'Is it really true that the sky used to look blue and beautiful? I wonder how the earth looks now.'
Theodore Black started for home with a bag in his hand. The world around him wasn't something you'd find in history books.
Zombie apocalypse, alien invasion, AI domination, and so on might have been the greatest threat to humankind. But fortunately, they were now in the past. All this current world had to offer was the fake supremacy of genes brought by money and the smell of filtrated plasma reactor's wastes in the air. It was not poisonous but it just didn't feel nice to smell that all the time.
The difference between the rich and the poor had escalated in the past few centuries by several folds. Buying groceries was not easy for lower-middle-class citizens. Unlike the rich guys who could get everything brought to them on a single demand, people like Theodore had to come down to the market to buy things. But that wasn't the problem. They actually had to pay more to get inferior quality products.
'Why do I feel I got ripped off?'
Theodore took a good look at his plasma bag. Though it was called a plasma bag, it didn't have any plasma. It did have a connection to the INterdimentinal Elevator though. The bag also had more space than a truck, though the actual size of the bag was a little more than a typical plastic bag. It wasn't very heavy either. Probably the only expensive thing, Theodore ever carried with him.
Luckily his home was only five minutes away. He couldn't afford hovercrafts let alone Teleports. So the escalator was the only way to do things unless he needed to travel great distances. The footpath was still around for the poor guys. It used an old escalating system so walking wasn't necessary. However, not many people were poor anymore. So the wanting to renovate the pathway to make more building space, was predominant in the society.
Theodore reached home and again felt pity on how he was living in this meaningless yet so meaningful city. He was 21 and lived alone. It was a shame that he still lived on wages from his family, but his family didn't seem to mind. They'd occasionally say a few words that'd make Theodore want to jump into the abyss but that's a different story.
As luck would have it, if you were a normal person in this world you would never find a job without proper connections which his family couldn't provide: or rather, didn't provide. Give so much push to a single worthless child who couldn't even find jobs in construction? Yeah right. Life wasn't that fair anyway. At least not for him.
After all, even construction jobs required superhuman strengths and a bit more speed than him. As a natural-born human with no gene editing, he just simply didn't cut the bill. He was ordinary in every sense of the word. But some part of him was actually glad that he was ordinary.
But he himself didn't know that.
He did have dreams though.
Don't we all?
Humanity had long surpassed the bounds of earth. Soon they were set to establish the first colony outside their own galaxy's first quadrant. Theo's grand dream was to set sails for the unknown. He had always been a fan of books about sailing, and secretly, pirates. Even in the age of instantly downloading knowledge directly to your brain, he still read books. He was odd in the eyes of society.
However, instead of sailing the seas, he wished to sail in space. Maybe that might have been a dream job for humans of the past. But with danger crawling everywhere like: rocks, viruses, black holes, supernovae, and so much more, space exploration wasn't considered a dream anymore. It was a mandatory job for the continuation of the human race. And it was also a job people couldn't take on halfheartedly.
So his chances weren't that high but it was still there. As long he was willing to take the risks, that is.
Alas! For an unmodified broke human such as him, that was still quite the impossible.
He started to make coffee after getting fresh. Just put in the powder and warm water. That was enough to make coffee. Not much different from the old days. But the taste was fine-tuned. So not many people would have been able to tell the difference between that and an actual brew.
Theo sipped coffee, let it sink, and sat on his legless sofa. It hovered gently as he sunk in. it was a comfortable feeling. The foam was so soft that it would put everything else to shame- at least that was what he believed in the moment. But reality was different. Even he knew this was one of the cheaper options.
It didn't stop him from being comfy though.
His memory jogged ever so suddenly. "Shouldn't the results be out today?" He checked the universal time and it was a little past 4 pm. He was supposed to receive word on whether he passed the test for the captain of the Sylvester spaceship destined to venture into the quadrant of 44-7 of the Entrokian nebula, or not. At this point, he'd even take up offers such as plumbing for the ship just to go out in space.
He gulped and touched the round object floating around; The Holo. He was rather nervous but after looking at the Holo-mail was definitely heartbroken.
"Dear Theodore Black,
We are sorry to inform you that your request 4t-hsh/43 has been denied due to your lack of necessary attributes." A lady with a serious tone blurted out what was recorded and seemed to pierce his anticipating heart.
Just seeing and listening to that much tore his heart to pieces. 'How many rejections does this make?' He forgot to count. He'd been rejected more times in his life than the days he'd lived.
Deep down he knew, this was bound to happen: after all, he didn't possess the necessary intellect for the position of captain.
'But not even a plumber?'
He snorted at himself. He was a failure, both to society and to him.
***
With a heavy heart, Theo went to the kitchen to look for something to eat. He didn't even watch the rest of the Holo-mail. But if he had he'd have known, the rest of the mail wasn't all that negative.
His apartment had only one room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Nothing too fancy but nothing too cheap either.
Heading to the kitchen, he punched the wall in frustration only to screw his hand. "Damn it!" Luckily he didn't possess super-strength otherwise he'd have had to pay one hell of a repair fee by now. Maybe his vastly ordinary genes weren't so bad?
Tell that to his aching knuckles.