I walk down the street as I do daily to the institute, yes, the same boring building every day where everyone goes to class, it's definitely not my favorite place but you have to be there, it's a huge white structure with red details between the columns and the frames of the windows, It is one of the few that conserves an aspect to which the history teachers call "of the first world", I do not pay much attention to all the chatter they do in class.
The little I know, it is thanks to the stories that my friend Adam tells me, stories that trace the history long ago in the past, when the human race fled from the old solar system because of the enlargement of the sun, whose phenomenon they had already predicted centuries before but not precisely with the approximate date, according to the story tells that the event happened much earlier than expected. In spite of everything, the majority was able to flee in the exodus leaving behind only those who could not get there in time. They were horrible times aboard the space cruisers, there were riots, attempts to take control or with provisions, in my opinion it was to be expected, since the only planet that had in mind to populate was one close to the earth and it was also swallowed like a candy by the sun, until the scientists on board had the idea to apply the methods to modify the atmosphere of a nearby star located in the Orion nebula which they called New Earth.
Today, I don't know how much time has passed, nobody knows since the method for measuring time is not the same since then, now we measure planetary cycles, a cycle is completed when the new earth satellites called "Adoras" and "Aorus" they line up revealing how Aorus happens to be a slightly bright reddish ring, covering Adoras with a small whitish moon, it happens very often, so they decided to use them to delimit the passage of what they used to call "days" and although from here you can see our old sun that apparently, the sandwiches sat very well, because against all odds again, kept its size up, it is impossible to visualize without being on an elevated floor or terrace since the lights of the buildings and their size impede the view clearly beyond the inner area of the system consisting of four other planets that travel in orbits around New Earth, the which is the center of the system.
I see the merchants street shops of sector F9, which I live in, distinguished by the light show that the holograms of advertisements make in Capital City, although according to the whole city it is the size of a couple of big countries of the first world, They called it City since it is the only populated area of the planet and yes, it is gigantic, they divided it into sectors delimited by a grid that intersects numbers from 1 to 20 and letters from A to P, I think the engineers focused on the effectiveness of the design of the city in terms of the mobility of the inhabitants and the easy location and possible extension, that by the aesthetics of it.
I walk a few more streets and I hear the sound of a vector, it is the transport used by the people of Capital City to travel between the sectors since doing it on foot or in a land vehicle would mean taking hours between one sector and another, and not all They have the luxury of owning a ship, I look up and there I see it, a black train and blue decorations that travel inside a translucent tunnel sealed to reduce air resistance and increase speed. How else could you travel in minutes across the sectors?
-The engineers have had a lot to play with - I say, as I watch him slowly stop.
The node of sector F9, a large sphere composed of a structure in the lower part and a dome in the upper one, located on top of the buildings, connects to other tunnels through which vectors come and go to other sides, people go up to this from a platform, or as we call it in the institute: "the family elevator" ... -the institute! It's getting late.
I'm only a couple of streets away but I start to hear the sound that indicates the beginning of classes. As I can I manage to get there before they close the doors in my face, I stand at the entrance of my class room to take a breath and there they are looking at me with the face of "Again late" my friends, sitting near the windows like every day, I still do not know how they manage to get those positions since we do not have fixed seats and those are some of the most valued among the class, those and those who are close to Diana the plastic girl, tall, thin , with light brown hair and honey eyes, is the only thing of her physical appearance that I can say has not cost her money, she is the leader of the institute's gymnastics team.
- Get in now, to avoid that my seat was stolen was a mess -says Adam.
Adam is about my height, short black hair, has a yellowish eyes, is a bit stronger than me so most of the time it ends up winning almost without much effort when we fight for any nonsense.
-And this time what did you do?
-I only spit on the seat, nothing extreme, I said I would not give my breakfast again! - He says it very late because I've already sat down.
I close my eyes to avoid knocking him off his desk as they are all spread out on benches for two people behind a desk with a holographic screen and two writing boards.
-I suppose you held it until the end, you could have prevented me from sitting down.
-Zhirk Geodfrey you're already sitting there you can not do anything -he answers me laughing.
That's my name, Zhirk, I do not know where my parents would have invented it, but I like it.
-Keep quiet and leave your conjugal affairs for after school, I do not want to be left to clean the hallways again -says a girl a little shorter than me with straight red hair that hangs up a little below the ears.
-Ashkry, if you say it almost shouting you'll get us to clean the corridors for three cycles. I whisper as I turn to the back desk where my friend is sitting next to Lou, the last of my group, a dark-skinned boy with a strange fascination for the machines.
Lou beckons with his eyes to warn me that the class is about to start while Ashkry is still in his giggle. I stand at my post to mark attendance, we do it by placing our thumbs on a fingerprint sensor which recognizes if I belong to the class and proceeds to turn on my board and the screen of our desk where in the half that corresponds to me my face appears, my name, and today's date: 9th wind age, fifth cycle of Pisces. Here the ages are divided into four elements: water, earth, wind and fire, and each of these is divided into twelve zodiacal signs with 100 cycles each. I was born in the 8th age of fire, tenth cycle of Aries. Almost everyone in my class is that age, a few are from the wind age cycle of Pisces, like Ashkry, it says that it is good luck to be born under a sign of the same element as the age in progress, for me they are only things of Elders and superstitions.
At the end of the school day my friends and I left the building of the institute, I take the opportunity to review the position of Adoras and Aorus to evaluate the possibilities of inventing something to do together before going to our homes, I examine my school uniform which It turns out to be very striking, consists of a slightly loose gray panth with lines of different colors, according to the different activities of the institute, the upper part consists of a flannel in gray scale with lines to match the panth and a Synthetic jacket where most of the tools we use are incorporated. I press with the right forefinger a circle that protrudes from the lower left sleeve of the jacket and a tiny hologram of New Earth appears, revealing Capital City at the top along with two small spheres, one a little larger than the other, the satellites, according to the hologram are about to be visualized on the horizon, each one emerges from a different side but always in opposite directions in order to meet at some point over Capital City.
-Well, today they have made us put up with the teachers until late -I say as I shrug my shoulders.
-Leave it like that, tomorrow we will have a lot of time, it is a cycle of exercises and we usually leave early since most of the course begs for mercy to the teachers in the middle of the day -Ashkry says as he winks, I do not know why he does it if we are included in that list.
- Sometimes I do not understand what goes through your head.
-It's better that way Lou, you would be as crazy as I was if you tried to understand it. -she answers as she slaps him on the back.
On the way to the node we continue discussing what to do tomorrow and decided to visit a new club that opened recently in sector H1, Adam suggests going somewhere else as he has heard from other students that in that place usually meet some troublemakers, but all we look for the good side since we are in the cycles of Pisces under a windy age, and Ashkry was born in these times at an age, in the First World we would have about 18 or 19 years, under the new calendar we would fulfill years every time we entered in the cycle of a zodiacal sign of the same element to the cycle of our birth.
Here we come of age when we complete an age, like Ashkry, who was born in the 8th wind age, piscis cycles, he is practically of age, so why not celebrate it. I guess in the next age, the 9th fire will celebrate those of Adam, Lou, and mine.
Adam was born in the cycles of Taurus, and Lou in the Libra, so we will also celebrate the "birthday" of Lou along with Ashkry, despite being younger than us he managed to be assigned to a more advanced course from young, like almost everything in New Earth is done with machines, it has been great.
-Well, we've already reached the "family elevator".
-We'll see you tomorrow, and make sure you're not late, or you will not come with us! -Lou answers reluctantly.
-It's okay I will not be distracted while I walk, I promise.
While we see how they approach the platform along with twenty other people to climb the node and take a vector to their sectors, Lou lives in sector E9 and Ashkry in F8, due to the large size of Capital City there are many other institutes that receive students of 4 or 6 contiguous sectors.
Adam and I live in the same sector, but each one on a different side of it, so here we also say goodbye to take our way home. I return by the street of the market which is normal that it is full of people in these moments because the inhabitants leave their works to have fun or to go shopping.
Later I find myself at the entrance of the building where my family and I live, the satellites are already slightly above the horizon according to my holographic clock since the height of all the buildings prevents the view from the streets, in some points like the plaza and some parks you can have a more open view, even some luxurious establishments are located in tall buildings and offer terraces where your customers can enjoy the view.
The residential building where I live is part of a set of three wedges of about twenty floors, a little separated from each other and joined in half with a square that serves to communicate the residences without having to descend to the ground floor, I live in the wedge of the center on the fifteenth floor, here in Capital City we have many amenities, even the poorest family has a decent place to live since all the residences are built in buildings to save space.
I'm already at the door of our apartment when the most scandalous neighbor I know, a plump lady enters the hallway with what seems to be a barricade of boxes, comes screaming so loud that I'm sure they would wake any dead.
-Zhirk! Dear tell your mother that in the center of sector J2 there are unmissable offers by the end of the age, I guess they have to make room for the collection of fire, there is everything, if you want I accompany you.
-Okay, I'll tell her thanks for the information.
I open the door and close it before she can besiege me with more screams.
My mother is in the kitchen preparing dinner I see her as always, a simple woman without many dark brown hair arrangements a little curly.
-Mother i'm at home, the neighbor...
-You do not need to say it, I have heard it from here, I will tell her later that I will not be able to go, tomorrow your father will be in Capital City, so I will go to greet him.
I am not surprised that she has heard it, I am sure that if she had said it from her own room she would still hear it.
- Certain that father will be of step tomorrow although I will not be able to see him, it is cycle of exercises.
Normally we have two free cycles and five of classes but every fifteen we must attend classes of exercises.
-Well, I'll send greetings from you and Roddick.
My father works in the stellar port, a base located in Adoras that serves as a port for the transport of merchandise, passengers and raw materials between the planets of the interior system, rarely gives permission to go down to the port of Capital City, only when assign special review papers or when he are on vacation, so, he come home.
I take a bath and go to the dining room where my mother waits for me and my brother for dinner, I take a seat and shortly after my brother joins us.
He's a bit older than me, he was born in the 8th earth age, he's about my height and many say we look a lot like him, his hair is straight as his father's hair is the same as mine and lately it's been a long and long fastened with a small ponytail, I prefer to wear shorter, we are both strong build although he is more heavy than me.
We talk about different issues during dinner and in the end my mother asks me if I have already decided to dedicate myself since at the end of the next fire age I should choose a profession.
-I do not know yet mother but I'll think about it.
-Don't take long, I do not want you to walk around doing nothing when you leave the institute.
-I know, I know, I'll decide by then.
I get up from the table, wash my dishes and lock myself in my room, every time that mother touches that issue it bothers me because it makes me look like I was not interested in doing anything, but something is true, I do not know what to do yet, nothing calls me the attention, I only like to look at the stars, and to think about being able to travel to many places, the only profession that would allow me to travel to my will would be a merchant, but I do not have my own ship and I doubt that my family approves that proposal as they wait that is someone more important.
From my window I can see how Adoras and Aorus begin to align, pointing out that the cycle is about to end, I should sleep, I promised that tomorrow I would be in school in time, so I settle in my bed and I keep thinking about what dedicate myself until I fall asleep.