2027 A.D.

Martin Seymore and Audrey Roebuck stood together, holding hands on the small grassy knoll, looking up at the stars.   Almost a kilometre below them winked the lights of the city, almost as bright below as the stars above.

Seeing her husband’s pensive look, Audrey asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I was just remembering back to when we used to come up here almost every night before we were married,” he said.   “Except in those days we could watch the moon as well as the stars.”

“Yes,” agreed Audrey.   She sighed, adjusting her glasses on her nose.   “It was a lot more romantic in the days before they blew up the moon.”

Martin nodded.   “Yes, yes it was, but they had no choice really.”

*      *      *

2019 A.D.

Martin Seymore felt uncomfortable sitting at the circular table in the black glass-walled office.   He knew that as the token man among eleven women he was meant to be seen and not heard.   Nobody really wanted, or expected to hear his opinions on anything the committee discussed.

For the benefit of two new committee members, the chairperson, Aurora MacMillan explained, “This committee was formed twelve months ago to investigate the continuing rise in the levels of violent and sex-related crimes…Particularly as perpetrated by men against women….”

Like all the women on the committee, Aurora was tall and painfully thin, almost completely flat chested, wore her ginger hair brutally short, and wore almost military-cut pants suits — never dresses.   Unlike some of the women on the committee, she wore no makeup at all, and Granny glasses.

Martin studied Aurora as she spoke and thought, ‘Beautiful, her green eyes are very beautiful!   She could be very attractive if only she got rid of the glasses, grew her hair a little longer, and applied a touch of makeup.’   But he knew better than to speak aloud such politically incorrect thoughts.   He knew like most modern women, Aurora deliberately de-beautified herself as much as possible for fear of being sexually attractive to men.   He had even beard it rumoured that she had 20-20 vision and wore plain-glass spectacles to hide her beautiful eyes.   ‘Surely she wouldn’t go that far though?’ he wondered.