Runtime

Abstract

Runtime takes place in a dystopian version of America where people are classified as registered or unregistered. Those who are registered have free access to healthcare and education, while those or are unregistered can only dream of paying to become licensed. The story follows Marmeg, a coder and tech savant who applies for the Minerva Sierra Challenge, hoping to win enough money to pay for her education and to legally register one of her younger brothers. Technological advancement in this imagined scenario has granted people the use of exoskeletal and internal augmentations for better physical performance. Marmeg’s tech skills allowed her to restore discarded exoskeletal materials so she could race in the challenge and hope for a better future. In this world, people also have the choice to change their genetic material, opting for gender neutrality, creating some divisions in society between those who approve of genetic engineering and who defend further improvements like the mind uploading and immortality and those who decide to live away from society and in communion with nature, rejecting these options altogether.