The Kindness Revolution

THE PRESENT: ChlOE

In one month, I will receive my bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences. I had this unexplainable need to study past civilizations. The place from which my ancestors originated.

Humans did not believe in Global warming, but it had destroyed most of the planet. Yukon, which was a territory of Canada, is the only region that remains. About 30,000 citizens live there today. They are the ones who had wealthy family members back then. It cost one billion dollars to buy the permit to continue living in the last green-patch area.

The rest of us who survived live in spaceships, roaming in the darkness and vastness of the Universe. We are about a million people. We are forbidden from visiting Yukon. I had to learn about Yukon’s inhabitants, infrastructure, greenery, housing, and culture through virtual representations at the Space University 19. It is hard to believe that I once had a family who lived on earth. I could never understand how they could destroy such a beautiful planet that had flowers.

The air is constantly refreshed by sophisticated systems in our ships. I have a sensitivity to space air. My lungs slightly hurt, except when I am in my gardening class. Listening in my gardening class on how to clone roses, I catch him staring at me through the glass walls. Every time I see him, I get the butterflies in my stomach. Why is he here? I calm myself down by convincing myself that he must have a friend in the course. It is finally four, the class has ended, and I will have to face him. Sometimes at night, I see a silhouette of him examining me.

I grab my bag, and as I leave class, I run past him.

“ChlOE , please, stop.”

My heart starts pounding. He knows my name.

I find the courage to turn around and face him.

“I feel you, too,” he says.

“I don’t even know your name.”

“It`s NOA.”

“Sorry, I have to catch my shuttle flight home.”

I suddenly see two messages from NOA on my space com device (SCD). I wonder how he got my number. I ignore the messages, but NOA's irresistible smile keeps monopolizing my thoughts. To distract myself, I focused on how they used to plant trees.

FLASHBACK: TWO DAYS BEFORE: NOA

NOA and BrEtt are sitting scanning the AI network at the Space Control Infrastructure Center (SCIC). It runs all the vessels we live in. Only around 10 people work there, who have been assigned top security clearance by the Yukoners. We call the place HUSH Central.

A vessel carrying 50,000 people went rogue a decade ago, successfully detaching itself from the SCIC. To date, they have not caused any trouble. NOA and BrEtt are security network specialists tasked with protecting the system from hackers and viruses. The richest family, the Reeds, owns AI Space Living Travel, and they also have control over Yukon and its remaining residents. The Reeds are among the wealthiest families in the top five that still exist in Yukon. Their fortune was built through oil, gas, and mining.

“Hey, we got a message that President CAl Reed of Yukon has requested a secret meeting at the University to show us the advances that they have made in AI in two days,” BrEtt says.

NOA suspects something suspicious. The Yukoners have not visited them in decades. They usually send files to upload and transmit to their space citizens.

“BrEtt, it’s getting late, you have kids, go home. I will do the security preps for the meeting.”

NOA then proceeds to code the meeting based on the briefing from the Yukoners. The president and his entourage will arrive in two days at midnight. Their presentation will be the next evening at Space University 19. They will land at Space Private Airport. NOA has requested that they bring two Army guards with them as an extra measure of security. He lies to them, typing that he has found an encrypted low-risk code in the Yukon/SPACE Communication Satellites, checking if one of the rogue members is tinkering with it.

Noa had already found a file called The Kindness Revolution (TKR) that he had been trying to hack into. He tries again. Hours later, he manages to crack its code after a year of attempts.

The TKR files reveal that a group of independent individuals, philanthropists, CEOs, actors, politicians, and human rights lawyers funded a scientist named WAlt Emerson and his team to develop a liquid called SafeGreenPerserver. This liquid was designed to regenerate nature and restore it to its original state. However, Reed had Emerson and all the individuals involved killed by his own army. He deemed that the top five wealthy families were the only ones worthy of living in Yukon.

The Reed family stole the liquid. And they had had all the poor killed. The Green Massacre. After, they sent the middle classes into space. People tried to cross the borders of Yukon to obtain the liquid, but the Reed AI Robotic Army was too powerful.

THE NEXT NIGHT: GIRLS’S NIGHT OUT: ChlOE

I can’t wait to hang out with my friends at BUBBLES tonight. It’s our favourite watering hole at the Space Entertainment Center. We sit at our usual spots and order the Raz, the synthetic pink champagne. That is where I used to see NOA. But he never really noticed me before.

Suddenly, he is approaching our table, and I feel time stopping.

Standing above me now, he asks, “Would you like to dance?”

My girlfriends give me a look of approval. He has cornered me, and I have no choice but to accept the situation. I haven't seen him at BUBBLES in such a long time, and I know that his presence here is not a coincidence. It feels oddly familiar to be so close to him, so I try to focus on the slow music playing in the background.

“I work at Hush Central,” he says as we start dancing.

“I am confused. I have not broken any laws.”

“You are in a program that only admits 25 of the smartest people per year to study planet Earth.”

“Well, that’s not a crime.”

“Try to smile and laugh when I tell you the next part.”

“There is a liquid in Yukon that can regenerate the planet. I need your help to go find it.”

“Are you insane?”

“Come meet me at Hush Central at midnight just to talk. Luckily, you’re allergic to the tracking chip. You wear it as a pin on the top of your clothes. Free yourself from it and take shuttle 888 to Hush Central at 11:45 pm. I’ll be waiting for you.”

The song ends. NOA goes back to his table, and I to mine.

While JOEy and ZEllA are debating the latest hairstyle trends, I notice that NOA leaves, but his buddies stay, continuing to take synthetic tequila shots.

“That guy is cute. Who is he?” JOEy asks.

“A guy I met at Uni. Would you come to the bathroom with me?’

“Sure.”

“JOEy, I need a favor,” I plead. “That guy asked me to meet up with him later. Can I tell my parents that I am staying at your ship tonight?”

“I don’t blame you, “JOEy says. “Give me your pin, I’ll put it in my purse.”

“It’s not like that. He is also into Earth Sciences, and we want to exchange information.”

“So, you’re both nerds.”

Back at the table, I pretend to have stomach cramps to facilitate my escape. I hug both my friends, and strangely, I am the last one to let go in both cases. Once I am outside, I take a space taxi to shuttle 888. Boarding the shuttle, the AI scanners do not detect me without my chip. Luckily, no other human being is on it.

Once at Hush Central, I can see NOA at the end of the corridor pacing.

“I was worried that you failed to respond to my charm,” NOA says, as he gestures for me to follow him. We walk down seven corridors with seven doors, with thousands of cameras recording everything. We are quiet the whole time, so NOA looks alone. It takes an eternity until we reach his station in this large white room with only ten seats.

“Don’t touch anything,” he says and gives me gloves.

“The President is coming tomorrow night with two human security guards. I am going to take the place of one of them. I will recode his chip  and send him to the Rehab Center for Mental Illness.”

“I need you to greet them when they arrive and to distract them until they board the taxi to the Ritz Space hotel.”

“What about the other guard?”

“She is a woman. I want you to come with me, you’ll be able to apply everything you have learned on Earth. The liquid is at Reed Headquarters. I could hack into the REED system and get the code to make the liquid. I can’t do it from here.”

“You mean, you want me to use the liquid to regenerate the planet?”

“You have the skills to do so. All the ingredients are in Yukon. You know how to clone nature, so doing the real thing should be easy for you.”

“I have family and friends here.”

“But it was an Emerson who invited the liquid.  ChlOE  you are an Emerson. A descendant of WAlt Emerson.”

ChlOE is beyond words,

“If we regenerate life, then your family and all of our families could go home to where they belong.”

THE NEXT DAY: THE ESCAPE: NOA and ChlOE

I got my pin back from JOEy on the morning shuttle bus and continued with my routine. I attended all my classes. During one of the breaks, I secretly dropped my tracking pin into my classmate’s purse, which was slightly open. COrEy is a girl who stays at the AI library after school until it closes at 10:00 PM every night. I called my parents to let them know that I would be studying late at the library. However, after finishing the call, a deep sadness flooded me, knowing that I might never see them again.

NOA has given me a new tracking chip, which I pin. I am now LArA, part of the greeting committee for President Reed.

I arrive at the private airport on time and am assigned in line next to NOA. We are the last ones who are supposed to remain once the President has taken the taxi with his assistants and our space army to the Ritz hotel.

Everything goes to plan. President Cal lands safely, and NOA and I stay with the Yukon security officers. We offer them food and drinks, which they accept. They are stuck at the airport for a day and sit to eat with us before we finish our job as ambassadors.

But right in the middle of our meal. They drop out of their chairs. NOA has put a load of sedatives into their food. He reprograms their chips. And calls a space ambulance to take them back to the psychiatry ship.

By the time they come, NOA and I have already switched uniforms with the Yukoners. As soon as they pick up the real guards and leave, we get into the President’s ship and program it to fly back to its original destination.

TWEVE HOURS LATER: ARRIVING AT YUKON: NOA and ChlOE

When we land in a town on a large road, surrounded by many tiny houses built of wood, we are greeted by President CAl Reed with his three kids as we exit the ship.

“What is going on?” ChlOE asks.

“I sent my clone for space travel. He will stay there and become the new chief at Hush Central. His Mission is finding LOVE DNA with the AI.”

“I don’t understand any of this. Why are we still alive? ”NOA asks.

A dog runs toward barking at the real President.

“We brought the two of you to stay in Yukon. We have been studying you both, and you have chemistry that most people could never imagine.

“Our DNA does not contain love, so we will be creating couples like yourselves to come live here and have babies. Then, those babies will marry our children. And love will be passed on.

“If you assimilate well with us, more people will get to live back on earth.”

“I am not ready to get married,” ChlOE says.

“Take your time, there is no pressure,” the president says.

“Why not just use the liquid to regenerate parts of the planet?” NOA asks.

“We are running out of resources and have started beta testing the liquid. It does not work. Our Chief AI system analyzed it, and the liquid won’t work without innocent love DNA, which would be your first child.”

“But how did the AI know we were in love?” NOA asks.

“Because you are not like us or the AI. They went through the history archives to define love. You had the strongest chemistry in space, so if we succeed with the two of you. The system will look for more couples. More outliers like yourselves.”

“I feel like a prisoner all of a sudden,” ChlOE exclaims.

“We don’t have love here. The wealthy only married other wealthy individuals. It was for power and status. We need you to show us love.”

“Except for you NOA, you have some Reed DNA. One of your ancestors, JEff Reed had a baby with SUnshInE, a maid. The two of them were sent to space. They were not part of any of the wealthy bloodline But NOA you have love DNA inside you.”

A  regular electric car appears with a chauffeur to take us to our new home. It is something called a condo. They use old technology here. So NOA and I have a lot to learn. Apparently, you cook with a stove. They micro-manage all their resources now on Earth.

Once inside the condo, NOA searches for bugs. 

“I can’t believe I am part of the Reed family. Those people were awful. At least, you were an Emerson,” NOA says.

“Let’s just figure out how to get into their system to replicate the formula.”

“So, no love babies for now,” NOA says. “I thought I was a top-notch hacker, but it turns out they set us up.”

“Now that we are in Yukon, we need to learn their way of life first to assimilate and turn the cards on them by sending them into space. You don’t need love there, but planet Earth does to become sustainable again. It needs nurturing.”

“You’re right, ChlOE, lets find out how to get the formula before they find another duo love couple, who might not have any trouble having their babies mixed in any of the top five families.”