The story that follows was inspired by one of my trips overseas. It draws a lot from real events, but also takes advantage of my creative licence as a writer. Happy reading!
[Link at the end for full story]
The promise of a new world is a common theme in literature and conversation. It preys on that belief every person reaches at some point in time, that the problems in one’s current world are beyond fixing; that there is no hope for humanity to carry on the way that it has for so many centuries. It’s like a vulture waiting for the last glimmer of positivity to leave one’s body and feast on the remains. And so, our world had come to that through global warming, the rise of nationalism, new wars, extremism and the extinction of many species thanks to us. We were on a planet claiming equity, but failing to practice what it preached.
A fortune cookie once told me “May you live in interesting times”, and damn interesting times they had become. The Better Earth organisation had formed in order to create havens around the planet that would allow humanity to “start again”. These havens would be in isolated areas not affected by our actions thus far. They would form part of the international market and function as independent countries, all while having strict rules to avoid the mistakes made by humanity thus far. They were, in summary, test cases for utopian societies on a destroyed planet.
My company had secured a project in one of these utopias, called Lionkota. This meant that my colleagues and I could go to Lionkota for business, but were limited to a short stay. One had to go through a thorough selection process in order to be relocated to a haven such as Lionkota, therefore business and vacation visits were extensively surveilled, and vacations were rarely approved, unless requested by family members of the utopian citizens.
Lionkota could only be accessed via a special type of aircraft. When we arrived at the designated airfield, we were brought into an aircraft containing multiple self-sufficient pods. Each pod contained a ready-made bed, entertainment system, snacks, water, and a designated host. The only shared space amongst the passengers was the well kept toilet area, filled with jasmine infused creams and sprays whose purpose was a mystery to me.
Our flight was a pleasant one. We were fed sumptuous three course meals and were offered countless services short of a massage. We were also provided with immigration papers to complete, a standard practice for many countries. However the immigration papers themselves differed from standard ones, which tended to list all the goods that one cannot bring in and out of the country. Instead, these listed some of the more strict laws of Lionkota, together with their accompanying punishments such as death and flogging. This was a bit of a shock considering that we were approaching a so called utopia, which by definition is supposed to have desirable qualities for its citizens. I wondered how fair the legal system was, whether the low crime rate was really worth the fear induced in the citizens, whether the citizens actually felt this way too, or somehow had convinced themselves that medieval punishments were the right way to create a desirable quality such as a “low crime rate”. It felt as though we were travelling to the past rather than to a futuristic present.
After 16 hours, we landed on the isolated island of Lionkota. The airport, it could be called that, was a combination of three wide buildings covered entirely by greenery. We found out soon enough that this greenery extended to the inside of the spotless white building with large empty halls as well. We had seen from the air that the island was covered by what looked like a failed attempt at a large glass dome, except for the airport and airstrip. This dome was somewhat round, but it looked nothing like a perfect semi-sphere. Instead, the area under the glass expanded and contracted at different points, resembling an artistic glass sculpture rather than a functional structure for environmental control. The airstrip connected the rooftop of the three buildings which joined to glass sculpture via a glass bridge.
We had arrived there on a weekend in order to give ourselves enough time to recover from the flight and explore the island. We took an electric taxi from the airport to the hotel in order to rest after our long flight. Along the way, the taxi’s navigational system insisted on reminding our driver to drive safely, which seemed rather comical and provided us with entertainment for the last leg of the journey.
Once we were well rested we headed out to explore and find nourishment. When travelling to a new destination, one would generally try to taste the local food, as this is often seen as the door into a new culture. Lionkota, however, was not the kind of place to have what could be called “local” food or culture. When the Better Earth organisation began designing utopian societies like Lionkota, one of the requirements proposed was to be an equal opportunity destination for all humans on earth. However, the organisation soon realised that this requirement couldn’t really be fulfilled in the manner intended as people entering the society were doing so from our existing planet, which was already biased. For example, each society, especially at the start, required people with specific skills and experience that would be able to create, decorate, and maintain the city. That meant that people without a higher education in engineering, botany, architecture, chemistry, art, and other similar degrees would never have the opportunity to apply to this utopia, which meant that people that didn’t have the opportunity to study due to our current planet’s injustices would lose yet another opportunity. For this reason, the Better Earth organisation decided to instead implement a quota based system, where quotas were based on education, experience, and nationality enstating instead equal opportunity rights to future Lionkotan generations. Due to the nationality quota, Lionkota’s population was a multicultural one, which meant that every type of food could be considered local cuisine, making us feel less uncultured when we finally settled for a Malay Indonesian fusion restaurant.
After our meal, we decided to walk in the direction of the city center exploring the sights along the way. This idea soon fell apart as we were forced from the surface into an underground tunnel system by the infrastructure around us. In order to keep the surface of the island green, the microclimate kept within the glass bubble is similar to a tropical one. For this reason, citizens are led underground to a cooler climate, where they can perform all their chores.
Like capitalist ants in an anthill, the Lionkotans seamlessly navigate a complex network of tunnels using outlets instead of pheromones to guide their every move. That said, Lionkota is not actually a capitalist society, though it may look like one through its extensive underground shopping districts. The government owns the means of production, but there is still a free market in place. The Better Earth organisation chose this approach in order to make these utopian societies part of the international market and in turn keep them from being shut down.
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For the rest of the story please click here (it will open a PDF)
Exploring Creativity 