by Gabriel Dica
Earth: The Future is History
Book #1. Humanity Series.
By Gabriel Dica
Copyright 2015 Gabriel Dica
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting my hard work.
Contents
Note from the author
Earth: The Future is History
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 1:30 PM, Local Time
Monday, April 12, 2320
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 6:30 AM, UTC
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 1:45 PM, Local Time
Tuesday, April 13, 2320
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 6:45 AM, UTC
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 2:15 PM, Local Time
Wednesday, April 14, 2320
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 7:15 AM, UTC
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 2:30 PM, Local Time
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 7:30 AM, UTC
Final note from the author and excerpt from Book #2: The Ashan Report
Note from the author
Pollution, wars, global warming, corruption, famine, water shortages...
Ignorance.
All-important discussion topics around the world today – debated in councils, voted in governments, argued in summits, presented relentlessly across the globe.
Do you wonder what would happen to us if we fail to solve these problems? What mankind might become? How our own humanity will be reshaped and twisted to accommodate new realities?
With the “Humanity” series, I invite you, my dear reader, to use my imagination as a tool to shape and see the dark, possible future of our mistakes.
My name is Gabriel Dica and I’d like to thank you for reading my book!
Earth: The Future is History
Thursday, April 15, 2320. 1:30 PM, Local Time
The bright, yellow sunlight entering the room through the large windows does little more than emphasize all the dust floating in the air. The old, scratched metal and wood furniture is almost a luxury for many. But despite the desperate period humanity is trying to overcome, children still go to schools, students still graduate universities; hope is not yet lost for them, they might still have a future. The full room is buzzing with all the students talking, finding their seats. The protest taking place just outside their windows is causing a lot of noise; the building, a reminiscence from the old era, repurposed years ago for the Civil Council’s University in Jakarta, is right next to the small park in front of the newer Council Hall. No one seems to notice or care about the uproar happening close by.
The room starts to quiet down as professor Jawaad Noya, the most important name in human, social and political sciences in the world – and one of the greatest minds of this era – enters the room. The tiny woman, well in her fifties, wearing her usual two-piece white suit and large purple hat, is in extreme contrast with the faded, gray, dusty room she finds herself in. She was appointed by the Civil Council to hold a special lecture for today’s celebration – a welcome chance for her to inspire the young minds attending.
After a brief moment of analyzing the class, she makes her way to the podium.
Noya: “Good afternoon class. Please be seated.”
All the senior students are present, quietly watching the professor as she sets her tablet on the stand.
Noya, with her head down, scrolling through her notes, addresses her audience: “Who can tell me why we’re all here today?”
One of the young minds, seated near the center of the classroom, stands up and answers her obvious question, ironically: “Today is the day that marks two-hundred years since we sent the terraforming probe to Asha. Or, more accurately, today marks two-hundred years of incompetence, professor, and we’re all here to celebrate it!”
The room seems slightly amused, softly whispering to each other. Unimpressed, Noya barely shows a slight nod, before addressing the student: “I see. It’s great that you can see the “incompetence”, as you call it. I assume you don’t agree with it?”
The young student: “Of course not! The situation we are in… It’s unacceptable! “
Noya, still looking down at her tablet: “I agree, it’s unacceptable.”
After a short pause, she lifts her head and looks at the young student: “So, what exactly are you doing to change it? Aren’t you just as “incompetent” as everyone else? Hiding under apparently pertinent excuses… “I’m just a student, what can I do?”, or “That’s not my job, our leaders should solve problems, not me!”. Is any single one of you doing anything, anything whatsoever, to change the unacceptable state we are in today?”
Puzzled, the student quietly sits down.
Certain that she’s captured the entire room’s attention, Noya starts slowly walking around the podium, making soft hand gestures, delivering her speech: “The word you’re looking for is not “incompetence”, but “ignorance”, I think. Of course, this isn’t new. It’s not something happening only in the past twenty years… Or even the past two-hundred years. No. Throughout our entire history we can clearly see it: egos more powerful than common interest, assigning blame instead of finding solutions... History, my young and eager minds! History is an indistinguishable entanglement of truths and lies, written and told and learned by all of us and all those before us… And everyone that is yet to be born, as we, right now, at this very moment, are writing the history future generations will read. Remember this: the past is a tool, offering us a way to look back and forever wonder how we could have done things differently; a way for us to clearly see the crucial importance of key decisions… after they’ve been made. Of course you can see the “incompetence” now, after learning about our history, after reading about the effects our past decisions had. And of course you can unquestionably determine what should have been done, instead of what had been done. “Why did we choose so poorly?”. The never-ending discussions that start with that simple – what if…? –“
Noya stops walking and turns towards the young student: “But what are YOU doing different from all those before you?”. Walking back to the center of the podium, she quietly signals him to stand up.
Noya: “What’s your name?”
Reluctant, the student stands up: “Filip, professor...”
Noya: “Unfortunately, my dear Filip, my initial question wasn’t about our reason for gathering here today, but for the reason we are all here, mankind.”
Noya turns to the rest of her audience: “So. How did we get here, on the brink of extinction, as a race? What are those crucial moments when we should have chosen differently?”
The question comes as a surprise, all eyes lost in thought, contemplating, searching for an answer to this unexpected question. They all thought she was here just to offer a lecture, not ask them to participate.
Noya, just standing there quietly, patiently, waiting: “Anyone?”.
A young, blonde woman stands up: “There are hundreds of reasons why we’re in this situation, perhaps hundreds of known and unknown decisions that led us here. But I think, probably one of the most important reasons why we’re so close to failing as a race, is because of all the wars, the endless fighting for territory and resources, for control. I believe that’s what kept our ancestors from focusing on what should have been done…”
Noya: “Wars. Good, let’s start with them and we’ll slowly work our way towards the true reason we’re here.”
Noya: “Filip,
time to test your knowledge. Let’s go back to the formation of the World Alliance. What caused it? What determined the entire human population to demand it?”
Filip, being a passionate history reader, seems relieved to be asked about a topic he knows well. But everyone else is just wondering what the professor is doing, this doesn’t seem to be a typical lecture.
Filip: “I believe the mechanism that led to the signing of the World Alliance was put in motion in the early 21st century. Sure, we know now just how important the health of our planet is, but back then no one seemed to care. Not really. Despite a few attempts to work together and slow the accelerating decay of our planet, despite signing agreements several times, the world’s leaders of that period never seemed to truly grasp the importance of their decision to ignore nature – or all the scientists making endless pleas to pay more attention to our precious world. Their focus was somewhere else entirely: high consumption rates were driving the economy of that period; in turn, the economy was dictating politics, so it’s no surprise that a lot of territories were involved in wars over natural resources all over the globe. Back then humankind was geographically divided into countries, each with its own leader, each considering itself more important than any other, each struggling to obtain control over more and more resources. It’s hard for me to imagine what it must have been like, hundreds of leaders all wanting what someone else had.”
Noya, interrupting Filip to address the class: “Indeed. It’s hard now to realize the incredible friction and tension this must have involved. With no central leadership, Earth was heading in 195 different directions, that’s how many different countries and different leaders we had. Imagine the improbability they would all agree on or decide together a common direction to follow.”
The noises outside seem to be getting louder as the protest is moving closer to their building. Noya points to Filip, telling him to continue with his story as she walks to the open window and closes it.
Filip: “The Third World War started over an area now known as the Syrian Strip, an area of strategic importance for several, conflicting powers. It’s not entirely clear what caused the final escalation that lead to the entire world entering the war, but tensions had been growing for years; the historical records of that period are conflicting and different entries from different nations are telling very different stories, so we don’t even know the exact date when the war started, we just know that it was somewhere in the Autumn of 2017.”
Noya: “I want to make something clear to all of you, because I know most of you are imagining a world war much like the fighting we’ve had last year: a world war is exponentially more devastating and consuming than a revolution. A revolution generally involves less militarized conflict, certainly less heavy arms – like tanks or armed aircraft – and definitely a lot less so called “weapons of mass destruction” – like bombs that could destroy entire cities or weaponized viruses that can eradicate entire nations; the damage caused by a civilian revolution trying to overthrow the leadership is considerably less than the heavily armed forces waging wars for competing nations. A war that involves the entire world is absolutely devastating!”
Noya, turning to Filip: “I appreciate your knowledge on the subject, but let’s jump forward a little. We don’t want to bore everybody with details.”
Filip smiles in agreement and decides to skip some of the details he already had planned. “After the Third World War, there were almost thirty years of sporadic peace with only localized armed wars. But previous tensions were never resolved, so the world again joined in another, even more devastating war. In the late 21st century, the peoples of Earth were still divided, barely surviving, recovering after the Fourth World War. Years of bombardments and blatant disregard for nature left eleven billion people struggling with heavy pollution and global water shortages. Water and air pollution meant crops couldn’t be effectively grown anymore and famine became one of the highest problems. To add to the poor state everyone was in, solving these problems became increasingly difficult as technology prices were spiking due to the depletion of the much needed rare earth elements consumed by the wars.”
Noya: “And that’s just part of the problem. Competing megacorporation interests, corrupted politics and opaque religions, all with their own agendas, were effectively blocking any kind of chance mankind had to survive. Earth was at its worst, incomparable with any other period in our history. And instead of solutions, leaders seemed to be preparing for yet another world war…”
Noya signals Filip to sit down as she’s taking over the story.
Noya: “History’s inaccuracies sometimes deprive us of the most important details: it’s unclear why, but in the winter of 2102 the riots started, quickly turning into the largest revolution the world had ever seen, rivaled in magnitude only by what we experienced ourselves last year. The trigger is believed by most historians to be the bombing of a water purification plant by a group of religious extremists, sparking rage in the civilian population. The revolutions that started across the entire globe lasted for months; the loss of life was unprecedented, but despite the overwhelming odds they were fighting against, people did not back down, demanding significant changes in the power structures of the world. And during this lengthy, brutal fighting, for the first time in human history people realized that their goals were no longer set by governments or corporations or religion, but instead they were fighting a battle of their own, all wanting the same thing – a key moment in a long series of events that slowly pushed us to being what we are today. And driven by their newfound unity, coordinating attacks across the planet, the civilian population managed to overthrow most governments and convince the remaining armies to join them. However, although governments and armies were defeated, the religious structures of the world were not backing down, trying to impose their desire for more control.”
Professor Noya stops for a moment to analyze if her students are still interested or if she’s losing them to boredom.
Monday, April 12, 2320
It’s almost dark. Time to stop for the night.
My rifle, my suit and my training… That’s all I have, it’s all I need, all I want. Up here, in these dangerous and isolated mountains, any unnecessary weight would just slow me down – and in this frigid, rocky, snowy, slippery terrain, being slow means being dead. One wrong step, one wrong decision, if I lose focus for just one moment it’s all over… But I can’t die, I can’t fail. My mission is too important.
I don’t even have a tent; all I have is my suit to keep me warm for the night. Time to go to sleep.
I’ve been an explorer all my life, always wondering, always trying to find what others couldn’t. Searching for the truth in an ancient whisper or clearing a rumor buried by millennia of indifference – that’s what I do, that’s what I’ve always been good at. Really good. They say I’m the best, with more Merit Awards and places named after me than anyone else. Figures… I’ve always been more at home here, in the wilderness, alone, than I ever was anywhere else. Here I understand how things work, how things should be, how every little thing has its own place – here, I find serenity in a natural, perfect order. That’s my secret, that’s how I’m able to find the things everyone else missed – I clearly see anything out of place. And I guess this is the reason why I’ve been chosen for this crucial mission. There’s no one better to find out if they’re right, the truth behind this elusive rumor, this dangerous whisper… Well, that or the fact that no one else dared to venture in this unforgiving terrain… alone… with no chance of rescue… and very limited supplies… But even now, here, even in this never ending sea of low mists and high peaks, in the most dangerous corner of our planet, even here I see the beauty… Incredible!
The first rays of light feel like sand in my eyes… Time to wake up.
I can’t believe it’s already morning… After nine days of running and climbing, I’m tired, I’m wet, I’m cold. My minimal gear is barely enough for surviving; comfort is ou
t of the question. Not even a tent, not even a sleeping mattress. I know, I know! I remember my training: “Weight is your enemy, weight slows you down, if you’re slow – you’re dead!”. I’ve heard this so many times… I’m miserable. But I can’t stop! What am I doing here? What am I looking for? This isn’t how I normally do things – I have months of research and preparation and planning, managing resources, gear and personnel before I start any expedition. No, this is anything but normal. Instead of months of research I had months of survival training, gear training, climbing training. Infiltration training, shooting training.
I just finished eating my morning rations. Time to move.
The first few days of the mission I was excited, I was going to explore a place no one even dares set a foot on, a chance to conquer the ultimate challenge, a chance to have my name placed indisputably on top of the Hall of Explorers Wall. But after nine days of long runs and climbs, my excitement was drowned by fatigue and discomfort. Three days ago I started the final climb, towards the top of the tallest peak in this area. Three days of continuous climbing – slippery and frozen rocks, barely any spot to anchor down for the night, an almost vertical wall to overcome, a constant and exhausting wind… I’ve never felt this miserable in my life… But I’m eager to finally get to the top.
I can see the peak, it’s almost within reach. Time for the final push.
The red and white rocks remind me of the beach where I grew up. There were no rocks there, just an endless blanket of reddish sand with a strange, white glow just before sunset. I hated that place. There was nothing to see, just sand and water. That’s one of the reasons I left: there had to be more to the world than just sand and water; I wanted to see new things, new places… And now I hate this place – there’s nothing to see, just rocks and snow… But at least I’m somewhere new, a place no one else can tell me about because no one else has ever been here. A strange feeling takes root… A simple idea that I didn’t have time to allow it to crawl into my mind before just now… I haven’t realized until just now how effective my training is - so focused on my mission, so focused on my next step, grip, breathing, rations, mapping; so focused that I couldn’t think about anything else. And now I’m so focused on this growing feeling that I can’t think about climbing… “No one else has ever been here” … But what if the rumors are true…? What would that mean? Everything would change. With a painful final effort, I reach with my left hand up and grab the ledge, pulling myself on the flat top of the peak.
