Athena's Choice

by Adam Boostrom

  “I'm afraid,” replied Aasha, “there does not exist enough information on file to definitively answer your question. The structure pictured here cannot be matched precisely to any available records from the archives, including blueprints. However, it bears similarity to a series of structures constructed in the former United States at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries.”

  Nomi scrunched up her face, and repeated her question. “Aasha, just give me your best guess. Is this a real place or not?”

  “Possibly.”

  For several silent moments, Nomi waited patiently to hear the rest of the home computer’s analysis, but the virtual assistant had nothing more to say. There was simply no more information on file to give.

  The NAU Times

  February 20th, 2098

  ‘Project Lazarus’ Remains Popular, but Divisive

  CHICAGO — (AP) — Sighting complications and the risk of Y-Fever contagion, scientists at Helix have announced yet another delay in their timetable for the delivery of a usable, Y-fever-immune, male genome.

  Dr. Grace Antares offered some clarification on the delay in a press conference held earlier today:

  “The fact of the matter is that diseases mutate. They evolve. Not only are we striving to build a male genome that can’t get infected by the current fever, but we must ensure that we do not leave the door open for future infection, or a widening of the previous epidemic.”

  In spite of the latest setback, Project Lazarus continues to enjoy a majority of support among the citizenry. According to a recently conducted poll, 67% of respondents remained in favor of completing the project. This is down from 72% when it began. 25% were opposed. 8% described themselves as “indifferent.”

  One Times reader, Elise from Dallas, posted her thoughts on the project’s delays to our social media page:

  “My girlfriends and I agree. No matter if it takes another six months or six years, it’ll be worth the wait. We’re so excited to have men back!”

  Of the 25% who say they are opposed to completing the project, opposition remains enthusiastic. Three fourths categorize themselves as ‘strongly’ or ‘very strongly’ against.

  June 8, 2099

  6

  Discovering that the longer she stared at the painting, the more it creeped her out, Nomi seized on the first excuse to leave and headed inside to shower. Athena, on the other hand, remained at her easel. For several minutes, she gazed at the puzzling image she had created, becoming increasingly transfixed by its subtle details: a curl of ivy here, a shadow of stone there. Unlike Nomi, she felt no discomfort in viewing it. Rather, the sight of the mysterious ruin seemed to promote within her a kind of excited wanderlust.

  Gently, a breeze blew across the surface of the nearby lake, causing countless ripples to form upon its peaceful face. Reclining into her chair, Athena stared up at the clouds, and absent-mindedly swiped her finger into the air. This action activated the ‘paint’ feature of her display. Drawing into the air, she began to sketch silly silhouettes onto the puffy white canvases floating above her. When a red asterisk notification appeared in the top-right corner of her display, she dismissed it with a quick flick from her free hand. Probably, the notification signaled nothing more than the arrival of her daily food shipment. Fresh containers of edible ink had been scheduled to arrive by drone at any minute. Nomi had even sprung for a packet of exotic, designer meat.

  As Athena doodled onto the clouds, she noticed a transformation taking place within her illustrations. At first, the bodies she’d drawn had been clearly female. Increasingly, however, they began to appear more and more masculine. Vividly, the gray-eyed girl found herself slipping into a daydream consisting of muscular bodies with strong arms and firm hands. It took another red asterisk notification, and then a third, to break her from the manly spell.

  “I'm busy, Aasha. What do you want?”

  “I’m sorry,” apologized the home computer. “But I’m afraid there is going to be a disturbance to your afternoon. A representative from Public Safety is demanding to speak with you.”

  Quickly, Athena climbed to her feet. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “The representative is calling right now. I will put them through on the 3D.”

  A gaggle of geese flew by overhead, honking loudly, as Athena abandoned her sketching and headed inside. Her hands began to clam up. A stone formed in the pit of her stomach.

  When she entered the living-room, the 3D there sprang to life. With exacting texture and detail, the device holographically projected the fully-formed figure of a tall woman clad from head-to-toe in a crisp, blue, Public Safety uniform. Near the woman’s shoulder floated a three-dimensional “PS” insignia. She had long, black hair, pale skin, and a set of piercing, royal blue eyes. An intimidating air hung about her, despite the fact that she was only a hologram and not actually present in the room. Athena approached until she stood only a meter in front of the projection of the foreboding Public Safety captain.

  “Athena Vosh,” commanded the hologram, “SSID 74525-85372, you are wanted for questioning with regard to last night’s theft of the Lazarus Genome from secure servers at Helix. Failure to voluntarily comply with this request will result in your display being remotely incapacitated. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.”

  A rush of panic darted through Athena’s brain, but she willed the fear back down. Her posture remained upright, unbroken. “Officer," she insisted, “there must be some mistake—”

  “There is no mistake. You are Athena Vosh, SSID 74525-85372. You have been implicated in the theft of the Lazarus Genome, and are required to report to Public Safety Headquarters for questioning. Compliance is mandatory.”

  As she delivered her decree, the tiniest hint of a devilish smirk emerged on the face of the holographic captain. Athena could have sworn the expression reminded her of someone she knew, but she couldn’t quite place the memory.

  “But officer,” Athena protested, “I have committed no crime.”

  “Noted,” remarked the hologram with a depressed sigh. “Your pleas of innocence have been noted for the official record.” The hologram stopped to roll its eyes. “Public Safety has sent a heli-car to your location. It will arrive in…four minutes. Be ready to leave when it does.”

  With that, the hologram discontinued, and the tall woman disappeared as quickly as she had arrived. Still in shock, Athena stood speechless in the middle of the living room, her mouth agape.

  “Well, now that’s some exciting news,” laughed Nomi. She strode back into view, freshly-showered. Apparently, she had overheard the entire conversation from her bedroom. “I thought you said you checked out early last night?” Nomi’s face displayed a look of faux-confusion which slowly gave way to a bursting smile. “But now I find out the truth. You weren’t sleeping at all. You were committing high-tech larceny!”

  Athena glared back at her friend. “That’s not funny, Nomes. How could Public Safety think I had anything to do with that?”

  “Ohhhhh!” Nomi scoffed. “You’re such a worrier!” She eased her way over to the food printer and pulled out a piping-hot slice of pepperoni pizza. “They’re obviously just mixed-up. You’re not really going to be in any trouble, you know.”

  In spite of the reassurance, Athena’s blood-pressure continued to spike. She paced a deliberate circle around the living-room couch. “What are they even think…? How could…? I couldn’t care less about that stupid male genome!” she announced. “If men want to come back and kill themselves all over again, it’s fine by me!”

  Immediately, Nomi discarded her uneaten slice and rushed to her friend’s side. “Hey,” she whispered, taking Athena’s hand into her own. “I promise you it’s going to be ok. Alright? I love you.” She nuzzled her nose into Athena’s cheek. “What can I do to help? Sienna’s mom is a lawyer. Do you want me to call her?”

  “Lawyers are for guilty people!” Athena shrugged off the embrace and stormed
into her private bedroom. She loosened her slippers and kicked them into a nearby wall. Their impact echoed one after the other: whap, whap.

  Without being told to do so, Aasha took the liberty of releasing a calming scent into the air: lilac with a touch of gooseberries. At a low volume, she played the soft sounds of waves crashing gently into a forgotten shore. Lastly, she printed a new pair of stylish sandals for Athena to wear on her upcoming journey. Only a few minutes later, the ornate footwear popped out of the clothing printer, still hot to the touch. They landed on the ground before Athena’s feet.

  As the home computer’s niceties achieved their intended effect, Athena took a few deep breaths, picked up her new shoes, and emerged from her bedroom. “I’m sorry, Nomes,” she apologized. “You’re right. This is all dumb. If Public Safety wants to give me a free ride into the city, then I should take it. I can pick up a few things while I’m there.” She dropped her freshly-printed sandals onto the ground and dipped her toes inside. With a swirl of her finger, she ordered lunch to go.

  “You’ll be home before dark,” assured Nomi.

  Only seconds later, a massive heli-car arrived, flattening the grass of the cabin’s front yard as it landed. On four sides, large propellers surrounded a transparent, sideways-egg-shaped body. On the rear emerged the exhaust pipes of miniaturized jet-engines.

  Nomi watched from a distance as Athena approached the vehicle. The top half of the car’s glass dome separated, allowing her to enter. As Athena climbed inside, Nomi blew a playful, overly-dramatic farewell-kiss. Athena snatched it from the air with a smirk.

  Raising itself a few meters off of the ground, the car produced a soft, humming sound in every direction. It then paused for a brief moment to calculate weight, fuel, destination, and weather, before resuming its ascent to the air space above the wooded tree-line.

  Once all obstacles had been cleared, its spinning blades transformed into wings, and it sped off with a tear of supersonic speed. West. To Chicago.

  Chicago Coordinates: 41°50′13″N 87°41′05″W

  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  This article is about the capital city of the North American Union.

  For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation).

  ▲ Overview:

  Chicago (/ʃᵻˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃᵻˈkɔːɡoʊ/), officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in North American Union. With over 18.6 million residents, it is also the tenth most populous city in the world.

  Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, and grew rapidly in the mid-nineteenth century.

  In 2056, because of its central location, and relative safety from rising coastal sea levels, Chicago was named the capital for the newly created North American Union.

  In the 2080’s, Chicago experienced an explosive growth in population after completing its decade-long weather-fixing project to eliminate frigid winters and scorching summers. Over six million people relocated there between 2081 and 2090.

  Today, Chicago is an international hub for government, finance, commerce, industry, public safety, technology, telecommunications, and transportation services.

  ▼ Demographics

  ▼ Topography

  ▼ Architecture

  ▼ Museums and the Arts

  ▼ Recent Recordings

  Last modified by BumbleBee2075 on 26 May 2099

  June 8, 2099

  7

  When it comes to getting from point A to point B, there are few nicer ways to do it than a personal heli-car. Athena could recall only two other times in her life when she had been inside one. One time had been on a school field trip to the top of Mount Rainer; and another had been when she was eight, when her mother had rented a car for a week of island hopping through the Caribbean.

  The front of the heli-car contained no manual controls of any kind. The cabin consisted of only two, ergonomic seats upholstered in white leather. Periodically, the seats would reshape themselves in order to provide passengers with continual comfort during longer journeys.

  Outside of the car, an expansive wilderness spread out below the all-glass passenger dome. Lakes and treetops appeared in every direction as far as the eye could see. While the sylvan sights whirred by, Athena unwrapped her lunch: a turkey croissant sandwich covered with cucumber and tomato. The moist slices of thinly-printed turkey practically melted on contact with her tongue.

  As she ate, Athena racked her brain, searching for reasons why Public Safety might have identified her as a suspect in the Lazarus theft. No obvious answers came to mind. She had never voiced any public objections to the project, nor even cared enough about its progress to follow it in the news reports. Surely, she thought, Public Safety could pull her online history, and see how little it mattered to her whether the effort succeeded or failed.

  On the other hand, she realized, it would be a lie to pretend she hadn’t been increasingly preoccupied with men over the last few weeks, months, and years. Frequently, she caught herself daydreaming about a future where men would come back to life. Though she'd never seen one in the flesh, the lost gender still existed for her, as they existed for all women, in history projections and pre-fever movies. Over the years, she had caught enough glimpses of their rough bodies to know the masculine shape by heart. She could see their dark features and powerful arms when she closed her eyes.

  Every now and then, late at night, Athena liked to turn off the recording in her bedroom — for the sake of privacy — and sketch out, in charcoal, the naked outlines of male figures. Inside one of the legs of her desk, in a secret compartment, she kept a whole cache of such drawings. Perhaps once or twice a month, she would lay several of the sketches out on her bed and consider the tingling feelings they brought about within her. She craved for the figures to come to life and to observe her in return. She fantasized about the power that her feminine body would hold over them, about what a rush it would be to see those men unable to take their eyes off of her. She wondered about how their calloused hands would feel if pressed against hers or what their pores would smell like when filled with sweat. She longed for them to pull her forcefully into their strong embrace.

  Never, though, would Athena confess to wanting any of this. Never would she admit to Nomi — or to anyone else, for that matter — that she had these thoughts.

  “A woman,” Nomi loved to say, “needs a man as much as a fish needs a bicycle.”

  If the subject of male-rejuvenation ever came up at dinner, Athena liked to politely demur and wait patiently for the conversation to move on to something else.

  One time, Nomi had actually caught Athena in her room, gazing a-little-too-long at a holographic image of a man online. Laughingly, Nomi had accused her friend of being a lonely heart. Athena had recoiled. “Yeah, right,” she had protested in response. “Not a chance!”

  Swallowing the last bite of her sandwich, Athena relaxed into the soft curves of her contoured chair. Still over an hour from Chicago, the heli-car raced along just above the wooded tree-line. As it did so, its only passenger gradually drifted off into a deep sleep.

  June 8, 2099

  Perchance To Dream

  Athena could not say for certain how long she had been walking across the meadow. Perhaps only minutes. Perhaps hours. Yet still she saw no end to the vast expanse of delicate, yellow flowers laying before her. From above, a golden sun shone down, warming her face and neck. From across the endless plain, a soft breeze blew. Curls of air toyed gently with the strands of her hair.

  Upon examination, Athena discovered a surprise. From top-to-bottom, she was dressed in her old “Rainbow Ruby” childhood-pajamas. This fact seemed a bit odd, though, because she could vividly recall outgrowing them many years ago.

  No matter. The seductive sight and scent of daffodils beckoned her onward. Athena frolicked within the meadow. Swiping her arm to the ground, she plucked a handful of the floral beauties and brought them up to h
er face. She inhaled their intoxicating scents, and then carelessly tossed them into the breeze. The flowers floated loosely upward before being transformed into a flock of flying doves.

  BOOOOOOM.

  Athena found her playful romp interrupted by a troubling development on the horizon. Storm clouds had coalesced, slowly at first, but with increasing speed. The darkening clouds grouped more tightly together, forming into a single, unified threat. The mass then turned sharply against the wind as it moved in Athena’s direction. Athena searched for cover to protect herself from the coming storm, but there was nowhere to hide in that vast and endless meadow.

  The storm clouds inched lower and lower to the ground as they approached. While they descended, their color began to fade. Their dark, purplish tint transformed into that of a dusty brown. The sound emanating from them changed too. What previously had been a thunderous roar increasingly began to resemble the drumming of hooves.

  Athena stood her ground as the clouds grew near, terrifying in their noise and speed — and then they stopped suddenly. The clouds parted, and behind them, a massive herd of plains buffalo appeared. Thousands of the gigantic beasts stood barely an arm’s reach away, bobbing their heads up and down, scratching and clawing at the ground in front of them.

  In the center of the herd, a man appeared: a rider. He had short brown hair, greenish eyes, and a full beard. His clothing looked to be made entirely out of buffalo hides. He rode high and tall atop an enormous beast and approached Athena slowly, stopping only inches from her face. His steed nuzzled softly into her chest with its massive nose. Feeling not the least bit afraid, Athena returned the animal’s affection by petting him on top of his furry head. She welcomed the forceful exhale of his nostrils into her chest.

  When she looked up to meet the eyes of the man, he spoke to her in a low and rumbling voice. “Athena,” he bellowed. “The truth is in the library.”