In the year 2500.......
by S. Naqi, Karachi

I woke up to the sound of my new alarm clock and heard it say, "Wake up! time for school!" I got out of bed, the date flashed on the electronic calendar which hung on the wall: 2nd January, 2500. I quickly got into my metallic uniform, wore my auto-breaking sneakers and headed for the breakfast machine. I gobbled down some vitamin pills and got into my aircraft. The aircraft were intricately designed and a computer had been fitted in it which controlled all its movement so that there was no need of manual handling. The newly constructed air cushions around motor vehicles prevented collisions and accidents and so students were also allowed to drive on the highways.

I finally reached the school parking lot after covering the distance of 20 miles in a three-minute continuous journey. The parking lot greatly resembled the aerodomes of the twentieth century. After parking the aircraft, I reach the classroom on electronic roller skates. The bell, which sounded more like the police siren of the past, rang as I entered the classroom. The electronic doors of the classroom shut automatically at the sound of the bell. No one now could enter or leave the room. I sat down at my desk and switched on the computer. It gave all the data of what we had to study that day. There were no human teachers but the computers were present for student’s guidance. The room was filled with numerous computers and the walls were totally covered with electronic charts showing the functions of the machines.

The computer began chapter 65 of History. We soon learnt how people in the past used to travel in boxes called cars and used simple machines called fax machine, air-conditioners and telephones. The computer gave me some questions to solve, which I answered. When I gave a wrong reply, a dreadful noise emerged from it while the questions continued if the reply was correct.

The day went by slowly with our noses buried in physicos and chemology (previously known as physics and chemistry respectively). We also studied about the nuclear plant which is under construction at Venus.

As the final bell announced the end of the school, I returned home, fresh as ever. I programmed the cook robot to prepare strawberry meringue pie, chow chow mein juice, some protein lemon salad and a generous helping of nom-pi-nom while I returned to my room. I later came downstairs on the chair lift and had the refreshments at the dining table. I then went out to play.

There was a soccer match going on between some robots and some of my friends in a huge soccer field, so I joined the game. The genius and automatic minds of robots were almost impossible to dodge, but it was fun playing with them. After that I and my friends had a little chat about the activists of ‘Niscoff’ (neighboring planet) who commits suicide for the sake of rewards and honour they are supposed to get in their second life after death in heaven.

I returned home. There was no homework so I started reading the novel ‘The Eternal Galaxy.’ A brilliant news was waiting for me at the diner table. My father had bought me a ticket to Saturn, where my cousin lived, for the next day. The next week was a holiday. I reached the rocket spot next day with my parents, exchanged good-byes and mounted the rocket. In no time we were flying through space. Finally I landed on Saturn. I got down and found my stimulated cousin waiting eagerly beside her shiny black aircraft she had bought a day before. Talking and laughing we went home. Lunch was ready so I quickly freshened up and sat down at the table. My aunt had prepared tasty vitamin pills of many colours and shapes. I drank delicious home-made H2O, thinking enviously of the old days when this precious drink was everywhere in abundance. We then watched a documentary about the village life in the depths of the Pacific. Farmers growing aquatic vegetables, living in their rusty metallic houses, trying to produce the best food we needed.

Later my cousin took me to a fun fair. We enjoyed different hilarious tricks and delightful games. The best thing was the clone machines which could make duplicates of you that were able to survive for 20-25 minutes and they ended up in smoke. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. At last we bought a bunch of uranium balloons and some chlorinated protein floss and headed for home. By then I realized that I had spent one diamond that day (I better learn to cut down a little on expenses). My eyes were heavy with sleep so I turned to my sleeping tube, switched on the dream memorizer and drifted into a pleasant slumber thinking what the forth coming days will have in store for me on Saturn.