Ultimum Carceron

Europa Colony 2

Juniper was already half-dressed and drinking coffee when Theo came out of the bedroom. He too was half dressed, with only his pants on. As he made his way over to the kitchen, however, Theo put on a featureless, short sleeved white shirt.

Their home was not very large, but everyone who lived at the Europa colony lived in homes the same size. The ceiling was thirty feet high, with lights on its ceiling so bright they were like floodlights. Behind Juniper's back and to Theo's right, was a long, rectangular telescreen that displayed a sharp, unblemished image of the colony outside, like a window but better.

"Coffee?" He asked.

"Oh, yes," Juniper said warmly. She handed out another cup to him, which he took.

"Thanks," he said. 

Theo walked away to a refrigerator-like machine, that contains meals paid for and sent by his employers. There was one the size of both of his hands that he knew was for breakfast. He selected it with one hand while with the other, he adjusted his white shirt.

Juniper likewise buttoned her shirt, concealing the last bit of cleavage. Her hair was still frizzy and messy, though. Because of her colorful hair and how organized it usually was, it looked like someone smeared multi-colored ink across it.

"Oh, more news from Jim. He wants us to come over today to celebrate. I may be late, so you can go first without me," Juniper informed him.

"Late? Why's that?" Theo asked.

"We're planting a whole field of crops today, but my boss wants these new ones to be genetically modified. I have to catalog them and ensure that not only are they healthy, but edible."

"Is there a lot of crops?" Theo asked.

"Each field contains 6,000," Juniper replied.

Theo nodded, but said nothing because he was chewing on celery. With a few more swallows, he asked, "What kind of engineered fruit is this?"

"Our most optimistic goal was to combine all necessary nutrients into a limited number of types of fruit," Juniper said.

Theo nodded thoughtfully. "If you did that, you wouldn't have to eat meat or bread."

"Exactly."

Theo looked at the time displayed on the telescreen. "You leave at 10, right?"

"Yes. You leaving?" Juniper asked.

"Yeah. See you at Jim's," Theo said.

They both locked lips for a couple seconds, then he started walking out. He turned around just as he opened the door.

Juniper wasn't looking at him, but he was looking at her. It was just last night/this morning that the pregnancy became official, and he was just thankful now of how well everything was going.

Theo tapped the small telescreen on the wall. It was beside the doorway to four different homes; one of them was Jim's, whom he had to contact through the telescreen in order to get in.

The screen flashed up, showing an empty desk but Jim's voice was still present.

"Who is that?"

"Theo."

"Alright, come in," Jim replied.

The door slid open and a small hallway was revealed, only thirty feet long and seven feet high. All the entrances to the different homes were on the wall to the right. The second doorway, E-2, was Jim's home, of which the door was already open. No noise was coming out of it; Arkight expected there to be some obnoxious guests annoying the neighbors. He turned in through the doorway, not expecting what he ultimately saw.