Lixy
In Denial That I Have an Internet Addiction
•○Only Half Of You Will Live○•
Does that Worry You?
It's a very intrinsic doubt, the not being good enough, falling short, being cut at the last moment, et cetera ad infinitum. Especially in this society. In fact, most would be willing to wager, you'd be crazy not to. Your life depends on that fear.
Unknown galaxy, near future, exact year, irrelevant.
What is important however, is the unnerving and ever-present fact that you are going to be killed. Legally. Very soon. On your sixteenth birthday, weeks from now, in fact. Only those who are useful are saved, there just isn't enough room for all the blue-collar, middle-class, average-Joe's anymore. You have to prove yourself, starting from the day they haul your ass from your mother's breast and shove you in a School. From there, you're tested, always watching The Board, proudly displaying how many of each job are being offered at this time*.
*Subject to change, daily. The Man has the power to rip what you've been working towards out from under you at the hopeful age of 15 years and 364 days old.
All day, every day, for the whole of your life, numbers. You're ranked in every subject. Get good marks in all the right ones, you could end up with the cushy life in inner Mel Millis. For those stragglers, there's always hard labor maintaining the outer space station. And those behind them? They'll be 'Locked. You're in space, thrown out the Air-Lock at the tender age of 16 and one. Don't be those few hundred kids.
But hey! It's not all that bad. Sure, the By-Half Plan looks less and less like half as the years progress, and more like 1-in-3. Sure, Inner-Mel is no safer than the outer at this point, government secrets, rationing. Sure, you're not allowed to have intercourse because of the extra oxygen it uses, running is forbidden, waking hours are kept on rotation (citizens in induced comas use less resources, after all!)
But then there's you! The next generation. Your sixteen years is almost up, and after you've been sorted, Generation-Eight, Generation-Nine can be born, and you can truly start your life!
Happy Studying.
