Painless Euthanasia

Ireena was deep in the tendrils of her brain. Basic motor functions occurred to her, but higher consciousness eluded her. She was confused. Why was she walking through an elevated pedestrian walkway on Mars? Why were there only a couple other random people on the planet with her? Why couldn’t she ask them what they were supposed to do? They were so occupied with their business, would they even care that she was a fellow human? There were Martians there too, of course, and they had huge heads and ridiculously skinny bodies. Ireena was scared to talk to the Martians, even though they might be easier to communicate with. She kept walking down the endless elevated pedestrian walkway, which Martians also used. The walkway must have stretched on for hundreds of miles, and she couldn’t see anybody as far as she looked ahead or behind. Once a figure came into view, it would take them about ten minutes to cross paths. Each time she crossed a figure’s path, she would have the urge to say something, but this was all so confusing, what would she ask? She decided to ask, “Why are we on Mars?” The next human that walked past her was asked that question, and he replied, “Because Earth is overpopulated, duh, do you have amnesia or something?” The next figure was a Martian, walking behind her. She slowed down enough to let the alien catch up to her. It walked alongside her without any cognizance of her, until she started thinking, “I wish I could talk to you and I wish I could get some answers but you’re a Martian and you’re probably mad that we’re here at all in the first place so I understand but if you would be so kind as to tell me what you’ve learned, how you deal with the fact that you have to share your planet now, I mean , are you secretly thinking about when you’re going to kill us all or do you have any new answers to the questions we’ve never been able to figure out? People all treat me like I’m an idiot here, but I really don’t know how I got here, so maybe you can explain just when all these humans started emigrating through space and that would really clear a lot up for me.” At which point the Martian looked over at her, its face unmoved, then looked straight ahead and continued walking. Ireena kept pace with the Martian, and continued to attempt to communicate, but it kept moving faster exponentially. Finally, it turned around, a safe distance ahead of her, and said, “You know that.”

She woke up shocked from her dream and looked at her clock. 11:17.
She repeated, “Can’t forget the dream, can’t forget the dream,” as she moved over to her desk, switched on her computer, and hurriedly typed out all the details she remembered: elevated pedestrian walkway, humans on Mars, Martians communicating telepathically and vocally, reaffirming what she already knows to be the truth.
“As usual, I learn nothing new about myself,” She said aloud in her bedroom to herself. She moved towards her bathroom, turned on the shower, and she shut the door. Ireena had no roommate.