Today is the day.

 

The bleating of my alarm awakes me from my peaceful slumber. I wake up, and take my state mandated vitamin supplement, before the retinal scanner above my bed can register me being awake. And start its bleating alarm. Which happens anytime, I deviate outside the allotted time.

Warning!

Warning!

Subject-1073-9 has not followed ample instruction. Series -97 [Unpatriotic Endeavors] will activate in: 15...14...13...12…

I put on my blue hemp-fiber jumpsuit with the orange letters, “Citizen-1073-9” plastered on the back. I sit on the edge of my state mandated cot sized 2,3m single [man] barely thinking about tying my worn out boots. Because today is the day.

I work at a factory, which produces protein bars for the ration packs we are given for our expertly calculated, state-allotted caloric intake. What we do is; farm locusts on a massive scale. We take their larvae and mash it into a paste, and then we form it into various rectangular forms. Again based on your allotted caloric intake.

We then run it, through super-cooled cooled gas, and form it into frozen rectangles. And then it is packaged in hemp plastic coverings and cooked in a vat of water. Which is where myself and my best friend Zu Ping work. He was given enough patriotism credits by the age of 19 to be put in a state mandated patriotic marriage. His wife, whom I have never met, is named Olga Velstonavich.

She works in a factory, that does repairs on computer hardware, and she’s able to smuggle out

data chips, with various forms of cracked firm ware on them. Zu tells me about this one that loads you into an a “farm.” There’s animals there like horses, and cows. The best part he tells me is, the dogs and cats. They are furry and all the want to do is lick you. He said it kind of feels like how when he looks at his wife and she smiles, but not really the same.

When I was a kid going through my “Patriotic Assessment” training. The other kids would sometimes spread rumors, about how upper party member can have dogs, and farm food. It used to make me angry, that I had to eat protein bars, and drink soy paste for every meal, but I eventually got over it.

They teach you in Patriotism training, that the upper party members actually need regular food to feed the soldiers that defend us against enemies. And if we were fed the same kinds of food it would be too expensive to fund those wars. Which is kind of ironic, seeing how I was given a job in the factory that produces that very same food I hated so much. I’ve learned to live with it.

The data chips that Zu’s wife gets from her patriotism job, allow you to plug your own virtual environments into your happiness pod. It starts an automatic reboot sequence, and boots it into whatever environment he’s put on there.

As a lower party member, I don’t have a lot of extra credits to spend on happiness pod environments. Plus, I’m saving up for enough so I can get married. It’s going to take me 8 more years. But Zu says it’s worth it. I wonder what kind of environment is gonna be on the chip he gives me. I can’t wait to find out. Hopefully it’s the one with dogs. Or maybe one with a wife. That would probably be the best.