1 Chapter 1: The News

A teenager wearing the casual waiter's uniform came out of the restaurant carrying a heavy bag of trash. It wasn't his turn to take out the trash but the female manager was having a good time chatting with the other male part-time worker that she was seeing secretly.

"I'm having a work-related conversation, do me a favor and take out the trash please," she said to the teenager while sneakily showing her new pic that she uploaded on social media to her secret lover.

The teenager drugged the heavy plastic trash while grinding his teeth and mumbling to himself, "Why should I take out the trash. Does she think no one knows of her relationship with that new guy?"

The more he thought about it, the more he became angry. He shouted while looking back at the door, "You think I don't know what work-related conversation sounds like, you stupid cunt".

"Do you think you can treat me this way because I'm a bit ugly," he angrily shouted again and threw the heavy trash bag at the garbage container without taking a proper aim. He was consumed by so much anger that he didn't even realize a man was lying down near the garbage container.

Henry was just sleeping peacefully near the garbage container without minding the stench as if he doesn't belong to the world and dreaming about who knows when suddenly, a heavy trash bag landed on top of his head from nowhere and woke him up brutally.

Henry felt as if someone was trying to knock him out using a sandbag filled with rocks while he is still sleeping. What was the point of knocking him out if he was already sleeping?

Henry opened his eyes only to find a black thing covering his face. "Gawkhgawkhhhhhhhhhh he-helpppp," Henry threw the trash bag that was almost suffocating him and hastily stood up.

He looked around and spotted the only person standing a few meters away from him and the heavy trash bag that almost knocked him dead. Henry was stunned while looking at the dumbfounded Jeremy who was the culprit of the shocking dread that he just experienced.

Realization suddenly dawned on him. Henry was so furious that he angrily picked up a coca-cola can near him and threw it at the teenager as if he wanted the can to put a hole through that boy's head while shouting at the top of his lungs "JEREMY, YOU SON OF A BITCH". Jeremy ducked the incoming soda can and ran for his life while yelling back, "I'M SORRRRRY MR.HENRYYY".

Jeremy cursed under his breath while running, "Why the heck is that homeless wannabe doing sleeping near the container?" Jeremy reached the door to the restaurant and opened it fast enough to look at the red-eyed Henry that was bulling his way in one last time before closing it with a BANG.

Bang bang bang

sounds came behind the door mixed with ranting and curses, "Let me in Jeremy you asshole. How can you fucking have the audacity to murder someone during the daylight? Do you think this is funny? you pitiful ugly bitch repulsive motherfuvker."

Jeremy waited with a sour face until the beast behind the door cooled down before pleading for his life again, "I said sorry man, give it up. I promise to give you today's special take out of your choice for free."

Henry was just about to go for the second round of swearing when he heard that declaration of peace.

He suddenly cooled down and thought shortly before replying in a rough voice due to all the shouting, "You think I'm a beggar."

Jeremy was stunned before replying, "But you are."

Henry snorted, "I'm homeless not a beggar."

"What's the difference?" asked Jeremy.

Henry banged the door and said, "Wake up boy, this is 2049. Even the homeless can afford one round of buffet in that restaurant you work your butt off."

Jeremy sarcastically replied, "That's why people call you homeless wannabe. How will you understand the struggle of homeless people when you are homeless of your own free will and even have friends who continue sending you spare money on your smart poster."

Henry shot back, "If you know me, you know me. 10 takeout offers, that's your last chance before I sue your big boss for an attempt of murder by a company's worker or employee, and there is a CCTV right at the angle I was sleeping."

Jeremy almost shit his pants when he heard that and continued negotiating and pleading until the offer dropped to 6 takeaways for 3 continuous days with two takeaways each day.

Henry was satisfied with what he accomplished and was already feeling famished from all the talking and said, "Open up now so I can have my first troph- I mean meal today."

Jeremy opened the door slowly while mumbling about his bad day and harboring a feeling of resentment at both his manager and the grinning homeless wannabe, "Don't tell my manager what happened and just say that you are using your money," cautioned Jeremy.

Henry just ignored him and went directly to the buffet area, picked a plate, and started sweeping the food as if it's his own house. Henry sat down near the window and was gulping a spoonful after spoonful of the fried egg rice when the TV that was projected in front of him suddenly started playing a channel that brought him a piece of shocking news.

A middle-aged woman of average beauty sat with a straight back and a face full of pride and began by saying, "Good evening everyone, and welcome to the local news report at HNN. This is Olivia reporting to you the shocking and thrilling news that was just announced recently from the headquarters of BASA."

She continued with greater excitement in her voice, "The BASA government agency just recently announced that they have been working on the Teleportation technology and finally had a breakthrough in the success of opening a portal between our planet and the planet Mars. They also reported that this successful invention may also be able to connect us with other planets to expand our growing civilization."

Henry and all the other people present in the restaurant had to let the news sink in before they can process what they just heard. The news was out of the blue and many people couldn't believe what they just heard. The breakthrough of this novel idea was desperately needed in their current living standard and conditions due to the constant air and water pollution, factory wastes, and global warming.

The constant rise of sickness around the world was the price people paid for their ignorance. Even if a minority of people passed the torch from one generation to another to warn people of the damage done to the planet, the majority's lack of attention crippled the warning from reaching and overcoming the stigma of success that's trending in the world of today. Children's school fees, insurance, the need for entertainment to negate the loneliness and many other issues waste precious time of people making the carrot called "success" all the more appealing to the eye, that even the good and bad angels on our shoulders had to agree not to disagree.

Who cares if the world is ending, most depressed people think "when the day will end?" while anxious people think "will the day ever end well?". People have to succeed in life for them to at least have the time and capital to think about eating healthy food or conserving the planet's lifeform by passing a law that forbids the dumping of waste products in the ocean.

Almost a decade ago starting from 2040, the government took control of every transaction and every move of people by constantly introducing new rules and taking the power from the people. A timely and seemingly fit name was spread among the new generation of people that described their situation, "The patrolled servants." Just the name is enough to tell how people felt about their current lifestyle and the constant lack of privacy that happens from all the monitoring and the constant cyber attacks that bring devastating damage to the people's morale and their belief in security.

With all the restrictions, pent-up frustrations, anxiety, and depression roaming among the people and the never-ending struggle of the government due to the continued lack of resources to fuel their ambition, the news of the Teleportation technology was like a piece of heavenly music to the ears.

When this news came out, most of the people residing all over the world started to fantasize about marching to the new world and couldn't wait to unleash their urges and satisfy their curiosity on a new planet while the government couldn't wait to quench its thirst for resources by conquering the alien planets.

Teleport technology became the hot topic of the year. The rich men and women around the world generously funded the experiment to speed up the process and make it foolproof and viable for humans to safely cross the planets.

The hidden and open competition that took place to be the pioneer of uncultivated land and resources was uncivilized, to say the least. Many firms opened up registration areas to find people to test the waters and gain rewards for participating in the opening of the port gate to the only partially friendly coordinated planet mars. Many people from different continents of the world signed up and gathered to witness and partake in the making of history.