It was the middle of the night, a sudden banging on the door. Startled, Bert rose to his feet and sluggishly made his way to the door.
"<:: Bert Collins, a mandatory relocation has been issued for you. You will be escorted to the train station where you will receive your relocation coupon. ::>"
Bert rubbed his eyes, he was confused but nonetheless forced out of his apartment block by the Civil Protection. The night sky was covered by a thick layer of clouds and the streets were dimly lit by the street lamps. They arrived at the train station, it was empty and the only presence was that of a receptionist on the brink of sleep behind the glass panel of the counter. Bert walked up to the receptionist and passed her his CID.
"Mister Collins... Here is your relocation coupon. The train will arrive...whenever it arrives. Never know when these damned trains ever do arrive or leave anymore..."
Bert grabbed his CID back along with the Relocation Coupon. He downed a small nod at the receptionist before making his way to the platforms. Only one train line was present, but it looked to have been out of service for years. He laid down on the bench, slowly drifting back off to sleep.
At what seemed to be the brink of dawn, the horn of a train blared in the distance, slowly waking Bert. An old yellow "DR1" train slowly pulled into the station, eventually stopping in front of Bert. It was populated by a few other citizens who disembarked the train before Bert along with two other citizens embarked themselves. Soon after embarking, the train left the station. It ventured forth into the outskirts of the city before venturing further into the outlands. A world that was so rich with natural resources, now visibly drained. A once lush and living world, bleak and seemingly on the brink of death. Bert stared outside of the window, full of sorrow with the state of his world.
"Crazy what they did, huh?"
"I'm sorry?"
"I said it's crazy what they did, huh? To think that we thought we were going to be the ones to kill our planet... Funny how things don't turn out how they were supposed to."
"Oh— Yeah..."
"What's your name, man?"
"Me? Name's Bert."
"Bert, huh? American?"
"Yeah. California. You?"
"Montana. So, what's your story?"
"My story?"
"Yeah, what did you do before?"
"Oh. I used to make various stuff for various companies."
"So what...? An engineer?"
"Yeah, in a sense."
"Interesting... What kind of things did you make?"
"Well... I built this adaptive torque system for a mid-range manufacturing line. The machines they had were tightening things too much or not enough, messing up the products. So I added sensors that could feel how tight things were getting, wrote a bit of code to let the system adjust itself in real time, and built some parts by hand to make it all fit. Over time, it even learned to adjust as the tools wore down. Kept everything running smooth without constant fixing."
"...What?"
"Oh...uh—basically, I made an automatic wrench that knows when to stop?"
"...Right. I'll pretend like I understood."
"Well, what about you? What did you do?"
"Me? I was a rancher. Had my own ranch that was passed down to me from generations. My Pa taught me how to raise cattle, how to farm, how to build and maintain the house..."
Bert nodded. The two fell silent and just continued to watch the world pass by. The train slowly rode along the railways, tree after tree, passing by what used to be lakes and seas, now dried up.
Thanks to @Lynch for the inspiration.
"<:: Bert Collins, a mandatory relocation has been issued for you. You will be escorted to the train station where you will receive your relocation coupon. ::>"
Bert rubbed his eyes, he was confused but nonetheless forced out of his apartment block by the Civil Protection. The night sky was covered by a thick layer of clouds and the streets were dimly lit by the street lamps. They arrived at the train station, it was empty and the only presence was that of a receptionist on the brink of sleep behind the glass panel of the counter. Bert walked up to the receptionist and passed her his CID.
"Mister Collins... Here is your relocation coupon. The train will arrive...whenever it arrives. Never know when these damned trains ever do arrive or leave anymore..."
Bert grabbed his CID back along with the Relocation Coupon. He downed a small nod at the receptionist before making his way to the platforms. Only one train line was present, but it looked to have been out of service for years. He laid down on the bench, slowly drifting back off to sleep.
At what seemed to be the brink of dawn, the horn of a train blared in the distance, slowly waking Bert. An old yellow "DR1" train slowly pulled into the station, eventually stopping in front of Bert. It was populated by a few other citizens who disembarked the train before Bert along with two other citizens embarked themselves. Soon after embarking, the train left the station. It ventured forth into the outskirts of the city before venturing further into the outlands. A world that was so rich with natural resources, now visibly drained. A once lush and living world, bleak and seemingly on the brink of death. Bert stared outside of the window, full of sorrow with the state of his world.
"Crazy what they did, huh?"
"I'm sorry?"
"I said it's crazy what they did, huh? To think that we thought we were going to be the ones to kill our planet... Funny how things don't turn out how they were supposed to."
"Oh— Yeah..."
"What's your name, man?"
"Me? Name's Bert."
"Bert, huh? American?"
"Yeah. California. You?"
"Montana. So, what's your story?"
"My story?"
"Yeah, what did you do before?"
"Oh. I used to make various stuff for various companies."
"So what...? An engineer?"
"Yeah, in a sense."
"Interesting... What kind of things did you make?"
"Well... I built this adaptive torque system for a mid-range manufacturing line. The machines they had were tightening things too much or not enough, messing up the products. So I added sensors that could feel how tight things were getting, wrote a bit of code to let the system adjust itself in real time, and built some parts by hand to make it all fit. Over time, it even learned to adjust as the tools wore down. Kept everything running smooth without constant fixing."
"...What?"
"Oh...uh—basically, I made an automatic wrench that knows when to stop?"
"...Right. I'll pretend like I understood."
"Well, what about you? What did you do?"
"Me? I was a rancher. Had my own ranch that was passed down to me from generations. My Pa taught me how to raise cattle, how to farm, how to build and maintain the house..."
Bert nodded. The two fell silent and just continued to watch the world pass by. The train slowly rode along the railways, tree after tree, passing by what used to be lakes and seas, now dried up.
Thanks to @Lynch for the inspiration.