Hope

February 15, 2040

At first, we started to live without power electricity for two days per week. They chose the days randomly without any warning. The first months, people would try to cooperate with the government because they assure the people that all this was for the good of the planet. We were in a critical situation now; contamination was taking over the world while wars were the usual thing of everyday life. Countries were fighting over the petroleum, the little clean water and the fertile land to plant more food, if the weather would allow it. Eventually, the government were taking more days reducing the electricity for longer periods without even notifying anyone. Sick people died because they needed oxygen and other accommodations. The city was now darker and hotter than ever before, the houses without electricity, without air conditioner, water filters, microwaves, medical equipment, and other important things for survival. People started to get upset and furious about the unstable situation, they felt abandoned by the government. They started boycotts in every corner and the people became rebels against the government. There was a rumor that they were trying to reduce the population to preserve their luxury life. They got exactly what they wanted, because without even noticing the people were turning into criminals, breaking the windows, hurting each other and stealing from their friends, neighbors and even killing themselves for the rations. Of course, they were instantly arrested and executed because they disobeyed a direct order. Rebecca told me once that she saw half of those people in the labs and that scientist were experimenting with them to find a cure to all new diseases. She is a scientist, but a good one because she rejects to experiment with humans or animals, instead she works on a cure for the planet. She works hard to find a way to save what is left. Pretty often she asks for my help as I am a biological environmentalist, but I don’t like to work for the government nor the military forces. I don’t even live in the city; I live in the forest with nature. This used to be a quiet place until the government also took over the forest. They said that they can’t have people living in there even if it was just a minority it would be a lost for them because we didn’t have to pay those high taxes or the expensive electricity. They started to charge for living in the forest too and the few people that refugee in the forest left. I stayed and refused to pay. The government didn’t like that of course so they decided to threaten me. When I was about to leave, they sent some soldiers to take me to their base because my services were needed. They told me that Rebecca asked for my help and that if I refused, they were going to kill me as the captain ordered. I wanted to know about Rebecca since I couldn’t see her for weeks now, so I accepted to negotiate with them. I saw the base, the labs and the weapons. They seemed like they were onto something. I wanted to investigate even more, so they told me that I would know everything if I worked for them. I accepted. It was the worst decision of my life, I saw everything, I knew everything, or at least I thought I did. Finally, I got to see Rebecca. She knew about all of this and I was disgusted. “How can you work in here for them?” I asked. “I can’t live without the comfort in which I’m used to”. She said. “And I can’t believe how can you watch them burn and tear people apart for the sake of their selves” I said. She remained silent and I knew it was to late for her to retract from her contract. Contracts are permanent here and are penalized with death sentence. I signed and was planning to run away. I told her because I loved her, and I wanted to say goodbye. I was decided to run away to the exile and never come back. Things were getting worse; people were now involving with the military forces to receive more rations and to have more power electricity. I even heard that the government had a visit from the outsiders. I never knew who they were or what they were, but they proposed the government a deal. Technology was now a solution to preserve humanity and reduce the deaths according to the government. Now we had cyborgs. Yes, you can live now if you transfuse most of your organs and your memories to a machine. People loved the idea, and they were willing to give anything in order to live a longer life in these expensive machines. The people who didn’t have the money signed a contract; they offered their lives in exchange of this pitiful new life. Of course, they didn’t know they were actually signing their dead sentence. Most of the people who turned into cyborgs never returned to their normal tasks, people who weren’t useful to contribute to the society with important professions were sent to war. That’s right, now they are turned into military weapons with little memories and human feelings. The rest of the population realized what the government did and tried to make a revolution and take the government down, but they condemned their selves since every cyborg had a program of auto destruction. The government made sure they were totally saved. And they were. Other countries were now dominated and even enslaved by this horrible government. The few people that rejected turning into cyborgs were exiled. Now I was definitely pissed and as the only environmentalist left, I was determined to negotiate with those bastards. Rebecca invited me to a dinner before I could talk to them. I accepted and had a great time.