Evan's Progress

I read this very short story by Paul McAuley years ago and it has festered in the back of my mind ever since, infecting my dreams of the future. I finally stumbled across it again tonight and thought I'd share it with you.

"Evan lived with his aunt in the capital. He was 15. He had a street bike, a plug-in computer, and a pet microsaur (also known as a triceratops with purple funfur). Buying the special porridge – all the microsaur could eat – took half of Evan’s weekly allowance. So he let his best friend inject the pet with a bootleg virus to edit out its dietary dependence. It was only a partial success: the triceratops no longer needed its porridge but developed epilepsy triggered by sunlight. It shed fur in great swatches, so Evan abandoned it in a nearby park. Microsaurs were out of fashion anyway. There were dozens wandering the park. Soon they disappeared, starved to extinction..."

Speaking of pets, we may have a new roommate moving in...