This story is part of Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, a climate-fiction contest from Grist. Read the 2021 collection now. Or sign up for email updates to get new stories in your inbox.
* * *
It’s early summer and only a month until the last of the pods leave for the Kepler planets. Renem secured a contract for two; of course she wants me to go with her.
I need time to clear my head. She doesn’t understand why, because it isn’t like we’ll be leaving anything behind. Our living situation is squatting on the good days and bench-sleeping on the bad. And there’s no need to talk about family. Renem never knew her parents, and I buried what was left of mine years ago. We’ve been together for over half my life. Sometimes I wonder if it’s more out of necessity than love.
I’m at Antimatter and the dance floor is packed as usual. It isn’t exactly an upstanding place, but I feel at home here, like I can step out of my skin ... Read more
