Author : Russell Bert Waters
She slept as he observed her for the final time.
The moonlight brushed the canvas of her skin with a paint that revealed her natural beauty.
He yearned to wake her, to spill his regrets out in one long glut.
He would not do this, of course.
In doing so, he would be inviting her to talk him out of what he felt he must do.
They had never married.
He was married, then divorced, once before.
Because of how things went on his first go ‘round, he vehemently insisted that marrying her may ruin the wonderful relationship they had.
This was his biggest regret, of course.
There she lay; his, yet not his.
Her seven-hundred-and-some-odd-year-old body didn’t look a day past seventy.
Her skin was pale, freckled, lovely.
The capsules lay on the nightstand, and he mentally tried to talk himself out of the next step.
But he wouldn’t do so successfully; he knew what he was doing was right, and even patriotic.
Once the ground level of Earth had overpopulated to a scary degree, tethers had been built which shot up into the sky with domed capsules attached.
These capsules were cities in and of themselves.
They littered the sky.
Medical advances had made humans virtually immortal, but once they did finally die they were shot into space, in biodegradable capsules, toward Europa.
Their bodies were injected full of bacteria and algae, which would consume them during the trip, and would aid the terraforming process after the capsules crash-landed onto the surface of the most promising of Jupiter’s moons.
A person who was bored with living could volunteer as a tribute, to help save the human race by leaving Earth well in advance of their natural death.
There was a substantial cash benefit awarded to their survivors, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
He looked at her one last time, then stood by the window and swallowed the first capsule.
Although he had never made things official with her, he felt she was tethered to him, much as their building was tethered to the Earth thousands of feet below.
He whispered “farewell, my love” as the drone which would take him to prepare for his final journey lit up their window with a blue glow.
He swallowed the second capsule, which would remove any anxiety and eventually put him into a deep sleep.
She stirred slightly as he unlatched the window.
“Goodbye, my love, one day you’ll understand I’m doing this for you” he said softly, and then he stepped out into the brisk, night air.
Great story!
Thank you!
Nice.
Thank you! 🙂
Well-written and interesting. The idea of the bodies being treated to aid the terraforming process is very creative.
Thank you very much 🙂
Nice way of dealing with over-population,
Not quite sure why he had to leave via the window.
Thank you 🙂
My rationale for the window exit was because they are so high up (these tethers basically create cities inside of a pod, up above sky-rises that would have risen from the ground level) that it would generally be more convenient to have deliveries (mail etc.) at window level via drones, rather than using an elevator from ground level (although they would have developed some pretty fast elevators by this point, I imagine).
I’m assuming this drone is one capable of extraction in case of emergencies, also (such as fires) of maybe one or two people.
I think I screwed up with the “brisk night air” part, though, considering the high elevation, but perhaps there would be some technology to create an illusion of that to avoid people going crazy from upper atmosphere living, maybe a shield of sorts so someone could open their window and pretend to have the ambience of being a ground-level dweller.
I always appreciate your comments on stories, because you’ll point out questions or concerns you have and it gives the author a chance to think through their concepts even more; and ultimately helps us grow as writers.
Thanks again 🙂