Chapter 3: Work Call
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| Photo courtesy of : https://www.thevenusproject.com/ |
Stephen’s band vibrated and woke him from his catatonic state under the artificial but genuinely cold
waterfall. He wiped his mouth as his sat back on his heels. Stephen allowed some of the shower water to enter his mouth and he swished it around. The sulfur taste of the water replaced the taste of vomit in his mouth. He began to shiver as he stood in the cold stream of water. “Shower, off,” he said.
Stephen quickly dried off with a towel and wrapped himself in a robe. He walked toward the apartment window to take in the morning light. Unlike Daria’s apartment with the DoH&P, his “subsistence” apartment window was floor to ceiling but only 12” wide. Not much could be seen from this window other than the back sides DoH&P apartments or DoH&L apartments. Regardless, Stephen welcomed the natural light. He also knew that if he stood on the tops of his toes and tilted his head slightly he could see a tiny glimpse of the Greenspace and the blue sky above it.
Stephen’s band vibrated again. This time he looked at the screen. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES. cAAmp 237. STONERS-DIGGERS-BONES-JEWELERS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY. PAY RATE 7:A-G.
Stephen turned away from the window and walked toward his KBT as he liked to call it. The KBT was no more than a 2 foot by 2 foot shelf attached to the wall that served as both his bar and his kitchen table. Two metal stools sat beneath the KBT. Stephen sat on the stool and faced his narrow window.
“Coffee:Strong:Black”, Stephen said into the apartment.
A small door to his right, slightly above the KBT, slid upwards to reveal a hidden nook behind. A metal cup dropped with a loud clank onto the metal drainage grill lining the bottom of the nook. Steam rolled out of the opening as dark black liquid poured into the cup. When the cup had finished filling, an hydraulic cylinder hidden in the wall pushed the back panel of the nook forward sliding the cup onto the table. The panel retracted, the door slid back into place, and the entire unit was once again hidden in the wall waiting for the next order.
“Breakfast A”, said Stephen.
Again the door slid up to reveal the nook. Stephen could faintly hear gears, levers, and hydraulic parts moving behind the wall. The activity within the wall stopped and a fat little pouch dropped into the nook and was pushed forward by the back panel. The serving station returned to its natural, hidden state.
As Stephen blew across the top of the metal cup containing the black liquid he fought back the temptation to speak the word bourbon into the emptiness of the apartment. If he did, he knew there was a good chance that he would do some serious damage to his remaining $88,188.87. More importantly, he wouldn’t be given permission to take the Timmy to the Greenspace anytime soon because the bourbon record would show on his file.
Stephen watched the blue glimpse he had of the sky through the tiny window. A bright light flashed perfectly through the window as the sun reflected off one of the planes making their regular flights over the Greenspace. These planes, ironically called “crop dusters” were giant Boeing C-5 Galaxy planes. Although large enough to carry 16 Humvees, the crop dusters now only carried fertilizer, pesticides, or other treatments for the Greenspace. Many were also equipped to carry water for growth or firefighting needs. Equipped with specially designed sprayers, they can disperse approximately 32,000 gallons of water, fertilizer, or pesticides per flight where needed. If you were to walk to the edge of the city, past the towering DoH&L apartments, you could, on clear days, see 20-30 of these enormous planes wing-tip to wing-tip following their circular pattern around the city.
The reflected light off the plane window caused Stephen to close his eyes and draw back on his stool in pain. The proceeding 24 hrs came back to his mind in vivid detail. He fought the urge to vomit again and opened his eyes. He took another sip of coffee.
“So,” he thought to himself, “I’m 40 years old, a divorced, alcoholic-recovering, out of work accountant who just cashed in his mother for $1.2 million dollars.”
Stephen imagined himself on a date or in an interview and continued with sarcasm as he began speaking out loud, “Yes, that’s right. Thanks for noticing. I am a handsome 40 year-old divorcee who has no job and is doing his damndest to stay off the moonshine. I have two kids, their education has been paid for in full. Yes, this luxurious apartment too, is paid for. What’s that? How can I afford to pay off tuition and afford this apartment? Right, I’m actually between jobs. So, how I did it was I liquified my mother. Yes, that’s right, the C-5 Galaxy that just flashed me, that was probably mom saying hi. It was her way of thanking me for providing the R&R she needed because as the commercial says, “It’s good for the environment, good for the community, and good for the family. Consult your local R&R representative practitioner today.”
A metallic voice interrupted his imaginings, “Right, contacting local R&R representative practitioner.”
“END”, screamed Stephen into the room.
“Contact ended,” responded the voice.
“Stupid, freaking system,” he hissed. “It think it’s trying to kill me. It wouldn’t turn off the hot water and now it’s calling for my R&R procedure. Shit!”
Stephen finished his coffee and placed the cup down on the KBT. He grabbed the breakfast pouch, ripped off the top and poured the contents into the metal cup. The glob of food looked like orange grits, was as thick as pudding, and tasted like sausage gravy and biscuits. He emptied the cup of his breakfast.
“Recycle,” he said while wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his robe.
The panel once again rose, the metal grate slid back revealing a black hole into which Stephen dropped the cup and used pouch. The grate slid back into place and the panel dropped revealing nothing of the secret workings behind the wall.
Stephen’s band vibrated again. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES. cAAmp 237. STONERS-DIGGERS-BONES-JEWELERS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY. PAY RATE 7:A-G.
“Why not,” thought Stephen as he moved toward the tiny closet in his bedroom. His bed had disappeared, probably into the wall somewhere and two sliding metallic panels stood open revealing his clothes and other items. “I could use some physical labor and fresh air.”
His train of thought continued as he began to dress, “if I stay here I’ll blow what little money I have on bourbon or worse and I’ll severely postpone any chance with the kids.” He found some old workman clothes on the right side of the closet. It was rough durable material, probably bamboo or hemp. He couldn’t tell. “I don’t really want to do cAAmp Work but right now I don’t have many other options.”
Now fully dressed and lacing up some old brown boots he spoke into his band, “cAAmp 237 opportunity. Repeat.”
“RIGHT,” said the band in return. There was an ever so slight pause, “EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES. cAAmp 237. STONERS-DIGGERS-BONES-JEWELERS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY. PAY RATE 7:A-G
Stephen replied, “Jeweler.”
The voice answered, “CONFIRMED. cAAmp 237. JEWELER. PAY RATE 7:D. REPORT BY 1100” The screen returned to black and the voice stopped.
The man tapped the surface of the band. The time stamp displayed 1012. “Shit, I’ve got to go now.” As he headed toward the door, he spoke into the tiny, cool apartment with too much metal, “leaving.”
The door that led to the interior hall passage slid shut behind Stephen and locked. Small sprayers emerged from the corners of the room and began spraying a fine mist. The mist was a regular sanitation procedure to help reduce communicable diseases and pests. When the mist brushed against the window sill it temporarily brought the lunatic fly back to life. It quickly flew high in the window frame, tap, buzz, tap buzz, tap buzz. Yet there was no escape. The glass barrier separated him from freedom, the wide world, and from life. Tap, tap, tap, buzz, tap, tap, buzz, tap. The fly fell to the floor. This time, it was dead.
Stephen emerged from his apartment building and looked eastward. The sun was about to rise above the Department of Housing & Luxury towers. He slowly turned his gaze from East to West taking in the view of the South section of the Cityspace 14. He had seen old images of a location that many used to call Stonehenge, somewhere in England, and the city, in fact all cites, now reminded him of this old image and design.
The outer part of the city was a giant circle of enormous towers, all 75 stories high and capped with a skywalk-looking ring connecting the buildings. The “ring” contained restaurants, bars, gyms, and shopping centers for the residents. DoH&L residents could live most of their lives 75 stories in the air and never once set foot on the gray asphalt roads of the old city or visit the buffer zone between their building and the Safety Fence. Many never left their towers except for a school field trip, a trip to another CitySpace, or one of the Greenspace Portals. The circumference of these towers topped with the ring was nearly 70 miles. On sunny days Stephen could see the entire ring of buildings circling what remained of the old city.
Within this circle stood another circle of towers that were much shorter without the cap ring. These were mostly made up of Department of Housing & Proficiency apartments from floors 10 to 30 with the bottom floors consisting of schools and stores as well as government, doctor’s, or business offices. The third inner circle was made up of low income high rise apartments known as DoH&S, Department of Housing & Subsistence apartments. Within this final circle lie sporadic buildings of the “old city” as it was most commonly known.
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Like many other cities across the world, the old city had been demolished and recycled. Only historical buildings and a few roads remained intact for the ETTs (Electric Transit Trollies), cAAmp Buses, and Rental Scooters. The buildings that remained were abandoned and inhabited mainly by the homeless, prostitutes, and the drug addicted.
The vast expanse of land that was once busy with towering office buildings, apartments, and homes was now covered in grassland with a few lakes and patches of experimental forests planted and abandoned by Greespace engineers. The remaining abandoned buildings may have been historic but most considered them dangerous eyesores.
Weekly an ETT full of young children would travel from the rings of towers through the grassland on a field trip. They would stare in awe at stone facade of the Holy Martyrs Cathedral or take the elevator to the top of the LaVeque tower for a full view of the old city and the rings of towers in the distance, each child trying to see his or her own apartment. While in the tower they would learn about the movement of the sun as they watched the tower’s shadow glide around the old city like an ancient sundial.
The tower sun lessons are where CitySpace children first learned about the power of the sun and how it gave energy to the city through the use of the Greenspace. These trips were usually sponsored by the Greenspace Observation Portal(™) or the MAGL(™)(Magnetic Levitation Train) that shot away from the CitySpace at nearly 400 mph. Many parents found themselves making a trip to the Portal on the MAGL(™) shortly after this visit; when their child had exhausted their patience asking to go countless times.
At the Greenspace Observation Portal(™) the kids would learn about how the sun’s energy was harvested and transported back to the CitySpace. They would learn about how the area looked before the Greenspace engineers arrived and that little more than a century earlier most of the world’s energy came from dirty, dangerous fossil fuels gained by destroying the original natural greenspaces. By the end of this trip to the Portal, the parents had more than paid for the school field trip in the cost of meals, 3D video productions of life before the Greenspace, and Jibbitz(™) for their bands depicting trees, various wildlife, or the MAGL(™).
Except for those born on the streets, these trips were a rite of passage for most children and an excursion required by the governmental education system. It was an easy way to bring the children on board with the Greenspace-CitySpace interconnectedness.
As Stephen stood near his apartment building taking in the view of the CitySpace and the dark, immense forest far beyond, he saw an ETT approaching. The display on the front, or back, one never really could tell which was which, read: PRIVATE…LEVEQUE TOWER TOUR… Stephen wondered if his youngest, Meghan, might be on that ETT. He thought about heading to the tower himself just to see if Meghan were part of the bus tour and maybe snatch a hug since his education bill was now paid in full.
Stephen was vibrated out of his day dream by his band. cAAmp 237 OPPORTUNITY DUE IN 15:00 and the clock began a methodical countdown. He abandoned his foolish idea of following an ETT that may or may not have his child on it, standing by the unloading platform like the prostitutes and homeless, and trying to convince security to allow him to approach and hug a child. He laughed at the thought as he stepped onto the North-Bound ETT that hoovered before him and that transport him close to cAAmp 237.
Are you interested in learning more about the world Stephen lives in and what happens next? Look for this new dystopian novel, The Greenspace, available Fall 2023. Email me to be the first to know about preordering and advanced copies for review.
is available now.
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