1. Welcome To Angel Falls


    Date: 11/2/2014, Categories: Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Author: Liz, Rating: , Source: LushStories

    Vala had been talking since they had left, but in truth, very little of what she was saying was penetrating his little bubble of consternation. Everything seemed eerily familiar, yet at the same time, disconcertingly alien. Where he’d had visions of a paradisiacal metropolis full of fresh air and light, he’d found instead a dystopian slice of realism. Fifteen minutes was all it had taken Vala to shatter his dreams. Fifteen minutes to explain the truth of overpopulation, poverty and global warming. The dimly lit room where they had first met had been fairly cool by comparison, but the oppressive heat of a near sub-tropical climate had hit him immediately upon exiting the building. In the imposing shadows of the towering, decrepit skyscrapers, the claustrophobic torridity felt like a hand closed around his throat. The twelve lane highway they joined ran straight through the heart of the city. He saw multilingual signs hanging from the monumental, looping crossover bridges indicating that it was called ‘the strip’. Steel and concrete seemed to be the depressing palette of the future world he found himself in. In search of a splash of familiar blue, he looked skywards through the window and watched the slow circling of what he presumed were some sort of aerial surveillance drones. “It’s a lot to take in.” For the first time since they had left the cryonics facility, Vala spoke to him as something other than a customer on a guided tour. It wasn’t so much polite conversation as a ...
    way to simply fill the time he suspected. “A lot of you rejuves aren’t able to adjust to their new reality. They have trouble adapting and accepting the radical changes to the world around them. The suicide rate is very high.” “The way you say that make you sound as though you disapprove of the practice, ‘you rejuves’.” There was silence as she stared out of the window and considered her words. She had made it perfectly clear back in the orientation briefing that she was all business. Her attitude was a perfectly blended distillation of detachment and cold indifference. A little warmth would not have gone amiss. “I meant no offence,” she offered, swivelling in her seat to look at him. “I just don’t want you to do anything stupid.” “A touch of concern?” he asked, turning to look at her. “You’re a client. If you die with no next of kin the state will seize your assets.” The frosty clinical tone now sounded raw and heartless. She turned in her seat and faced forward again. “Assets that the Aeon Banking Corporation currently manage for you.” The vehicle eventually pulled off the main drag and approached a vast vertical wall. The embankment was easily a hundred feet high and seemed to span uninterrupted endlessly in both directions. It appeared to be a fortified border of some kind. They were stopped at a security checkpoint by two guards and promptly granted passage after the driver flashed them some identification. David found himself pressed up against the glass in anticipation ...
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