Honey and the Pug

Prologue

Prologue
3875 AD. THE FUTURE IS NOW!
It's time to come along to a bright and brilliant new world. A world that winds across the solar system, blossoming across space stations, moons and terraformed planets. A world where all human knowledge and the souls of the dead float above cities in invisible clouds. There are epic wars, glittering scientific miracles and impossible heroes. Buildings float across vast clear oceans, clouds rain diamonds and everyone teleports as easily as they breathe.
There are no animals. No birds twittering in the trees or diving in the bins for trash. No cats sunning themselves in shop windows. No wild beasts ploughing through ancient forests. The only mammals are ordinary people. The only other living creatures are the insects chittering in trees and worms squirming in the mud.
It's important to note that this isn't a story about the heroine. The dynamic figure who sweeps in halfway through a mystery and ends up saving the day. No, this is a story about the other girl, the one we normally see within the first few moments of the story only to vanish after witnessing something extraordinary. A girl whose name we never learn, whose past is always unimportant. This girl's name is Honey Jessminda, from the family Bun: a girl who was destined to live an ordinary life.
If you look closely you will see her, just another one of the many teenage girls living on a space station orbiting the surface of Venus. Outside in her garden she sits, dull and washed-out in a dish-water blue pinafore and matching blouse, like a milk maid in a long forgotten folk painting. The only thing striking about her appearance is her hair, though today it has been carefully braided. Centuries ago, her family had spent a fortune

to get their genes altered, resulting in the Bun family's infamous cotton candy coloured curls. The pink may clash horribly with the breakfast table and her dress, but it does complement her light brown skin.
Most mornings she sits there, watching news clips of storm chasers riding the clouds of the great dark spot of Neptune. Today she switches the news screen to the gossip pages, and spends an extra moment studying the way Organic Chia, the universe's most famous celebrity, dresses on her tv show. So many colours, patterns, materials and silhouettes. Honey's fingers briefly rub against the material of her own dull pinafore skirt.
Then, just as quickly, her hands drop and she dismisses the screen. Surfing dark spots and wearing pretty dresses are things that other people do. People who are not supposed to get ordinary jobs as customer service agents. Honey has no idea, however, that she is about to become one of those people. She has spotted something in the garden, and her hands squeeze her blueberry pill with shock, causing the bright blue liquid to stain the table cloth.
Now, let us begin.