TELE
It was such a buzz to race full throttle down the narrow streets, up the infinite winding staircases and through the lavishly decorated courtyards. But it had been a busy morning trying to get through the
fifty odd door to door emergency electronic cigarette capsule deliveries. As I whizzed through the city, black lava stone walls covered in restless images stretched and blurred
into spaghetti-shaped beams of light. There was no time
to stop and look though, the orders had to be completed before dusk if there
was going to be any possibility of a promotion one day. Half the time it
didn't even feel like work, the competition gave the day urgency and purpose,
unlike school. In fact, leaving school had been a good move in the end,
although it hadn't exactly been a conscious choice, it just kind of happened.
Mum knew that she couldn't make a fuss, and besides, she couldn't really afford
to pay the fees anymore. After dad had suddenly passed away three years ago, a
lot of things had changed, maybe it would have been different if she'd taken
him back rather than finding yet another lover.
There they
were again, those glossy emerald eyes framed by that lifeless marble mask... no
one told me why...
'Come on focus, just a couple more drop offs'...
Anyway, since then school, friends, and life hadn't
made much sense. Mum had got married again, obviously, and there was a new baby too. And there I was, the embarrassing leftovers from a failed marriage, out of
sight, out of mind. But I didn't care, life was getting better now, I'd been
lucky to get a job, and even earn enough credits to buy my own apartment, car
and all the Obey baseball caps I could dream of, not bad for a sixteen-year-old.
I also had friends from all over the
world, most of them were older than me, but they were far better than the
idiots at school. Tonight was the end of
the month too! I'd worked my fastest month so far... so if I was in luck, I might
finally get that offer I'd been hoping for.
'That's it, no need to look back.'
Things were great now and they could only get better.
Maybe I'd get picked out by Amazon through the leader boards and my GPS track
record.
...'just one
more drop off'
It was getting hard to concentrate after ten hours of
non-stop deliveries and I could feel a draining sensation as if my stomach was
being strangled. I'd been trying my best to put it off but it was definitely
time.
'Better order some food for when I get back.'
I made the order by tapping on my usual, hotdog and
chips pizza bookmark from the menu on my wrist interface, I didn't even need to
look anymore.
'Should be able to get this last drop done before it
arrives'
I'd been trying to ignore the shivers that ran from
the side of my face and trickled down the back of my neck. However, this and the
dull ache creeping in behind my retinas was normal around this time of day and
didn't bother me that much, just needed a couple of pain killers after my meal.
Up popped the image of a smiling pizza on my GPS display, it would be about
another ten minutes, just enough time. After I'd dropped the last capsule into
the post tube of number 46, I parked up at the closest charging station and
pressed pause. I let go of the sticky controller and took a deep breath.
Through the slits in the now permanently closed
shutter, the spindly being was dimly lit by the beams of dust filled light that
invaded the room. As the earth revolved around the sun the beams searched the
confines of the dark putrid abode. They first uncovered the untouched books and
stationary that the well-meaning but long gone uncle had naively bought. Then the
beams waded through the soup of old Nike trainers, Obey caps, T-shirts, Lego
bricks and pizza boxes that clung to every surface. As they slowly crawled up
the wardrobe, the muted grime ridden reflection of a man holding a baby struggled
in vane to attract the attention of the creature on the bed.
The only living breathing object in the room reluctantly
removed the VR helmet with two quivering limbs and slowly swivelled round to immerse
its filthy stinking toe-nails into the sea of sweat drenched clothes and
plastic. "Mum!' it croaked without expecting an answer as it rose to its
feet. The movement and newly disturbed stench caused it to retch and belch but
there was nothing to bring up. Then under the buzzing and whirring sounds from beyond
the potholed shutter, a faint raspy exhalation came from the teenager as it prepared
itself for the long journey ahead.
A squinted glance at the e-tattoo on his wrist indicated that
the pizza would be here soon, after which he could take another pill and get
back to to his virtually augmented reality life. Unlocking and opening his
bedroom door, he was greeted by the glaring alien environment of his mother's new
family. The smell of nappies, baby wipes and cleaning detergent flooded his nostrils
and chiseled though his sinuses. He tried not to look at the nauseating cream-coloured curtains or the leopard skin sofa and instead focused on the front door. The headache was getting bad
now, every drag of his feet seemed to cause his brain to shake and rattle in
his skull. Then suddenly a shrilling high-pitched drill sound penetrated the
corridor and his throbbing head. The pizza had arrived.
'Nearly there', he murmured, 'nearly there...'
________
Through the stereo
lenses you really felt like you were there, you rarely needed to physically go
out and the city even looked better, especially after they'd photoshoped all
the rubbish away and covered all the walls with Amazon commercials.
...There it
was number 28, 3rd floor, one hotdog and chips pizza.
The only
problem with the larger loads was waiting for the customer to open the door,
you couldn't just drop it in the post tube. It was better than the last dodgy job
though, administering that product had been a far more emotionally draining
experience. The pay was worse now with Amazon but after that nasty episode
three years back it was better to play it safe.
'Come on, open
the bloody the door!'
He twisted the handle with both hands, then with all
his weight tugged the door inwards. As usual he was greeted by the sights and
sounds of a pizza carrying drone. He gazed into the two glossy lenses and
wondered who it was this time, maybe it was one of his friends. For a moment he was reminded of something else but he managed to suppress the image. The pizza was
lowered into his arms and the drone whizzed off down the staircase. Exhausted
by the journey he just stood there for a moment and stared out through the
stairway window. Mountains of black bags, glistened in shimmering orange as the
setting sunlight squeezed through the smoggy air. Hovering above, drones of all
shapes and sizes danced and hummed with the swarms of flies and mosquitos. There
below amongst the waste a human form scavenged through the bags for something
to eat.
Just then his wrist lit up, each flash accompanied by
an urgent beeping sound. A rush of adrenaline released itself into his
bloodstream and with half a slice of pizza in his mouth he slammed the door behind
him and clumsily shuffled back down the corridor. As he reached his room half
the pizza had been gobbled down but there wasn't time to eat the rest. He flung
the box into a pile of cuddly toys in the corner and half jumped, half fell
back onto the bed and frantically pulled the VR headset on.
As the pizza
delivery pilot flew through the air she marvelled at the spectacular city
below. Everything was perfect, from the multicoloured palazzi down to the crystal clear waters that surrounded the volcano. The Technology Enhanced Living Environment or 'TELE' for short, had given
everyone the opportunity to see the city through more positive eyes. After its
construction, augmented drone tourism had really taken off, all the unpleasantness
had simply been deleted. No one had expected drone usage to spread quite so quickly
into other fields though. And when it did, the demand for pilots outgrew the supply,
but luckily, the new generation of digital natives were more than up to the
task.
'Ah! that's better'
There I was again reflected in the wardrobe mirror,
proudly standing there with my tanned muscular physique and red spiky hair. As I chewed the remaining salty hotdog morsel, I watched my avatar's unmoving but reassuring grin. The
beeping signal had now transferred itself to the wall display in the lounge so
I hovered over as quickly as I could to download the video message. Outside the
apartment window, beyond the swimming pool, the pristine augmented environment filled me
with pride for my beautiful city once more. This was my reality not that disgusting tramp infested dump I'd left behind. Why did they try to brainwash you with the idea that even the poorest could make it in all those films and fairy tales? It was just a set up for a futile dream for most of us out there. It didn't matter
how hard you tried in the real world, only the privileged princes and princesses could pay their way through school. Here I didn't need school or parents, here, I could do anything and be anyone. When I got to the display
I sank myself into my black leather sofa and hit download. Sweat gathered in
my palms and my mouth went dry as I waited impatiently for the loading bar to make its slow progress
from left to right.
Download complete
Dear Amazon employee,
Congratulations!
As you know,
automated drone services have proved to be unreliable in recent years and
Amazon is now expanding its human piloted delivery services to other sectors globally.
After careful consideration of your GPS track record we are pleased to inform you
that you have been selected for a drone piloting job in a variety of exotic
international war zones. You will be given the opportunity to develop and
transfer your already efficient and accurate deployment skills through the
delivery of a variety of exciting products. In accordance with current
employment laws for your age group, you will receive an extremely competitive
virtual compensation of 1,000,000 credits per month. This can obviously be used
on all of our virtually augmented products and even on a limited selection of
food and drink items delivered free of charge to your door. If you should choose
to accept, please click 'proceed' at the bottom of the screen to upload your
virtual signature.
Thank you for your
time.
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