For an introduction to why writing utopias is hard, see here. For a previous utopian attempt, see here. This story only explores a tiny part of this utopia.

The Adventure

The cold cut him off from his toes, then fingers, then feet, then hands. Clutched in a grip he could not unclench, his phone beeped once. He tried to lift a head too weak to rise, to point ruined eyes too weak to see. Then he gave up.

So he never saw the last message from his daughter, reporting how she’d been delayed at the airport but would be the soon, promise, and did he need anything, lots of love, Emily. Instead he saw the orange of the ceiling become blurry, that particularly hateful colour filling what was left of his sight.

His world reduced to that orange blur, the eternally throbbing sore on his butt, and the crisp tick of a faraway clock. Orange. Pain. Tick. Orange. Pain. Tick.

He tried to focus on his life, gather some thoughts for eternity. His dry throat rasped - another flash of pain to mingle with the rest - so he certainly couldn’t speak words aloud to the absent witnesses. But he hoped that, facing death, he could at least put together some mental last words, some summary of the wisdom and experience of years of living.

But his memories were denied him. He couldn’t remember who he was - a name, Grant, was that it? How old was he? He’d loved and been loved, of course - but what were the details? The only thought he could call up, the only memory that sometimes displaced the pain, was of him being persistently sick in a broken toilet. Was that yesterday or seventy years ago?

Though his skin hung loose on nearly muscle-free bones, he felt it as if it grew suddenly tight, and sweat and piss poured from him. Orange. Pain. Tick. Broken toilet. Skin. Orange. Pain...

The last few living parts of Grant started dying at different rates.

$*~*~*$

Much later:

“What have you learnt so far?”

“That talking to myself is barely half-helpful.”

“Then let’s hallf-stop it, then.”

$*~*~*$

Half a second later than that:

“Quick! Get the bognor now!”

Grant fell out of the tube, blinking against the warm yellow light. “What...”, he said, his voice coming clear, as a tiny pink goblin carrying a large blue flag raced in front of him. It stopped to bite him lightly but viciously on the knee as it passed, then g

...

Utopia