I was born in the 3024. Today’s choice is the first real choice I have ever made.
The times were not fit for liberty, the war with the Julians was at its terrible peak in violence. You probably think right now is pretty bad, but believe me. It was worse.
I was born into the military, none of us had mothers, that wasn’t acceptable. We were born soldiers, raised soldiers, and died soldiers. Well.. I didn’t die. Not yet anyway. They say it’s hard to outlive your children, I never had children, there wasn’t time for that. But I outlived all my friends, my brothers, and I cannot think of anything more difficult than to wake up in the morning and face the harsh reality of being alone.
They told me last month that I was free. I had finally reached an age where I wasn’t of any use to them. But I gotta tell you, when you’re 130, you feel useless all the time. No matter what you do. I spent my last years sitting at a computer, typing numbers and words that meant nothing to me. After having seen great battles, beautiful and horrible places and the vastness of space, sitting down with a helmet in VR-sleep feels useless. But my body was weak and ill, and that was my task.
Do you know how many people it takes to take care of me? Eight. Eight people to take care of a useless frail old man. This is not what I’m meant to do. I was born to fight the Julians, they ecompass my every thought.
For the longest time I thought my job was what they told me to do. Go shoot some blue heads! Sure. Go bomb their domes! You got it. Evacuate the wounded! Yes sir. But I finally found out what my job is. It’s strange how things become clear as you age. My job is to help human kind defeat the Julians. It’s never a pretty job, it’s painful, filled with horrors, blood, screams, and bodies. But it’s my job.
So I’ve decided what I’m going to do now that I’m free. It’s sad in a way to think that my first free decision will also be my last. But I’m happy I finally found sense in my life.
So you see Doctor, in order to help fight the Julians I must die. Those eight people most surely have someone younger to take care of. Someone fit to fight.
So be a kind man and disconnect me from this machine.
