A dog barks in the witches hour of the night, there is a cacophony of sounds as a park of mongrels race each other as they growl and howl and scratch, bite and mutilate each other as they try to monopolize their a prize, waste food in plastic recyclable trash bins behind lurel street. It’s a late night race between the mongrels and the automatic self-driving disposable waste collecting trucks (auto trash trucks for the simple) that sweep the city clean every 6 hours every day.
My eyes are wide open by 3 o’clock on the dot, like clockwork. The room is cold and a cold mist has set on the outside of my bedroom window. I stretch my legs reliving my body of the sleep fatigue that has set in my bones. My body warms itself as the cold hits my skin and a can feel the sweat on my t-shirt as it gets cold.
It is Monday, the 13th of October 2092 and my name is Lisa Rayburn, a security agent from Orchid corp. and I’m supposed to be at work by 4.30 a.m. I have been working there for the last 6 years, I’m 28 now, and I guess I joined when I was quiet young. I’m glad nothing major has occurred during Mr. Willow’s tenure as the security director, he is my boss the way, a dick but a likeable one, those are rare, as rare as good politicians. If a security breach occurred, I would either get the boot or a promotion depending how I helped to solve the problem. Neither of those options are good, you want to remain invisible, in this era, invisible is the best option you can hope for.
Corporations rule the world now. Don’t get me wrong, Governments still do exist but they are puppets now. They are blight flashing lights to blind the public, a constant scream in your ear to distract you from noticing the scripted words coming from their mouth, the constant scandals to keep you off the scent of the real culprits, our corporate overlords. The CEO’s and the CFO’s names are now synonymous with god. Oh hail Deacon, Oh praise Deacon, that’s the boss of Orchid corp. by the way, never met him though. I have seen his picture of course, bright smile, golden hair, green eyes, a sharp nose and words like the honey of Canaan, Sweet and pretentious.
People in the 2010’s predicted it but who could do anything about it. They could not grasp the power these people had then, they speculated of course, in their books and YouTube video’s, but this was always an unstoppable wave. No one can stop financial monopoly, and this corporations have them it in spades. Governments own debts now, not to other governments like it was in the past, but to global companies or should I say universal companies. They are in space now, mining planets and swimming in rivers of gold and precious metals and there are new discoveries and new homes too for those that crave a new future. All our worthless souls cost less than a penny now, not that they ever cost much in the past, but at least then we could be heard once in a while when politician’s interest’s aligned with our own. Now, everyone is either an asset or a liability, either can change in a moment.
Companies discard what is not profitable, go figure, a lot of people are neither assets nor liabilities so they have been discarded like cheap coffee and defective equipment to rot in the outskirts of megacities where their stink and their shabby looks cannot be seen by those of value, like myself. I am not a good guy, no, there never were to begin with. I keep them from coming back to the cities that is the job of most corporate agents in most companies now, to keep the trash out, like those auto trash trucks. There are no peaceful demonstrations anymore, just constant friction between the haves and the have not’s. They is mourning, screaming, carnage and death, but agent’s like myself make sure to keep it out of the cities. We intercept them where they live. If you think you would make different choices than I have, fuck you, you are a terrible liar. I chose to remain an asset, as long as I can, with whatever means necessary.
