Rough Writing

A high pitched whine jolted Lana awake. She quickly rolled over and waved frantically at the wall sensor to prove to the computer she’d woken up enough it would turn off her alarm. “Cursed contraptions” she muttered as she yawned and blearily rubbed her eyes. Lana turned and gently smiled while looking down at Xi An who was still sound asleep in their bed. “Our bed, who would have thought…” Lana thought to herself. Shaking her thoughts away from how happy she was to have found a partner so soon after leaving the home system she turned and focused on gearing up for her days work out on the construction crews rebuilding one of the main mag hubs. She’d never been evaluated high enough to be much more than what she was now and her markers meant she’d probably never be allowed to be part of a new generation but while part of her was bothered by that harsh fact it was firmly repressed. No use thinking about things that were never going to change. Maybe if she was lucky she’d do something to merit her genes worthy of being passed on but it wasn’t likely she would have that chance working construction.

Lana pulled on her layered rough coat, signature orange vest and orange helmet with her tough gloves and boots and left her small apartment. The door hissed behind her and revealed a dimly lit corridor with graffiti and trash littering the hallway. She barely even saw it as she moved to the elevator and shunted down to the nearest mass transport. The street layer she exited on was full of people pushing and shoving to get to where ever they needed to go. Despite the early hour the sun’s rays would never penetrate the ever present mist layer that hung over the city’s lower quarters. Lana and Xi An couldn’t afford much better quarters but at least they were some what safe even if not in the greatest location. Xi An was a late night driver for one of the massive transport companies in town and they usually only crossed paths around dinner time. Xi An would be getting ready for work and Lana would be coming home from work. They still enjoyed the occasional day off together and those moments of togetherness made all the hard work worth it.

Lana maneuvered around a bot hauling something along the streets. It was a gentle giant of a machine that quietly hissed and whirred with each careful step but its sensor cluster merely watched for obstacles and avoided them. There was no real intelligence in that brilliantly complex machine’s head. Lana was a controller on the construction site. Her job was to lead and manage several complex robots through the day as they manipulated and moved heavy equipment. It was a good hybrid system. Lana would jack in and have information flood her mind as she managed the core decision making of the system. She was proud she could handle 6 large machines, 1 more than her rated 5 based on her genetic profile. She had worked very hard to be able to manage another machine. It gave her that much more in her monthly earnings.

At a transport curve in the path Lana climbed into a hulking bus. It was floating gently above a solid rail that enabled it to travel . The whole sky was full of complex rail pathways that millions of transports flew along at incredible speed around the city. The rails provided both power and lift capability that enabled each transport to reach a safe limited speed of almost 1200 kilometers per hour. Lana waved her hand over the rate scanner and it logged her and automatically informed the transport where she needed to go at that time. As the last passenger settled into their seat the transport seamlessly pulled away from the station and entered the rail system with a calculated path to get all current passengers to their desired destinations in a timely manner.

Lana settled into her acceleration chair comfortably and turned on a visual training. Her site was about an hour from where she lived right now and she used the travel time to get up to date on new and upcoming construction control technology. Her dedicated maternal figure had been very keen on making sure all her youth understood the value of learning despite any genetically determined factors.