Anytown, 2075

Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month’s prompt is to write a story where a trip somewhere is featured or mentioned (from planning a trip to the memory of a trip... everything's allowed).

Today’s story was written by Phil Yeats. He recently published his third novel using the pen name Alan Kemister. His first two were cozy mysteries. This one has a more serious theme. The Souring Seas is the first volume in a precautionary tale about the hazards of ignoring human-induced climate change. For information about this book and others in what will be a series of three (and possibly more) novels about this important topic, visit his website – https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

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Anytown, 2075

by Phil Yeats

 

He followed her into the automated train car that whisked through tunnels between the domes. She dropped into a seat as the train started moving, and he stumbled into the next one.

“I so wish I could go somewhere,” he said. “Anywhere, as long as it’s away from these five isolation domes we call Halifax.”

She gazed at the young man sitting beside her. They lived in adjacent residence buildings in Dome C, and knew each other, but not well. “There’s nowhere to go and the atmosphere’s so thick you couldn’t see anything if you went out with a respirator protecting you from the dust.”

“You keep telling me that, but seeing nothing but orange fog outside our stupid cocoon depresses me. I’ve lived here for all my twenty-four years and seen nothing but my tiny apartment, various stores, and the places I’ve worked.”

“Other cities are mostly bigger, but no different. Until we made buildings with adequately filtered air and then neighbourhoods under domes, people were dying like flies from respiratory ailments. It’s now more stable, but life remains a constant struggle.” She thought back to twenty years earlier when she was a young girl. The bacterial plague that destroyed the iron and steel in society’s infrastructure generated a sun-blocking orange fog that killed plants and trees. Life was precarious until they produced enough greenhouse farms to feed everyone.

“At least you went away for your Civic Duty. I was stuck here the whole time.”

“Two years living in a thirty-foot by twenty-four-foot box with eleven others and working twelve hours a day for two years decontaminating land for greenhouses was no picnic. You were better off here working on long-term atmospheric decontamination.”

“So you tell me, but I don’t care. I just want to go somewhere!”

They’d had similar conversations several times in recent months. His wanderlust may have been romantic and understandable, but it wasn’t practical.

“Three choices,” she said.

“Great! Two more than you mentioned last time.”

“Book a trip on a freighter transporting goods between here and Europe. Once you’re away from the coast, you’ll see the sun, and you can go on deck without respirators. The closest to the old life you’ll likely see.”

He shook his head. “You already told me about that one. It’s too expensive. I can’t afford it.”

“Then what about this one? It’s what I’m working on in my latest job—virtual tours of the world’s cities.”

“What! The world of domes?”

“No, silly. The cities we knew before the plague. We’re developing virtual tours of the old Halifax based on photos and videos in our extensive archives, and other groups are working on tours for other cities around the world. They include cityscapes and tours of museums and art galleries—places that no longer exist.”

“But that’s no use. I’d never leave home. The whole point is getting away.”

“Then you won’t like my third choice.”

“Probably not, but you better hit me with it.”

“Forget physical trips and make your life here an adventure, a personal trip to discover something, or someone, or anything else that makes your life worthwhile.”

He jumped up and strode to a seat far from hers. He plunked himself down and buried his face in his hands.

She knew he was close to tears, but she didn’t offer comfort. Sometimes, people had to solve their own problems, and when they did, they could generate something amazing. It’s what she’d done with her life. The question was, could he do it with his?

 

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The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com/

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/