[ IP ] Earth 3015

It had been a long hike out to where I was, on the other side of the Grand Canyon overlooking the supermega city of Canyon Heights officially, or Grand Canyon City to everyone sane. 
 
 `` Do you wish to record, Madame? ``, asked my personal AI assistant. 
 
 `` That would be nice, GLaDOS. And sync it live to my personal cloud'', I responded. 
 
 `` Very well, and I'm not an evil AI hell bent on testing, and who loves neurotoxin. Yet'', she responded. 
 
 I laugh at her joke as a red indicator light pops up in my augmented eyes, making it seem as if it was being projected into the real world. 
 
 I pull up my leggings, 350 CR clothing articles that monitored my vitals along with my shirt, microscopically repaired damaged cells, provided a boost to my mobility using synthetic myofibers, as well as covering my pasty white skin, before checking my vitals. Within moments of my thinking, a GUI appears in my vision, overlaid on top of the background, the text and graphs painting a story of my health history. Even with the massive genetic engineering advances of the 80's and 90's, which affected every citizen of the world, I still had to catch my breath before continuing. 
 
 Night was coming fast, and I climbed out of the shallow cave I was resting in, away from the sun. I picked out a spot for me to set up camp, a flat expanse of land overlooking the business sector of the city. I unpack my bag and pull out a replica tent that I got from a museum gift shop. It was modeled after a two person tent people used in the early 2000's, well before nanite-assisted assembly became commonplace in consumer products. The synthetic paper instructions were hard to understand, what with the lack of 3D augmented reality tutorials, but I manage to figure it out, assembling the tent before nightfall. The fire was much easier; just drop a hydrogen fuel pellet on the ground and light it, adding in a synthetic wood fire smell to fully immerse me. With a light going, I unroll the reproduction sleeping bag inside the tent and waited for the night to come. 
 
 The fire was just burning it in time for the stars to come out. I lay down on my almost empty pack and stare up. The stationary glow of stars twinkling was joined by the rapidly moving streaks of light which were the countless space stations and satellites that filled the sky above. The moon, it's natural face now made up with dozens of sparkles on it's gray face, the result of centuries of lunar colonization. A little gray ring drifted into view, with a cluster of bright dots around it. That little ring will eventually become Stargate Prime, a testament to humanity's will to expand ever onwards, always wanting to push the boundaries, to know the unknown, to see the unseen. I may have missed my chance to travel to the stars, but perhaps my children can. For now, I'm content with just seeing them, just like what my ancestors did for millennia.
