Terran Oblivion

Interlude 1

Alexis Denegri

May 28, 2203

Buenos Aires - Argentina - San Telmo

11:04 AM

Alex held the meager number of New Pesos she had in her wallet. About 80,000 or so, the equivalent of about 80 dollars. The amount of money she earned working 40 hours a week for a full month. Barely enough to survive.

Alexis looked at her two-month-old daughter sleeping in her crib and sighed. She dreamed of her daughter becoming a nurse, a doctor, an engineer, maybe a ship captain. If lucky, then heading to space and going to the stars. But truth be told, her daughter had no future. Her mother probably had the same dreams for Alexis and sat there when she was young and wondered what kind of life she would have as she dreamed of a life better than the lot she had been given, but as always those dreams proved to be little more than bitter ashes one had to swallow. Alexis dreamed of being an Argentine Naval officer and leaving this shithole of a country. Instead, she had the very glamorous job of being the front desk assistant at the Buquebus terminal in Puerto Madero, quite literally watching rich people board VIP lounges while she barely had enough to eat—quite the glamorous life.

It could be worse. She looked out the window and saw a clearly poor man digging through the trash to collect cans and bottles. It could always be worse.

And that's what frustrated her. Right across the canal from her apartment lay Puerto Madero, where rich jet-set tourists went to after their 12-hour flights and spent whatever unfathomable amount of money they spent on luxury hotels there before zipping off to Don Julio to eat a fancy steak or going somewhere else in the city.  And Buenos Aires had a lot to offer: great infrastructure, vibrant nightlife, the best empanadas in the world, the most beautiful buildings, unique culture, an income disparity beyond anything in the world...Alexis got ahead herself. She took a deep breath and bit her lip. For all of this wonder, Argentina seemingly bounced from crisis to crisis without end, offering a standard of living unrivaled in Latin America while seemingly never getting past hurdles to become fully developed. Milei did fix many problems during his long tenure and the country did grow immensely over the last century, but the problems of income disparity just never went away, especially for those in the provinces. Her friends from Santiago Del Estero and Jujuy suffered even worse.

No, my dear Lucia, I will not let you live my life. Fuck no. I won't let it happen.

It was Saturday, a day off for her. But she didn't get paid on days off, so she had a side hustle that she had to engage in–being a tour guide for those same jet-set tourists who came with all their dollars, euros, and reals. Hopefully, one of them would show some mercy and give her a tip. Once someone gave her 11,000 New Pesos, or about 11 dollars, and that paid her rent for the month. Little things like that made her happy.

"Mi amor, te quiero mucho, mucho mucho mucho," she said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. Being a mother terrified Alexis, but few things were as bright as this.

Alexis went out into the living room and saw her friend Anna sitting there.

"Thank you for offering to watch Lucia," Alexis said in Spanish.

"Not an issue. You do have streaming."

She scoffed. "You and your soap operas."

"This one is good!"

"If you say so."

And like that, Alexis was out on the streets heading to the Puenta de la Mujer, or women's bridge, a famous landmark in the city and the starting place of many tours.