Maazen Ahmed ( author & illustrator)
I – PLACE /pleɪs/
wʌn I believe an island is what it was called back then.
tuː Yeah, a land mass completely surrounded by water – but smaller than a continent. And ˈeɪʒə-saʊθ would _______classify as artificial. Man-made. It was made to be a perfect circle.
θriː I see. A circle was probably to cut costs, no?
tuː Right. Isolating the entire coast would have been much more expensive.
θriː Good move. There would be too much empty space if we had done that.
tuː Well maybe now it would be. But our population doesn’t fluctuate like it did before the 22nd century. I’d _______skimmed through some records in the Archiving Department the other day. Back then there was so little _______space, they’d start building vertically. Towers they were called. And sky…scrapers? Yeah, sky-scrapers.
θriː Like… to scrape skies?
tuː Who knows.
wʌn They didn’t have enclosures back then. I’m sure buildings could be as tall as they wanted them to be.
θriː Right, right. Everything was open. I’m pretty sure people used to travel on air to get everywhere because _______of that. The museum had an “aeronautics” exhibit last week. They seemed really dangerous to me. Hard _______to believe hundreds of people would be in them at once.
wʌn No, no, they didn’t always use planes. That was for when they had to transport large groups of people ______from one sector to another. Like ˈeɪʒə-saʊθ to əˈmɛrɪkə-nɔːθ. Or whatever they used to call those places ______back then.
θriː Transport… people? To different sectors? For what?
wʌn Ask the expert.
tuː The old sectors – ‘countries’ they were called – used to be very different from each other. And there _______were a lot more of them. We have 15 sectors now, but there were hundreds of countries. They all had _______different leaders, different languages, different currencies, different climates, everything. Some were _______probably better off than others, so people would tend to move around. Planes were just the quickest _______way for them to do so.
wʌn Guess they hadn’t come up with their ocean-lines yet. Or would they travel above water?
tuː They’d use the ocean for transport sometimes. On things called “ships”. But yeah, normally above the _______surface, not underwater for the most part. Mostly for moving goods – cargo – from one place to another.
wʌn Well then, at least that’s the same.
tuː Eh, people would travel on ships too sometimes.
wʌn What, why?
tuː Before the 20th century, that was the only way to get people across the ocean. After the 20th century…_______they traveled on them for leisure, I guess. Neither ships or planes were a clean way to get around _______though.
wʌn Hah. And people still wonder why we’re in these little bubbles of ours.
II – LIVING /ˈlɪvɪŋ/
“And now, on to the weather! We’ve been seeing quite the downpour for the past few days from six fifteen p.m. to nine forty-five p.m. – as per the Ministry of Agriculture’s schedule. But good news is, tomorrow’s marks the last evening of rainfall for the year! Starting Monday, these quiet greys are going to be turning a clear blu-
…
“It seems we have breaking news. There has been a minor road accident on H-14, leading to significant traffic pileup till the H-23 intersection. We have ˈoʊməɹ at the scene to provide a detailed description of the incident. Over to you ˈoʊməɹ.
Thanks ʤuːn. For those of you just joining in, I’m here at H-14 where there seems to have been a single-vehicle collision on the road. The officers inspecting the incident are reporting that the driver of said vehicle has no visible injuries. It seems the driver had lost control of his car and had crashed into the guard rail on the left side of the road. We will be able to provide more details on the victim shortly.
Furthermore, this accident has created a significant traffic jam all the way until H-23. Since this route is exclusively used by employees from the Ministry of Health, individuals that were scheduled to leave their homes at any time past 8:36 a.m. will be caught in this congestion, and will be facing delays in their reporting time at the Ministry.
We have just received notice that the Ministry of Health has carried out the relevant calculations, and are providing nine minutes of relaxation for each employee’s reporting time. This is to accommodate the necessary adjustments to each vehicles speed, and potential rubbernecking. Any delays beyond that will be added on to the end of the concerned employees shift.
And… we have just received an update on the victim of the car crash. It seems that the police are facing delays in identifying the driver. This has led authorities to assume that this individual has refrained from consuming his daily supplements as per the Ministry of Health’s instructions, and is therefore not visible on today’s census records. This is further demonstrated by the driver’s ‘sickly appearance’ – to quote the police report – and a lack of attention on the road. The number of days that the victim has avoided his supplements is also unclear, but considering the driver’s condition, authorities claim that it has likely been weeks. The police are now investigating the reason as to why the victim avoided his daily supplements.
And that brings us to the end of our report. We will now return to our regularly scheduled news. Back to you ʤuːn!
III – CONDUCT /ˈkɒndʌkt/
Identification Code: AS – 072 378
Welcome to your Annual Abidance & Regularity Examination. During the A.R.E we will be documenting your pulse and respiration rate for each of your responses. The testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
As directed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, we will begin the testing by reviewing your consumption of the supplements provided to you by the Ministry. Please respond to each of these prompts in as succinct a manner as possible.
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Have you been receiving your daily supplements at 7:04 AM each morning?
Yes.
And have you been consuming said supplements as per direction from the Ministry of Health and Welfare?
Yes.
Have you experienced any negative reactions to the supplements provided, that may have led to failure or inhibition in consuming said supplements?
No.
Are you aware of any individuals within your household, neighbourhood or workplace that have failed to regularly consume the supplements provided to them?
No.
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Thank you. We will now move on to occupation-centric questions. The testing will end if you fail to answer any questions in regards and in relation to your position. Please state your place of work.
Ministry of Health. Department of Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Division.
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Thank you. It seems that your respective Board have had some concerns in regards to a group of employees within your department. Your responses for this portion of the examination will be recorded and forwarded to the relevant authorities. Once again, the testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
Please provide a brief report of your divisions progress over the last quarter.
“Um… we had received records of people in ˈjʊərəp-wɛst and ˈjʊərəp-nɔːθ having a sort of allergic reaction to the supplements we’ve developed. We’ve made the necessary modifications, so it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
Oh we’ve also worked with the Ministry of Housing and Home Affairs in əˈmɛrɪkə-saʊθ to rework the Population Control Scheme for each sector. Our sector is now going to have four natal dates instead of three from now on. They’ve now been set on the fifteenth of January, April, July and October. We’ve adjusted the supplements accordingly. We will see effects by the October period.
There was also discussion on whether or not people reaching the age of seventy should…pass away on the same days – as in the fifteenth of those same four months. The initial plan was to carry out the passing and the necessary procedures at the end of those same months. But in the end, they – we, decided that there’s no need to set aside a different day for those that are passing away.
This way we won’t have to worry about the effects of a population spike for those fifteen to sixteen days.”
Have you completed your report? The Board of Directors also mentioned completion on the ‘Five-Stages’ project. Please continue your report.
“Oh…yes. The five stages have been decided. We’re still yet to modify the supplements further. But it is almost complete. The body should adhere to the appropriate stages, as long as one takes the supplements as directed. These changes will also likely come about by the October period.”
A notable number of employees within the Department of Biotechnology have failed to recall each of the five stages and the corresponding ages correctly. Please dictate the five stages. The testing will end if you provide an incorrect response.
“Right… the stages are: birth to five for ‘preliminary development’; five to twenty for ‘education’; twenty to fifty- five for ‘employment’; Fifty-five to sixty-five, education – or ‘mentorship’ rather; and sixty-five to seventy for ‘retirement’.”
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Thank you. The relevant authorities are satisfied with your responses. We will now move on to a series of question regarding your ‘home-life’. Once again, the testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
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