,” the girl replied in irritation. “You’re lucky my dad didn’t shoot you. I told you we didn’t have time to go up to the Pointe, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“We were only thirty minutes late,” he protested defensively “nobody has an eleven o’clock curfew on the weekends.”
“Well I did, but thanks to you I have no curfew now,” Lucy replied angrily.
“No curfew…” Eddie began in excitement.
“Because I’m grounded you idiot.”
“Oh.”
“So no movie, no Pointe, no nothing,” Lucy said in disgust. “I can’t even go to the Library because of you.”
“No Pointe?” he repeated morosely.
“You are so…so…ugh,” Lucy got up from the cafeteria table and made her way to the nearest exit leaving her tray for Eddie to take care of muttering furiously under her breath “It’s a good thing we have chemistry because otherwise you’d be history.”
~**~
“Mom…please,” Lucy begged “we were only thirty minutes late and Eddie’s watch stopped working and it wasn’t our fault…”
“Stop the whining, I’ve got a splitting headache,” her mother complained.
“I have a paper due on Monday and I really need to go to the public library to do my research,” Lucy wailed. “I just need a couple of hours…that’s all. I promise I’ll be back by eleven this time.”
“Oh no you don’t,” her mother shook her head and then grabbed it abruptly between her two hands “my poor aching head,” she moaned.
“But Mom…”
“Now you listen to me young lady, we’ve already tried the eleven o’clock curfew and you couldn’t handle it so you will be back her by ten o’clock tonight, before your father gets off his shift, or you won’t see the outside of your room except for school until you’re twenty-one…do we understand each other?”
“You’re the greatest!” Lucy enthused kissing her mother on the cheek. “I won’t be late…I promise.”
As Lucy bounced from the room, her mother rose slowly from the couch where she’d been reclining in a futile attempt to rid herself of the pounding in her head and moved slowly towards the kitchen.