[Where Are You Pops?] [PG-10] [Soft Sci-Fi] [Tragedy] [Hope]

 

5-Sci-FiSoft- Where Are You Pops?

Where Are You Pops?

Written by J. J. Bartel 

PG-10 Sci-Fi, Soft, Tragedy, Hope 

Copyright 2024

In Monkshood Alley, even a scummy fool could indulge in many drugs for cheap. One such scummy fool was a teenager with a painted face, ragged clothes, and an intoxicated stagger who stumbled to an apartment door. He grabbed the handle and began trying to twist the knob.  

“Why won’t it open.” The boy said. 

A mid-30s woman from the other side twisted the door handle and yanked the door open. She was in a somewhat baggy latex outfit, a single piece covering most of her body except for the feet, hands, and above the neck. 

The woman  said, “Mull, what are you doing?” 

“Whatever I want,” Mull replied. “Just got back from a party, adult. It was tot lit.”

“I will ‘tot lit’ you.” She said. “You will be held back again if you don’t complete your human history homework.” She grabbed him by the ear and began to tug. 

“What the buzz? You harshing the vibe.” 

“I’ve had it with you, Mull. You need to realize that there is more to life than partying! You need to take your final class so that you can graduate and go somewhere else so that you can make something of your life.” She tugged him past some potted mulberry trees fruiting and flowering to the back room, where she tapped the pad, opening the door. She half-tugged and threw him in the room. “Solve your homework in the simulation, and then you can do something fun.” 

“I don’t need to graduate to have fun! Even Monkshood has pleasure for the people.”

“As your mother-”

“You’re not a mom! I am like everyone else, a test tube baby, a tubee.” 

Her face flushed with anger, and she contorted her face and said, “You get no food.”

“That reddish mush ain’t food.”

“No buzz, nothing until you get your homework done.”

“You can’t”

“I can since I ain’t your mother!” She started with angry sarcasm. The door sheet dropped down, trapping him in a warm grey room. A while later, while the substances wore off, he got up to his feet. 

“Stupid homework.” He gestured with his hand a holographic light brown screen shone in front of him. He read out loud, “Go through your simulation room and observe for 30 minutes an era of humanity.  Record by hand observations.

“This introductory assignment again! I thought I could skip it this year.” Mull rolled his eyes. “Well, I am not doing anything.” With that, he sat down and waited. And waited. Waited some more. He paced the room and pounded on the door, screaming to be let out, but the adult did nothing. 

“This is stupid.” He said, glancing back at the assignment. He noticed a strange broken star at the base of the hologram. 

“That’s it. If the assignment can’t be done, they must give me full credit for something impossible!” He smiled to himself, wiping spittle off his lips. “If I ask for something that doesn’t exist, it will break the assignment, and it’s a free Top Score.” 

He stood up tall, smiled, and said, “Simi.” A male early 20’s voice said, “What now?”

With a growing smile, Mull said, “Show me this: my grandparents. Like that’s even possible.” 

“Three videos available for public viewing.” 

“Huh?” 

“Now playing the first video.” 

The simulation room changed. Mull was standing in a hospital room with a younger woman who looked like his mom, with a baby covered in blood in her arms. 

The doctor robot said, “Huh. Traditional birth completed, despite difficulties. It has male parts. How shall it be named?” 

She said, “What he wanted, what his father wanted. Mull.”

An older woman near her said, “Daughter, are you sure?” 

“It was his last wish.” She turned to the Doctor Robot and said, “First name Mull, Middle name Berry with a family name of Semper.” The video ended. The hospital room faded back into the warm grey room. 

He looked at a screen and muttered, “Mull Berry Semper is my name. The Semper family is an actual family. None of them can be tubees. Does that mean?” He paced about before shouting, “I came from people!” 

“Now playing next video.” 

“How does that work?” 

The room began to transform again into a living room, an elegant space with couches, chairs, paintings, and tables made with real materials like wood and not some gritty plastic. Now even younger, his mother was with a man with light brown skin. Across the pair was a couch with a man and woman sitting beside each other. 

The mom stood up and said, “I came from people! From Actual flesh and blood. I am not just a tubee.” 

The older woman on the left couch got up and said, “You are acting like it. Oh, daughter, we can’t condone marrying a lawman. They drop like flies in Monkshood Alley. That and you want to start your own mulberry tree farm!”

The man by the woman stayed sitting but said, “Sweetie, why not just slowly run parts of our farm?”

“Mom, Dad, you are farming mulberry trees to get silk and wood. I want the fruit because most of the drugs on this asteroid cause permanent damage. Mulberries seem the best food for helping people recover from their addiction.” 

The room was silent when Mull said, “Wait, daughter, sweetie, mom, dad? She came from people?!” 

While he sat down, his mind reeling from the idea, she said, “I want to add to our Semper legacy, and I think the best way to do that is to grow mulberry trees to help the people like the father of my children will.” 

The mother said, “You’re already pregnant?”

“Regardless of your blessing, we will elope, and my first child will be named Barry or Berry if she is a girl.”

Mull’s eyes widened, and said, “My name could have been lamer than Mull?!?” 

“Mulberry growing is our family legacy. I don’t want him or her just to inherit money but kindness, too.”  

“No.” The father said. “The market is violent. If you try to get a new mulberry farm, attempts will be made on your life, especially on a cop in a neighborhood that corrupts what they can’t kill. If I let you elope, I will lose a child and a grandchild.”

“It’s dangerous because people like us don’t do anything! We actually have the money and means to help. Just because we live on the good end of Monkshood does not mean it’s safe!” She ran out of the room. 

The parents looked across the table to the light brown-skinned man. 

He said, “I don’t want to separate her from her parents. Please understand that rookies must spend at least three years in Monkshood Alley. After that, I will leave for a much safer administrative job for her and the child. I, I just want to make her happy.” 

The classy dining room faded away into the warm grey room. Mull Berry Semper was left alone, 

It was several minutes of slowly coming out of his shock before he said, “I guess if … my mother did go with him, then that would explain our terrible apartment and her obsession with mulberries. I always wondered why that red garbage killed the vibes. So, it’s medicine.” He got up and walked around, trying to expel nervous energy. 

He looked at the light brown colored simulation screen and asked, “Why did that guy’s voice and the simulation room sound the same? 

“Now playing Third Video.” The room did not change, but a single screen formed on the far wall. The light brown man was a bit older, bloodied, and gasping for breath.

“Man, this sucks. I only downloaded a fragment of my mind to the simulation room, so this message must do. Barry or Mull, whatever she names you, I’m your father. I wanted to be with you every day, but laser shots don’t exactly heal well.” He coughed up phlegm and blood. Mull walked closer.  

The man said, “Most people here die, not just physically. The drugs kill fertility, so tubees happen. It’s common for them to be treated like a replaceable object and not family, so they do drugs. While I was becoming a cop, I saw her hand out medicine, and it was love. She wants to make the world a better place, and I want to be with her every step of the way. Sadly, I got called by her parents for a break-in. I’m gutshot, so I only have a few moments.” He groaned in agony before taking the camera and centering it on his face. 

“We wanted you as our child. You will inherit the last name Semper because you have a history. Our family wants to make money and help others because when we succeed, even Monkshood Alley can be a better place. Our legacy is more than just us, and I wanted to give you the best gift I could ever give because I love you, my son.” 

His face relaxed, his eyes closed, and he let go of the camera, and it fell into a red pool of blood. All Mull could see was liquid red. His face reflected on the simulation screen. He was crying, and the tears washed away part of his painted face. He rubbed his face, and the tears mixed with the paint, making everything come off. He revealed his own face, and it looked much like his father’s. 

After a while, he said, “Well, I guess I’d better do that assignment.” 

The End.