VISIONS OF EDEN

Blood seeps from where the fall sloughed away my flesh. A sort of morbid fascination grips me and I lift my knee for a better look as the red fluid hardens into a protective scab. My Interceptor lying broken at my feet, minutes old and already useless. Sorrow overcomes me as does anger. I'm angry at Aunt Gertrude for letting me take my toy out of our section and at myself for being so careless. Tears fill my eyes and I drag my arm across my face. I'm trying to hold them back but to no avail; the first warm salty drop rolls down my face, hesitating at the top of my cheek before falling down my face and dropping onto my leg. When I lower my arm, my hand accidentally bats the fresh scab on my knee unleashing a wave of pain. I don't understand, the wound's not that serious. Pain, so much pain, clawing at me. And then I realize I'm no longer a child. My parents smile down at me and I watch, horrified, as their faces crack, sprouting lesions filled with blood and pus.

I open my mouth wide and scream.
 

CHAPTER ONE
Earth

David, wake up!

I opened my eyes and blinked. Cold sweat covered my body. Morning light pierced the holes in the scrap sheet metal that formed my family's residence. Outside, the breeze stirred up clouds of dust and pelted the house with sand and bits of debris. I raised my arm to shield my eyes and glanced about my room trying in vain to hold onto my dream as it faded away. My computer and shelves of books and data disks covering every topic from language to vector calculus looked out of place in their squalid surroundings.

You were screaming in your sleep.

My younger sister Eva stood in the doorway. She sounded tired and irritated. A lump rose in my throat as I remembered how beautiful she had been as a child, blonde tresses framing her slim face and happy blue eyes. Now she bore the same tumors, lesions, and other injuries as every other post-Destruction Earther.

I had the dream again.

She shrugged. Happy birthday.

Is it?

Breakfast is almost ready, she said.

I flexed my muscles and sat up, feeling the aches and pains that had been with me as long as I could remember. Almost as long, I reminded myself; there had been better days. The soreness reminded me I was alive. August 13th, 2564. I sighed. Birthday? No, just another day of fixing vaporizers, our major source of water. My body throbbed. I felt growing wet spots as several scabs broke open. What I wouldn't give to be five years old again with only a skinned knee to worry about! Pus oozed from an ulcer and trickled down my arm. Today, I ignored it: I was finally a man.

Eighteen years. I rose, folded my worn blanket into a hooded cloak, then dabbed mud-like sunscreen on my face. I hope the second half of my life is better than the first.

Aunt Gertrude rained you yet another package, Eva said.

That woman has spared no expense educating me. I waved one of my hundreds of data disks at her. For what? Look at this one: 'Practical Intra-System Maneuvering.' When am I ever going to fly a spaceship?

It is a nice fantasy though, I continued in a low voice, remembering the toy Interceptor as I replaced the disk on the shelf. If nothing else, Aunt Gertrude's attentions kept my hopes of a better future alive. But how would I  achieve it? Why can't she ever send something useful?

Eva shrugged.