\n <\/p>\n
I swung up to the Cloudberry Tower in a hot morning drizzle. You could see the place was on the blink from halfway down Dagenham Dock Avenue, the ninth floor flashing green and opal in a lengthy, repeating rhythm. Nothing out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
The lobby lay silent and deserted, as they all do these days. Up on ninth, I swiped in and entered the office. Employees shimmered in their nooks like hummingbird wings, faces flipping back to front with every surge peak. Some were translucent \u2014 always a bad sign. I checked the manifest. Cubicle 18 was the locus point. First, I\u2019d calibrate the wavefronts. Next, wrap a firewall around the entire grid, and \u2014<\/p>\n
The inhabitant of cubicle 18 stared up at me, mouth drawn tight with worry. Hair, skin, face \u2014 she was as human as me. Neither of us said a word. I don\u2019t know who was more surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re auditing?\u201d I finally managed. \u201cOr did they keep someone on?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked like my aunt. Her lanyard said Pam Dewsbury. \u201cDid\u2009\u2026 did they send you to remove me?\u201d<\/p>\n
I indicated my badge. \u201cTravis Ovis, maintenance. Where\u2019s number 18?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m number 18.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d heard enough. I said, \u201cThat attitude\u2019s hardly going to help you. Don\u2019t you know about the Time bomb?\u201d<\/p>\n
Pat gave out a sad little laugh. \u201cRight. The Time bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just to make sure she understood, I explained the Time bomb.<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
Opinion is divided as to whether the population-time-bomb theory has any real validity. It\u2019s simple enough. Over generations, the fertility rate drops below replacement levels and economic meltdown follows. Supposedly. Growth is all.<\/p>\n
Read more science fiction from Nature Futures<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hence the government initiative. Multiplying the citizenry without any of the complications; expanding the horde; getting in on the ground floor. Call it what you like. Invent people to the nth degree \u2014 social security, tax codes, even birth certificates \u2014 and send your children out into the world. In this case, to the Cloudberry Tower, ninth floor.<\/p>\n
So it came to be. And the irksome regulations stating that these citizens-without-sin must at least have a physical presence? The vested interests that pushed them through Parliament administrate the holographic technology themselves. Of course they do. Rental of their services equates to roughly the newbies\u2019 wage. Thus, everyone\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n
Everyone except Pam. \u201cOh, I know all that,\u201d she said. \u201cI may as well tell you, then. My son Ned helped me out. They used to call people like him hackers, I think. Now they call them data assistants. When we all got the word here about the new directives I asked him to look into alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he suggest UBI?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think I want to spend the rest of my life on universal basic income?\u201d Her worry was turning to righteous anger. \u201cPlaying online games all day every day so some analysis centre can extract my neural response data, no thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t waste time arguing about it. The inhabitants of the adjacent cubicles had turned a not-unpleasant crimson hue. \u201cLook, if they don\u2019t get you for trespassing, they\u2019ll haul you up for inhibiting growth forecasts. What do you do here anyway? Push files around, probably. Wouldn\u2019t you prefer putting your feet up somewhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
She tried too hard to look innocent. \u201cSomeone has to water the plants. And what about you? Maintenance will be shifting to automation soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
I doubted she was wrong. I\u2019d seen holograms in the backs of cabs, through the windows of ice-bars, occupying park benches, their accompanying projector drones hovering silently overhead. It seemed the Time bomb issue was well on its way to being solved. The tech companies would just have to keep an eye on runaway inflation. You don\u2019t want wages over-matching output.<\/p>\n
I changed tack. \u201cThis is fraud, you know.\u201d The crimson shade surrounding us deepened. \u201cI\u2019ll have to report your presence. Besides, you\u2019re upsetting the transmissions.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turned back to her desk and swept her fingers over the touch-screen. \u201cLet me show you what Ned turned up. It\u2019s Travis Ovis, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
A face swam into being. A cold lump formed in my stomach. There was no denying it \u2014 the visage was mine. I never knew I looked so good in blue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s one of these for everyone,\u201d Pam said. \u201cHere they sit, biding their time until our overlords decide all of us are fully expendable. Ned believes they\u2019ll even have a voting-rights override.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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