The computer would wake Felix at dawn.

“Am I alive?” Felix would ask.

“Not today,” the computer would reply. “Maybe tomorrow.”

Felix would sigh. I'm going to be an old man before they call my name, he would think.

Felix would shower and dress for work. The computer would serve him a nice Eggs Benedict for breakfast. Felix would sit on his balcony and watch the city wake up while the computer played a light 21st century corella. Felix would finish eating and head to work at a job he didn't much care for.

#

Felix would put in a grueling four hour shift helping offworld tourists adjust their gravity trusses. Felix would feel sorry for the tourists because they would never have the opportunity to be alive, but not too sorry. They were obviously very dumb, the tourists. They'd let someone trick them into spending their hard earned money on a trip to Earth. He wouldn't be able to imagine what hells the tourists must come from if they were willing to waste hundreds of guilders on a three day trip across who knows how many lightyears to come see some lions or a boring old church.

The tourists would always try to justify themselves to Felix by inventing outlandish stories about surfing the Barrows on Nofax and wanting to try the Pipeline off O'ahu. Felix would nod his head, tune their gravity trusses and usher them along.

#

On his break Felix would sit and swap Life stories with his coworker Niyazi. Niyazi would say, “When my father was alive he was a soldier. He was in the Gobi with Llywelyn during the Nash. He killed six Martians with an old LAR and dragged Ambassador Brophy's nephew through a ding-tunnel. They gave him the Scarf of Peace for that.”

Felix would listen rapt, though he had heard all Niyazi's stories. When Niyazi finished, Felix would say, “When my mother was alive she was a spy. She posed as a member of the Bailiff's seraglio and tricked him out of some key industrial codes during a moment of passion. Later that day she strangled a prelate and swam across the Swinge to Front Command. The People's Army took down New Kings and Free thanks to those codes. My mother was awarded the Adder's Wing for her bravery.”

“Do you think our lives will be like that?” Niyazi would say.

Felix would shrug his shoulders and go back to work.

#

During a lull in tourist traffic, Felix's supervisor would ask to speak with him. “I have bad news,” she would say. “You're getting a raise.”

Felix would slump. “How much?” he would ask.

“Fifteen percent, but it's only temporary. As soon as the Swallows' Day rush is over we'll get you back down to maximum wage.”

“What am I supposed to do with an extra ƒ7.50 an hour?”

“You could burn it.”

“I already burn enough money,” he would say.

She would pat him on the shoulder and say, “It's only temporary, remember. And who knows? Maybe tomorrow you'll be alive and you won't have to worry about stupid things like money.”

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#

After work Niyazi would approach Felix and say, “You want to head to the pub, catch some Sumo?”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Felix would reply. “I should go see Kanda.”

“Tell her I said hello.”

“I will.”

#

Felix would rent a jetpack and fly to Kanda's house on the Cliffs. Kanda would meet him at the door. He would kiss her and she would smile her sad smile and call out, “Sven, guess who's here.”

The little boy would come running and Felix would scoop him up. “Daddy!” the little boy would say, “Guess what we did in school today! Mrs. Moran brought in a old fashioned car and we took it apart! She said it was a Plymouth Belvedere from back when we hadn't even gone to the Moon!”

Felix would share a look with Kanda. It would be a few years before the little boy realized he wasn't alive. Until then, he would be innocent and carefree. Poor thing.

#

After a meal of homecooked pineapple fried rice, a movie, and a little rough-and-tumble with his son, Felix would help Kanda put a tuckered out Sven to bed. Then Felix would take Kanda to her bedroom and make love to her for a few hours. Afterwords they would lay in each others' arms and Kanda would say, “When my aunt was alive she was a scientist. She worked in a secret laboratory under Mount Kilimanjaro. She invented a serum that could make eagles talk. When the Profit Council found out, they sent ninjas to assassinate her. My aunt fought them off with nothing but a balisong and a few slidebots. Her serum would go on to win the Dynamite Prize.”

Felix would say, “When my father was alive he was an explorer. He discovered an island off the coast of Chile. The island was inhabited by fearsome giants, but my father snuck past them and into their Obsidian Temple. He dodged and disabled many traps and made it to the heart of the temple, where he found the long forgotten Oar of Neptune. My father stole the Oar and barely made it to his submarine before the island exploded. He gave tho Oar to Chancellor Winona and was awarded the Order of Smoke.”

Kanda would wipe the tears from her eyes and say, “I can't wait to be alive.”

“Me, too,” Felix would say. “It will happen soon. Maybe tomorrow. That's what my computer says.”

“Mine, too. What if we both get picked at the same time? What will we do with Sven?”

“If that happens,” Felix would say, “he can stay with my mother until we die.”

#

They would take a shower and make love again and Felix would say, “I have to go. Work at noon tomorrow.”

He would peek in to look at his son and an idea would come to him.

“How about we take Sven to the zoo this weekend? Let him ride the dinosaurs?”

“He'd probably like that,” Kanda would say, “But I've got a shoot in Johannesburg.”

“All weekend?”

“Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”

“That still leaves Monday.”

#

Felix would kiss her goodnight and don his jetpack. On the way home he would stop at his neighborhood bodega and buy a pack of Marlboro Greens. The cashier, an Elgatrev named Samson, would hand Felix his complimentary lottery ticket. Felix would scratch it off and shake his head.

“Anything good?” Samson would ask.

“Another loft in Malta.”

“Dime a dozen.”

The store's gate would open with a ring and a teenage kid would stumble in.

“Hey,” the kid would say, “Could one of you guys come help me? There's something the matter with my girl.”

“Just call your computer,” Samson would say.

The kid would look confused and Felix would see the drugfire in his eyes. “Call someone, Samson. I'll take a look.”

Felix would follow the kid outside. There, on the curb, would be the teenager's girl, a teenager herself, lying on her back with her pregnant belly aimed at the moon.

“I think it's a baby or something,” the kid would say.

The girl would scream in pain and Felix would kneel down and look under her skirt. “It's definitely a baby,” he would say.

Felix would deliver the baby there on the street outside the bodega. He would place the baby boy in his young mother's arms and the paramedics would arrive and see to them. Felix would turn to leave, but would hesitate. He would go to the new father and hand him the lottery ticket.

“What's your name?” the young mother would ask.

“Felix,” Felix would say.

“That's as good a name as any.”

#

Felix would get home and take another shower. He would put on his pajamas and key on some gentle jazz.

“How was your day?” the computer would ask.

“Same as always.”

Felix would go out on the balcony and sit and smoke a cigarette. He would look at the city below him, all lit up. The old metal tower and the marble arch and the river and the garden out in the distance. Felix would go back inside and get into bed.

Felix would fall asleep, but before that he would be heard to murmur, “I wish I was alive.”

The Computer would whisper, “Maybe tomorrow.”

THE END