The World at its End

Disclaimer: All incidents and characters mentioned in the story are purely fictional. Any resemblance to real life is a mere co-incidence
2059 AD

The atmosphere looked totally stunning with the Pollution level meter showing 40% pollution in the air, a lot lessened than the previous day. Swiping in at 10:00AM daily seemed a little overhead for the employees who worked along the Chengalpet- Villupuram IT highway. The heavy air traffic which was in a stand still for almost 2 Hrs above the GST airway started to clear slowly and the passengers sitting inside the Air jets heaved with relief. Though the Air shuttle reached my place at 6:45AM, it took nearly 3 Hrs to reach the office. The Airhostess of our Route 105 came with a smile and a trolley with lot of food items. She served me Breakfast and left to attend the other employees. Though, 50,000 Rupees per month meant a lot of money to others for the Air Shuttle, I opted for it. I found the Air Shuttle pretty comfortable even though there were a lot of 4 seated private Air Pooling available to and from office I sipped my health drink which the Airhostess had just served and there was a sudden jerk and a loud explosion outside. There was smoke everywhere. An air shuttle which was on halt about 200m in the front had exploded. It was immediately on NEWS in the big screen in front of me. Some terrorist group had detonated the air shuttle as the government had let them down on their demand and all the employees along with the pilot and the aircrew were announced dead. People getting killed due to terrorist activities and air accidents had been a usual sight for us.

I finished my drink and started relaxing myself. I, being a project Manager, afforded the Executive class rather than the regular Business class. Executive class contained a separate cabin where one could enjoy steam sauna, have a separate bath area, food for breakfast and have hygienic air sprayed from all the sides. You could browse the Super-X50-Series C Internet and even could watch your favorite programs through Multi-Linked super nova satellites. It would allow you to change the script of any program; any characters you would like to modify, their dress colors or hair styles. Heights were one could even decide the result of a game though that match results were pertinent only to that particular user. Similarly you could watch any movie running in any theatre in any corner of the world. If I would like to watch a movie running in a theatre in Manhattan, I would just browse the theatre, check the availability and pay for my ticket through my swipe in Magnetic Puncher. The amount would be debited from my salary. Best part was I don’t have to wait like my dad for the Foreign Exchange checks to be made as it was during his years. After all, Indian Rupee had been accepted as the universal currency for trading. Now I could have a real time movie experience sitting inside the theatre with others.

Now people might agree upon why I preferred Executive class over Business class and why I dint opt for the private air pooling. All the Air shuttles had this special device V-Movie extravaganza installed. No normal human can think of affording one personally. We reached the outskirts of Villupuram around 9:55 AM. Employees never had to align queues or nobody fought for who has to get down first. The New Hydron X314 Transporter Series-S took care of the whole process. Once the Air shuttle landed the office Air Bay, the air circulatory seats connected to the New Hydron X314 Transporter unloads every employee from the Air shuttle, class wise and would take them to their respective buildings, floors and even to their respective seats, by fetching the data from the Super Solid Database. So there was no real need to discuss anything over our office BB regarding the boarding and unboarding process. People without their Magnetic Punching ID cards would be sent back to their respective homes and strictly no ID passes were entertained as everything was controlled by the Magnetic puncher. We wore a dress which looked exactly the photocopy of a spacesuit on all working days including Fridays. Men, Women, Housekeeping personals and even the Securities had no choice but to wear the spacesuit.

Circulation of cooled and purified oxygen is controlled by the Primary Life support system (PLSS) which was placed in the backpack of the spacesuit. This provided breathable oxygen and removed carbon dioxide, humidity, odors, and contaminants from breathing oxygen. The spacesuit was so thick, thick enough to prevent the harmful UV rays from the already 78% depleted ozone layer, particle radiations, small micrometeoroids which kept falling so often. The tie which we were supposed to wear held outside the spacesuit. Nobody complained about the dress code violation, provoking T-Shirt quotes, skin shows or anything for that matter. This had been the dress code since the Human Flu struck us some 3 decades before. The most deadly H34N78ZB54R virus spread so rapidly that handshakes, hugs, sharing of food, water or clothes even among the family members became impossible.

After the video conference with the onsite, I decided to take a short break and called up my friend for a fag. He came to my cubicle in a few minutes. Then we both headed towards the smoking room. I showed my Magnetic puncher on the reader. It let us both in. There were 3 machines each of which had 3 glass doors. Both of us opened the doors of our respective machines and closed it. Inside was a LED touch screen on which we were given options - CIGAR or CIGARETTE I selected the option CIGARETTE. Then the screen displayed a wide range of the entire cigarettes available world wide. I selected DAVIDOFF Magnum. Then the screen prompted me to display my Magnetic card on to a Currency reader. The amount for the cigarette got debited automatically from my account. Now my veins started receiving smoke signals of the Davidoff tobacco and it would send the signal to my brains and I would feel the effect of smoking. Once the cigarette was finished, my veins would stop receiving smoke signals. Only corporate and selective outlets in Chennai and other Metros had this facility. Best part was I cannot smoke in public places and I don’t have to pay any fine to the cops.

Lunch time

I was sitting in front of my mobile computer checking my mails. There were no monitors, CPUs, extension boards, wires or anything, but a floating chair and my PC driven by Nanotechnology. No wonder every cubicle occupied 10 members and some were even having additional upper compartments due to space constraints. It was lunch time and I decided to order something to eat. I don’t have to go to the Food court to have my lunch. The Food delivery machines installed in all the workstations would do that for me. The FDM was nothing but a LED screen assisted small vending machine where one could select the drinks or the eatables with the help of the LED display and pay the amount just like what I did for smoking and I would get the food delivered through the machine to my desk in no time. This way, there was no necessity of forming a queue, violating it later or making a person standing at the front to order for a whole group of people. I ordered Flava Beans which came from some country in a tightly packed can and approved by the International Food and Beverages Association (IFBA). Coke contained less chemicals compared to the water we got. So I ordered Coke which would be a good combination with the Flava Beans.

In the evening I got a mail from the onsite asking for an additional resource for a particular technology. But unfortunately I couldn’t find a single resource for my project as there was no single resource available in bench. When a resource got released from the project there was not even a single minute of bench code assigned to him/her. He or she would be put in RnD or tools reuse or some documentation projects. I went out for a walk as I was feeling tired since morning. I never saw a single person roaming about idly or walking over the corridors talking over the phone and blocking others to pass by. Even the lawns were empty. There were no couples lazing around. I took the 5.20 shuttle and crossed the Chengalpet Aerospace around 7:15PM. The Air traffic rules had been revised and was strict than it was earlier. Two persons were not allowed to ride in an Air Bike. Government had enforced strict rules on wearing Helmets and Oxygen backpacks and anyone who violated this were punished severely. Even girls who breached the Air traffic were caught so often which had not been in practice during the start of the 21st century. I reached home pretty early that night around 10.50PM. My father told me that they had seen an alliance for me and everything had been discussed over the Virtual chat and awaited my opinion. I checked her video in the Virtual Chat inbox and she looked ok for me. I even checked her previous affairs, account status and health information. Everything looked ok and we decided to get married the next day

My Home

Next day I called up my Boss and told him about my marriage. He wished me and granted me a day leave to have a blast. He, being a nice person liked to attend my marriage. I invited him for a Video conference and he happily accepted it. I logged on to the Marriage portal and filled my personal details in it. She did the same at her end. Once all the formalities were completed, the browser’s window popped up.

“You have been pronounced Husband and Wife. Click Yes to confirm; No to cancel. “

We clicked on the Yes Button and our marriage was done. Immediately my virtual PCs mailbox was flooded with wishes from our friends and relatives all over the world. I replied them all for making my wedding a memorable one.

That night we were supposed to get intimate as per some rules. So my parents and few of my relatives arranged for the ritual. After confirmations from both our families, it started. We were given a Love Transmitter version 3.05. It was a small device which u need use it just like an earphone and it will transmit all your thoughts and feelings between both the ends. This device was not available in any retail shops and people who registered their marriage in the Marriage portal alone were supposed to get it for free from the government approved marriage portal community. My wife, a few miles away from my house, got it from her father just like what I got from my dad and we both made love that night. It was the best moment of my life.

The next day, I commuted on my own to my office, but a bit late. Though I was married, they never allowed the Love transmitter into the office premises and I could use it only from home. Days passed on so quickly. A year later, me and my wife decided to have a baby after such a wonderful married life. We visited our family doctor and she asked to give our blood samples. She did a few tests on the collected samples and asked if we would like to have a son or a daughter. We decided to have a baby girl. The doctor smiled at us and asked us to come after 2 months. We thanked the doctor and left to our respective places

Two months later

After the Human Flu had struck us and the human population reaching to its maximum, the Worldwide Human Welfare Trust decided to stop child birth. So after 2030, every child which was born on any part of the Globe was given a steroid which stopped child birth in the succeeding generations. I belonged to the Last of all the generations after which there wouldn’t be a single human life.

The doctor welcomed us with a smile. She went in and came out after a few minutes. She held out 2 small photo frame sized device to me and my wife. It had our baby girl as 2 month old Fetus and we felt very glad seeing the movements of our daughter. We thanked the doctor for the wonderful service she had done, settled the bill and came out.

***********THE END***********