I think the disaster that happened at the end of 2012 was
the catalyst.
The pharmaceutical companies shifted every resource and
dollar they had—and even some they didn’t, the government was willing to drive
itself into further debt just to save mankind—into developing a cure. Of
course, we immediately saw results, but not what you’d call “positive” ones.
Those with terminal infirmities like cancer and AIDS—they died off in the first
decade or so. Without the funding to further feul research for their drugs, it
quickly became survival of the fittest.
Then they did it. Pacific Sandborn Labs came up with a pill
that would keep everyone alive. We’d go on as a race of people.
What we didn’t know was, we’d no longer be human.
The drawback was, the medicine metabolized way too fast, so
we’d have to take it once every ten minutes. Some people got drips, but those
were expensive and hard to carry around. The rest of us could only afford the
pills. Luckily, they were made cheap. But we all knew, at any time, the pharmaceutical
companies could wipe out the poor. Still, things were looking up.
Until we started seeing them. Until the side effects kicked
in.
I can remember the time I saw my first ghost. I’m pretty
sure I wet my pants, I was so scared. They weren’t like Casper—or like the
stupid kids who wore a bed sheet for Halloween. The creepiest thing was their
eyes—so intense, they bored right into you. They weren’t even white. Some sort
of spectral distortion made them various colors. And more than any of that,
once you saw them, you couldn’t un-see them. They pursued you relentlessly.
People gave up. After all we’d survived through, and the
development of the pills, some people just offed themselves because they couldn’t
handle the horrors. It was time for the corporate drug dealers to step in
again.
And they did.
It’s the year 2123 now, and the development of Pacific
Sandborn’s “Pac-Pellet”—or so we liked to call it—gave us hope. It made us
capable of dealing with all the wraiths and ghosts and horrors that pursued us
relentlessly for so long. We had a way to fight back.
The new Pac-Pellet let us fight the ghosts. And even if it’s
only for a little while—a few hours at best—it’s worth the price. Law enforcement
and military units have been formed to combat the otherworldly spirits, now
that we can touch them. In fact, I’d say some of the ghosts are even scared of
us now, as long as the Pac-Pellet is coursing through our veins.
Evolution is about change. We aren’t human anymore—we’ve experienced
too much change, mentally, and even physically now. That’s why I say that after
all that’s happened, we’re not human.
We’re pacman.
