Better than my life. Chapter 3

3

Sunday morning was rainy. 400 years ago people looked out of their windows to learn that it was raining. Now we don’t have windows. We have windows but they are different from those ones people had 400 years ago. Our windows are parts of our computer screen. You don’t open them – all you can do is put a weather video there. It can be any weather you like. What is more, you can have any view you like. If you like the sea, it can be a sea view. If you like peace and quiet, just choose. If you like city views, just choose. Rome, Venice, Madrid, Moscow – any city you want in your window.
A long time ago you bought pictures, postcards and so on. Now we buy views from our windows. Not only that. If you want to go out, you put on your C-suit and go out. If you have Rome in your window, you go out in Rome. You can walk to the Coliseum, you can touch the stones. If you are a fan of Russian culture and have Moscow in your window, you can walk in Red Square. You can visit that huge tomb, which is called the Mausoleum. You can look at that guy who still lies there – his name is Lenin or something like that. He either killed a lot of people or saved a lot of people – few people remember it now and even fewer care. He is famous, and a lot of people visit him. It’s posh to have a video of yourself walking past that guy. Of course, he isn’t real. Nothing is real today. Well, nearly nothing. And that is a real problem for those people who can still think.
Well, that Sunday was rainy. Usually before I start a new mission, I go out in reality. It’s not easy. It is expensive, because you have to go through a serious security system. You have to wear a special space suit. You see, now people are afraid of everything real. And they protect themselves with space suits and guns and what not.
I don’t know why I’m not afraid of reality. I love real things, and when I have a chance to feel them I go for it. A long time before people lived in houses. They were small boxes with doors and windows. There were trees and grass between the houses. Then people started to live in blocks of flats. They were bigger boxes with many small boxes inside. They still had windows and doors. People could still go out. Then those boxes got bigger and bigger. At first they got higher, then longer and wider. And then one day they became just one huge box, which was a city. Then big city-boxes started to come together. The biggest country was called Russiania or something like that. At school they told us that when two biggest cities in Russiania came together it was a great shock for everybody in the world. One city was called Moscow, another one St Peter. That was about 100 years ago. At that moment people in the world understood that something changed forever. There were no open spaces any more. There were only fields to grow some corn. But a lot of corn was grown under the sea. And there were green areas for those people who loved them. Every million of people has their own green area. This green area has 100 trees and a small stream of water, which is called “river”. Those rivers have funny names. I live in London, and the river in my green area is called “the Thames”. London has 300 green areas, and every stream in every green area is called “the Thames”. I know it’s history, but it is funny. I’m sure it is not the same stream.
So I paid 1000 E-money at the check-point, put on a space-suit and went out. I passed through four hermetic doors and found out it was raining. I looked up. There was no roof up there, nothing at all, just the thing ancient people called the sky. It changed colour. On a rainy day it was grey. On a sunny day it was blue. I thought that our ceilings had much better colours. They were also a part of our computer screens, and you could have on them everything you wanted. But I still loved that grey sky thing. It was real, it was talking to me. You know, our computer ceilings and walls and windows are dead. Well, they change colour and do whatever you want them to do. But it’s like talking to an idiot who is always happy. But what if you feel sad or tired? When you are unhappy talking to a happy idiot would make it worse. You need a friend who will be unhappy with you. That grey sky thing above my head – it was my friend. My real friend.