2084

Eight Months Earlier

Eight Months Earlier . . .

Location: 71°17′44″N 156°45′59″W

Wednesday, April 4, 2084 6:35AM

On the darkest days, we must always remember the light. @2040a jumped from his sleep, writhing in a pool of sweat. He gasped and shuddered as a terrifying tremble swept through him. All he felt was fear, terrifying, senseless fear. It gripped his sense of security and ravished his peace of mind. His teeth clenched in an attempt to control his anxiety. His hands scoured the tangled sea of blankets. His heart raced as he tried to regulate his breathing. Scarce, short breaths were just enough to sustain him, but they couldn’t relieve the crushing pressure that restricted his chest. He swept through the bed in agonizing silence for a few moments until the alarm screamed. @2040a quickly located his intel-band (which most people called their Brain), buried between his sheets, and hoped the monitors had not noticed him awaken in a panic or noticed that he had done so every day for the last week. The anxiety was back. Any inclination of anxiety would lead to an impromptu evaluation.

Compose yourself, he issued a silent order, or silent plea. The voice was still ringing in his head. Remember the light, remember the light.  The intell-sensors awoke at his footsteps, illuminated the hall, and sent heat sweeping through the vents, warming the bathroom almost instantly.  He stole a glance at himself in the mirror. A monster. He kept his eyes locked at the figure in the mirror as his toothbrush buzzed and pulsated against his teeth.  Somewhere in the bathroom, jazz music began to spill out. Gently at first, then it swelled around him, drowning out the silence and voice in his head.  Jazz, he thought, was created by Black CanAmericans. He didn't know much about Black CanAmericans other than what everyone learned at the institution. They were immigrants from the seventeenth century, their major contribution was music, and he was one of them, or at least he thought he remembered being told that once by his mother. But Blacks no longer existed, and neither did mothers for that matter, so @2040a brushed his teeth and prepared himself for another day in a world where he did not exist.