what's left

Half of the world’s population is dead. They were killed so that the other half could keep breathing. 

I step forward in line. My grey trousers and shirt mirror the outfits of those in front and behind me. We stand weary, heads shaven, waiting. 

It feels strange to be awake, it feels unsettling and unnatural. My body is heavy as I move slowly forward in the lengthy line. The forgotten feeling of hunger claws restlessly at my insides. The uneasiness of not being in control seems to plague the long line of humans waiting to be sedated again. 

The SUI8, sedation union initiative, is the reason any of us are still alive. They were founded 6 years ago, and 2 years ago became the only lasting organization on planet Earth. When all other efforts to save the human race failed, SUI8 proposed a plan. There would be 8 ‘safe houses’ around the world where the last of mankind would be sedated into a dream state where they could walk the earth and live a happy life inside the sedation’s reality, while on the outside their bodies would be hooked to oxygen tanks and their arms strung with tubes nourishing them. The SS, sedation service, would also be wired to oxygen tanks but would remain awake to oversee the sedated. 

Once SUI8 came to the conclusion that to buy ourselves time from completely running out of air they would have to kill half of the world’s population and they did so, sedation beds became more spaced out. Some of us had to be unattached and move locations. The sensation of becoming conscious again after two years under sedation was unpleasant and stiff. The brutal reality of who I really was and where I was, had cascaded over me. When I was woken up I saw lifeless bodies, still under sedation, being removed from the room. The SS explained what had happened and told all of us that we were going to be moved and then immediately put back under, but it has been 12 hours and my body is growing more and more unconformable.

The sedation became the only thing left for humans to cling to. Some people were uncertain and doubtful of the plan the SUI8 prepossessed, but soon all saw that it was the only way. It was 5 years ago when the reality of human extension seemed to penetrate our minds. We were the last animal species to be on planet earth and our options were looking grim. The air was too polluted to go outside, the oxygen too minimal, the elements too harsh. It was nearly impossible for people to go on with their lives. Cities near oceans were drowned in the depths of the rising sea levels. Fires raged rampant through towns. Artificial food and liquid became the norm. Heat waves threatened all life. There had been attempts to leave the planet all together and to find another place to survive but those had proven unsuccessful and time had waned too quickly to find a new way to evacuate. 

I take another step forward. The complex we are waiting in is similar to the one I have just left, it is spacious yet forces the feeling of claustrophobia onto you. The walls run high above my head and are made of thick, sturdy materials that protect us from the vicious elements waiting on the other side. Somehow the building gives off a feeling of emptiness and blankness even though it is one of the only inhabited complexes in the world. I watch as people finish at the SUI8 register and walk towards a set of elevators on my left that have a nicely polished plaque pasted next to them reading:

Floor 10 - entrance level main floor

Floor 9 - sedation studies and technologies level

Floor 8 - sedated sensory sanctum

Floor 7 - sedated sensory sanctum

Floor 6 - sedated sensory sanctum

Floor 5 - sedated sensory sanctum

Floor 4 - sedated sensory sanctum

Floor 3 - nutrition and provisions level

Floor 2 - In vitro fertilization lab and procedures level

Floor 1 - SS housing level

I look to the people in line around me. They all have bored and hollow faces, all heavy with being back in reality. It is strange to be around them. They have no interesting stories to indulge me with, nor will they do things that I want them to do, but still, they intrigue me. They think on their own accord. Their minds are independent and private and concealed from me. When I go into sedation I am not alone, I can have as many simulations as I choose, but they are not the same as the people standing around me now. 

I reach the front of the line where 4 machines are built into the wall. I walk to the vacant one and tape began on the screen. Straight neat writing forms. Hello. Please answer the following questions correctly so that you can return to the correct sedation. A small keypad pops up. Name. My hand moves towards the F on the small screen but I stop myself and punch in Charlotte Moore. SUI8 safe house you were moved from. Complex 3. Sedation number. 9845007119053. Thank you, please take card and proceed to the elevators to your left. A small red slip is pushed through a slot. I take it. It has all of my information on it and in the left corner is printed Floor 7 - sedated sensory sanctum.

I step into the elevators and press the number 7. It lights up as the elevator glides steadily downwards. An SS leads me out of the elevator and through different halls on floor 7. He reads the card I gave him as we walk. We turn a corner and the hall opens up into a cathedral sized room with thousands of beds in neat rows with people laying, unconscious, in them. Some of the empty beds are being filled with newcomers who, like me, were just moved. The SS leads me to an unoccupied bed with my sedation number printed clearly on the tubes beside it. He gestures for me to lay down and gets to work. Within 5 minutes I am connected to a new oxygen tub and have wires emerging from my arms. He asks if I am ready and when I nod he takes a long needle from the table and I feel it penetrate my skin. The last thing I see is the smiling face of the SS grow blurry, then everything goes black.  

My name is Fern, I live in an 18 story building in Hong Kong with my cat, Lufa. I work at a modern art museum in the city and enjoy roller skating, reading in the park and going dancing with my friends. Lufa is slick and black but when I want something to hug he is fluffy and brown. I grow plants, herbs and vegetables on my balcony and have bird feeders where birds like to gather. 

I am home.