What Have We Become

Prologue / Chapter I

"I have done it!" shouted Ludwig, "I have created a functioning biosphere fit for Mercury!"

And what an achievement it was. The man named Ludwig Verthold Breaves was the first person to ever create a biosphere which could support living organisms on such a harsh plain. For the rest of human history, this device was called the Breaves dome, after the creator.

Such a magnificent device it was, with a lifetime of sweat and sleepless nights to see it come to fruition. But all that being said, Breaves was not alone in his achievement, it was a race against time to manifest such a creation. Everybody worked independently, transfixed on getting their name on the inevitable creation of this semi-sphere. Every single person from his sector driven to the same goal, to create a contraption capable of supporting life in the harshest conditions.

The team designated to such a feat was made of only fifty people, which may not sound like much, but when given knowledge that the entire human population was only one hundred thousand at the time, then it sounds a lot more significant.

Why was humanity driven to such an extreme that they could only support such a small fraction of life? Was it war? Famine? Poverty? Lack of resources? No. It was determination to find meaning in life.

Chapter I

Mattae was a 17-year-old boy like any other boy you would meet in life, he was well bred, self-sufficient and just as educated as his peers. His parents were two of the same Economics division. His mother was Elena Micri, she looked youthful for her age, with shoulder length brunette hair and eyes so overwhelmingly dazzling you would think that you could fall into them. She was very petite and short but held strong authority which seemed contradictory to her sweet personality and appearance. Micri made significant progress in reducing costs in the Robotics division, finally getting a newly created sector named after her which was of huge importance to humanity.

His father was Jom Stocles, again an economic reformer but of less significance due to Jom not having achieved a great feat yet. This was of no concern to Jom because he was working on something big, something revolutionary. He was researching the efficiency of space station life sustainability. He stood a head taller than Micri, with the regulatory short haircut. He was 2kg over the recommended weight for his height (which led to inevitable griping from his spouse) and had light brown hair with ocean blue eyes.

It was the morning of a very important day for Mattae, essentially the most important day of his life. But not just his life, for the day of choice is an important day for everybody. Today is the day Mattae will decide which field he will specialize in to better the world for humankind.

Mattae shuffled from under the covers, his white sleek silk sheets gliding from his skin as he pulled them away. The room he sat up in was deathly silent, but that of utmost tranquility. His bedroom was the standard BR-21 model: white walls, white floor, and grey furnishings. The room itself would have looked bland if it were not for the pop in color which was introduced by the huge vase of Aloe Vera and scattered exotic flowers of various colors. To the South of the room was the automatic bedroom door which opened by choice of the user. To the East of the room was Mattae's comfortable single bed and to the West was his workbench, light-grey and appearing never used, which is deceptive of its actual function because Mattae was a frivolous worker on his bench - he had some of his greatest ideas there. Above the deceiving bench was a blind, so big that it almost filled the entire wall. What better way to start the day then to open it to see all of its hidden glories.

Mattae stood up from his luxurious mattress, walked sturdily to the west blind and with nonchalance, raised his hand, palm facing up in a gesture to make the blinds open. And open they did! A bright light penetrated the room, invading every crevice it could touch, the synthetic lighting which was helping our teen see all this time slowly dimmed out to become nonexistent as the natural light persisted on its course to fulfill its duty of lighting the modest room. The suns appearance was enough to put a small grin on Mattae's face, and he never dismissed the view he was exposed to every morning, for it was a magnificent sight to behold.