speculative

Note: This work is unfinished and likely to remain so. For historical interest only.

1.0 Fragments

2031 -- After decades of enmity and months of mounting tensions, India and Pakistan are enveloped in nuclear holocaust. The Indo-Pak War surges forward as militants on both sides engage in landgrabs and mass murder. Due to China's refusal to help, Nepali patriots side with Pakistan.

1.1 The Incarcerate

Russel Snyder
Inmate #372834-923
Bainbridge Federal Penitentiary
550 N. Davis Rd.

I heard on the news today
Paris is in flames
the King is dead
and no one's seen the President
for at least two months
not since someone shot his double

Guess things kind of went to hell
I'm on my fifth bankruptcy
serving it out under county lock
while the wife and kids are
whoring themselves out again
south of Vegas, making my bail

A dozen spics are squatting
in my grandfather's house
outside the ring of rubble
that was my hometown

Day 11 (Friday, March 15, 2002)

I awoke with a start. My back was against the hotel room door. I stretched, pulled the room key out of my pocket, and tried the door. It opened. Checking the bed, I noticed Jen wasn't there. She wasn't in the bathroom, either. I dropped the key in front of the door and left. I had my suspicions.

My truck wasn't in the parking lot. I caught a taxi back to the apartment. Her car wasn't there. No blue Saab. I saw the building. No smoke damage. No evidence that anything unusual had happened.

Day 10 (Thursday, March 14, 2002)

Tomorrow was supposed to be her birthday, but she obviously wasn't feeling very excited. I drove her to work, having to avoid potholes that weren't there before, animals blurring across the street, insane drivers trying to run us off the road, and God only knows what else--all of that for a drive of only half a mile. I considered making Jen wear a suit of armor if she intended to go to work! It wasn't like we'd go broke if we both skipped a day.

Day 9 (Wednesday, March 13, 2002)

Nine days into this ordeal, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary when Jen tripped on her way to the bathroom. After all, people trip. Accidents happen. "Are you okay?"

She said she was, although it had looked like an unpleasant fall. She appeared to be tired as it was. I gave her a hug and she carried on. The drive to work was slightly more eventful.

Day 8 (Tuesday, March 12, 2002)

Suffice it to say, 3/11 didn't happen. The bluff had been called. No boards were hacked. No chaos ensued. Jen didn't lose her mind. I was glad. I still woke up depressed.

It was just another day. More work. I scanned code for most of the day, trying to wrap my head around the strange quirks of the FACS software. I told my boss I'd print the weekly metrics sometime today. That didn't end up happening, although he was out of the office throughout the afternoon.

Day 7 (Monday, March 11, 2002)

The alarm got me up again, this time to draw me back into the daily grind. It may have been Spring Break, but I still had to work. I intended to pull a forty-hour week at OSC. Jen and I agreed to carpool with my truck.

After I'd taken care of my usual morning rituals, Jen went ahead with hers. She didn't say much. She only wished to me that I hadn't gone to bed when I did. I wouldn't find out until the drive to work what she meant by that.

Day 6 (Sunday, March 10, 2002)

The alarm pulled me out of bed around 9AM. I wasn't done sleeping. I made it give me until 9:30. When 9:30 finally came, I got up and showered. Took me the usual ten minutes to get ready--I was always a speedy one. A quick call to Isaac indicated he was ready to go as soon as I was. I kissed Jen goodbye (she was still sleeping) and picked up Isaac.

Day 5 (Saturday, March 9, 2002)

I first woke up around 10AM. I drifted off and came back around 10:15. Then 10:24. Then 10:30. Then 10:45. As my watch crept up on 11, I decided to pull my lazy ass out of bed. Jen had already done so and was in the other bedroom playing around on her computer. As usual, she got to tell me all about what had transpired overnight and while I slept.

Day 4 (Friday, March 8, 2002)

My LAN/WAN class was not going to be held that Friday morning, but I forgot. My alarm went off at its normal time. I got up. Jen woke up, too, for once. She began to talk about as soon as she awakened.