The road flew away beneath Light's tires with surprising clarity. Twilight had long since passed and the sky was an unbelievable shade of black, she hadn't been expecting it to darken so quickly, or she would have waited another day to pick up the equipment. But she was afraid if she didn't do it while it wasn't raining, while the weather was nice, she wouldn't get a chance to for a while. Pampa was quite a drive and winter season was approaching with a steady and secure pace.
Light tried to keep her eyes firmly on the was flowing gently in the soft wind; fields beyond fences were littered with clear ponds and creaks, dark road in front of her, but the landscape in the country had a somewhat ethereal beauty. The slowly-dying grass on the side of the road where she supposed some farmers kept their cattle.
Although they could process the cows in plants, clone them, or even systematically raise them, some people preferred their meat to be natural. It was one of the issues that had been plaguing discussions for decades. Some people had suspicions that the new diseases that were revealing themselves to the community came from the artificial food.
Light personally didn't really concern herself with those matters, although she supposed it was possible for infected foods to cause air-borne diseases. So, many people contributed the many deaths in Pampa to the disease. Although, she didn't think that accounted for the many people that were never found.
The death population to Pampa had steadily increased since years before, when LiQuer had been in office. At least that was what she had read in her many college text-books. Although, she supposed, it was wrong to leak that information to mouldable growing adults. It would plant it in their head that the government was planning something. It was incredibly interesting how many rumors had spread about the Congress, but she supposed that it was just bubble-minded nonsense.
Light forced her attention out of her musing, and again focused on the dark road, trying to not fall asleep. She won the battle with her eyelids, and focused on the bright lights that were shining at the end of the road.
Pampa was the capital of the country. It was a major place for immigrants, musicians, celebrities, and important people. It was like Seattle in the early 21 century, a city that never slept. Although, there were fewer thieves and robbers in this era than there were in that century, you could never be too careful in city. Light knew this, and for that reason held a stun gun in her possession. She had never used it, and hoped that she would never have to.
Tall skyscrapers touched the black sky; they all were lit up like Christmas Trees, some with small botanical gardens which held gardens on the top of then. Gardens were very popular in this day and age, if you were a businessman on break, you knew where you wanted to go, the garden. It was the only place where you could see flowers in the city, and feel like you could relax. Flowers were very few in commodity, because over the centuries of cutting down rainforests, the flower population had depleted. So seeing a rose or tulip, or some other kind of fancy flower was a special experience.
Companies in the city usually wanted to make their employees comfortable, because they were afraid. After the year 2929, people who were not satisfied with their jobs had formed unions and simply walked out. They called it the second Depression because it was a time of hunger and poverty, and the people who had quit their jobs were too stubborn to come back.
So the businesses had finally broke down and provided them with luxuries. Light's veterinary clinic was considered extremely old-fashioned; she much preferred it to be that way. The clinic instead of being computer-operated was operated by Light herself, and her grouchy and pretty secretary, Faith Barter.
Many of the companies nowadays were operated solely by computers, but Light hadn't relied on computers since the Great Computer Crash of 3034. She had chosen her profession because of her love of animals, and she knew that however the decades changed culture and technology, that doctors would always be needed. Light was always awed by Pampa's advanced technology though. Seeing all of the new and fairly useful things at windows, or the screen that stood for all to see in the middle of the city, was pleasant.
Except when she was shopping with Faith, who constantly grouched that her high heels were leaving blisters on the back of her feet.
Light got to the supply building and parked her car, pushing the button on her key-ring to lock and protect her vehicle against thieves. She pulled her hood over her head against the cold air, and made her way across the parking lot to the building door. Inside, there was a receptionist with a friendly smile. The word on her name-tag held a smiley face around it, Marylen.
"Name?" Marylen bubbled with a charming smile.
