A Wonderful World

Space Cowboys

"Hey buddy you must be hungry." Joni mentioned as he brought over a bowl of soup. "Take it, I made it myself! It's pretty healthy and has lots of vegetables, milk, and cheese."

"Wow, thanks!" I was pleasantly surprised. "Is it easy to find food in this world? And are there new species of plants and animals?"

"Oddly enough," Joni answered, "a potato looks just like a potato from Earth, and the cows are just like the cows. It's as if this universe was an exact copy of the Milky Way. You know, except for the fact that it has a different number of planets. The night sky is also extremely different, so if I ever forget I just look up."

I ate the soup and tasted everything thoroughly. It was a very thick chowder, it tasted like cheddar cheese with the most flavorful potatoes and carrots. It didn't taste like the energy cubes I've had on Earth, it tasted way better. I greedily slurped the bowl clean.

"Joni..." I started, "that was the best soup I have ever had. Where did you get all of those ingredients?"

Joni laughed heartily. "Thanks buddy! We grew everything by ourselves in the city. We are cow farmers here. That's our job in this world."

"Cow farmers?" I asked.

"Yes, we farm cows, keep 'em happy, and ask for milk. Not like Earth where they were treated like robots. Our energy comes from the thousands of windmills, although it's all being used up by the other cities."

I thought for a minute about how there was no electricity. All my life I had been surrounded by robots and other automated services. As long as you had money, you had the power to make someone do something for you. You could make them cook for you, deliver something for you, even provide sex for you. I guess I now realized how much of a comfortable world I was living in. All the people in this city entered this world without electricity without even knowing. I felt sad thinking about it.

"Joni," I started, "do you like living here?"

Joni's eyes looked a little troubled. "Well, we make the most of it. It got easier when the other cities came over to build our houses, farms, and windmills. The technology they carried helped to develop this city so quickly. We were a little upset when we realized we couldn't use any of the energy we created, but they at least said that eventually there would be enough for all of us."

Eventually. I knew how that word worked. I would always tell my parents I would eventually move out. I would eventually find a girlfriend. Poor Joni, and poor me.

"What now?" I asked.

"Well, buddy." Joni looked up. "You are a part of this city now. Welcome to the family!"

"Do I uh...need to apply for a job?" I said.

Joni laughed. "We only have one job here, and it's to keep the cows happy."

I laughed with him. Not because of his contagiously loud laughter, but the irony of the situation. I had left a wonderful world that provided me with everything, only assigned to keep the robots happy. Now, I had entered this unknown world that provided me with nothing, only to be assigned to keep the cows happy. After the laughter subsided, I couldn't help think of a particular question.

"Hey Joni," I started, "since these cows eat grass, does that mean we can eat grass-fed beef?"Joni rubbed his stomach. "Well, that delicacy is reserved for the other cities. We only take care of the cows. We are able to eat anything else we can find though."

"That soup was so good before. It had potatoes and carrots? Did we bring seeds from Earth?" I asked.

"Not that I know of." Joni replied. "I guess it's a little weird that there are so many things from Earth on this planet. Besides the landscape, almost everything is the same - plants, animals, fish. I was at least expecting some foreign types of animals. Nope, still cows. At first we all thought we were in a huge shared dream. But that's not possible right?"

He kind of brought up a good point, and I couldn't stop wondering if this was a real world or not. I mean, we were injected with a universal translator. What if instead we were stuck inside some made-up world simulation? Could we die?

All of a sudden Joni got up and shouted. "I totally forgot! It's the weekly bonfire! Let's go!! Hope you're not shy!"

He grabbed my hand and yanked it before I could even say anything. We rushed out the door and ran down the gently tilled dirt roads towards a large ember of orange and red. I was able to see the skyscape of figures that looked like a bunch of people. I couldn't help but look up. It was...the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. Every star in the sky was visible and felt alive. They were twinkling and you could almost feel the vibration. It was as if the world was moving in slow motion. Joni was right. This had to be a different planet. The night sky was proof. I was awe-struck, mesmerized by the sight as Joni guided me towards the bonfire.