Luminous Beam

Chapter 1 - Long Weekend

Chapter 1 – Long Weekend

Tuesday, June 6, 2080
2:44 PM
Rodriguez Hacienda, Galnac Station
Korolev Crater, Mars

In any family environment, any normal individual would imagine a man waking up at six in the morning, then getting online to work from home. Only so he could earn his pay. Well, in a time where forty percent of the planet Earth's population, kicked it in the rear, and abandoned their lifestyle on it forty years ago, in favor of finding sustainable life on another planet. Although it was a tough call or many, as they were born on Earth, then after spending a considerable number of years, had to leave that planet, where human beings originated from and dwelled on, for millions of years. Alex Rodriguez, born in Houston in the year 2054, but grew up on Mars, where he spent the last ten years of his life, knew only the best was bound to happen always.

"Jocelyn? You see the news lately?" he called out to his wife, who born in Jalisco, Mexico; been living on Mars since 2074, at the age of sixteen.

"Yes, mi amor! I logged onto Facebook™ this morning," replied Jocelyn. "I must say, this is crazy. Heat waves on Earth compel inhabitants to leave it. My friend Kassie shared it this morning."

Born in 2058, Jocelyn moved to Mars with her parents, after her father eventually found a better job there sixteen years later. The two met around the same time, then tied the knot a year later. They dated for a while, and couple months after marriage, had their daughter Katy, in 2076. Her father was doubtful at first, but then saw Alex did have an amazing job, and was earning a great deal of an annual salary. As an online IT security analyst, Alex boasted a hefty $250,000 per year, as his earnings. Part of which also came from doing online side hustles and the global universal income.

By 2080, most jobs had become ill-fated, and taken over by robots and other forms of artificial intelligence. Was this a bad thing, though? No, not at all! The United States government eventually collaborated with various global firms and international markets, to allow humanity to survive, earning $31,000 as a universal basic income for being alive. Yes, knowing full well the threats of job automation, they needed to rely on the Internet, electricity and other resources just as vital as food, water, oxygen and shelter. As a result of this improvement, citizens of Earth and now Mars and Moon, would only have to work twenty-four hours per week to survive. As food, water, and electricity became very cheaper over the decades, largely due to big global industrialists, investing trillions of dollars to help the cause. Electricity only costed overall $12.65 annually, water was just a measly $0.00094 per gallon. Yes, you read that right! Using up one thousand gallons of water, costed hardly a penny. And the lowest any man would earn from working to add to the UBI was $10.00 per hour. In other words, having a job or career was more of a hobby, than it was a necessity. As for the Internet? That too costed only about $36 per month, for gigabit-wireless speeds.

Alex and Jocelyn sat down on the couch, as they played with Katy. They looked at one another and smiled in love. As Alex looked at the Martian sky above their hacienda, which was custom made. Drones flew above the couple, which beamed beautiful glows from the LED lights.

"Honey, our baby girl is a blessing." Alex declared. "I see her doing amazing things in the future."

"Agreed!" said Jocelyn, as they kissed. "How's work nowadays?"

"Same, just keeping company network security secure." Alex replied. "Remember the good old days?"

"What good old days?"

"When we had influence from generations before us?"

"To a certain degree, yes. But nowadays, it looks more like we influence ourselves."

"Well, the long weekend is coming up. We can spend some time together over the next four days I have off."

"In a way, I like you working only three days a week."

"Same here!" asserted Alex. "C.O.R.A, how's the weather in Houston?"

"Hot, pleasant and breezy!" said C.O.R.A. "In other news, Jonathan Montgomery passed away, at the age of eighty-three. He was the hero of Houston, back in 2019."

"Damn, he was an influential being." Alex said. "He made my generation a generation worth spreading love."