A New Earth – To All New Arrivals

continued from previous

Olivia was out on an evening stroll.  She begun to curiously walk towards the far end of the beach, where a medium-sized group of Minimalists had set up a permanent vigil for months now. Tonight, the atmosphere was different: re-energized by the latest reports of new variants arising across the globe, the Minimalists had decided to have a celebration – if you could dare to call it that, by their own introverted standards.

A much larger and louder party crowd of Revelers had joined them just next door, setting up their tents, sound systems and psychedelic light shows.  Laser beams in crimson red, lime yellow and turquoise blue were sweeping back and forth on the beach, and into the brown ocean at times.  A huge screen projected a mix of video art and algorithm-generated graphics synced to the tribal beats. A few were already dancing on the sand. It looked like the beginning of a big party on the beach.

Olivia sneaked in from the side unnoticed, behind the food stand that the vertical farm had set up. They were serving free red lentil curry to any hungry Reveler.  She stood there in the dark for a few minutes, mesmerized by the video art of whales and deep-sea creatures that were weaved together into a montage that kept playing on a loop.  Looking at the dark outlines of people dancing against it, she thought of the new generation for a minute.  This was their party.  And it was their crucifixion as well.  Joining them on the dance floor would not only be out of her demographic.  It could be sacrilege.  And it may be perceived as an intrusion, especially if someone recognized her.  Science had a bad name these days, blamed for having failed to give adequate, timely warnings for what was to come. 

She grabbed a free drink and continued to people-watch: was this dystopian beach rave party the epicentre of hope on Earth?  Could this tortured young generation draw a line on the sand and continue?  Some people here certainly felt like it.  Olivia was less optimistic, and she knew exactly how John would feel.

Suddenly the music stopped, and the screen was connected to The Line.  It appeared there was some breaking news.   The familiar voice of the deep fake news anchor was heard:

“We are interrupting our regular programming to bring you some live images on a story that has emerged literally moments ago.  We have the first live images coming via satellite from what appears to be some strange activity happening on the ocean that you can visibly see on your screen.  We can only speculate at this point, but it has already been suggested that we are witnessing some kind of bioluminescence coming from a new variant.  We’ve been informed that teams of scientists are already heading to the scene to investigate. 

“This is the same area which has been previously identified as a variant hotspot to watch.  This is all we have for now; we leave you with these images and we’ll keep you updated during the night if the story develops.  You’re watching The Line.”

The crowd of Revelers watched frozen as the large, soft blue glow in the middle of the ocean rivaled the yellow dots of cities along the US East Coast.  The screen went black, as a Minimalist walked into the crowd, holding a fish bowl of cloudy water taken from the ocean.  He lifted it up towards the evening sky like a votive offering and begun to pour it slowly onto the sand as he solemnly, but confidently, made his dedication: “To all life going extinct, and to all new arrivals.” 

A Reveler repeated the sentence out loud towards the crowd, who began chanting, lifting their drinks in the air as the tribal beats started to fade back in:

“To all life going extinct! And to all new arrivals!” 

“To all life going extinct! And to all new arrivals!” 

from the upcoming novel A New Earth

continued here

to read from the beginning, go here

George is an author, researcher, podcast host, chemist, molecular biologist and food scientist. You can follow him on Twitter @99blackbaloons , listen to his Spotify podcast George reads George, sign up for blog alerts below, or enjoy his books