It's 2141. Clones have taken over as the dominant species. Using brain nanochips to surveil thoughts and actions, they have pushed traditional humans down to a status of low-class workers in a discriminatory dystopia.
A nineteen-year-old aspiring me...
"You're late, Daphne. Did something happen at Oyster?" my father asked when I came home that late evening. "You're not even wearing your uniform."
He was standing in front of the cooker, making dinner already, while I needed to cook a good lie myself and fast.
"Yeah, it's nothing. Some... big... purchase order came in last minute. Don't worry. And I accidentally spilt some water on my uniform, so I got a change of clothes."
"Oh, OK. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Sigi's coming, right?"
He bought it. Phew!
"Yes, I guess he'll be here in a few minutes."
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A few minutes later, Sigi rang the doorbell. My father ran to the front door like a teenager. I found that hilarious, but I guessed he was ecstatic to get to know my boyfriend better.
Soon my smile fled from my lips. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned my back on the kitchen counter. Part of me was glad to have Sigi home with me, while another part of me felt awkward. I was dying to know what had happened in Amanita after I had thrown the viruses into the Neon Sea.
"Welcome, Sigi," my father greeted him. I could hear him clearly from the kitchen. "I see you've brought a little something."
"Palatschinken and Apfelkuchen, my mother's recipe," Sigi replied.
When Sigi came into the kitchen, I was biting my lower lip while wondering whether I'd get a chance to speak with him about what had happened – alone, of course.
Our gazes locked. By the intense and guilty look in his eyes, I could tell he wanted to tell me something urgent, but couldn't due to my father's presence.
"I expected you to open the door for me," he whispered at me while leaving the food on one side of the kitchen table, which was already quite full of plates and food.
"Daphne was busy helping me out here, in the kitchen," my father replied nervously before I could do so as he entered right after Sigi. It was a white lie, and both of us knew it. "I hope everything is to your liking."
My father's clumsy attempts at being adorable didn't make him the perfect host, but Sigi was smiling at both of us because of them.
"I appreciate you inviting me over, Sir," Sigi replied quite casually while putting both hands on the back of one of the chairs. His lean arms were perfectly on display, and I noticed my dad checking them out. It was so bloody obvious that he was making sure I had picked a good boyfriend.
"Please forgive my father. He's excited like the teenager he is not," I said while staring at my father and making emphasis on the negative.
"It's not every day that guests come home!" he complained in a cheerful way. "Because we live in a ghetto. And Chloé, your brother's girlfriend, isn't coming here anymore. So..." His voice had gone from happy to sad, and then it faded into a depressed kind of void.
