X

A boy, a spaceship, and his life.

X picks up a cartwheeling newspaper as he walks. June 30th, 2143. He scans the contents and carefully disposes it in the recycling bin. Mostly by impulse. He’s heard it before: ‘Don’t trash up the ship like Earth!’ or, ‘Clean your ship or you’ll be sorry!’. Pah. Not like his ancestors cared. Humanity actually had an obligation now-either dispose of trash or suffer the consequences. The consequences being extinction.

X finds himself waltzing around clumps of friends and families that had nothing to do. In fact, nobody did. X had nobody to clump up the hallways with, so he kept going. X was one of the countless victims on his ship-’What a shame, nobody wanted him...’ or ‘Poor child! Abandoned like that…’ X was never given a name, and he learned in school that people that who couldn’t write, signed their name as ‘X’.

Alone, X wanders.

X sees all of the normal sights as he walks- Oxygen vents (where he would play when he was younger, nobody stopped him), the ration sheds (he would help divvy out rations, and get some himself. Good deal for someone without a ration ticket), the periodic intercom (he used to mess around with them: he would laugh after he made the official announcing oxygen rationing sound garbled), and the occasional security camera (X felt that all of the camera crews must know him by now: he had made numerous faces and poses at every single one by this point). He even has the luck of passing one of the many orphan gangs outside of the school center. A familiar voice jumps out from the listless group.

“Hey! John!”

It’s Flick.

“Come on, John! I know you can hear me!”

Perfect.

‘John’ was a pet name given to X by one of the older workers in the rationing stands. X wanted to keep it a secret, but of course Flick had to find out, and he insisted on using John. “You listening to me John? You going to join us yet?” X rolls his eyes dramatically. “For the last time Flick, I’m not joining! And don’t call it a gang. You know what gangs did on Earth, right? You were in the same class as me, you should know!” Schooling on the ship worked mostly the same as Earth’s schooling did: Kindergarten to High School. The rich, the highly intelligent, or the highly motivated got to go farther. But mostly the rich. Good to see nothing’s changed. “Now that’s not very nice, John. Look, I’ll give you a deal. Free rations for 5 days on joining! The Rats can’t beat that!” The group murmurs with interest and jealousy. Flick was an old friend of X’s. X was always helping Flick out, be it getting him out of trouble or cheating on a test with him. Some of X’s best memories came from his times with Flick.

But Flick and X lead different lives. And a ration from Flick was the Earth equivalent of blood money--he would usually get his rations from other children who weren’t part of his gang.

Good to see nothing’s changed.

“I’m sorry Flick. Nothing personal.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll try some other time. You know where to find me.”

“I’ll keep the offer in mind.”

X tells himself to avoid the school.

X keeps walking.

Eventually, X comes upon  a maintenance crew. As they fiddle with the hatch, X stops to watch. An Oxygen vent. Maintenance crew. Apart from periodic checks of the vents, which happened yesterday, only one reason remained. The hatch clicks open, and one of the crew enters. They emerge minutes later, and say one word.

“Suicide.”

The rest of the crew nod, pick up their gear, and file into the vents. Whoever the person was, X didn’t really feel bad for them. It was boring on the ship. Really boring. And the dread of waiting your entire life on a vessel, seeing virtually the same people until you die can get to you. And the person who threw themselves into the fans in the vents weren’t special. In fact, most bodies found were actually of orphans having fun in the vents. X was actually considering being part of the maintenance crew because of all of the time he spent in them. He lost some good friends in there, and they served as permanent reminders of where the wrong turns were.

X strolls on.

A small assembly is gathered around a small man on a podium. He wears a oil splattered maintenance uniform, and is in his late 30s. X gravitates towards the crowd.

“...and only the will of The Ship will prevail! No matter what!”

Applause.

“Through thick and thin, The Ship will guide us to our new home!”

Applause and cheers.

X coughs.

Regardless of the hope that Vessalism brings to the people, it promotes rivalries between ships. Deaths over inter-ship relations were becoming more common, and X was sickened by the whole affair. Vessalism claims that it would be your ‘sacred right to be the best that humanity has to offer, through incessant care of one’s ship’. X was taught of Vessalism by one of the elderly in one of the uniform suppliers. The woman said that she was the first generation on the ship, and saw Vessalism in its infancy. She only had one thing to say when she was done talking.

“It’s all fake.”

Good to see nothing’s changed.

X finally finds himself at starboard, looking out at the void through the windows. Well, it would be a void, if there weren’t other ships there as well. Nearly a dozen big ones and hundreds of small ones. All held too many people. “The nations of the Earth were trying to do the impossible--” X had read, “get an entire species into space. Due to the hazardous effects of Global Warming, no place on Earth was safe anymore. And Humanity was running out of time.” X lived on one of the big ships, holding nearly a million. He did not know where his ancestors came from, but he could assume that they came from North America, where his ship was built. “Millions were dying due to heat. Water was evaporating from the oceans, and drinking water was becoming scarce. Only due to the invention of cornucopia technology gave humanity a last hurrah.”

Cornucopia tech. From X’s extended reading, he found that the technology could take applied elements and combine them. It could also create atoms, which was formerly assumed to be impossible. At this point, humanity was using Cornucopia tech to generate water and oxygen. The projected ability of the technology, however, did not match the reality. Frequently, there would be oxygen and water rationing, where the technology promises oxygen and water for millions. Where does it go?

X thinks he knows.

Good to see nothing’s changed.

But as X looks out, he is mesmerized by the ships. All of them, together. Motionless, but in reality, moving very fast. He observes the lights coming from the other ships, adding to the starry sky. He watches his hulking ship port with smaller ships, getting supplies. Trying to survive. And past the speckled void of space, X knew that a new home awaited Humanity.

Good to see nothing’s changed.

Author's Note

Rip it apart. I am grateful for any feedback. It will help my future works.

Reviews

[Silent Sonata]

A truly haunting piece. Excellent!

Now, for advice, show and don't tell. You had an excellent case of 'showing and not telling' with the man on the podium. It showcased how desperate people were for hope and gave an excuse to hint at the end mission of the ship's journey. The scene where X recalls global warming however, that can be written differently. I know it's tiresome spending paragraphs trying to cram in lots of info through showing and not telling, especially with a sci-fi, but it definitely pays off. I've fallen victim to this a few times, but when the author starts feeding the audience info straight, it gets boring.

Overall, I loved it. Great atmosphere and amazing sense of character. Keep doing what you're doing!

[Jacob Amos]

Thank you for your input. This will be helpful in creating something better and more worthwhile!

[Tony Jordan]

To be honest the sight of all those X's was truly off-putting but if X was replaced with any name it would probably have the same effect. Maybe...

The overall despondency of a dystopian future is well communicated.
The refrain adds a lot of cynicism to the character.
I enjoyed it but was disappointed by it's brevity.

[Jacob Amos]

I will definitely be sure to patch it up and add some length when I get the chance. Thank you for your input!