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  “You said the blanket is the only thing you have from her, right?” Aris finally spoke again.

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Well, that’s not entirely true.”

  “What do you mean?” Alex asked, looking confused.

  “You have your genetics. You can find anyone through the genetic database.”

  “I’ve already exhausted all those options.”

  “Well, at least you could use your looks,” Aris said, almost as if he knew it was a bad idea.

  “Wait, what do you mean?”

  “Never mind, it was just a stupid idea.”

  “I want to hear it.”

  “I was just thinking, you could use facial-enhancement software to create renderings of what you might look like at different ages. Those images will probably resemble what your mother looks like, so all we need to do then is show them to people and see if anybody recognizes her.”

  “Aris, this city has over ten million people, who do you suggest we show them to?”

  “We could start in my old neighbourhood and spiral outward in one-kilometre radius.”

  Alex looked at Aris for a while, but didn’t say anything.

  “So what do you think?” he finally asked. “Is it a date?”

  “It’s definitely not a date, but sure, I guess it’s worth a shot.”

  Chapter Three

  Milo reclined in a chair in his room and closed his eyes. His next lesson would take about twenty minutes to download into his brain. He was trying to cram as much data into his brain as possible so he could graduate, but after a while he had a migraine and his nose started to bleed. No matter how strong a desire a person had to accelerate the lessons, there was a limit to how much their brain could handle.

  Sensing he had overdone it, Milo slowly climbed into his bed – a seven-foot long hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The increased pressure combined with infused oxygen had tremendous therapeutic capabilities. It also allowed people to get a full-night’s sleep in only three hours, in effect, increasing a person’s conscious lifespan. The beds were expensive and not everyone could afford them, but fortunately the Facility happened to have them. Since a lot of the inhabitants were orphans, extra funding went toward the Facility to make sure they had the best resources in an effort to ensure they didn’t grow up to become criminals. Perhaps it was society’s way of making restitution for enacting such a harsh law, which forced a lot of children to be separated from their families.

  The oxygen-enriched air began to fill the chamber and Milo took in several deep breaths. As the gas circulated his bloodstream, he felt very relaxed. Almost instantly, he was sound asleep, allowing the chamber to work its magic.

  About an hour into his sleep, an alarm went off, alerting him of an incoming call. A soft glow illuminated the interior of the chamber and the hatch slowly opened. Milo’s brain was still foggy, having just woken up, but he managed to find his access pod.

  “Answer,” he commanded in a groggy voice. His access pod initiated the call sequence and a voice on the other end spoke.

  “Hey, Milo, it’s me,” Alex said.

  “Hi Alex.”

  “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I was wondering if you heard about the Leader coming to the Megaplex to give his State of the Union Address.”

  “No, I didn’t know about any Union Address?”

  “Oh, that actually reminds me of another Union address. I have to go down to Union and Lexington, do you want to come?”

  “What’s at Union and Lexington?”

  “A top secret mission awaits if you choose to accept.”

  “Say no more, I’m in.”

  “Great, so what about the other Union Address.”

  “When and where?”

  “I’m sending you the details now.”

  Milo rose to his feet and got dressed. He looked disheveled, but decided to embrace it. He did not bother combing his hair or shaving. He simply brushed his teeth, put on his jacket, and left.

  By the time he arrived at the pyramid, chaos had already ensued. A massive crowd of people had flocked in droves to be in the Leader’s presence and hear him speak.

  Anytime the Leader made a public appearance, it was generally well received. Maxim Morrison defied the ancient saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He came from a respected family of leaders and innovators. However, despite his overwhelming support, there were still many issues of contention, which caused people to protest. Whether it was freedom to procreate, the abolishment of the accountability chips, or the capitalization limits imposed on corporations, history had shown no matter what the issue, there was always at least one person with a dissenting view.

  Before the Leader’s convoy arrived at the Megaplex pyramid, people had already found their spots on the large, grass field.

  “Where do you guys want to sit?” Alex asked.

  “Doesn’t matter to me,” Milo responded.

  “I know where we can sit, follow me,” Aris offered.

  Milo was having a difficult time adjusting to Alex’s new friend, especially since Aris was handsome, charming, and apparently knew the best place to sit. Milo did his best to hide his contempt.

  As they pushed their way through the crowd, Alex grabbed a hold of Milo’s hand. A sigh of relief came over him briefly. Ah, she chose me, he thought. The moment was short-lived, however, because after she grabbed Milo’s hand, she called out to Aris, who was ahead of them, and grabbed his hand as well. The three of them connected like a train and made their way through the crowd until they reached their spot.

  “Here we are,” Aris said, letting go of Alex’s hand. Milo held on an extra second longer.

  “Not much of a spot here, Aris,” Milo said condescendingly. “We’re way off to the side.”

  “Although the view isn’t the best, it’s an ideal location for when we leave. When the crowds eventually disperse, they’ll head east. So we give up a bit of view, but in turn we don’t get caught in a stampede.”

  “Good thinking, Aris,” Alex interjected.

  “Yeah, good job, Aris,” Milo said begrudgingly.

  They took their seats on the grassy knoll with Alex sitting in between Milo and Aris. She flipped her hair back and to the left, then got more comfortable.

  “So Alex, tell me more about this top-secret mission,” Milo said.

  “Oh right, the top-secret mission,” she laughed. “Okay, so you know how I don’t know my mum, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, Aris suggested I scan my face into one of those facial-recognition programs. The program will modify my face to create an image of what I might look like at different ages. I can then take the images down to my old neighbourhood to see if anyone recognizes the images, which should more or less look like my mother.”

  “This is Aris’ suggestion?” Milo scoffed. “Alex, the city has over ten million people spread out over hundreds of neighborhoods, how do you know which neighbourhood to go to?”

  “Aris suggested the neighbourhood around Union and Lexington because he knows of an old blanket manufacturing company. He thinks it may be the same company that made the blanket I have.”

  “Wow, you’re just full of good ideas, aren’t you Aris?” Milo said in a snarky tone. Alex shot Milo a harsh look as if to indicate to him to play nicely. Despite this, the temptation to destroy Aris in front of Alex was just too great for Milo to resist.

  “Okay, I don’t even know where to start with this,” Milo said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “There are of course several flaws in your theory. First, you’re putting a lot of faith into this blanket factory, which may or may not have produced the blanket in question. Let’s suppose they did. Why would you assume your mother lived in the same neighbourhood as the manufacturer? This blanket factory probably sold blankets all over the world so it hardly narrows down the neighbourhood your mother lived in when she acquired it, assuming of course she owned it at some point.

  “Secondly
, you’re not a clone of your mother. The images you have are a program’s best guess as to what you may look like at different ages, but not your mother.

  “Finally, and I will close with this, even if you do look like your mother, the blanket did come from this factory, your mother owned the blanket at some point, and the blanket factory also happened to be in the same neighbourhood as your mother’s old neighbourhood — as implausible as all those factors may be — you still have to find someone who recognizes her, which, unfortunately, seems highly unlikely.”

  Milo sat back with folded arms and a smug look on his face, proud of his logical deconstruction of Aris's theory. Realizing the soundness of Milo’s logic, Alex felt a sudden wave of despair come over her. At first, Milo felt like he had just redeemed himself by destroying Aris’ theory, but he had inadvertently hurt Alex. Her hopes of finding any link to her past had been caught in the crossfire of his attack.

  Alex bowed her head in sorrow.

  “You know, I could be wrong,” Milo said in an attempt to console her. “I mean, what do I know? You’re the smart one. If you need help, just let me know.”

  Aris gave Milo a dirty look. If Milo didn’t feel so badly, he would have retaliated in kind. He put his arm around Alex and offered more words of encouragement.

  “Can I at least see the images?” he asked. “I’m curious to know what you’ll look like when you get old.”

  Alex didn’t answer.

  “Come on, I bet you’re still pretty.”

  Alex gave a faint smile as she seemed to be overcoming her momentary sadness.

  “I’ll show you the images, but don’t laugh.”

  Alex brought up the images on her access pod to show Milo. “Okay, so this one is what I’m supposed to look like at thirty,” she said as she showed Milo the first image. Milo leaned in closer.

  “Wow, not bad. You’re still a total babe!”

  “And this is what I’m supposed to look like at forty.”

  “Again, not bad.”

  Alex smiled approvingly then showed him the final image of her fifty-year-old caricature.

  “Is that it?” he asked. “Just three images?”

  “Well, as you mentioned, this is obviously a long shot, so I didn’t want to waste a lot of time getting a new image for every different variable. Remember, I intend to show these to people, and I’m sure they’re not going to want to flip through an entire catalogue of me.”

  “Why not, I would.”

  “Very funny. I think these are good enough. People will either recognize the lady in the image or they won’t. They can use their imagination to fill in any other relevant details like weight or hair color.”

  “So when do you plan to go?”

  “I’d like to go today,” Alex said.

  “We plan to go as soon as this speech is over,” Aris interjected proudly.

  “We wouldn’t want to go right after, Aris. Someone who may know Alex’s mother could be sitting here in this audience. If we rush too soon, we would be missing out on a lot of people. But I’m sure you have a plan for that too, right?” Milo said smugly as he delivered another blow to Aris’ ego.

  “We can wait a bit then, maybe we can all have lunch in the pyramid before we go,” Alex said.

  There was a long awkward pause as they all just sat there. Alex was trying to figure out a way for everyone to get along.

  Chapter Four

  The Leader approached the stage and the crowd erupted in applause. He stood tall, displaying his perfect white smile and chiseled features as he waved to the crowd and absorbed the warm ovation. His confidence was what you would expect from the Leader of the free world. He was generally liked, but even those who opposed him found his charm alluring.

  The only ones not cheering were the guardians, who patrolled the grounds, proudly displaying their superior genetics. With over one million people in attendance, the noise was deafening, but when the cheering finally settled, the Leader began to speak.

  “Thank you all for joining me on this historic occasion,” the Leader said. His voice echoed throughout the crowd, while a ten-metre-tall hologram projected a perfect image of him. Everyone was incredibly excited for what the Leader had to say. In addition to talking about the current state of the economy and some key environmental issues, it was rumoured he was going to make a special announcement. Now everyone tuned in with eager ears, anxious for what it could possibly be.

  “As many of you know, this year marks the 75th anniversary of global unity.”

  The crowd cheered again. It took a moment for it to die down. Alex was unimpressed by the transparent display of political rhetoric – saying some positive message with an overemphasized inflection at the end to get the crowd riled up. It was amazing that after so many years, it was still an effective way of speaking to large groups.

  “Throughout our history on this planet, we have been plagued by war, disease, and injustice. But through the tenacity of humankind we have prevailed!”

  The crowd began to cheer again. The Leader did not interrupt, allowing the applause to run its natural course. Then he brought the sentiment down.

  “I stand here before you today as a humbled man. We are the progeny of many great generations who came before us – who laid down the stones and carried the heavy loads. They made incredible sacrifices so we could be here today and I am forever grateful and truly indebted to them. They fought hard battles, endured famines, and sacrificed their time and energy for new discoveries. They were our benefactors, and through their hard work, we have inherited a world that has been quite good to us. We owe a great deal to them because without their efforts and hard work, none of us would be here today.”

  The crowd applauded.

  “But, they also made some mistakes,” he added. “These mistakes nearly resulted in total destruction of our planet, and caused a lot of pain, suffering, and death. I don’t ever want us to repeat those mistakes,” he said as he took a moment to look around. It was as if he was trying to make contact with a million pairs of eyes. As the Leader scanned the crowd, so too did the giant holographic projection. It could be a little unnerving for someone seeing it for the first time, but nearly everyone in the audience had seen it before and was used to it.

  “From the ashes of their turmoil and hardship, we rose. We’re a new generation destined to carve our own path and not fall into the same traps that have held humankind back for so long. We have abandoned archaic systems and old ways of thinking and replaced them with common sense, logic, and fairness. Where our predecessors failed, we have succeeded. And since the global unity coup, war and conflicts are only relived through history lessons.”

  Once again, the entire audience rose to their feet and applauded.

  “Our work is not done,” he began again, settling the crowd. “This is our leg of the race. What we choose to do will pave the way for new generations. So we must ask ourselves,” he paused for effect. “Where do we go from here?” He delivered another gaze out into the crowd, this time shorter than the last. Everyone sensed the rhetorical delivery and waited for the Leader to answer his own question.

  “We go up,” he said simply, as he pointed to the sky. “I mean that in the most literal sense. Our space exploration programs have been underdeveloped, underfunded, and neglected for too long. Our ancestors seemed to be ruled by capitalistic profit-maximizing principles and therefore could not justify exploring space without any economic incentive. For them, domestic problems were much more demanding of their attention, and I don’t blame them.

  “In the year 2099, I had a vision to create a space exploration program that would seek out new planets, new resources, and possibly new life forms. Today, I am proud to announce the Olympus project, which will be the largest space station in the history of humankind. Space… is the final frontier!”

  Right on cue, the audience erupted in applause, demonstrating their approval.

  “You know, he stole that line from an old televisio
n show,” Alex said.

  “Which line?”

  “The one about space being the final frontier, it’s from a television show more than a hundred years ago. I guess he didn’t expect anyone to remember.”

  “What’s a television?” Milo asked.

  “It was how people used to watch movies and shows?”

  “How do you know so much about this stuff, Alex?” Aris asked.

  “She knows about everything,” Milo said, almost as if he was demonstrating how well he knew her.

  “I guess you could say I have an interest in old gadgets.”

  It was not clear from where the three were sitting, but there was a commotion brewing up front by the stage. The guardians were quick to act and rushed to the scene. For the Leader’s safety, he was escorted off the stage, bringing a premature end to the State of the Union Address.

  “What’s going on, Aris?” Alex asked worriedly.

  “Protesters,” he answered casually. “They show up at every rally and cause trouble.”

  One of the protestors had a voice enhancer and was screaming into it. “WHY DON’T YOU TELL PEOPLE THE TRUTH YOU COWARD!”

  The crowd started to feel uneasy as more guardians showed up.

  “THE LEADER HAS BEEN LYING TO THE PEOPLE! THE PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH!” the woman continued to rant.

  The tension in the crowd grew as an army of protesters wearing traditional hunter green military jackets made their way through the crowd. People began to disperse in all different directions, pushing and stepping over each other. Mob mentality overruled any civility the people previously displayed. It was every person for themselves.

  Aris grabbed a hold of Alex’s hand and whisked her away, leaving Milo to fend for himself.

  “Come on, this way,” Aris said, rushing through the crowd.

  Guardians stationed themselves at all exit points while another group of guardians meandered through the crowd in an attempt to control the situation. As the guardians patrolled, they were looking for two things: unkempt faces and people wearing hunter green military jackets – a truly unfortunate set of circumstances for Milo because he happened to fit the profile perfectly.

  “Wait, we lost Milo,” Alex said in a panic as she spun around. There was a sea of screaming people running in all directions. She did her best to peer into the chaos and spot her missing companion, but it was no use – there were just too many people.