The Tusk Time Model

I. 12 Years, 0 Months, 0, Weeks, 0 Days, 2 Hours, 5 Minutes, 17 Seconds

Kaia drank coffee with a measuring spoon. 100 milligrams of caffeine divided into exactly 20 spoonfuls starting every morning at 8. On the tenth sip, she stirred in the libido-suppressants and drank the rest in a sort of therapeutic trance, making sure she finished the drink by 8:30, no later and no earlier. She found it was the best way to maximize the yield from the caffeine and the pills, extending the time of productivity before the inevitable, head withering crash at 8 in the evening. Sometimes, if she was fortunate, the throbbing in her skull would arrive half an hour late, a mercy and a curse that came with the extra packet of sugar.

She finished the coffee and tucked her mug and spoon into the dishwasher, wrinkling her nose as she caught a whiff of the previous night's leftover alfredo pasta. She had an hour to finish her jog and get to the exam.

"Good morning, resident KW 0977." The android greeted her the moment her white running sneakers grazed the spotless nylon carpet that covered the floor of every room in the apartment building. She smiled in return, finding the act strange despite having seen the droid every day for the past two years. Most residents paid no heed to the machines that ran the complex, their beady, forsaken green eyes the same whether they were treated with kindness or apathy or even loathing. The dent on the receptionist's aluminum forehead was still there from the time she witnessed a man bash his skull into it after he had finished clocking back in. He had turned 28 that day, though his corpulent stature made him appear far older. It was common knowledge that if you weren't out of the Present by the time you were 30, you would be terminated, your existence nothing more than a vague memory inside a couple of other people's heads, if anyone even remembered you at all. Kaia knew the Past Police came at night, killing those who would contribute nothing productive to society and erasing every footprint they left on the Present. They belonged to the "Past" as the Future liked to say and they would never survive their society.

"Happy eighteenth birthday! Wishing you a merry day!" the android said with such enthusiasm that Kaia was almost excited about the fact that more than half of her life could be over. But the tone of its pitchy warble changed and the words of the Future sounded, as if it had never left, forever present, the ancient, imperious voice gravel weathering down her nerves, resembling the feeling of dread that occurred when she slept past the alarm clock or when she knew she was being followed on a run except it was constant, like a pair of eyes always staring at her from behind.

"The clock is ticking. Efficiency is Success. Success is the Future." She couldn't help but look at the numbers on the screen.

8:33. Time was the currency of the Future Society, the bondage in which it held its victims hostage.

Kaia finished clocking out and began her jog through the neighborhood. The thud of her shoe on the pavement was comforting and reminded her that she still existed, that she was a solid piece of carbon who had some control over her fate, or at least where her foot touched the ground. But did she? Did anyone have control over their fate or were they all slaves to the desires of the Future? This obsession, with being good enough to exist in their world, this validation that she would belong, one day, why did she crave it so desperately? It was a question that ran through her mind every morning, one that she could never answer.

The sector that Kaia lived in, Present 422, was built right along the beach and every day, as Kaia sweated out the anxiety as best she could, she would watch the surfers. She was especially fascinated by the one that went by Freeman (or so a passerby mentioned to her; people of the Present shouldn't know the names of others and certainly shouldn't be engaging in casual conversation with strangers). Attaching an identity to the mysterious man that had piqued her interest so dangerously filled her with the same kind of thrill that she experienced the time she found a ring on the floor and pretended like it was hers, even if she never actually wore it. The act confused Kaia, terrified her even, she shouldn't feel such interest in other human beings, especially while she was still on her libido-suppressants. It was a waste of time, trivialities like companionship, friendship. Those were concepts for the Future, belonging only to those who made it there and had earned such indulgences.