Out of Body Universe - Part One

by Martin Chu Shui

  Chapter 9

  Cathy told the taxi driver to go straight to the Rocks, where the Opera House and Harbour Bridge were.

  As the car cruised leisurely along the main streets, Nathan was still amazed to see that there were so few cars around; apart from the occasional bus, taxi, or delivery vehicle passing by, he hadn’t seen a single passenger car, or any pedestrians.

  Cathy looked at Nathan’s expression and seemed amused. “You must be wondering where all the people are on a Monday afternoon.”

  “Yes I am, indeed. I know people are crazy about visiting places all over the world in OBU, but surely one has to work in order to make a living?”

  “They do, and they are doing exactly that right now.”

  Nathan looked at the ghost town through the car’s window, and then turned back to Cathy. “Oh, don’t tell me they are all working in OBU?”

  “Nathan, that’s exactly what is going on.” She pointed at the buildings that had been occupied by large businesses and corporations, as Nathan recalled.

  “Almost every single building is empty, and they may be converted to apartments later; we have driven past a few that still have corporate logos and business names, but they are shop fronts only. In fact, apart from the few activities that have to happen in the real world, most business activities are conducted in OBU.”

  Watching the familiar streets and buildings pass by, Nathan felt sad; everything was so familiar but still so alien at the same time. He was a total stranger in his own hometown, the place he had spent the first twenty years of his life. Soon they arrived at the Rocks; the normally crowded, must-see location for all tourists was now still and empty, like a no-man’s land.

  “It’s such a strange feeling to see nobody around,” Nathan said, getting out of the taxi.

  Cathy smiled but didn’t say anything. She led the way to a nearby high-rise apartment building. Nathan followed. It seemed that she had done quite well to be able to afford to live on the prime real estate in one of the world’s most expensive cities; at least it was before OBU.

  The armed security guards at the foyer and heavy security doors and window frames in Cathy’s apartment were much the same as Gary and Dave’s.

  “I suppose that we should get the ball rolling.” Cathy gave Nathan a helmet that had a cable connected already. “Shall we?”

  Nathan put it on his head and flipped the eye-shield down and soon he was looking at his own body sitting on the coach a few feet away. In no time, Cathy was standing beside the window. She signalled for him to get closer to her.

  “Look down there.”

  Nathan looked through the window; although he had anticipated what it might look like, what he saw still took his breath away: twenty stories down on the ground, millions of tourists were jammed into almost every inch of ground between the seashell-like Opera House and Harbour Bridge. In the air there were cars flying at different levels over the city, a picture from a true futuristic science fiction movie.

  “Flying cars?” said Nathan.

  “Nathan, it’s OBU age,” Cathy said. “Flying cars are just a piece of software to intrigue your mind, there’s nothing strange about it.” She paused, and then said, “I suggest we take a ride in my helicopter so I can show you around.”

  Your helicopter? But Nathan managed to swallow the sentence before it came out of his mouth, because Cathy would tell him it was just another piece of software.

  He kept quiet while Cathy pushed a button on the wall, and a panel of the wall slid open; inside there was a lift. He said nothing and just stepped inside it after Cathy.

  The lift took them straight to the building’s rooftop. Nathan followed Cathy out of the lift and walked towards a helicopter parked not far from them.

  “Why don’t you just drive a flying car?” asked Nathan as he climbed into the co-pilot’s seat.

  “Put those on.” Cathy indicated the headphones in front of Nathan. She started the flying machine efficiently and professionally; it seemed that she had done this quite regularly. “We all know that cars can’t fly in the real world, at least not yet, so driving a flying car is just a joy ride on a piece of software, but flying this helicopter is the real thing.”

  “The real thing? Are you telling me this is like a flight simulation?”

  “Yes, Nathan, but it’s much better than a simulation because I am actually flying the real helicopter. Even though it’s in OBU, the altitude, air temperature, wind speed, weather conditions and the machine’s mechanical performance all match the flight in real time; in other words, there is no difference between me flying it in the real world or in OBU.”

  “This is fantastic!” exclaimed Nathan. “It means that people can do all sorts of real training in OBU without the costs or dangers in the real world. There’d be no danger of them killing themselves in training accidents.”

  Cathy flew over the Harbour Bridge, towards the zoo, which was on the slope of a hill, a fair distance by boat but a short ride in a helicopter.

  “The standard businesses that were already heavily represented on the Internet even before OBU, such as media, education, fashion, finance, and entertainment, have all naturally moved to OBU; the other businesses, such as heavy industry and military training, travelling and sightseeing, and hospitality, including hotels and restaurants, are also now thriving in OBU as well.”

  “I can’t believe this.” Nathan just couldn’t stop mumbling the same words over and over. He looked down as they flew over the zoo, seeing the elephants and other animals. “Are they real or just digitally generated?”

  “Some are real and some aren’t.”

  “Cathy, I know I have been saying this ever since I got into this helicopter, but I just can’t believe this is really happening. Look, that’s the bakery I used to work in.”

  “Yes, it is. I intentionally flew over it for you.”

  “Thanks, Cathy.”

  “Nathan, do you still remember in our uni days when we protested and fought against mining corporations?” Cathy said softly.

  “How could I forget? I remember clearly when we went to the north of western Australia, to stop the building of that oil refinery that would destroy the rocks with old aboriginal paintings from tens of thousands of years ago, and million-year-old dinosaur footprints. We fought shoulder to shoulder with environmental activists from all over the world, and aboriginal youths and elders…” Nathan’s memories flooded back to his life fifteen years ago, but he stopped when his breakup with Cathy came to his mind.

  Cathy turned, patting Nathan’s arm gently.

  “Nathan, we don’t need to protest and fight anymore; we won. Forests won; animals won; everyone won, all thanks to OBU.”

  “Right.” Nathan was thinking and digesting Cathy’s words.

  “Nathan, you see, because of OBU, people don’t need to cut down forests, or kill cows so that they can produce burgers; orangutans can finally survive because we no longer need to use palm tree oil; the Americans no longer need drugs from golden triangles and Mexicans; the Japanese no longer need to harm whales for their meat; the Chinese no longer need the ivory; people no longer need to breathe in polluted air, and Earth’s temperature is no longer rising. Nathan, OBU has saved us, saved the environment, saved us from global warming…” Cathy said this with tears shining in her eyes.

  “That’s wonderful!” Nathan said. “But how could OBU help with reducing pollution? Don’t we still need to burn fossil fuel to drive cars and generate electricity?”

  “Yes, the world is still dependant on fossil fuel, but at a much reduced scale.” Cathy waved her hand at the city below.

  “You have seen with your own eyes that there are hardly any cars on the streets because almost every possible business and private activity that can be conducted in OBU is being conducted in OBU. Air travel, luxury goods, hotels and resorts, fast food, you name them, all disappeared from the real world; as a result, the usage of fossil fuel is now only a fraction of what it was bef
ore OBU, and so is the pollution.”

  Cathy pushed a button on the instrument panel; in the blink of an eye, underneath, the endless red desert in the middle of Australia replaced the scenery of Sydney.

  “How did we fly so quickly from Sydney to the middle of the desert?”

  Cathy made the helicopter turn and they were soon close to the most famous landmark, the Uluru Rock.

  “It’s just a matter of changing the data set, so it takes no time at all. By the way, I don’t think you have been to Uluru Rock before. Would you like to climb it now?”

  “I thought it wasn’t allowed anymore,” said Nathan.

  “Nathan, we are in OBU, and therefore won’t be able to damage the real Uluru Rock.” Cathy landed the helicopter beside the giant red rock.

  Nathan was completely lost in admiration of the beauty and magnificence of the natural wonder.

  Cathy was agile whilst walking on the rock. The weather was quite hot, which was understandable for being in the middle of the Australian desert.

  Cathy took two pairs of sunglasses out of her pocket and passed one pair to Nathan.

  “You had better put them on.”

  After going full circle around the giant red rock, Cathy turned around and walked back towards the helicopter.

  “Nathan, I am a bit hungry, let’s go back and have some afternoon tea. What about getting something to eat in your little bakery?”

  “What a good idea.” Nathan was looking forward to seeing what the old bakery was like in OBU.