#41 Just like old times . . .

by Sania

I stared at the picture for hours before concluding that it could either be Papilio nanotecha or Papilio meteorata. Either way, it was an astonishing discovery, even for me and I have been studying butterflies ever since the docs inserted the chip-of-knowledge, when they took me out of the test tube. I got hooked on butterflies, but then my chip was programmed for it.

Now these two butterflies, the nanotecha and the meteorata have been lost for as long as I can remember. If my chip-of-knowledge is working correctly—and I did get it updated last century—they disappeared somewhere around my second birthday and I’m like what? 595? Or probably 600; I lost count after I hit 200. Mundane things like these don’t matter anymore. After all, the last time someone died was eons ago. But then death isn’t a problem anymore. Births are strictly monitored and people get to choose when they want to be “disposed of.” So far, we haven’t had a population crisis.

Anyway, these butterflies were last seen on East Earth, someplace that would have been India(?) before the first Apocalypse.

Now centuries after their disappearance I was seeing their picture again. You might imagine me jumping up and down with excitement, but sadly the thing called feelings was eliminated when scientists realized emotional people were harder to predict and control.

Still, I picked up my net, my insect box and the only butterfly identification book left on earth. Some things never change, do they?