The clamor of the gathered crowd almost drowned out his words as he yelled, “Fifty-seven, fifty-seven!” The lottery administrator was visibly sweating, both from the heat and the fear of the mob. Luckily, he was protected by a small army. 

A man looked at his ticket and tried to hide his happiness. He knew that if he was too excited he might get killed. In this crowd, no one would know, or care. He tried to move through the crowd to the sidewalk to his left. There he could get a guard escort. 

The crowd ebbed and flowed like the ocean tide. Walking straight through was no easy task. People were body to body. He had to time his movements just right in order to pass. As the man moved he took blows from many people as he struggled through the mass of bodies. His sweat started to gather and his heart rate rose. Not too far, he thought, just keep moving, freedom awaits. 

The sidewalk was in view. He started shoving faster. He would not be denied. He would not live in this cesspool of a city any longer. He would finally enjoy real food and real water instead of the recycled trash the city provided. Almost there, almost. 

The sharp searing heat he felt in his ribs overwhelmed him. He tried to turn, but an arm wrapped around him and the knife was inserted again and again. The man’s surprise turned to immediate despair as the realization washed over him. There was nothing that could be done. He dropped to his knees as his nervous system gave out from the trauma. His body was swallowed by the crowd. 

“Fifty-seven?” The guard asked. 

“That’s right, see, here.” The man produced a ticket. 

The guard took the ticket. “This way please.” He gestured the man down the sidewalk behind the line of guards. “You’re lucky to have made it over without a fight. These lotteries have been getting out of hand recently. The last one in Hong Kong set off a riot with over 100 dead in the end. This is my last round luckily. I can’t wait to be rid of this duty.”

“Yea, I can’t imagine how hard it’s been. I’m relieved I made it. Stroke of luck. I’ve always wanted to go to space.”

“Well now you’ll get plenty of it. Good luck out there.”

“Thank you, you too.”

The guard led the man to the shuttle where he would be taken to the colonist receiving center. There he would be treated like a king. Survival now meant luxury. 

As the crowd dispersed, many more bodies were sprawled on the streets. Some stabbed, some beaten, some even shot. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters slain indiscriminately for the sake of a ticket to the stars.  

Afterword

This little story was filler in my novel Neptune. I wrote a bunch of filler stories to try and explain the world the novel took place in. It was a very bleak world where humanity reached rock bottom. Where selfishness took full hold and anyone would do anything to survive.

It’s the basic sci-fi set-up where Earth is dying and people are being sent to space colonies. This is kind of a sequel to Space Colony Alpha. Eventually, the colonies are “successful” and there are only a limited number of people that get to go. Although, safety or survival was not guaranteed.

These little scenes helped me try to set the mood for Neptune. Ultimately, I don’t think they’d really have a place in the book. But I was dead set on reaching the technical novel length of 50,000 words before I started editing.