The Mechanical Sun

By Pietro Barcellona 

The sun was turned. I woke up floating in my gravitational bed. The singing of the birds and chirping of the crickets just started playing as well as the hissing of the wind. My usual breakfast was brought by my robot. It consisted of scrambled eggs and coffee which tasted the same every day.

I left the house when the sun was already high but it didn't matter, my meeting was late and I had time. I looked at the sun. It was a big red shining perfect circle. It made me think of the good old days when there was the real sun with its warming and charming light. Now it felt just like a big neon and that's what it really was.

I reached the station early so I sat looking at people in one of the seats in the corridors. It was full of expressionless people walking here and there almost all dressed in the same black suit and with the same haircut. I tried smiling at a few people but nobody smiled back. They all looked away and had that one freaked out expression. When it was time I went to the tickets machine. Entered my ID and destination and my ticked was printed. I walked toward one of the free catapults and entered the capsule and sat in the chair. The door was closed and I inserted the ticket. Few seconds lated I was shot into the sky. It a was pretty long trip of 15 minutes, my destination was hundreds of kilometres away.