| SAME WHERE ELSE | PART ONE | WRECK CREATION | | Episode One |
Atom once dashed twice-daily along the crowded pavement between the Company’s imposing Corporate Complex and the Great Station Hall with music in his ear-buds and his mind wandering everywhere, as if it had nothing else to do.
And as he walked he often thought about the cat Cajones, a ghost whose influence, like the letters in a sickly-sweet pink stick of rock, continued to run right through his life; a life so short and so simple; a life engendered with so few choices; choices all too easy to make.
The city hung over him as if holding its breath, as if all of its clamour, its shaking and roaring, were there at his behest.
Spanning the traffic streams at regular intervals, the roaring tickers scrolled bright invitations to A BRIGHTER FUTURE; or enticements to Reach for THE PRIZE - Play The GAME
Entering the Great Station Hall, one head among many shoulders, he would smile inwardly at having managed to forget to attend the weekly ‘Integrity’ meeting: a festival of inanity where the Company’s middle management rose to justify its existence; its importance to the End-Product.
Someone would often beat him to the corner seat where he normally sat and he would overcome a moment of panic to take up residence in the opposite corner.
Removing his coat to place it across his knees he would access his interface machine and flip up The GAME.
Two hours of train travel would fly on the wings of his darting thumbs as they manoeuvred repetitive mazes to snatch at THE PRIZE; a prize whose magnificence Atom had long forgotten but one he could not but pursue.
At home he would suck the juice from a pre-prepared meal and dump the container in the disposal, licking his fingers.
“Relish” the Disposal Unit would say while adjusting Atom’s Recycle Rating.
He would stand in the shower and let the hot water run over him until the meter cut him off with a reprimand about Saving the Planet in these Days of Austerity.
He would dry himself with the damp towel; a damp Company towel; with the Company Logo unashamedly emblazoned across its chest.
Yeah, but that was yesterday...
And as he walked he often thought about the cat Cajones, a ghost whose influence, like the letters in a sickly-sweet pink stick of rock, continued to run right through his life; a life so short and so simple; a life engendered with so few choices; choices all too easy to make.
The city hung over him as if holding its breath, as if all of its clamour, its shaking and roaring, were there at his behest.
Spanning the traffic streams at regular intervals, the roaring tickers scrolled bright invitations to A BRIGHTER FUTURE; or enticements to Reach for THE PRIZE - Play The GAME
Entering the Great Station Hall, one head among many shoulders, he would smile inwardly at having managed to forget to attend the weekly ‘Integrity’ meeting: a festival of inanity where the Company’s middle management rose to justify its existence; its importance to the End-Product.
Someone would often beat him to the corner seat where he normally sat and he would overcome a moment of panic to take up residence in the opposite corner.
Removing his coat to place it across his knees he would access his interface machine and flip up The GAME.
Two hours of train travel would fly on the wings of his darting thumbs as they manoeuvred repetitive mazes to snatch at THE PRIZE; a prize whose magnificence Atom had long forgotten but one he could not but pursue.
At home he would suck the juice from a pre-prepared meal and dump the container in the disposal, licking his fingers.
“Relish” the Disposal Unit would say while adjusting Atom’s Recycle Rating.
He would stand in the shower and let the hot water run over him until the meter cut him off with a reprimand about Saving the Planet in these Days of Austerity.
He would dry himself with the damp towel; a damp Company towel; with the Company Logo unashamedly emblazoned across its chest.
Yeah, but that was yesterday...
| INDEX | Episode Two
4 comments:
love it love it love it
btw. we WILL have an off blog communication about this wonderful creation. sooner rather than later. great stuff. happy to see it here.
:)
Thanks Harlequin! Good to have you back amongst us.
This is fascinating, dystopian lit of the first order, Garth. I am glad you posted a link on the site. Your web site is both sinister and refulgent; I grok it entirely, especially its minimalism which really aids in the images popping out. I shall be back to read more of your intriguing fiction, Same Where Else, very soon.
Thanks for reading John, your comments are always encouraging.
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