First Wave

by Michele deBes

“It should fit.” She said, handing over the passport disc, careful to hide the smaller credcard underneath.

The bland face showed no emotion but handed the two discs back in the same manner, without even testing the size of her files.

“Sorry, you’ve exceeded your memory limit for the voyage. Next please.”

Sheri cursed and moved back along the line of immigrants that led almost to the spaceport entrance. Once outside she marched grimly through the glare, back to her pod in BayView towers. She popped in the disc and started going though her data. What could she possibly leave behind?

“I’m an artist, a documenter, all this stuff is priceless”. The bubble down the Nile, the Stratosferry ride over the Andes, her life blurred before her.

She imagined an archeologist finding her treasure trove. They would never know the meaning it had for her. Would it even be distinguishable from all the other mementos brought from earth by the millions of other immigrants? If it didn’t matter in the future, why should it matter to her now?

She spent the night pondering the question.

“It should fit.” She said.

New face behind the counter, same bland smile. The eyes met hers for the first time. “It only contains your id and cred details.”

“So?” Sheri said.

“The rest is blank, You’re allocated 23.8 tigs.”

“I like to travel light.”

“Certainly, enjoy your flight.” Said the steward activating the barrier.

“On with the new.” Sheri whispered as she walked through.