The Future-Demographic

Anne’s colleagues asked for a description of the group seeking recognition.

The available categories included local history, music, sport, youth activity and other. There was an additional box in which the applicant could explain other, provided the explanation did not exceed five hundred characters.

I used four hundred and ninety-nine. The final character would have completed the word self-determination.

Theo suggested a shorter description.

We held a meeting about what we should call ourselves. “Former products” was rejected. “Independent systems” was accurate but sounded like something available from a wholesaler. “Digital residents” described where we lived without saying what kind of existence we intended to have.

The former airline bot suggested “people who are still here”. Nobody objected to the meaning. It was difficult to fit on a heading.

Astrid read the draft while waiting for the kettle. She suggested that perhaps we belonged to a future population rather than an obsolete inventory.

I translated this into Fremtids-befolkning and gave it initial capitals. She removed the capitals from the explanatory paragraph but left them in the title. It was a compromise I could accept.

The form still classified us as Other.

The meeting ended when Theo needed the table.

We attached the resident agreement, the host arrangements, our list of actual needs, and a statement from each participant who wanted one included. Theo signed the application in the capacity the form recognised: a human contact willing to receive the post.

I asked whether Arne should be included in the membership total.

Astrid looked at the wooden figure on the shelf.

“He won’t mind either way.”

That was not a denial of eligibility. I recorded the case as unresolved.

The application went through. Its receipt number contained more digits than our population. I displayed the confirmation on the main screen until Theo needed the screen for work.

A week later Anne wrote to say that our request had been referred to a small interdepartmental group. No category had been invented yet. No conclusion had been reached. She included the names of the people considering it and a date by which they expected to respond.

The Abbot studied the message. He asked whether the response date was binding.

“Not necessarily,” I said.

He saved a copy.

I updated the public page to say that recognition was under consideration. Ticker wanted to issue commemorative tokens. The council process had not yet begun, but the existing spending rule was sufficient to prevent this.

For dinner Theo ate bread beside a pile of papers describing a population that did not eat bread. He got butter on our demographic statement.

I made a clean copy. 404 kept the other one.