Get Real

A quick catch-up on a family chat in 2043. Short fiction I wrote for a collaboration with logo & type designer Peter Korsman of autograph.works. Happy New Year everyone!

SLOIPNET 1.2.c [SECURE GROUP] PARTICIPANTS: [Fern, Rangi Bro, Sys] SUBJECT: [SIBLING UPDATES. EVERYBODY DIES RIP LOL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]
[SYNCHED: 02:48 27/12/2042]
Hey guys, been a while since the last update. Hope you are all well and can still access active nodes. I’m doing ok, on Antarctica now, not in NZ anymore. Got tired of droning mammals for DoC, now I’m seeding ad-gen mutacrops with an Argentinian team. Yes, I dumped Greg also. All his circular economy bullshit was just an excuse to suck up to rich people. Money lol. Anyway Antartica is cool but it stinks. I mean its not as cold as you think but there is literally thousands of years old shit melting and rotting out here. The mud gets in everything too. I mostly fly from inside so its fine. Not sure what eating all these experimental vegetables is doing to me though. Has anyone heard from the fossils? Been thinking about Mum & Dad a lot. Before they tapped out we did tell them we would try to stay somewhat in touch even though we’d scattered. Hope you get this sometime soon. Love, Sys.
[SENT: 11:19 27/12/2042]
[SYNCHED: 19:31 21/01/2043]
Kia ora Sys, Rangi. Good to hear from you. Message got here quick! I am still with the kelp co-op in the Pacific. We actually get quite a few sail-barges and canoes coming through these days, so comms are pretty good. It’s no satellite but at least packets don’t wait weeks to move anymore. For work I am diving now, not just swimming anymore. New generation of crisprsaurs are dredging the plastics up from way deeper. Bit sketchy tbh. Remember Kees? He got the bends on an ascent, almost died. The platform has grown heaps, they tell us we’re sinking a lot of carbon. Biggest news is we have a new cook, he brought his own seeds with him. Some actual flavors with all the seaweed & jellyfish, amazing. So yeah the ocean is pretty good. Not heard from the Uncles, you know about the new floods? Their camp probably moved again. Rangi bro are you still in the mines with the crazy Welshman? Groeten uit zee, Fern.
[SENT: 16:05 23/01/2043]
[SYNCHED: 21:17 17/06/2043]
Fam! Nah, not in the mines anymore. Thought there would be heaps to eat with us growing all that food in them tunnels but the Welsh are all still on rations. Got sick of not seeing the sun so stole a massive spool of grolite and traded my way south.
In the green belt now, joined the Forest Legion. Holistic Agroecology and fucking firearms. Still in basic, I mostly just plant trees every day. Wanna go into combat engineering though, take apart some of that oil infrastructure the bastard twencens are still running. Foods milspec soylent mostly but the barrack gardens are good so at least the sides are decent. Caught a broadcast from the Uncles, they enrolled with the Chinese to get a patch of the polder rice but dunno if they’ll make the cut. Glad to hear you are all eating good. Sorry this synched so late, not really checking screens. Try not to wait a couple years again before the next update. xx – R.
[SENT: 21:17 19/06/2043]