f-section
- Voices from The City -
do while
Selina was a software engineer. She worked at A-labs, alongside a multitude of colleagues,
some of whom she knew, some of whom she knew not. In a Corp as large as A-labs, which was
the largest Corp in The City, it was impossible to know everyone. Selina was also a quiet
person who kept herself pretty much to herself. She dreamed, people often did. She felt she
should dream, before dream became a proscribed activity, a controlled process. So far, it hadn’t
been taken over. Well, at least she was still dreaming and no-one was stopping her. Her days
were filled with work, her nights were for dream.
The work-filled days had become ritual. She would wake to an alarm, specifically designed to
her make-up, she would drink coffee-sub, eat pastoire and log on. She would then attempt to get
‘in the zone’ (some days this was more easily achieved than others) and then create. Selina worked
from her apartment-hab most days but went to A-labs at least once per week. It was expected.
A-labs was a prestigious place to work, not everyone who wanted to could obtain a position there.
They developed many products and worked on many projects. Selina, like may employees did not know
what she was working on, it was just a small part of some much larger whole. The day however, whether
in her apartment-hab or at A-labs followed the same pattern.
A-labs was an ivory tower, literally! The building was a tower, the colour of ivory and it dominated
The City. Whatever location any inhabitant was in, they would be able to see A-labs.
Selina was good at what she did and did enjoy it or had enjoyed it until recently. Her dreams had
been more vivid of late, as if something was trying to encroach or wake her. She now felt her days,
her life was just a piece of code. She would wake and do while… well, while she could. It was an
endless loop, there was very little branching. The occasional sub-routine would have been welcomed.
Thinking about this she internalised it
If Alive
Then Start Work
Do while Alive
If Dead
End
There needed to be more to life, she had to break out of the loop and before the end!
In the end though, she could only do while - she could.
But then again, there was Roxy.