Geza returned to Siberia breathing fire, and his vociferous campaign reached Cruz’s ears. Cruz invited Geza and two of his friends to the headquarters of the IGM. Geza readily agreed to join the E Utopia pioneers. The Khanty people were doomed. Now there were less than three thousand Khanty speaking people left in the world. If the attack on their homeland continued, the Khanty tribe would become extinct. Geza had recruited dozens of his tribesmen into the E Utopia project. The Khanty E Utopians were the tribe’s only hope of surviving in a pollution-free world like their ancestors did before oil companies came to their homeland.
“Work is fine, Mr. President,” Geza replied.
“Admiral Geza, you’re the only one in our space force who has ever fired a missile in real combat. What do you think of our missile program?”
“Our missile program is good, Mr. President,” Geza said slowly. Although he could now speak English fluently, he still chose his words carefully. “We’ve a good team of scientists and technicians here and they have done well.”
“Are you satisfied with the precision of our ballistic missiles?”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“What about our missile defense system?”
“It’s good, Mr. President, but there’s still room for improvement.”
“Okay, admiral. I will see that for myself. Tomorrow I want you to carry out some war games and show me the effectiveness of the missile system.”
“Yes, sir,” Geza and Eawo said in unison.
“Did Shipgen finish making the passenger ships that we shall use to transport the chosen ones from E Utopia?”
“Yes,” Hitchcook replied. “They made twenty-five Transgalactics and they are making the last five.”
“Good. On the Earth side, we made forty-one Ultravoyagers for the transportation of the chosen ones from Earth to Eureka Station.”
“It appears the logistics for the evacuation are in order,” Hitchcook remarked.
Cruz rose from his chair and switched his watch to E Utopian time. Each E Utopian day was equal to twenty-one Earth hours and thirteen minutes and twenty-nine seconds. The E Utopian pioneers had divided their day into twenty-four E Utopian hours. Each E Utopian hour was roughly equal to fifty-four Earth minutes. “Can you take me on a tour of our biomes and the missile system?”
“I thought you might want to rest before you take the tour,” Hitchcook said.
“No, Secretary Hitchcook, I want to inspect the biomes and the new missile system.”
The three men followed Cruz out of the office. They got into a motorcade of battery-powered vehicles and drove along a gravel road. At twenty-one kilometers, this was the longest road on the planet. They passed through a large tract of land filled with greenhouses which were the planet’s only food source.
“Stop the car!” Cruz cried, looking out through the window. “I said stop the car!”
The limousine stopped. Cruz jumped out of the car and scooted in the direction where the motorcade had come from. Everyone jumped out of the motorcade and ran after Cruz.
“What’s wrong, Mr. President?” Hitchcook asked.
Cruz crouched and picked a piece of cloth from the ground. “What the fuck is this? Who the fuck did this?”
“What, Mr. President?”
“This!” He showed Hitchcook the piece of cloth. “Who the fuck dumped this?”
“I have no idea, Mr. President.”
“This is needless pollution!” Cruz roared. “When we say we want to create a world that we govern under strict environmental law, we mean that we want to create a world without this kind of thing.”
“When we finish oxygenating our atmosphere, we can install as many cameras as we can to deter people from doing this kind of thing, Mr. President,” Hitchcook suggested.
“You’re right, Hitchcook. We’ll need as many surveillance cameras as we can install.” He walked back to the limousine and everyone got into their cars.
They drove for nine kilometers before they saw a lake.
Less than a kilometer away from the shores of the lake, twenty-one huge transparent structures stood out like monstrous beetles on the plain landscape. The biomes were much larger versions of the biomes found on Earth in the United Kingdom’s Cornwall County. Like the biomes in England, the E Utopian biomes consisted of pentagonal and hexagonal plastic cells that were propped by steel frames. The biomes were simply large greenhouses that housed indoor forests. However, unlike your ordinary greenhouse, the biomes also contained animals.
The largest biome, which covered an area of roughly sixteen square kilometers, simulated rainforest environment and contained thousands of plant species, insects and animals that originated from rain forests. The second largest biome simulated the Mediterranean environment. The smallest biomes simulated desert environment and polar ice and arctic tundra environments. There was also a large aquarium that simulated sea water environment. Since most savanna plants and animals can survive in both rain forest environment and desert environment, there was no biome that simulated tropical savanna environment. Only a few thousand plant species had been planted in the biomes. These plants were known food sources of the insects and animals in the biomes. Tens of thousands of plants were stored as seeds. Most of the plant species on E Utopia were stored in vitro by cryopreservation and freeze-drying in the form of plant cells or zygotic embryos. The pioneers planned to revive the plant cells and zygotic embryos when the conditions on the planet were right for the growth of forests. To widen the gene pool, they had also stored pollen grain by cryopreservation.
The motorcade stopped at the entrance of the rainforest biome. All the scientists who worked in the biome stood in a line, waiting to greet the President. Cruz shook their hands and greeted them one by one. He took his time muttering pleasantries to the fourteen scientists who ran the biome. He couldn’t wait to enter the biome but he knew he had to make the scientists and all the E Utopia pioneers feel wanted and respected in order to boost their morale.
When the niceties were over, the chief scientist, Steve Clark, a thirty-two-year-old bearded New Yorker, led Cruz into the biome’s airlock. Clark opened the inner hatch of the airlock when everyone had entered the airlock.
The biome was a flurry of activity. Monkeys jumped and did their acrobatics in trees and metal beams, birds sang in the treetops, butterflies flew in the air and antelopes could be seen grazing. For a moment, Cruz forgot that he was not on Earth. This was the scene he wanted to see throughout E Utopia and throughout the Earth.
“Take me to the leopards,” he ordered.
“Yes, Mr. President,” Clark said.
They walked along a footpath that dissected the biome, to the cage section which housed constrictors, poisonous snakes, large predators and some large herbivores, which could not be left to roam the biome for safety and ecological reasons. A squirrel crossed the footpath ahead of them and a minute later, a large African bull frog crossed the footpath a meter away. A harpy eagle made a swoop for the frog but the sight of the group of people distracted him and made him miss. The frog quickly sought cover under a bush.
“You didn’t tell me she gave birth,” Cruz said with delight when they reached the cage where the biome’s leopards lived. “Oh, they’re so beautiful,” he said, looking at the newborn cubs. Cruz loved big cats and he longed for the day when the felines would roam the forests of E Utopia as their ancestors roamed the forests of Earth.
The leopards were caged not only to protect the scientists who worked in the biome, but also the animals in the biome. The biome was a closed environment. If the leopards were allowed to roam in the biome, they would have an unfair advantage over their prey and they could wipe out the entire populations of their prey. The leopards were fed meat from animal cells grown in culture solution. When they were lucky they got meat from the animals that died in the biome.
Leopards were the only big cats in E Utopia’s biomes. Tigers, lions, cheetahs and jaguars were stored in refrigerators as frozen embryos
, waiting to be implanted in female leopards. The same applied to other groups of closely related species. Only one member of a group of closely related species lived in the biomes. The other members were kept as frozen embryos ready to be implanted in a female member of the sister species. The dog family was represented by Canada’s Rain Forest wolves. Other dog species were kept as frozen embryos. The horse family was represented by Grevy’s zebras. The bovine species was represented by the Asian bantengs.
The E Utopian pioneers had done their best to bring as many species as they could from Earth. They had begun with species that they thought faced the most imminent risk of being wiped out by El Monstruo. The most underrepresented animals in the biomes were insects and marine animals. The E Utopian pioneers had only managed to bring a few hundred thousands of the millions of Earth’s insect species and marine animal species. Cruz hoped that the resilience of insects will help most insect species survive El Monstruo. He hoped to find insects and some plants surviving when E Utopians returned to Earth after the purging of the polluters.
“It seems everything’s fine here,” Cruz said after touring the biome for two E Utopian hours.
“Yes, Mr. President, everything appears to be fine,” Steve Clark said. “But there is a worrying observation we made.”
“What observation?” Hitchcook asked, angry Clark had chosen not to tell him about the observation. He ran the planet when the President was away and Clark was supposed to let him know if anything was amiss. He had been here only two days ago and Clark had said nothing.
“Mr. President, are you conversant with the problem of invasive species that affected many parts of Earth?”
“Of course I am. How can you ask me such a question?” Cruz felt like kicking Clark in the groin. He had spent billions of dollars trying to save the Earth’s wildlife and this insolent young man had the temerity to ask him whether he knew about the problem of invasive species. What fueled Cruz’s anger was that he knew that Steve Clark didn’t join the E Utopia environment because he loved nature. Although Clark had been an environmental activist of some sort, Cruz knew that the main reason why the young man agreed to join the E Utopia pioneers was escaping arrest. Clark was the main suspect in the murder of his girlfriend and he would have been arrested had Cruz not whisked him into space. Although Cruz believed Clark’s scientific expertise was valuable to the E Utopia Project, he saw the young man as a heretic who hadn’t joined the pioneers out of his commitment and dedication to the green cause. Cruz had told Hitchcook and all the space force top brass to keep a close eye on Clark.
Clark’s face broke into an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Mr. President. I didn’t mean to insult you. The main reason why predatory invasive species caused problems on Earth was that they preyed on indigenous species that were not adapted to escaping from the new predators. If we put animals from different Earth continents together, we risk facing the same problem. Animals will come into contact with predators that they are not adapted to, and entire populations could be wiped out. The same applies to plants, which can come into contact with herbivores that can wipe them out. Some plants can become powerful weeds that can choke other plant life. This—”
“Mr. Clark,” Cruz snapped. “Spare us the lecture. We’re all environmental activists here and we know all about invasive species. What do you suggest we do?”
“E Utopia has eight continents. I suggest that we separate animals that originate from different continents of the Earth and put them on separate continents. Then we can choose one continent where we can mix all the species and let the strongest survive.”
“That, Mr. Clark, is a very good idea. I think we’ll implement it when the time comes to take the animals and plants outdoors. First we need to study the climates of E Utopia’s continents and see which continent has a climate closest to the climate of the home Earth continent of our living organisms.” Cruz looked at his watch. “These E Utopian hours fly so fast. Let’s go to the Mediterranean biome.”
“One more thing, Mr. President,” Clark said, eager to impress. “I think we have enough oxygen to sustain plant life. We should start planting plants outdoors.”
“We’ve already discussed that with Secretary Hitchcook and we’ve decided that we begin outdoor planting of trees tomorrow.”
“We’ll put plants from which Earth continent on this continent?” Clark asked again.
“This continent is the capital continent of E Utopia. Plants from all over Earth shall grow on this continent. The other continents can host forests that originate from separate Earth continents.”
Chapter Nine
Sara breathed deeply and sighed, rallying her courage. She held the pregnancy test device with a shaking hand and released a weak stream of urine. She carefully moved the device through the urine before she checked her watch and sat on the toilet seat, waiting for the device to finish testing for the presence of HCG hormone in the urine.
After five minutes, she looked at the device. She leaned back against the cistern in distress when she saw that a new line had appeared above the device’s control line. She felt like a star athlete who had failed a drug test just before a big competition. She had always dreamt of having kids but now wasn’t the right time. She couldn’t bring a child into a world that was slowly being suffocated by El Monstruo. When she reconciled with George, her excitement at having him back in her life made her forget about contraception. But she regained her senses and went on the pill after four days of love-making. She had apparently closed the dam after the water had already gushed out.
How could a kid grow in an environment with no oxygen? The continuing drought would soon result in a global famine. She knew that infants are susceptible to hyperthermia in hot conditions. The rising temperatures could spell doom for her child. She wished she could take her baby out of her womb and keep it as a frozen embryo whilst she and the rest of the world fought El Monstruo.
She had been feeling faint and nauseas for the past five days. At first she dismissed her feelings as exhaustion and work-related pressure but when she discovered that her breasts had become fuller and more sensitive, she decided to take the dreaded test.
George banged at the door of the toilet. “Are you alright, darling?”
Sara looked at her watch. She had been sitting on the toilet sit for fifty minutes. “I’m fine! I’ll be out in a sec!” She flushed the toilet, wiped tears off her face and walked back to the bedroom.
“It looks like the conscientious boss of GEMA is going to be late for work for the first time ever,” George said.
She forced a smile. “There’s a first time for everything.”
“Sah, are you alright?”
“I’m alright.”
He held her hands. “You don’t look alright to me, Sah.”
She summoned another mirthless smile. “You worry too much.”
“I love you too much.” He pecked her and studied her face. “Something is wrong, Sah. You can’t fool me. Is it something I did?”
“Yes, it’s something you did,” she said. “You made me pregnant.”
He grinned. “You’re pregnant! This is good news, isn’t it?”
“Good news?” she shouted. “Are you crazy? We can’t bring a child into a world like this.”
“God!” he gasped with horror. “Are you suggesting an abortion?”
“Abortion?” she screamed. “Do I look like the kind of a woman who kills her own children?”
He hugged her. “We’ll be fine, Sah. I know we’ll be fine. All three of us.”
“It’s my fault. I was careless.”
“It’s not your fault, Sah. It takes two to make a child.”
She pushed him away. “I’ve got to take a shower and go to work.”
She scampered to the bathroom and showered. She couldn’t afford to be late for work. She would soon be a mother and she had less than nine months to make the world a better place for her child.
At breakfast, she forced herself to eat fou
r mouthfuls more than usual. Now she was eating for two.
“I feared something was wrong,” Nzue told her when she arrived at the GEMA headquarters. “Since I’ve known you, this is the first time I’ve seen you arrive late at work.”
“I wasn’t feeling well.”
“I compiled the data you asked me to compile about the effects of silicon dumps.”
“Thanks, Nzue,” she said. “These dumps will eventually take over forests and arable land. I will look at the data later.”
She went to her office and began her daily routine of watching real-time satellite images. She almost screamed with excitement when a cloud suddenly appeared over the Indian Ocean. The cloud mass had a different shape from the ones she saw the day before yesterday but she knew it had been pasted. She took out her phone and contacted Zachary.
“Zack, open your computer and check the real-time NASA images of the Indian Ocean.”
“Okay. Let me call the administrator.”
“Please be quick.”
Sara printed a screengrab of the cloud while she waited for Zack to come back on the phone.
“We’ve logged on,” Zack said.
“Okay. Can you see the bow-shaped cloud mass to the west of Madagascar?”
“Eh… let me see…Yes, I can see it.”
“Those clouds have been pasted. They’ll disappear in one flash as if they have been deleted by a computer. I want you to print a screengrab of the clouds.”
“We’ll do more than print a screengrab. We’ll capture the whole video and see how the clouds disappear!”
“Good idea. Now let me look at other areas. I’ll let you know if I find anything suspicious.”
Struggling to control her excitement, Sara looked at the livestreams, praying for another suspicious cloud. To her delectation, a cloud just popped out of nowhere in the usual area above the North Atlantic Sea. Sara immediately reached for her phone.
The E Utopia Project Page 22
