Heart-Lock Lockets

BaoGang Steel Mill was a harbinger for the death economy that was consuming resources for the tech addictions we were sold on, but no one cared. The thing about mining resources was that it was finite. I knew those jobs were going to be replaced by machines inevitably because human bodies were developing cancers, dying young, and could not handle the harsh work environments of working at a steel mill for more than 4 years. When BaoGang Steel Mill, the world’s #1 steel maker, supplier, distributor, employer reached the point of having mined out all the steel that it could. The rest of the world became desperate and 1st world countries relaxed their environmental impact guidelines so that they could continue to search out and mine for steel, oil, silicone, and other valuable resources. The United States resurrected the factories of Detroit, Michigan and repurposed the whole state to become another BaoGang which forced all who lived there out into other parts of the country. The government’s attempt to give the citizens of Michigan a new lease on life in the form of subsidized rental for 7 generations of families was the only thing on the list of reparations for the former citizens of Michigan. People who owned property had it usurped by the State government first and then ceased by the federal government second. The fortunes of the middle class were robbed and the people who were offended by the government subsidy deal chose the life of a vagabond. The subsidized rental housing market came in the form of pods: 350sq. ft. per family and everyone had a toilet and a kitchen with 2 burners. Since I was alone, I could live somewhat comfortably and being employed by the Steel Mill, I never worried about the cost of rent because as an accommodation of working in the steel mill, I got a free pod so long as I stayed employed there. However, there were other people with families who knew that this way of living was unsustainable. It was no place for children, just workers and the Michigan Steel Mill knew this. As far as MSM was concerned they had no need for families with children because they knew that because of the molten steel floating in the sky, they’d be poisoned and die within 2 years. MSM wanted to fill every single pod up with someone who worked at the steel mill so they could continue to feed the technological addictions that kept everyone feeling good. It was called Heart Lock and it was legal. It was fashionable as well. People wore heart shaped lockets from their favorite companies to display that they were heart-lock users and always kept their heart-lock stash in these lockets. It came in the form of a contact lens; users would lay the lens in their eyeball, and it would dissolve in the eye giving the virtual reality experience. Tech companies catered to the heart lock trend by offering apps that were designed to enhance the experience of heart-lock. MSM didn’t mind if their workers were heart-lock users so long as they didn’t use it during work hours because of a “concern for safety”. I will admit that I enjoy heart-lock and being placed under its influence. I work hard maintaining the equipment that keeps DSM operating and my quality of life isn’t that much better. My job is one of the only places where locking yourself in a claustrophobic closet and lighting a cigarette was safer than being in that environment. DSM offered me a $20,000 signing bonus if I signed a contract that said I would work there for the next four years of my life. I figured with money that big I knew I was going to be risking a lot and trading out a portion of my life in the pursuit of happiness. It’s all good though because all I really needed to make it through was heart-lock. It was always on my grocery list, I’d get it at the Target close to my private domicile along with ramen, milk, eggs, and hummus. Target was offering “career opportunities” to anyone who wanted to apply to that job and they even released a romance movie about working there as if to say “If you work at target, you’re guaranteed to fall in love”. Of course, tech companies stepped in and would offer the virtual reality experience of living the fantasy of that. I’ll admit that I was tempted to get a job there just to have that experience for free but the money at DSM was just too attractive. Although I could technically afford 5 new virtual reality experiences a week, I tried to just consume heart-lock once a week and accompany that with my own collection of VR.