Ones and Twos Ch. 2
He took the Public Transit Unit from work to a bar close to his quarters. He was meeting a friend there who was a Two-One. He’d already been on the other side and Morty wanted to know more about what he had to look forward to. Most Two-One’s didn’t like to talk about their old life because they missed it too much. But Dave’s perspective was that he had a good time while it lasted and he was happy to tell anyone else about his many adventures out there.
Dave had been born into a family of Twos and so by law was a Two first so that his parents could maintain the family structure they’d always wanted. He had grown up with all the modern luxuries the world had to offer. His parents had sacrificed their allowance of maids and butlers in order to have him. By the Law of Productivity, if a Two is born, the family must do all the everyday tasks themselves and raise the child full time, but everything is still supplied for them. As an adult, Dave spent most of his time sailing around the world on his square-rigger the Elissa. He enjoyed the outdoors and loved to go on adventures.
Morty had met Dave on one of his deliveries. Dave worked as an international importer/exporter. He arranged all of the buying and selling of domestic products to foreign countries and investors. Since Dave had traveled the globe many times over in his first life, he was well suited for the job in this one.
Morty got out of the PTU as it said, “Have a nice day,” and sped away. He walked towards the entrance when he heard a, “Hey, Morty!” from behind him. He turned to find Dave walking in his direction. Dave had short brown hair and vibrant eyes. He’d only been in the work force for 6 years, so his 22 year old body was getting him around quite well. He always wore faded jeans and today sported a standard issue brown suede jacket on account of the slight chill in the wind today.
“Hey, Dave, how’s it going?”
“Not bad. I had a meeting with a client down the street, so I thought I’d just walk on over.” They shook hands and Morty could see the branding of a Two and then a One surrounded by a box on Dave’s right wrist.
“Don’t they usually supply you with a suit for that sort of thing?” They walked inside and sat down at the bar as they spoke.
“Yeah, but this is an old friend. We sailed together in the Philippines many years ago.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. I’m so jealous.”
“Heh, don’t worry my friend, you’ll get your chance. You just have to ask for it.”
“Is it that simple? I just ask for something and I get it?”
“Pretty much. I mean you have to go through the work of filling out forms and specs based on exactly what you want, but that doesn’t take long. They’ll even hook you up with people who have similar interests to give you a crew or supply you with a working rec crew if you want.”
“Man, that sounds like Heaven.”
“Not too far off, my friend.”
“So who do I ask exactly?”
“Well, when you first get to the White City, they give you a PDA which tracks your location anywhere on the globe and makes available anything you want. You just have to go through the proper interface on it.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, little tip though, read the entire instruction booklet. There are some little tricks to get through the thing easier, like forms it’ll fill out on its own and you can save and stuff like that.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“Well, that’s what I’m here for.”
“And of course to enjoy good company. Here, let me ration a drink for ya.”
“Hey, I won’t say no to that.”
Morty took out his ID card and swiped it on the scanner next to the bar. The bartender walked over to him and looked at the screen facing him above the bar. “You got 5 drinks left this month, what’ll it be?”
“A barley beer for me and a …” he looked at Dave.
“A vodka-cran for me,” Dave said.
“Comin’ right up.”
“Hey, did you hear about that Two-One that tried to escape termination?” Dave asked.
“What? No.”
“Yeah, apparently she chose termination because she didn’t want to work for the rest of her life. But after she signed the papers and gave her reasons, she changed her mind and ran.”
“What happened?”
“The guards shot her down; right in the park.”
“Man.”
“I know, it’s crazy.”
“Why would you choose termination and then change your mind, it just doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, that’s women for ya right?”
“Hehe, yeah.”
They’re drinks came and Morty took a big gulp of his amber beer. “Who was she?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like what did she do in Haven?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I only heard about it through some newbs at the office.”
“Hmm.”
Dave took a sip of his vodka-cran and let it slide down into his new stomach. “So what are you gonna do on that last day?”
Morty looked at him. “I don’t know. I hadn’t given it much thought. I don’t think there’s much I can do. I guess go to work same as always.”
“You’re not gonna have a party or anything?”
“Who could come? Everyone will be working.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Dave rubbed his neck. “Shoot, when I left Haven, I threw the biggest bash anyone had ever seen. It was fantastic. Oh, that reminds me, there’s this club called Jerking Madonna down on Gold St. You’ve got to check it out when you get up there. It’s amazing. Oh and tell Katrina hi for me if she’s still there.” Dave sighed. “Ah, those were good times.”
“Do you miss it?”
“Sometimes, but then I think about you poor blokes who haven’t even had that slice of Heaven. No, I had my run. It’s time for me to give back what I took and then die in peace. I think when I get too old to do this job, I’ll ask for reassignment as a teacher; teach some skill. I think that could be fun.”
“Well you’ve got to enjoy your work. That’s rule number one. Even the Processors know that.”
Dave raised his drink. “Here’s to enjoying what you do.”
“Cheers to that.”
They clinked their glasses together and swallowed down the last of the contents.