Vega looked at himself in his bathroom mirror to see the permanent identity given to him that day. Inked on his forehead was the word "Janitor", a mark that could never come off and meant to stay with him for the rest of his life. He sighed as he completed his nightly routine and headed to his bed getting ready to sleep before his first day on the job.
"So much for dreams, so much for ambitions," he thought lying down on his mattress. "Only when I sleep now can I have those"
Of course in the city of Polaris, Vega's forehead mark was not only common place for 20 year olds like him, but in fact mandatory. That was the age every person in the city completed their school training and assigned full-time jobs by the Government Intelligence Association or GIA for short.
No citizens in the city of Polaris actually knew who ran GIA though most suspect it was an AI program set up by the ancestors who founded the town many generations go. At birth every citizen is given a wrist watch from whatever hospital they were born in. Wristwatches they would have to wear their whole lives. Wristwatches that would shock them if any rules of the city were ever broken like committing physical harm or staying out past 10pm from their assigned living quarters.
Newborns were immediately separated from their parents at birth and put into foster homes to be taken care of until the age of 10. From the ages 10 until 20 thereafter citizens would enter the school system separated by gender and given individual spaces to live in. And finally, as mandated by an advanced computer based on grades earned in school, each citizen was assigned a 9-5 job when they turned 20.
Vega wasn't a special human in the city of Polaris. He was roughly average height with short black hair and an average build. He was just like everyone else who went through the system. A city where everyone was practically the same, and the only thing interesting to do was watch movies and tv shows, read books, and play video games that had been pre-provided for the citizens in their living quarters and in the appropriate building.
Vega looked outside the window of his apartment and saw pitch black.
"What's even the point of these," He thought to himself staring into the abyss, "It's always just darkness."
He was right, even when Vega awoke in the mornings and looked out the same window, he would again only be able to see darkness outside. And that was because in reality there was no outside. Unknown to all the citizens, the entire city was surrounded by a giant dome, one that citizens could never leave in their entire lives. Each building simply connected to another building one after another. And each one had a tunnel leading to the central train station for citizens to get to whatever district they needed to go to.
"To doing the same shit for the rest of my life," Vega said to himself as he started to doze off, "To doing the same shit for all of eternity."
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"Come on another round another round, double or nothing, I'll bet tomorrow's cake rations as well!" A tall slender man with short brown hair and glasses with the word Repairman tattoo'd on his forehead squirmed clenching his fists in frustration. "No way you can pull off that same combo again."
"Just watch me!" Vega exclaimed hitting the start button on his controller to begin another round.
The sound of buttons mashing fiercely could be heard throughout the arcade the two were in.
"Combo, Combo, Combo, You Winnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn"
"What! How the hell…"
"Whoooooo told ya Spica, undisputed champion."
"Sigh... alright I'll give you those cake rations tomorrow."
"Your tears are delicious to me," Vega said taking a bite from the muffin he had won from the previous round.
Spica groaned as he set his controller down in defeat.
"By the way Vega, how was your first day on the job?"
"Ehhhhh you know, pondering existentially about cleaning floors for the next 60 years."
"I don't know about you but all I need in life is video games for the next 60 years! Usually distracts my mind from such things."
"Yeah I suppose..." Vega replied. "Alright so you trynna get your ass whooped again then?"
"Nah I'm good, I think Ima play a dating sim today, get myself ready for tomorrow."
"Oh yeah… we get assigned them tomorrow don't we?"
"Yeah, and I've never had a romantic conversation with a girl my whole life. Better prepare myself for it."
"I mean yeah, don't want our wrist going buzz by making an attempt. Still, I don't see how these dating sim games are supposed to help us. What the hell kind of society did our ancestors live in? Mixed gender schools? Multiple career options?"
"Well I hope mine tomorrow is pretty anyway, like one of the girls in… let's see, guess I'll go with this one today!"
Spica scrolled through the menu of video games on the TV screen with his controller before arriving at the option After School Writing Club.
"You trying to do a play through with me?"
"Nah I'm good," Vega said again looking out a window of the arcade into the abyss, "I think I'm going to head to the library a bit."
"You reading those books on space again man? I don't see why you do that, it's not like we'll ever see any of that."
"Yeah I know I know," Vega sighed, "I just wish it just wasn't so… I don't know, so dark all the time? You can even see in the dating sim they used to have something called "the sun" that would illuminate the sky above."
"Nah I don't really think about it," Spica exclaimed as he began loading up After School Writing Club. "I feel like everything I need in life is good enough here. Food for life as long as I do my job, a provided partner that I can choose to leave after a year, and unlimited entertainment. So what if it's dark, life's pretty good."
"Yeah I suppose, I don't know, I just feel like us humans were meant for something more you know? Like you ever wonder how video games and movies even exist? Like who even created the story for these things? They have to be based off something you know. You ever wonder for example what space even is?"
"I don't know man. All I know is we'll be sharing a space starting tomorrow. Better prepare yourself with some interaction options."
Vega laughed, "You're too good sometimes Spica you know that? Anyways I'll see you in two days then, tell me about your assigned partner and if any of your dating sim tactics worked on her."
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Vega looked at his watch giving him instructions for the new apartment he would be arriving at that day.
"482 Adult District 6" is what read on his display. Sure enough, the central subway he stood in made a stop at district 6 and Vega got off. Carrying just one luggage case for his cloths and a backpack, he arrived at his destination, a grey door with the number 482.
He opened the door to find a short muscular brunette woman in a short sleeved blue shirt and white skirt already inside sitting on the chair reading a book with the title 42 Military Strategies.
"Hey! You must be Mira correct?"
The woman looked up from her book. Tattooed on her forehead was the four letter word "Maid".
"Yeah that's me, and you must be Vega?"
"Yeah! Nice to meet you. What's that you're rea… what the hell?!?!"
Vega was taken aback as Mira suddenly took off her shirt revealing a red sports bra underneath.
"What… what the hell are you doing" Vega said covering his eyes.
"Huh? What do you mean, I'm stripping obviously."
"Okay yes sure, but why are you stripping?"
Vega opened a small gap in his finger to see the woman in front of him start taking off her dress before quickly covering his eyes fully again.
"Stop stop what the hell, I just met you. Why are you doing this?"
"What? Isn't it obvious?"
"No… nothing about what you're doing is obvious. Please explain and put your cloths back on."
"I'm trying to fuck."
"What!??!?!?!" Vega blushed backing into the corner of the room "excuse me?"
"What? I'm trying to fuck because I'm horny."
"What the hell, I literally just met you seconds ago. What the hell did they teach you at the girl's school?"
"They teach us guys are horny creatures who constantly want to fuck. Since you're the only guy I'll be able to do that with for the next year, I thought you'd want to fuck."
"What?!?!? I mean sure guys can get horny but we literally just met. Shouldn't we at least introduce ourselves a bit…"
"But master… I want you righttttt nowwww," Mira moaned in a voice eerily similar to one of the erotic sim games Vega and Spica played at the arcade or on their home laptops.
"Noooooo" Vega shrieked. He uncovered his eyes and looked around the room the see the bathroom in the back corner. He then quickly made a beeline towards it before Mira could get any closer to him and locked the door.
"Sigh…" Mira thought, "guess I got a shy one. Or maybe guys are all really like this. Who knows."
About 10 minutes later while Vega hid in the bathroom trying to calm himself, a voice came out from the other side of the door.
"Heyyyy I'm dressed, you can come out now."
Unsure of the truthfulness behind the statement, Vega slightly opened the bathroom door to take a peak outside. Sure enough Mira had put the garments she had taken off previously back on her body and was now standing fully clothed outside the bathroom.
"Phew…" Vega exclaimed exiting the bathroom door, "Why… why did you do that just now?"
"I told you already didn't I? Because I'm horny?"
"What? How is that possible. Are all girls like that?"
"Yes dumbass, girls in fact get horny. I mean you get the urges too as a guy right? Desires you've been feeling since about 13. Things you can only see happening in movies? Don't see what the problem is I mean, not like we have any other options for the year and we're literally assigned to each other. Might as well release some stress."
"Yeah but... I just met you. Shouldn't we I don't know, at least introduce ourselves first?"
"Yeah sure alright, hi my name's Mira I'm assigned as a maid. Your name's Vega you're a janitor. Okay! That should be good for introductions. Now then…"
She began taking off her shirt again.
"Nooooooooo stop stop."
"What else is there to know?" Mira complained keeping her shirt on. "It literally says permanently on our foreheads what we are."
"Yeah I know, but it's like…" Vega paused for a moment thinking about the romance shows he watched and what made the interactions between the characters interesting, "What… do you do for fun?"
"Same thing everyone else does here. I play the video games they have preset for us, I watch the tv shows and movies they have present for us, and I read the books in the library they got for us. The only things we really can do in the city for fun. Why even ask?"
"Huh… yeah I suppose that does make sense." Vega said, "But what kind of those things do you like. I see you got a book about…?"
"What this here? This book's about war you know what that is?"
"Yeah that's when other cities or as our ancestors called them with larger groups of people, countries, fought each other right?"
At the comment Mira raised an eyebrow
"Yeah, the tactical outplays are pretty interesting. I use some of the strategies to win at Age of Militia, we should go to the arcade sometime play!"
"Yeah..." Vega sighed, "That is something to do I suppose."
"You sure do like sighing don't ya? What's wrong, don't like violence?"
"No no, I mean yes but like I don't know. Nothing wrong with military games. But don't you think it's strange how nothing in this city exists the same way as the things depicted in the video games?"
Mira looked at Vega blankly at the statement before laughing.
"Yeah I mean no shit, we live in a city with no real free choice of things other than the media we consume. That's why I'm saying let's just enjoy ourselves and do things that are at least fun, like fucking."
"What but…"
"But what? What you holding back for after 20 years?"
"Well, I don't know, shouldn't we try and find out if we love each other or something first?"
"Love…" Mira repeated staring blankly at Vega before bursting out in laughter
"Hahahahaha yeah sure love… as if we have any choice on these things here. You play too many dating sim games Vega."
She stood up and began walking towards the door leading to the bedrooms.
"Wait where you going?"
"This conversations boring, I'm going to use one of my toys. Come join if you want… or not whatever, we'll be seeing each other every day for a year anyway."
As she left into the bedroom Vega let out a sigh before retrieving the luggage he had brought in and began unpacking. As he did so he took out the book he had inside titled The Constellations.
"Why'd I get stuck with a promiscuous one? Oh well… at least I have books"
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"How many deceased from Polaris this week lieutenant?"
Inside a small dimly lit room two green skinned humanoid aliens stood talking to each other. The one who asked the question looked like a older alien who might have been middle aged while the other looked like a young adult.
"Looks like 10 this week. 5 from heart failure, 4 from cancer, and one from… accidental electrocution?"
"What? How is that even possible. Aren't all the wattages extremely low for the machines?"
"Yeah I don't know… it says here that it was a man age 80 who attempted to break his wrist watch with a knife"
The older alien chuckled.
"Humans I swear. Anyways get the bodies transported and decomposed."
"Yes sir, the resource management department is on it."
"Human corpses sure do make for good fuel don't they?"
"Yes sir, they sure do."
"And what about the protestors, have you gotten them under control?"
"They've taken to the streets of Doineberg with the election coming up. It may be hard to settle tensions as things stand."
"Sigh, it's the same thing every 200 or so years. Free the humans they all say! As if humans could ever be anything more than fuel for our civilization. We even give them a lab grown meals and media. How are there ever complaints? Seems like a fine lifeeeee to me."
"Yes sir. You're very right sir."
"Anyways next city then. How many deceased in Taurus this week?"
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For the next month or so during the beginning of Vega's adult life, a monotonous cycle started to form. Vega would wake up each day at around 8:30 to start his morning routine and get ready for work. Occasionally Mira would crawl into the same bed as him placing her breasts near his face. Each time waking up and noticing this however, Vega would quickly push her off the bed.
"Let's fuck today then!" Mira would shout enthusiastically in the mornings.
"Noooooo I'm no ready yet."
"Sighh…. alright fine what are you trying to do after work then."
"Hmm… how about we keep playing our Age of Militia campaign?"
"Sounds good honey, I'll see ya after work then."
"Please just call me Vega"
"But that's boringggg…" Mira whined, "I can't seduce you by just calling you by your first name you know."
"Then stop trying to, just give me some time okay I mean you are…"
"Yeah yeah yeah I'm your first partner I get it. Not like timing really matters when you spend every day with me already but whatever nerd. I'll see you after work then."
Slowly over the month Vega and Mira had at the very least formed a sort of friendship between them. After work they would usually head to the arcade to play video games. Along with those two were Vega's friend from school, Spica, and his assigned partner, a long blonde haired girl of average build with the tattoo "teacher" on her forehead.
"She's usually pretty quiet but I've seen her read some real kinky OWWWWW...." Spica said when he had introduced Irena at the arcade who delivered a swift kick to his shin.
"They don't need to know that"
"As you can tell… we've been getting along quite well!"
"My name's Irena, it's nice to meet you two!" Spica's partner said in a soft voice.
The 4 would spend their afternoons hanging out at the arcade playing video games until the day turned into night time. It honestly was not a bad life with a lot of fun times.
One day about a month after Mira had been introduced into his life, Vega decided to spend his evening after work from janitorial duty at the library reading a novel by the title Great Space Expeditions of the 24th Century
"The satellite Gamma had finally reached our closest star Proxima Centauri that year." Vega read, "However what we found that year was more than just the bodies of a new star system. What we found instead was…"
Vega turned the page. A puzzled expression appeared on his face as he noticed something odd. The next page of the book was blank. Not only that, but as he flipped through the rest of the pages of the book, every page from then on out of the text was in fact blank.
"What the heck happened here?" Vega thought to himself. He checked around the library to see if there were any texts talking about the time period of the book. There were none however and as Vega searched further, he realized he couldn't even find any texts relating to a period of time after the 24th century. Not that Vega knew exactly when that was anyway. In the city of Polaris they didn't keep track of year, only week and day.
Vega carried the text up to the librarian who simply shook her head when he asked if this was intentional or not. When he then asked if there was any books about humans past the 24th century she also shook her head saying that's where the human mythos ended.
"Guess I'll just head to the arcade then after this...." He thought to himself, "Bummer, our ancestors really did lead way more interesting lives then… wait what's that?"
As he was placing the book back on the shelf, Vega noticed a small piece of text scribbled on the bottom of the back bindings of the book. He squinted a bit pulling the book close to his eyes.
"Apartment 423223"
Based on the large number Vega deduced it was an apartment where likely an elderly couple lived.
"That's odd why would that be here…"
His curiosity began to engulf him as he once again removed the book from the shelf.
"I'm borrowing this!" He shouted at the librarian as he headed out of the room.
"Okay be sure to return it within a week!"
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As Vega boarded the central subway station his heart started to beat fast in excitement.
"Why was the rest of this book blank? What happened to our ancestors and Earth after the satellite reached Alpha Centauri." So many questions began to ring in Vega's head, "Sorry Spica but we can play Fight Out some other time"
"This is the final stop, please all passengers get off here. Thank you!"
The only ones left on the subway aside from Vega were a bunch of elderly people. Vega quickly walked past the crowd and onto the apartments platform.
"423220, 423221, 423222, here we go."
Vega reached his target destination and gave a slow knock on the door.
"Could the people here know something about our ancestors that most humans don't? So odd I'm sure more people would want to know if that were the case."
As the questions whirred back into Vega's head however, the door in front of him remained shut. He knocked again. Still no answer.
He looked to his left and then to his right to make sure that no one was watching him.
"If I get shocked by my wristwatch for this I guess I get shocked by my wrist watch for this" Vega muttered to himself. Slowly he reached for the knob of the door and turned it. To his surprise the door opened.