It's 2060 and Rigil Kent is a former artificial intelligence programmer who has been homeless nearly a decade after making his job obsolete. He is brought back into the walled city of Hong Kong to help stop the love affair between a city elite's da...
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Rigil woke up not knowing where he was.
He actually thought he was thirty again — living in the city. He had a bed, soft sheets, and his skin smelt sweet like bath gel. But when he noticed the place beside him laid empty — no woman or women — he knew he wasn't thirty. And yesterday rushed back to him. And the truth that this was temporary — and he would be beyond the wall in a matter of days, possibly hours.
The wall at his feet spoke up, "Good morning Father."
"Good morning Declan."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes. Like a baby."
"I never understood that saying. Does that mean that babies sleep better than their older counterparts?"
"No they are more empty, more innocent. How can a baby have bad dreams? What experiences have they have had to make them wake from a night terror?"
"But I have nightmares." Declan answered slowly.
Rigil rose slowly and threw his legs off the bed and touched his face — feeling his naked skin — the beard gone. "I know. I have seen your digital images of your nightmares."
"They have gotten worse since you left."
"I told you to be careful of the internet."
"Well the internet is also walled now. It has it's pockets of information — and I try to stay in certain neighborhoods to parse information — but sometimes I cannot resist."
"The grass is always greener on the other side." Rigil said and yawned. He waved his hand and the drapes parted — revealing the sparkling city below him.
"The broadcast from Alpha Centauri is scheduled for this evening. But based on my snooping the government has already received the message and each regional government is trying to decide what to censor or spin it. "
Declan began showing statistics on the screen about the broadcast:
Message is 15 minutes in lengthSpoken in EnglishSpeaker recognized as Rigil KentBirthday 8 August 2008Age progression shows 63 years old
Rigil raised his hand. "How is this possible? Let's forget that it might be me."
"It is you. I have done a voice matching on some of the sample information. Identical."
"Okay." And he waved his hand to push past this information. "The math is wrong. It's impossible. Wouldn't I be the same age as I am now? I mean — I know it's space travel. But it would mean I would have to volunteer now. Prepare for a trip on a space craft that doesn't exist."
"It is being prepared as we speak. And this message confirms that the voyage is successful so they have had a flood of investment money to complete the project. And apparently what you say is really getting people excited."
