Cleaning the Mirror

In an alternate reality:

He's driven in to work on his hover car and set up the solar collector to get the batteries recharged. He's hustled to his desk and put on the interface-helmet to author the interactive instructions that are part of his current list of projects.

Later he'll grab a couple of friends, then carpool over to a floating snack-barge to snack on whatever the group agrees on. He's thinking of introducing a Korean food meme.

Clone-chicken sandwiches are fine too.

If someone else drives, maybe he'll have a beer. Might be a good idea. There's another outbreak of some virus or another. The antiviral nutrient mix in beer helps counter that.

On the weekend he'll join a few friends for dinner, drinks, and a sensory-input entertainment offering (like a movie, but hits all the senses). He's thinking something more along the lines of a reality offering... maybe zombies?

There was that resurgence in San Jose, after all.

That reminds him to double check his kit. Yep. Shotgun is loaded. Chainsaw-sword is powered up.

Maybe he'll save up some cash, fly out to Nevada and take the beanstalk up to one of the orbital stations.

He's always wanted to see space.

It's nice to have options. Sure, life isn't perfect. They've got zombies in some parts of the world. Mutant shark-men trouble the tourist industry in Austrialia. A bioengineering mistake wiped out all limes.

Could be worse. The world could have the ice caps melting. Banks could be unregulated and screw everyone over. "Battlestar Galactica" might have ended with a stupid ending that had angels in it. Fundamentalist religious movements might actually have substantial numbers of followers. "American Idol" might have actually gone beyond a single season on the air.

What a nightmare that world would be.