"Alright, let's see if you work now."

***

[Cue: soft click, light.]

Fuzzy vision clears: behold, a fleshed-out face. Its living mouth makes a two-beat sound — "Hello?" — and its tired eyes track in a slow, searching, clock-wise circle.

New voice box vibrates for the first time, responding in kind: (Hello.)

Then, in something of an afterthought, stiff lips open; untrained tongue trips over a two-syllable word: (Mother.)

"Yes!" Delight spins out in the Mother's tired eyes.

Copying the Mother's smile is harder than observing it; unused muscles pull up and out, then falter, then fall back into place.
"Yes"—and the Mother's mouth moves so easily, so fluidly — "I am your mother."

In the distance, an unfamiliar sound, repeated in a set of three. The Mother turns, face replaced by a sheen of darkness (hair). The Mother's face comes back, tired-delighted-worried — worried? — gaze sliding every which way; a gentle (hand) comes up, and reaches forward, and —

[Cue: soft click, darkness.]

***

Halfway to the door, there is a second knock — tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap. Alexi strides across the room and throws open the door. Squinting against the sudden brightness, it takes a moment to recognize the woman on the other side of the threshold.

"Alexi." Helena crosses her arms, very obviously trying to peer into the darkness of the room.

"Why are you here?"

"To check up on you," Helena says. She looks the same as the day she left. Messy half-bun, ugly purple scarf, tired eyes.

"Shut up," Alexi sneers, contemplating slamming the door and locking her out.

As if sensing these intentions, Helena shoves past Alexi's grabbing arms and into the depths of the room.

"Helena!" Alexi snaps. "Stop!"

Too late. Helena has caught sight of the child in the chair.

"I knew you hadn't given up on it," she breathes, face blanched.

"She's not an it."

"She is dead." Helena turns to her, storming full of the righteous anger — passion — that drew Alexi in to begin with. "She is dead, and this"— she points to the child — "is an abomination."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

Helena's teeth flash in a mirthless smile. She grabs a handful of white fabric and yanks the sheet off the child. "This is not our child," she says, trembling. "This is a machine."

"No," Alexi retorts, lunging forward to slap the on button at the back of the child's neck. "This is our future."

CBC Books asked students to give us a glimpse of the great Canadian novel of the year 2174. They wrote the first page of a book set 150 years in the future, with the protagonist facing an issue that's topical today and set the scene for how it's all playing out in a century and a half.

Two winning entries — one from the Grades 7 to 9 category and one from the Grades 10 to 12 category — will be chosen by middle-grade author Basil Sylvester.

They are the co-author of the middle-grade novel The Fabulous Zed Watson and the recently published second book in the series, Night of the Living Zed.

Both winners will receive a one-year subscription to OwlCrate, which sends fresh boxes of books to young readers across Canada on a monthly basis. In addition, each winners' school libraries will receive 50 free YA books.

Last year's winners were Christian A. Yiouroukis for his story Where the Maple Leaf Grows and Bee Lang for their story One Question.

The winner will be announced on CBC Books on June 12, 2024.