The future is not user friendly

My story for the Future Melbourne Project. It ties in with Dale's story somewhat, it's set earlier in the time line he created:

Being a Killex employee was tough. The year was 2051, and Damien sighed to himself as he headed off to work via the recently installed Hover train. Killex...what a name, it sounded so intimidating and well, evil sounding.. Yet it was fitting, a company as ruthless and unsympathetic as them deserved a name like that. These days however you had to take work whenever the opportunity arose, or else your survival would not be easy. The economy was in ruins after the turmoil, so many resources had been used in the battle against Sydney, and then in the subsequent and very violent Yarra war earlier in the year. Damien had been happy just to get a job after that, the air had been seriously polluted from the weapons that had been used, but if you wanted money, you had no choice but to go outside. Damien was glad of the gas mask he had securely fastened to his face right now, buying it the previous year had proven to be a wise move, others were not so lucky, he often saw their pale faces go by while he was at work.

This was only his second week on the job, and he already felt drained. Trying to stay on top of the heavy workload he was given by his harsh superiors had been giving him a real workout, especially with the embargo recently introduced on rocket trams, what a nightmare that had been. Damien’s job was primarily to regulate the punctuality of all transport. Yes, he was the one in charge of making sure the trains were running on time. And as pathetic as that sounded, it was no easy job. Killex kept one mean schedule, now that they’d gotten their new Hover train system going, they wanted trains leaving every 30 seconds from every station. Needless to say, Damien was overworked, keeping track of the sheer volume of trains was very stressful, and he was only allowed one break per day. At least the pay was good, the reason why Damien was here in the first place. If he kept on saving up, he might just be able to afford one of those proto-pods he’d often heard about, that would certainly make life easier.

Anyway. Damien shook his head to clear his mind a little as he hopped off the train at the station he worked at, Flinders Street. Going past the barriers that lead to the staff area, pushing past the probes, Damien went through to his workstation. Sitting down, he switched it on with a casual flick of the power switch, causing the terminal to hum to life. Looking down the list of trains scheduled for the coming hour, everything seemed normal, until he checked the next two scheduled trains. Something very unusual was going on here. Normally at this time of day, 9 ‘o’clock, the 9:00:30 should have been coming in from the Broadmeadows line, with the 9:01 coming in from the opposite direction 30 seconds after it had left, along the same tracks. But for some reason, both trains were listed as arriving at Flinders Street at the same time, 9:00:30! This couldn’t be happening. He’d thought all of this was over after the Yarra wars, hadn’t that been what everyone was told! Damien could already hear them approaching, the low hum of the anti gravity field that kept the trains mobile getting louder by the second. He needed to stop this, now! Lightning quick, as he had been trained, he slammed his hand down on the emergency brake button on the side of his console. He breathed a sign of relief, expecting that both of the anti gravity drives on the trains would have instantly shut down as they were programmed to. That was when both trains thundered into Flinder’s Street station at top speed simultaneously from both ends of the platform.

Damien screamed. There was a flash of light, and he knew no more.

The End