Terminal Boredom: Stories

by Izumi Suzuki

don’t forget things!’ Emma tweaked the flesh of his cheek and he turned to face her. ‘Not while they’re still going on, no. But as soon as something’s over, it’s as if it never happened. Same with war, even. I went back and looked through the records from 1950 onwards. What with us living in Tokyo and your parents’ commitment to their Japanese heritage, I decided to see how much people remember of the Korean and Vietnam wars. I looked into the records from the American side too.’ ‘But we’re not in the age of Japan and America anymore! Now we’ve got a World President. I know a lot of people say it’s just for show, but still. Even the capital city moves periodically!’ ‘Sure, on the surface it’s as you say. But in reality, people are more concerned with what country they’re from than the fact they’re Terrans. In the USA, people used to worry about whether they were of Italian or Irish heritage or whatever. Then there were several generations when people of all different heritages began to mix together, and now we’re seeing the emergence of an American race, although it’s still only in its formative stages. Which means that everyone’s only serving their own national interests, just like they used to in the past. Don’t you think that’s odd? In an age where there are so many spaceships being built and everyone supposedly has their eyes trained on what lies beyond their own planet, each and every nation is looking to become something like the British Empire. They all want theirs ...