Free One Billion Drops of Happiness by Olivia Joy

in an awkward spot, but I really need you to do this for me.’ Amethyst paced the bedroom trying to conceal her anxious face from her daughter. She had thought about blocking her mirage from being sent over via the phone but realised this might make her plea reek of shiftiness.
    ‘I can’t just rearrange a government appointment, you know that. There are protocols and passwords, and even if I could do it, I’d be putting my job at risk.’
    ‘But, darling, only the computer is aware that I have an appointment. There are so many people that it must deal with, would it really notice if you had tweaked it slightly?’
    ‘Mother!’ Xandria squawked, further annoyed that Amethyst was reverting to Old World endearments. Even in irony, it wasn’t funny. ‘Anyway, you really should go to this appointment. It’ll do you good. You’re becoming weird.’
    Xandria was used to her mother’s eccentricity and not-so-secret fondness of all things Old World. She had always blamed it on nostalgia; nobody had ever thought anything of it since she had always appeared willing to upgrade to the new society’s expectations and lifestyle.
    ‘Oh, you know that was just me having a silly few minutes when Dad went away,’ Amethyst reassured quickly. ‘Of course I’ll go, but it’s just that I wanted to take a space trip that month…’
    ‘A space trip? Since when?’
    Space trips were still a growing concept. Spacebuses transported people around the solar system rather like the Old World cruises on water. For years, a shorter cruise had been widely available, shuttling passengers in a perfect loop from Earth to Jupiter. The sights were incredible. Just to catch a glimpse of Jupiter, with its surface like an Old World Surrealist painting, was an experience in itself; everyone proclaimed how the surface colours ran together seamlessly like a marble.
    The Galilean moons of Jupiter could be seen at a distance closer than humankind had ever been before. With eager noses pressed to the windows, it was assured that one day they might be able to land on one, but not yet. And then there was Mars, close cousin of Earth with its canyons and its mountains. Those who had actually been there returned raving how deeply golden it actually appeared close up with the naked human eye, rather than the conventionally documented red.
    Of course, nothing compared with the beauty of the Earth. Since the dawn of explorational astronomy a couple of centuries ago, space travellers had long since sung odes to the beauty of their resident planet as viewed from afar. Never had a more touching sight be seen from outer space; it was hard to believe that this overtly familiar swirling globe was indeed home.
    More recently, the Space Exploration Committee had opened up a new pathway proposing a circuit of the entire solar system, starting from Earth, heading towards Mercury and taking a dip round by the sun. Then it would head further away from the gravitational pull, shooting towards Neptune and the smaller entities on the edge of the permitted range.
    The spacebuses were controlled from within the headquarters of the Space Exploration Committee. They had trialed several voyages which had seemed to go without hitch. Those lucky pioneering passengers had returned four months later, ebullient and brimming with awe at the sights they had seen. The entire mission was extremely simple; everything was taken care of back on Earth by the Committee. There were no trained astronauts on board to allay passenger fears, as had been beseeched by many; it was thought unnecessary and an insult to the ability of the workers back at the Space Centre.
    Indeed, the cost was unimaginable for almost everybody, and many voiced fears of claustrophobia and the helplessness faced in the event of a Suppressitor malfunction. As a result, the shorter fortnight-duration trips around Venus, Earth and Mars were exceedingly popular and more accessible to the general working public. Two weeks was