Lena Hutchinson: Married, Mother of Two

Lena unplugged herself from her computer, rose from her chair, and turned from her tiny cubicle into the orderly line that appeared with the chiming of the bell. She was tired, numbed more than usual after 10 hours of processing paperwork. She'd been productive, with the neural uplink there wasn't much of an option for slacking off, but she didn't feel particularly accomplished. She was mostly just relieved the day was done so that she could go home to her family.

She was sure John would be just as tired but she was hopeful that they would both hang in there long enough to spend some time together in bed tonight. She really needed the release, even if she needed sleep just as much. She quirked a smile as the freezing night air swept over her: maybe almost as much. The train ride home was quiet and brief, the bullet car hurtling through the tube at 400 kph and filled with processors just as exhausted as she was. A young man across from her was nodding off against the woman next to him, who in turn looked too tired to care.

Not for the first time, Lena wondered at the bleakness of her reality. Things had gone downhill after the global climate shifts and the major ecological collapse that followed them. Now most people spent their days working to fix the world that generations past had broken. The corporations told them that something new and exciting was on the horizon, a hope for happiness in dark times, but Lena didn't believe them. There were no magic answers to the worlds problems.

"Hey mom!" Lena bent to embrace Julian, her youngest, while her 15 year old, Sarah, waved at her from the kitchen."You made dinner again?"

Sarah shrugged, "I figured you and dad would be too tired."

'Dinner' was mostly dried algal strips rehydrated in spiced water but it was better than the strips taken straight. It wasn't an issue making food to support earths billions anymore but making good food was another problem entirely. John arrived not long after her, looking just as tired but still managing a smile.

When she and John put the children to sleep and crawled into bed themselves, Lena was seriously weighing how horny she really was and if it was worth giving up the sleep. Fortunately, John had a little more strength than her and she didn't regret the time lost.

Until roughly three hours later when she awoke, strapped down alone in a white room with a screen facing her.