A New World

(This is my round 11 Florida Weekly entry)

The slightly uneven slate path gently leads through an open wooden door enticing the wanderer into the courtyard. Hydrangea-scented air slowly permeates the senses, calming the mind and body. Visitors are tempted to linger awhile and immerse themselves in the tranquility of colorful flowers and warm sunshine. While contemplating this bucolic synergy of man and nature, the observer has to wonder, is this real? Could it have ever been real?

Only the oldest among us harbor actual memories of places such as this and like everything from that time, they are dying off in increasing numbers. The elders speak of a time when the air was clean and clear, free of smoke from the ever-smoldering fires. The sun lacked its gray halo created by the dust blown into the sky from a parched earth. Wild animals roamed the land and pristine oceans remained contained within their boundaries. This world was entrusted to them by preceding generations and it is what they were supposed to hand down to us—but that was not to be.

Warnings signs from the planet were ignored. People who tried to guide our leaders onto the right path were ostracized and labeled alarmists and anti-industrialists. As the fires, hurricanes, blizzards, droughts, and air quality worsened, those in charge outwardly denied the approaching catastrophe. Secretly, bunkers were prepared to insure their survival. Once a secret is known by more than one person, it’s no longer a secret.

It was during a great pandemic that the general population discovered how rich and powerful people planned to ride out the devastation by tucking themselves away in underground mansions. A world-wide revolt erupted just as the planet began cleansing itself of the human race. As the surface became uninhabitable, we few survivors retreated into the shelter of newly abandoned mines. Many of the refugee colonies lacked the expertise to adapt and ultimately perished. Our colony was fortunate enough to survive.

My parents were instrumental in recruiting a group of scientists, engineers, tradesmen, and farmers. I was four when we transitioned to our subterranean home so my memories of life above ground are few and vague. In this new society, everyone was required to contribute, even the children. We learned our parent’s skills as well as several other disciplines because cross-training was necessary for survival. As children matured, they were allowed to accompany the adults topside to scavenge for machine parts and other necessities.

It wasn’t an easy life, but there were bright spots. We had entertainment time every weekend consisting of books, movies, and videotaped TV shows. The founders knew people needed distractions which allowed them to escape their entrapment, even if the reprieve was only imaginary. It was during these sessions that my friends and I discovered Star Trek and all its spin-offs. We could relate to the crew of Enterprise because they were like us, trapped in an artificial world with only themselves and their imaginations for company. We may not have had periodic visits from aliens, but we were sporadically contacted by other colonies.

It was this show, with its holodeck, that inspired me and my friends to develop an advanced holographic computer capable of projecting images not only in 3D but with actual substance. The Enterprise crew often fled into a holographic world to escape from the tedium of space travel. Our existence under the earth could often be equally boring and people used our invention as a diversion.

We created constructs from novels and TV shows that allowed the residence to interact with the cast. It was possible to have a conversation with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar or help solve cases with the Reagan family from Blue Bloods, but we took it a step further. Throughout the tunnels, we installed contemplation chambers similar to the tranquil courtyard I described at the beginning of the story. They were designed to remind everyone not only of what was lost but what could be restored—maybe not in our lifetime, but sometime in the future. In the meantime, we will continue our journey through space and time toward a new beginning. Our new world awaits.