A problem long debated and largely ignored, overpopulation finally arrived and could no longer be dismissed. It hovered like a specter over daily living. Food rations, housing assignments, transport tokens, and seamen registry became facets of modern existence. Today, Jeff Little was to endure the registry.

As with every infant born after the Resolution, Jeff had a vasectomy on the day he was born. On his sixteenth birthday, today, he was to report to the local Fertility Lab and have it temporarily reversed so he could be registered with the Ministry.

The reversal was performed quickly, painlessly, and without a hint of humanity. The intern who completed the procedure departed without a word, leaving Jeff exposed and sullen. ‘What now?’ Jeff thought. He was unaware that this was meant to be a highly controlled process in which he was to be whisked from the reversal to a Recovery Facility where recuperation and further testing would begin.

Alone and confused, Jeff’s patience grew thin. He carefully dressed, reached in his bag for his government issued cigarette rations, and slipped outside for a smoke.

He had lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply before he noticed the soldiers. His innate distrust of authority began to claw at his gut, urging him to flee. He feebly tried to appear calm as he attempted to return to the reversal room. An alarm began to scream. Unthinkingly Jeff ran as fast as he could towards the parking lot as bullets pierced the air around him.