A Discussion of Luck

"We sure were lucky back there," Ido said, wiping sweat from his brow.  He looked around at his companions – Vaxtra, the former experimental prisoner; Jared, the cyborg; and Dexa, the young lady who had gotten caught up in their adventure.  It was dirty in the sewers, but at least they were safe.  They sat down at the bottom of the long-abandoned drainage pipe, catching their breath.

"Ah, luck.  Define 'luck,' my Japanese friend," Vaxtra replied skeptically. "Is is lucky, then, that we're hiding out in a filthy sewer drain?  I'd say we were lucky if we didn't have to be constantly on the run," he added in an exhausted tone.

Dexa laughed.  "I'd agree with you there."

Ido glanced over at the teenager.  "You joined us voluntarily, remember.  We didn't have a choice."

The cyborg boy spoke up.  "Technically, there is no scientific proof to prove a conceptual theory such as luck.  There have been many case studies, and not one of them has proven that luck exists, even in ideal environments.  Although, it could be an interesting topic for discussion," he admitted, letting a wan smile cross his lips.

Vaxtra grinned; his yellowed teeth showed as he shook his head.  He smackedthe child with blonde hair on the shoulder.  "Eleven years old and already you're a genius.  Hate to think of my IQ compared to yours."

"It is because I have been artificially modified, as you know and –"

Vaxtra cut Jared off.  "Gah, we all already know about this.  If you're quiet, you might learn something that isn't from a newspape or virtbook."

Dexa looked confused, shaking her strawberry blonde hair out of her face.  "What is luck, anyway?  I've never heard anyone talk about something like that before."

The former prisoner chuckled.  "Of course you haven't.  You white-collar folks have no such need for such a concept.  Ido, why don't you explain it to her?  I'm so tired, I can barely think right now."  He sighed, leaning up against the curved walls of the sewer drain, and folded his bionic hands across his stomach.

"I can try."  The medic began setting up a heat lamp, as the light from the grate high above them was beginning to dim.  As Ido set it up, he began talking.  "Luck is something that the people who live in the worst conditions often use as an excuse for good experiences.  I myself grew up just a step up from the Darkwater Slums, so it was something that my parents talked about a lot."

Dexa frowned.  "I still don't get it."

Ido sighed.  "Let me continue."  He finished setting up the heat lamp; the lamp cast a soft glow about the entire group.  The medic took out a coin.  "See this coin, Dexa?"

"That's an old American penny," she said.  "It's practically useless."

"Ah, but see, people used to flip them, to make choices.  Like so."  He flipped the coin up into the air with his thumb.  The quarter glinted as it spun in the limelight from the heatlamp.  Ido caught it and slapped it on the back of his hand.  "See?  Heads."  The face of Abraham Lincoln glared up at the teenager, who had leaned closer to Ido for a closer look.  "If I had claimed heads, I might say that I had good luck.  If I had got the losing side, tails, I might say I had bad luck.    And of course, you must have heard of gambling, I assume?"

"I know it was Banned long before I was born.  But other than that, I really don't know anything about it."

Vaxtra, who had been listening tiredly this whole time, said dryly.  "Your parents really have sheltered you, haven't they?"

"You shut up."

"Hey, I'm older than you.  You have to put up with me."

"Luck is supposedly an 'energy' that tips the scales toward good things happening or bad."  Jared had decided that he needed to add his input.

"I think I get it now.  But I don't believe it," Dexa frowned.  "We make our own futures and shape our own lives.  Something like luck has nothing to do with it."

"Well, I believe in luck," Ido said, sounding a bit hurt.  "You and I, Vaxtra, we were lucky to survive the explosion and find each other.  Jared would not have survived if I had not had the skills to help him. And we were lucky today to have escaped from that double-crossing barkeep.  If luck exists, then I say it's been relatively good luck."

"Well, you could say that it was relatively bad luck that we were even in the Labs in the first place.  And bad luck that we can't seem to shake off the authorities.  And bad luck that we have to hide in a sewer drain and scrap for food.  And bad luck that…I could go on for days, my friend."  Vaxtra folded his arms, in belief that he had won the argument.

"You can believe in luck, or you don't have to.  It doesn't matter to me," Ido said, but his voice sounded downtrodden.

Dexa yawned, a quick and stifled yawn.  "Well, we should get some sleep.  It's been a long day."

"Oh yes, of course. We don't want our hypothetical 'luck' to run out, do we?" Vaxtra chuckled.  He scratched a sore at the top of his orange-stubbled head.  "Seriously, though.  We have to move out soon."

The four of them curled up some feet away from each other and tried to get some sleep.  Ido put his hand into his pocket as he lay down and felt for the charm he had kept since he was a child – a small black-and-white yin-yang.  His father had told him it would bring good luck as long as he carried it with him.

Maybe what Vaxtra and the others had claimed was true, and there was no such thing as luck.  But luck was reassuring – that perhaps they could overcome the odds against them, escape the injustice following them…

With just a little bit of luck.