431

431
fiction
Edward w Pritchard


My sentence was read to me by the mechanical Judge. A court appointed robot lawyer sat at my side without comment as my sentence was read by the Judge for the record.

431 years on an artificial Moon of Pluto to me for voting fraud back on Earth. The good news my life will be extended over four times using medicine and lots of suspended animation and deep sleeping periods; the bad news my life will be extended over four times using medicine and lots of suspended animation and deep sleeping periods.

I never liked to read much or improve myself and music, art and philosophy are of little interest to me. There's not much to remember of my past life on Earth anymore. 431 years is a long time I guess to pass through.

One thing I can't get out of my head when I am awake here near Pluto; voting seems no longer important to me. One ambitious person persuading others to sponsor their quest for financial independence. Politics is such a racket, I am sorry I learned it.

Pluto is no longer officially classified as a Planet. It's just another heavenly body racing through Space, like the Earth and the Sun, and the artificial Moon where I will spend the next 431 years of my long life.