I step off the tramway and take a deep breath. The rays of the setting sun highlighting the sidewalk greenhouses remind me of my childhood tree-lined streets.

 

The two-storey townhouses are from a past era, and communal residences now house the Last generation. These multi-storey buildings glitter purple as the rays of the sun passed through the fiber-optic floors, providing enough light on the outdoor walkways for evening gatherings. I enter a building and walk up the prescribed four flights of stairs before accessing the subsidized elevators to move to the 25th level. The interactive walls pick up my wrist key and little babies on clouds float into the background of the screen. A small gingerbread man does a victory dance to congratulate me on my four-flight walk.

A man and a child enter the elevator and more elements pop onto the screen. the child jumps closer and starts the search and find dance, tapping the branded products she recognizes to get a satisfactory animation as reward. The father and I exchange smiles. He recognizes my company's baby on a cloud logo.

 

*Ding*

 

I shift my neural playlist to upbeat music. The doors open to the common room. A cheer rises from the crowd. White-haired floormates wave from their seats and a young child bounces and shouts "We're going to have a baby!" One of the floormates hefts the child over his shoulder and another indicates my way to the destination apartment, though the meme of a stork carrying a baby Earth on their door screen is in itself an indicator.

 

Quentin and Barbara, early-thirties, winners of the baby lottery, beam at me from their apartment entrance. I scan my wrist key at the threshold and my work ID replaces the stork meme on the screen.

 

Raphaël Brandt, GenNext co.

 

"Quentin, Barbara? Congratulations on winning the baby lottery," I say with a bright smile.

"I am Raphaël and today we are going to set up your residence for your impending arrival."

 

Quentin and Barbara lead me to their discussion alcove. Barbara taps her fingers on the wall and calls up their certificate. They confirm their identities and I scan my wrist key to unlock the apps.

 

We want to ensure you have every tool necessary to raise a child in a happy secure environment. I am installing our maternity app and parenthood app. 

 

Barbara and Quentin sit close together, holding hands. "For sure, after all the research that we did we understand how important it is to be prepared for adding a child into our lifestyle."

 

Quentin gestures towards the common room. "We have collectively raised four children on the floor and we hope to continue."

 

"Four children -wow you guys have really good genes!"

 

I know everything I say is being recorded and can be used for training purposes, but for a single floormate group to have been able to pool together their genes to create four children - that is pretty amazing! 

 

About 20 years ago there was a sudden decline in fertility. This was due to our ancestors. Their mistreatment of the planet had resulted in a chemical weakening effect on humans. At first the lack of children was passed off as a Millennials’' choice, but when the number of humans under the age of 10 were recorded across the world as just over one third of the preceding population, statisticians and politicians took notice.

 

The lack of humans living beyond childhood had become so severe that the world population was halved in one generation. Called the Last Generation, studies revealed that humans had permanently altered their hormonal regulators and that the effect was of global proportions. Most humans born between 2025 and 2035 had not been healthy enough to survive to puberty. I was born in 2014, and my generation was expected to provide the baseline genetic material to refabricate our species. We were also expected to lead the Last Generation as role models of planetary cooperators since our previous Me-generations had… Not.

 

The Me-generations were growing old without a new generation able to support them; the millennials and Gen-Z had voted the Me-Gees out of power. 

The Residence was a means to salvage life for the elderly, and a hard publicity push was used to sway populations to live in multigenerational dwellings. Much as the olden day university co-operative, each person had a small set of rooms and shared communal spaces. We all became floormates.

 

"I am honoured to be working with you! We will be pooling your floor's genes to create the embryo. As the designated parents, you get to choose the grandparents and sub parents."

Only companies such as what I belong to are able to couple together the DNA of humans enough to form healthy human babies.

 

Quentin and Barbara exchange looks. “What about choosing the baby?”

 

I state the company line for this. “We need the child to provide a hybrid gene pool for the next generation. If you upgrade to the STEM package, we can check for the confirmed Statistical Trends Engaged Model to see what characteristics you may request. Please note, we need as much genetic diversity as possible. Think about #rainbow from FloorUK-edge.”

 

Homeschooling by the floormates was mandatory. Not only did this practice help share the knowledge of all generations, it also established respect for each floormate. The formal schooling began at the age of seven. Finland had been the school system of choice, having established a home to school system at the turn of the century. Science documentaries created by floormates around the world were shown every evening and discussions about world issues were organized once a month between residences. The single source of information had become obsolete. The worldwide web was about sharing again. Every documentary was given a hash tag for quick access.

 

Barbara nods. “We understand our generation’s mission. We just want to personalize our child.”

 

Humans would not have survived unless they lived and worked together in cooperation. The Residences were a way of fostering empathy and community in order to raise humans who would be willing to share their genes with one another so that we will always have a next generation. This didn't stop humans from wanting more.

 

Companies could promote their brands but all were mandated to recycling and repurposing their products. This did not stop them from trying to gain more market share. GenNext co. included.

 

“Given that your floor already has four children, the list of available characteristics would probably be pretty large for your child.”

 

Another company line. “The only characteristics you may select are superficial, and any fragility to the genes of the ensuing embryo is at your risk. You have twenty-four hours to return to the basic gene pool package. Our analysis takes about twenty minutes. I can then unlock the forms for you.”

 

The couple leaned forward; wrist keys ready.

 

“Shall I invoke our STEM package agreement then?”

 

Twenty minutes later, I leave the happy couple poring over the list of characteristics they could select from their gene pool.

 

The babies on the clouds flitted energetically across the walls of the elevator and I am rewarded with a descent to the ground floor for my up sale.

 

I exit and take another deep breath.

 

 

My neural playlist switches to sad Blues.

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I have got to get another job.

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