To Tend and Watch Over by D.W. Patterson

Author:D.W. Patterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, hard science fiction
Publisher: D.W. Patterson
Published: 2021-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

9

People walked everywhere now. Even long distances across the complex. There were taxis for people that had difficulties walking. But most were encouraged to walk. The Ems had made it easier to walk by managing the traffic in real-time and favoring pedestrians. And because more people walked, fewer drove or were driven, the overall health of the complex's residents had improved, just as the Ems had planned.

After putting away the book Davide left the apartment and was walking in the direction that would allow him to watch the sunrise at the complex's edge wall. It was still dark when he arrived. The safety wall was in front of him. Beyond was the open space but no one went beyond the safety wall. He was tired but there was nowhere to sit so he sat with his back against the cement wall. He tilted his head back and saw, through the haze of the artificial lighting, a few bright stars. He watched the sky as the first tinge of sunrise shown red above the wall’s top. The red tinge brightened faster than he expected until it had overpowered the street and building lights. The streetlights began to shut off. The dark blue of the sky appeared to soften into azure.

The day had begun though it was still relatively quiet here at the edge of the complex. Very few people had business out this way. Many worked at home. Virtual games kept many others occupied. Most people would send a robot out when they needed something or have it delivered by drone. Another behavior modification the Ems had planned to help prevent the spread of disease.

Davide watched the sky brighten and felt his mood lift. He yawned, then got up to go home and sleep.

He awoke in the afternoon. Eating a bite while facing the balcony window, he remembered the sunshine in the pictures of his book. For some reason, those simple photos were more realistic than any of the images he saw on his Annie. He wondered if there were other books with similar pictures.

It wasn’t easy searching the net for paper books since everything was published electronically now. His Annie finally found a site that offered some old paper books. He found a gardening book that looked promising and ordered it. It was surprisingly inexpensive for such an object.

He looked at the balcony, it was getting late. He needed to go out. He dressed and told Sigmund he would be back in a couple of hours, he quickly glanced at the book on the shelf as he was leaving. The pleasing thought came to him that soon it would have a companion. He bought some fruit at the grocer downstairs and headed for the complex's edge.

He mostly passed robots on the street running errands or doing work for the Ems or the government. The streetlights had still not come on by the time he arrived at the wall. Again there wasn't anyone nearby or rather there was someone a couple of streets over.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.