"I don't think you should marry him," Said princess Catherine, "You're not royalty; it's not for the good of the state."
Princess Catherine is Five foot six, with dark straight back hair, fair skin, and brown eyes. She's wearing a soft, white, fluted blouse, blue Jeans, black flat heels, and a thin tiara that she wears like a barrette on the top of her head.
An escalator takes them to the second floor of the Rivershire, shopping mall. The mall has several floors, and a glass elevator, on each end of the spaceship.
"No, it's worse; it's for the advancement of science." Said Tammy.
Their heels click as they walk upon the soft marble on the second floor foot-walk.
"Oh, that. Well, I think all this talk about human engineering is stupid. Really, they're not talking about creating a race of super-honest people, or a person who's a good listener... or even someone who's a good friend. So why should I care about a new race of humans who are extremely smart or really, really pretty... No offense."
"I'm not that pretty. When I look in the mirror, all I see is me staring back."
"Pfft! Yeah, ok."
"Well, I do like my nose. And my chin, it's not so bad."
"Tammy, if I had your looks...
"I know. Do you really want to keep talking about this? Because it's making me tired."
They continue down the walkway until they find a red carpeted area with a tree and benches. As the sun shines through the aluminum glass above, a tinting program adjusts, and protects the shoppers against the unrelenting radiation from outer space. They sit under the tree on a bench. Small flower petals, rain down, from time to time, to the floor.
The signs from the shops and stores surround them, and fellow shoppers browse through the goods behind the glass. Small crowds of teenagers, check each other out, as the groups of boys stare, and the congregations of girls, giggle.
"I still don't get it." Said the princess, "Is it just your looks they're after, or something else?"
"All they really care about is my DNA. My looks, they were designed to entice a potential mate to... want to copulate with me. They think that by mixing the right bloodlines with the right DNA, that one day, maybe far off in the future, they'll create a being so powerful that he will be able to manipulate particles just by thinking about them.
"What! You must be joking."
"I wish I was."
"But that's impossible."
"Well, impossible or not, they've got a lot of the right people invested in it. And as long as they think it's possible...
"You'll have to marry who they say."
"Exactly."
They continue sitting, just looking at the birds in the tree. Then hunger and the smell of freshly baked bread calls their attention. They look around and find a bakery and decide to have lunch.
The curve of the glass dome rises above them. The fragrance of freshly baked bread pulls them in. They enter the establishment through a pair of thick glass doors and sit in a green booth next to a long glass wall. To Tammy's left is the glass wall and the tree outside. To her right, is a long bar with high stools.
A blonde waitress in a baby blue apron takes their order. She rushes back behind the bar and clips a pink sheet of paper to a small round metal turnstile that the cook spins around to read.
Tammy grabs a straw lying on the table and neatly tears the paper. She dunks it into a glass of ice water and takes a sip.
"So," says Tammy, "Who are your parents demanding you marry?"
YOU ARE READING
In The Shadow Of The Tower
Ciencia FicciónTwo super-rich kids grow into young adulthood and struggle with their feelings for one another. She has loved him for quite some time, but he is unsure and needs to figure things out. She is also engineered by her father's company to love someone el...
