Mankind

I HAD A DREAM!

The scene could be set just a decade or so in the future, in an area for want of a better description, we'll call middle America.

There is a wind of change about!

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"Come in Major? So you've found something?"

"Sure have General," answered the fresh-faced Major, looking too young to be holding such a rank. "Apple has really come up with the goods since that new woman took over the Job. The new Mark 5 i-Scanner has detected something already."

"A transcript Major?"

"Better than that General," the Major beamed. "A conversation. Not a long one. Just a snippet really, but a very significant one."

"When?" the General demanded impatiently. "I mean how far in the future? Do we have a date of any sort?"

"Hard to be exact General," the subordinate hesitated, enjoying the moment of power over a superior officer, short that it would be. "It's early days yet. The techies estimate it to be at least five decades in the future from now, but not more than ten. Other than that we have no idea where this conversation took place"

"On Earth?"

"Yes somewhere on our planet General, but no idea where."

"The language Major?"

"Some sort of scrambled English apparently, but I've got a rough translation here which gives us some idea of whether our plans will have been successful."

The Major duly handed over the Babel Reader to the General, and stood there smiling as the senior officer played with the scales to tune it in.

What the two of them heard bought huge grins to their faces.

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"Hi Moira," opened up the first voice, even though translated from the original, a distinct Scottish accent filtering through the Babel computorised translation. "Is that Joss you've got in the car with you?"

"Yes Mary," the less obvious voice came back." He looks so sweet curled up in the back like that doesn't he?"

"Really cute," Mary agreed readily. "Is he house trained yet?"

"Oh yes," beamed Moira. "He's no trouble at all. I'm so glad I got him to keep Boris company, and they get on so well together."

"They don't fight then?"

"No Mary. Boris is so much bigger than Joss, so he just swats him if he gets out of hand."

"Two males together though Moira," warned her friend. "Lots of testerone going on there. Aren't you worried?"

"No. I'm going to have Joss done. I've made an appointment down at the surgery for next week to have him castrated. I thought it best."

"Is he old enough Moira? Mary questioned. "He looks awfully young."

"Oh he's twenty two next month. Quite old enough and better to have him done before he gets sexually active. I have enough trouble keeping Boris happy."

"Handsome brute your Boris," grinned Mary. "How big is he now?"

"Six foot three," bragged Moira. "I'm hoping he doesn't get any bigger or I'll have to get him a new kennel."

"No silly," laughed Mary. "I mean how BIG is he now?"

"Oh sorry," giggled the younger woman. "He's over eight inches now and BIG with it."

"Lucky you. Are you going to breed him?"

"I've thought about it," replied Moira, suddenly more thoughtful. "I know it's becoming the fashion again in some circles, but I've been down to the design centre and they've come up with a really beautiful potential baby for me. They've got the sperm in the bank all ready to go."

"I think you're right Moira," her friend encouraged her. "I've heard some awful stories about babies conceived in the old fashioned way."

"Sounds so crude doesn't it. It must have been awful for women back in the old days being dependant on men for that sort of thing. It's difficult to imagine why some women still want to risk it."

"No idea what's going to pop out, have you?"

"Damn right Mary," her friend agreed, dismissing any thoughts of even considering that route. "I've heard tell that there's a one in ten chance of the baby being male."

"YUK!"

"Yuk indeed. Just imagine it."

At which point the conversation dissolved into pops and whistles as the contact with the future was lost, the i-Scanner having slipped out of the wave length.

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"The future sounds bright Major," General Brenda Harris commented happily.

"Sure does Mam," the Major, Helen Jones replied. "All seems to be going the way President Clinton planned. What a wonderful woman she is."

"That Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear getting elected as Prime Minister of Britain nearly threw a spanner in the works though."

"Yes but Nicola Sturgeon put paid to that when the Scottish Women's Nationalist Party took control of the Government over there, and England's attempt to get their independence never really got off the ground."

"The future looks bright indeed Major," the senior general in the US army mused happily. "Very bright indeed."

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Beware my friends out there. I said a dream didn't I? Did I mean a nightmare?

Could this really be the future of MANkind?

To arms I say, to arms before it's too late!