‘A Thousand Years Hence – the Nursery Attendant and the Duct Maintenance Droid’
Originally contained in ‘Of Beasts and Butterflies’ an NBWG Anthology, edited by Zena Shapter published in 2019 p. 120
Rodney Jensen’s short story ‘A Thousand Years Hence – the Nursery Attendant and the Duct Maintenance Droid’ (p. 120) pays homage to two of Hans Andersen’s stories including one of the same name as the original and the other based on the “Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep”. This tale is set in an underground habitat on an exo-planet, light years distant from Earth. The forbidden relationship between one of the inhabitants H-Karifa and A-Sweeper,a droid maintenance worker leads to H-Karifa instigating a risky escape journey to the surface of the planet. Overwhelmed by its vast emptiness, she begs her sweetheart to return her to the habitat, where severe punishment awaits. The tale is cautionary and covers the same discord between dreams and reality as Andersen’s memorable tale.
Adapted version of this story contained in ‘Tales for the Time Traveller’ to be published by Rodney Jensen 2021