Member-only story
In a dark future, no one ever leaves work
Brad Foster, 2014 ©
“Welcome to your Action Office Suite. Only two hundred Work Unit Points until you can upgrade to AO-XII!”
AO-XII, I thought, rising from the narrow rectangle with barely enough padding to rest my bones. That would be the life. A larger and more comfortable bed for one.
And a window!
The bed whirs and folds back up into the cubicle wall. Now it’s a long, silvery grey board onto which I will be diagramming program modules.
Long have I wanted to look out at the world, if only through a two by three foot part of it. I’ve been staring at the same gray walls for how long?
Hurts my head when I try to think about it.
The large computer screen prompts me to log in. The computer turns itself on every morning. I only know it’s morning by the light level in my cubicle. The cubicle walls stretch to the ceiling where a bulbous cross-hatch of lights brightens then fades to mark the passage of time.
I have never been out of my cubicle.
It has been my workplace and my home for as long as I can remember. When I’m not sleeping, I’m working.
I have three minutes to get in my chair and log into the system.
