Logan Thomas’ NFL Draft decision, as explained by science fiction

The future is a bleak place. In the year 2013, Logan 3 has to make a choice: to join the ranks of the juggernauts who will be eradicated after the age of 30, or to escape into the wilderness of the Coastal Region once more, in hopes that a leader will allow the youth to revolt and take back their once-proud game.

It was the year 2013. Technology had advanced further than anyone ever expected it to, except perhaps the science fiction trilogy of the harbinger Robert Zemeckis.

Logan 3 picked up his personal device next to his bedside table. These days, they controlled everything. Communication. Information. Employment. Entertainment. With a series of taps or swipes, a whole life was set in motion.

Mornings came suddenly for him these days. The second his head hit the cold pillow, the turkey crowed and light spilled into his room. He never dreamed. Not anymore. Not since the incident with Tajh. There’s no time to think about that. He had to make a decision today. He had people to talk to before the ritual. After today, his fate would be set.

Society was not what it used to be.

Modern medicine had progressed at an alarming rate, but human bodies were not nearly as forgiving. The gladiators, as they once were known, broke down under the pressure of thousands of blows. And when they were all used up, they were cast asunder.

With an entire populace over the age of 30 doomed to mania and incoherence, the supreme benefactor Dell the Good I, whose reign had started years prior before a partnership with the major media conglomerates left him in charge of far more than just the sporting arm of the nation, was left with a choice: continue to ignore the danger, or find a way to fix the problem.

Dell the Good proposed a solution that was unprecedented at the time: eradicate all over the age of 30, ensuring a sporting population of healthy, happy men and an audience free from the chains of conscience and morality. While many rebelled at first, after the initial backlash, it was clear the world was a quieter and more inviting place. Golden barley hops flowed. Tacos were free to be made of any shell imaginable. And music kept the nation in a constant state of pleasurable bleeps. It was hard to ignore the New Calm.

Sure, beyond the Southeast Wall, there were still those rumbling. Disciples of the old guard. They called themselves the Tide. But they were a small enough faction to ignore. At least for now.

Logan 3 was making his decision today - to join the ranks of the juggernauts or to flee once more into the uncharted territory that was the Coastal Region. He had lived his whole live to become a juggernaut. His mentor, known only as Beamer, had sent plenty of men to become juggernauts. It was a rite of passage. It was his duty as leader of the Gobblers, the clan to which Logan 3 belonged. Joining the juggernauts was an inescapable contract. Signing on that virtual line was the end of free will as Logan 3 would know it.

But staying young was more than just a dream these days; it was the only way to survive. The second the body aged past 30, the chip inside everyone’s arm started beeping. It was only a matter of time. Rumors of those who had found a way to escape the Foxes were just that: rumors. Logan had never met anyone like that.

Mere hours remained. Would he run? Or would he choose the path of those before him, proudly and without fear.

It was time for Logan 3 to make his choice.