Antje stood brooding at the window. It has still not managed to influence the weather, despite all the efforts that she and her team have made over the last decade. Although it was said in the news that climate change has been temporarily stopped – this was probably because the old gasoline and diesel cars were replaced by the electric car. She had ordered a picture book about the good old times and looked at pictures in amazement, with one gas station next to the other. Hard to believe that the people had to go there with their cars at first to refuel, so that the car drove again! Nowadays, anyone could easily refuel their electric car from home with a standard charging station. But that was not really necessary because everyone could work and shop from home. Online food retailing had become a huge success and was growing incredibly – the only people who really needed to work outside the home were those who brought their fellow human beings with food (or clothing, electronics, etc.) into their homes Cars supplied. There were robots, but they could not do everything. Unfortunately, it was not yet possible to develop a kind of robot that could drive a car and load as well as unload it and at the same time could remember all customers who wanted to be supplied. Despite all the progress, people still had to do this work themselves today. It would be easier to build this robot As if to influence the weather, Antje thought morosely – but she had to choose the hardest task. That came of it, if one was in love with his boss and wanted to do something great for him.
She was torn from her thoughts when her brother, Tom, who was almost ten years younger, stormed into the house and cheered, “Hooray, there’s snow tomorrow!”
“I know,” she said, trying not to make her voice angry. “We could not help it again.”
Tom laughed. “Well, I do not know why you ‘re still trying it, it has not worked for ten years, it will not be here today or tomorrow. ”
Antje thought that he would be right, but it would be nicer to admit her failure. “That’s what we’ll see,” she said with a meaningful undertone, but Tom ignored the subtle nuance in her voice.
“At last I can try my new sled!”, He rejoiced instead, the sled was a relic from bygone days, but still produced every year in large numbers and strangely enough still a bestseller Antje did not know It had no electric propulsion, you could not do much with it, the thing was only good for driving down a mountain in the snow, then trudging back up the sledge to go down again then trudge up again, then again … How absolutely pointless.
“You should come, Antje!” Tom said happily, “Sledding is fun!” Oh, yes, that was the reason. Some people still did something just because they enjoyed it. She did not count herself, she had more important things to do. “That’s not possible,” she said, “I have to work.” As if on cue, the loud clanking sound of her communication device, called Komu for short, sounded a phone call. “Doris, Mars Station I” was on the display, wondering what her old friend Doris wanted her to say to her Komu that she wanted to talk to Doris and that the Komu should turn down volume control 5. Earlier, people had such a thing themselves she had once heard how awkward life must have been in the past! Today, one told his Komu everything,
He was also at least 25 years old and was not allowed to have any children. He also had to commit to not getting any during his stay on Mars. Antje had not been very interested in that and had been very surprised when Doris had decided to take part in this project. She had not reported for more than a year. What she wanted?
“Huhu, Doris! How are you up there? “She asked, not just for the sake of form. She was really curious.
“Wonderful!” Doris beamed. “I’m pregnant!”
Antje wondered. Was not that forbidden? “That’s nice,” she said noncommittally, and then said, “But can you do that on Mars anyway?”
Doris laughed. “Oh, you know, if they can not deliver the contraceptives on time, they are to blame themselves. What can I do for it? The Martian Rock flies only once in five months, I can not just jump on the ground and get myself something. Actually, they wanted to make the pill here. But that did not work out. “She paused, then said,” Is not it funny? Nature never changes – it always bugs people. “
“Yes,” said Antje. “You’re right.”