Brave New World

In a bar in the North Sector called Xcdfertyiioprdfet, which is normally quite exclusive. I guess it's because it's so cold outside, great swathes of solid ice blocking up the sector channels, that made them take pity on me and let me in. There are two pterodactyls at the bar and both have just ordered neat Malibu. I thought that was quite odd. Who drinks neat Malibu? 

The SB Service Biotric behind the bar merely absorbed the request and seconds later both drinks appear holistically on the bar top. I pull up a mushroom and sit down. A Tyrannosaurus Rex is getting a tad loud in a corner, banging on about the referendum that will see a vote on whether to ban all Dinosaurs over seven feet tall from the Yourolandis Union of Countries. He's wearing a silver t-shirt that has the message, 'No To Rexit. Not in My LifeTime,' emblazoned across it in black, six foot lettering. I ignore him and ask the SB for a pale ale. It hesitates, lights on its chest flashing several times. This is followed by a plume of smoke. One of the pterodactyls pulls out a cigarette and holds the end against the SB's head. The cigarette instantly lights and the pterodactyl sticks it in a cigarette holder and takes several drags. I just fancy a pale ale. 

This Yourolandis dream sucks. Automation is fine until you want something they can't deal with. Maybe Yourolandis isn't all it's cracked up to be. My Stellerpak is out of charge. Nothing charges up properly anymore. Not sure how I'll get home. The sub-zero temperatures that have been steadily dropping for months are not helping. Impassable sector channels blocked, in many cases by sheer cliffs of ice. Even the nationalised transport conglomerate, Oooba Ooober & Ooobah is losing customers. And more and more dinosaurs are moving to the city. 

The SB seems to have gone to sleep. I press a light button on the bar surface and a gin and toxic appears, complete with mint and a straw, but no ice. I smile at the irony but one of the pterodactyls mistakes it as a friendly sign. I feel uncomfortable. I neck the gin and toxic and collapse the mushroom. I walk to the dimension lift. Time for a brave new world.