It's an old one, and I should warn you - I'm not so good at English :D I've tried ma best , but sure it's flourishing with new colours in Russian.
Nothing Left
She was perfect. All features of her body were almost ideal and might be similar to one of the Greek deities. Her chestnut curls danced in unison to her soft walk, and her eyes could swallow up everything in the turquoise abyss, and her smile could fill all with light. Miranda...
She went down the street full of people, every day she passed that way to office where she worked. As well as everyone did on the earth. The Earth ...
The native planet of the mankind now became the trap for it. But it was men's guilt. Now half of planet was actually dead, hot in the afternoon and icy at night wasteland where magma from millions of wounds was emitted. On the other half there was the huge City covered with atmospheric shield. It was impossible to live out of the town -there was no air, no water, and no protective layers of the atmosphere. The naked skin of the planet was burnt by space beams and the Sun. The atmospheric shield though could protect the City, but it also enchained the inhabitants to that already dead planet. It was impossible for ships and probes to pass through it and to find, occupy and parasitize new planets. It, as shell, closed the man from the innocent world. As if God didn't want people to reach for more and allow repeating those awful times when the man considered himself as a deity. Almost two centuries ago the Earth was though not in global equilibrium, but it was suitable and for other beings to live - animals, fishes and even bacteria. The seas and oceans covered it. Now there was nothing ...
Pieces of paper flew up in the air and the robot-cleaner swiftly swallowed them up, and then continued to clean the street. As well as that dust, everything disappeared in one moment. People sowed rage and greed everywhere, hunted for money and power, and the next war was inflamed again because of the military corporations. To reach the result - the profit- they spent heedlessly all resources. And once came nothing. There was nobody and nothing to fight. The war ghost absorbed everything, everything was destroyed, and only several corporations had time to cover their enterprises with that atmospheric shield. Little by little the factories became the City, however and there was no way out. Magnates didn't have resources; they hardly managed to clean and move the air in the closed space and to produce barmy food and water. But that's all. For further changes on the planet or building ships to leave it, there were no resources. There was no way to make a piece of iridium or good food from the huge quantity of money on the bank account. The Employees of corporations were paid and given norms of food and water, and the part of buildings near factories. The rest had to leave to the edge of the shield; they were irradiated and suffered of deprivations, illnesses and mutations for several decades. They were outlaws, monsters in comparison with the perfect and gene-modified people in the City. Yes, to save place (there was a little surface under the shield) and food, the genes of each child were corrected and it was possible for him to live and work longer. However, once gene engineers intruded in that store of the information, without any proper knowledge of it. For centuries of such barbarous studying and experiments, the genotype of people acquired the set of the diseases passing through the heritage from the parents to the children. Almost all science data had been lost after the wars, and now several scientists tried to correct those segments, but still unsuccessfully.
Miranda stopped. Slight dizziness ran through her mind. She quickly opened her bag and took one of the little bottles from the heap of cures and swallowed a tablet. In a few seconds she felt much better. At least the darkness in the sight went away. Everyone took with him a huge amount of medicines for several illnesses. The industry of cures was the one which flourished now ...
Cleared air was blowing from a huge ventilator. Miranda came closer to it, so the air could clean her head and thoughts. Chestnut hair raised again in a wild dance. Nobody here felt the real wind, heat of the sun, murmurs of water and singing of birds. There was nothing except the City, shield and job.
«But for what? », thought Miranda and looked at the empty sky. The shield was sparkling, distorting stars and air.
- When will it come to the end? - She whispered and, sighed, slowly went further, joining again the crowd of perfect people. But only their appearance was perfect.