3029

In 3029 very little will be different than today, except that relationships between people will have changed slightly. You might say hello to someone on the street, and if they like you, they will respond, and smile. And you will want to get to know them. You’ll take them out to dinner to a nice restaurant, which will cost about forty hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And after a few weeks you’ll make love. Sex will become a regular occurrence. It will get better and better. You’ll take drugs together, drugs that make you feel things that we have no names for today. And you’ll walk together in parks, and tell stories about the past together, and try to be conscious about how your words can hide your true feelings. You’ll vacation on the beaches of Croatia together or take a trip to Olympus Mons on Mars. Then one day, years later, you’ll be sitting alone in a room and suddenly have the urge to cause them physical harm. And you’ll call them over to you and ask them to have a look at this neat screen you’re reading or at this game you are playing and then slap them hard across the face. Tears will fill their eyes, then a look of horror and your heart will sink, and before you can apologize they’ll slap you back. Your face will sting and tears will fill your eyes. You’ll feel horribly wronged and angry, and slap them harder, maybe a few times. The world will seem to you a sickening place, and you’ll realize, slapping and punching and receiving slaps and punches, that this is 3029, that there is no going back to 3028, that no one in history has ever felt this, and that you alone have got to live with what you’ve done.