Sofia and the Utopia Machine

by Judith Huang

  “Get in,” said Rowan.

  Now that it was up close, Sofia saw that it was actually a wooden sampan, painted sky blue and white with flecks of paint missing, with a glass panel in the middle of its bottom so you could see through it. It was large enough to seat six people.

  “Is this a converted sampan?” she asked wonderingly.

  “Yes. We got it to fly using hovercraft technology. It used to be used on the water by the kampong folk who lived here a long time ago. See the water stains on the bottom?”

  Sure enough, there were algae stains and even a few barnacles on the bottom and sides of the flying sampan.

  “We like recycling old materials at the colony,” said Rowan. “Necessity is the mother of invention.”

  After Sofia had clambered on with the others, Rowan reached for a touchscreen panel at the front of the boat that seemed to have a GPS map on it. He tapped it a few times and the boat rose high into the air, above the tree line again, and then sped up in the direction they had been walking before they met the mirror-shield.

  Looking rather nervously over the edge of the boat, and then through the glass panel on the bottom, Sofia saw the trees whizzing past under them, then give way to ponds of startling regularity—clearly fish farms of some sort—and plantations of pandans and other plants in neat rows. Then they arrived at a kampong.

  Beautifully decorated wooden houses stood on stilts, with latticed eaves painted in bright colours. Under the houses, between the stilts, a few chickens poked their way through the dirt.

  Sofia had the curious sensation of being transported to the distant past. She had seen kampongs like this one in her textbooks about old Singapore, and in nostalgic paintings by Singaporean artists, but she had never seen one in its full glory, in real life. And yet…there were subtle differences. For one thing, almost every house had a huge windmill attached to it and plants formed green walls on at least one side of each house.

  Just then, a rooster began to crow. As it did, ten or more roosters joined in. There was something odd about the sound. Sofia looked for the source of it, and saw that in front of the nearest house, an aquamarine one with green latticework, was a gleaming mechanical rooster.

  “Sorry, that’s the intruder alarm,” said Rowan. “It’s ’cause you guys don’t have these,” he gestured at his blue sphere.

  “Well, at least it’s called everybody to come meet you. They’ll want to know we have newcomers.”

  People were spilling out of the houses, dressed casually in shorts, slippers, T-shirts and the occasional sarong.

  “Peter Tan?” shouted a woman wearing glasses, her hair in a slightly unkempt ponytail. “Is that you?”

  She introduced herself as Yang Zhe to the rest, another ex-colleague of Peter’s at Biopolis.

  “This is my son, Rowan,” she said. “And of course you also know my husband, Leslie.” She took the arm of a tall Indian man with a trimmed beard and frameless glasses, who grinned at Peter and pulled him into a hug.

  “We were supporting you in your refusal to continue work on the Utopia Machine and when you disappeared, we felt that was the last straw, and set up the colony here. It was Zhe’s idea.” He gave his wife a squeeze on her shoulder. “Back in the old days, I used to take her to Pulau Ubin sometimes, to go cycling or camping. By the time you disappeared, this place was pretty deserted. All the original inhabitants had left or died out.”

  “How do you stop the government from coming over and flushing you out?” asked Sofia, dazzled by everything. She had just noticed that all the kampong houses had solar panels making up their roof tiles. They were artfully arranged so they formed tessellating patterns of astonishing intricacy. The members of the Mari Kita were crowding around their little group of newcomers, offering to take their bags and shaking their hands. Kirk had taken to prodding the mechanical rooster with his toe. It pecked him back irritably.

  “Well, you saw the mirror-shield yourself,” said Leslie. “We have ways of delivering strong shocks to intruders who try to come in unauthorised. We can even deliver a fatal shock, though that has never been necessary. Then there are all those rumours we spread about the island. I’m sure you’ve heard them.”

  “That Pulau Ubin is haunted? That bad things happen to those who come here?” asked Sofia.

  “Yeah, those. They’re not unfounded, either. We’ve developed certain…security systems that ensure the marines who come into our waters really do hallucinate ghosts and other sinister creatures.”

  “Also, you know the Utopia Machine?” said Leslie, turning to Peter.

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, we stopped working on the one in Biopolis that the government wanted, but we took the technology here to Ubin. All this—” Leslie motioned to mean the whole kampong colony “—resides in a bubble reality, a smaller version of what would have been in the Utopia Machine. We’re not really in Pulau Ubin at all, so even if the government manages to penetrate the mirror-shield, they wouldn’t be able to find us.”

  Many people wanted to hear Sofia and Peter’s story, of how they had escaped. “All in good time,” assured Peter.

  “You’ll need somewhere to stay, the blue house, first…maybe the blue house,” Yang Zhe said, pointing her chin towards the aquamarine house that Sofia had seen first. “It’s been renovated but nobody lives there at the moment. You’ll find that everything is set up for it to be self-sufficient.”

  “Thank you so much, Dr Yang,” said Sofia, shyly. “We all really need a rest…and a shower would be really nice,” she added. She had never been so filthy in her life, and she felt a deep weariness as all the adrenaline from the past few days drained out of her.

  “Absolutely, and then you can join us all for dinner. We’ll have a feast in your honour,” said Leslie. “After all, it’s not every day that the man who first inspired the Mari Kita comes to us!” He nudged Peter.

  “We’re so glad you made it here, Pete. We didn’t know for sure if you were in prison or just overseas. You’ll have to fill us in on your whereabouts these past years.”

  “Yeah…it’s complicated,” muttered Peter.

  “You lot go and shower and get comfortable. We’ll get you some new clothes,” he said, spying Peter’s ill-fitting garb. “We make it ourselves. They’re made out of bamboo. Very comfortable.”

  Sofia noticed the shirts and shorts the Mari Kita were wearing. They did have a certain sheen to them, and when she brushed against Rowan’s shirt sleeve, it had felt silky. It was unlike any material she had ever seen.

  Shyly, Rowan had taken her bag from her and was following her as she made her way to the aquamarine house. With the prospect of a shower and a feast before her, it was the safest and happiest Sofia had felt in a while.

  But one thing remained before she could even think of comfort for herself. “The spheres,” she said, motioning at the blue orb hovering at Rowan’s shoulder. “Do they connect to the Internet?”

  Rowan nodded. “But we’re careful not to access the databases that the government is watching, and to mask our traffic,” he said.

  “I had my netbox removed,” said Sofia. “I haven’t been on the Internet for days now. Do you think it would be safe for me to check my inbox in case my mother has contacted me?”

  “Do you have a way of logging in that isn’t automatic?”

  “Yeah, I set up a manual password.”

  “Then it should be all right. But we’ll just use an additional protocol to mask your location just in case,” said Rowan. He waved at the sphere and it hovered near her.

  Sofia logged on to her inbox using a voice command and a password. There were no messages from her mother, but there were seven from Isaac. Of course. She had vanished without a trace from their chats. Sofia felt a pang in her heart as she opened them. The first one simply continued their conversation about the Prism Club, but the next few sounded increasingly worried, even desperate.

  “Where are you? Are you ignoring me? Did I say something wrong?
You disappeared after we met in my garden. Please tell me if I did something to offend you. If I did, I’m so sorry.”

  “Please, just reply to let me know you’re all right?” read the final message, sent just a few hours ago.

  So much had happened since that magical night in the Canopies—and Sofia had seen so much. She felt like a completely different person now, but the touch of his kiss on her lips still burned through her. What should she say? She was a fugitive now, and definitely no longer a candidate for initiation into the Prism Club, if she had ever been. She decided to send a simple, brief note.

  “I’m okay. A lot of things have happened, and I can’t explain right now. But don’t worry about me, I’m safe,” she wrote. Then she checked for her mother’s status again—Clara had not been online since about the time Sofia had gone on the run. It didn’t look good. Uncle Kirk was probably right—her mother had gone completely dark, like her father had, seven years ago.

  Chapter 28: The Feast

  The little group retired to the aquamarine house, climbing up the short flight of wooden steps into the building. They were surprised to see an ultra-modern interior. All the surfaces were gleaming white, the blinds automatically adjusted to let just the right amount of light in, it was fully climate controlled, and in the centre of the living room was a stand with a blue sphere the size of a globe on top of it much like Rowan’s, slowly rotating first this way and that.

  Rowan, who had followed them in while carrying Sofia’s things, spoke. “You talk to that sphere to adjust the lights, temperature, music, humidity,” he said. “And you can summon the hoverboat with it, too. We have six, and anyone can use them as long as you book them first. Oh, and if you want food, a snack or a meal, you can tell it what you want and it’ll make something for you in the kitchen.”

  Sofia had never seen anything this technologically advanced. The door to her room slid noiselessly open as she approached and she saw that, apart from the rather charming view of the garden, swiping the window offered a selection of views—a dense bamboo forest, a view of a deep valley sparkling in the sunshine, even an underwater scene situated in a coral reef. She watched the colourful fish for a while, mesmerised. She reached out to touch a fish—and, to her surprise, although her hand didn’t feel wet, she felt the smooth scaly skin of a yellow butterfly fish as it flitted between her palm and fingers.

  Rowan had passed her a change of clothes—a silken bamboo blouse with embroidered flowers and birds on it, and a batik sarong in matching tones. “You’ll want something nice to wear for the feast tonight,” he said, smiling at her a little awkwardly before hurrying out the house again.

  Sofia was delighted to see a full-sized bathtub in the bathroom adjoining her room. Since they still had a few hours before the feast, she decided she would treat herself to a nice long soak. The tub had bronze claws on the bottom, and to her surprise, when she submerged herself in the water, the tub started to rock slightly back and forth on the legs, creating a luxurious blanket of bubbles in the water. The walls of the bathroom lit up and turned into a display of calm, beautiful scenery, of the lush bamboo forest she had seen in the window before. She felt as though she were bathing deep in the middle of a forest as the sounds of whispering leaves filled the room.

  Bright pink and purple bubbles, smelling of frangipani and honeysuckle, formed from the gel she had poured into the tub. She felt all the stress and tension of the past few days drain out of her as she soaked, almost as if her bones were dissolving. The worries about her mother and having left her entire life behind seemed to fade like a dream upon waking. She stared at the bathwater, which had now turned a pretty twilight purple, and thought of the pink and purple skies in her new world twinkling with stars.

  When at last she got out of the tub, she found that the clothes fit her perfectly. Admiring herself in the light pink, silky material of the kebaya, she combed through her wet hair and tried to tease it into a bun. The shampoo in the bathroom left her hair with a shine she had never seen on it before. After days on the run, it was heavenly to be this clean.

  “Dang, that shampoo was really something, huh?” remarked Uncle Kirk, when he met Sofia in the living room, towelling off his magnificent mane, which now sparkled like fine-spun gold. She had never seen his hair so thick and fluffy. “Do you think they make it themselves, or have some kind of synthesiser or something? It’s better than all the designer shampoos I’ve used put together!” Sofia grinned. She was glad to see Uncle Kirk his cheerful self again.

  When Sofia stepped out of the blue house, she saw that a long table had been set up in the garden in front of it that was large enough to seat about forty people. Pink, green, yellow and orange accordion lanterns with floral designs painted on them had been strung up over the table from wires that wrapped around coconut trees flanking the house, and tiny lit fireflies flittered around the hibiscus and jasmine bushes.

  A delicious aroma reached her nostrils. As the Mari Kita took their seats, a convivial buzz rose from the table.

  “Welcome to the Mari Kita! Welcome to Pulau Ubin!” said Yang Zhe, raising her glass. “Welcome, Peter, Sofia, Kirk and Father Lang,” boomed her husband, Leslie, who sat beside her. Everyone cheered. They, too, raised their glasses, which clinked over the table. Sofia found herself grinning from ear to ear. After the days of being on the run, it was a strange feeling to feel so safe—so at home.

  Steaming dishes of food, borne on little flying platters that emerged from the houses, alighted on the table. There was an incredible array—from seafood hor fun to roast duck to Indian rojak to steamed garoupa to, yes, her favourite chilli crab. There was even a wild boar curry. Knives, forks and spoons clanged as the whole village dug in. Everyone was in a celebratory mood—almost everyone had heard of Peter and regarded him as a hero who had come home, and they were just as curious about Sofia, who had broken him out of Whitley Detention Centre.

  Just as they were filling up, Sofia stood up and tapped her glass with a spoon for attention. The buzz of conversation died down as she began to speak. “I just wanted everybody to know,” she said, “that I’m so grateful to be here with you. Just a few days ago, I activated the Utopia Machine”—at this, a buzz of surprise went around the table—“yes, I kicked off the new universe that is inside the Utopia Machine that so many of you worked so hard to create, without the government’s permission, of course! It is a beautiful world in there, like nothing I’ve ever seen. But still it isn’t anything like this place, which is just incredible. Thank you so much for taking us all in.”

  Her face flushed, Sofia sat back down. Everybody cheered. They immediately started questioning her about the new world, how it had opened up, and what it was like in there. She grinned and looked towards Peter. There was still so much they hadn’t talked about, but just before dinner he had slipped her a bundle of letters that he said he’d written her in jail, and she would have all the time in the world to peruse them later, and ask him further questions if she needed to. She still couldn’t believe she had her father back, and that they were now in this wonderful place together. She leaned against him and looked up into his face, and he looked back at her tenderly and smiled.

  Dessert was another round of rich and colourful platters, and although Sofia thought she couldn’t possibly eat any more after stuffing herself with all the main courses, she couldn’t resist the beautiful rainbow kueh and cakes and jellies, green and white and red and blue and deep violet. There was a beautiful moist pandan cake, and kueh lapis, with its many yellow and brown layers, which she peeled off layer by layer and popped into her mouth. And there was ice kachang, too, a little hill of shaved ice drizzled with condensed milk with red beans and corn buried underneath, and, of course, two glistening atap chee hidden in the middle.

  Stuffed and satisfied, Sofia decided to take a short stroll around the village, and found Rowan approaching her. “Mind if I join you?” he asked. She shook her head, and they started walking towards some nearby fishponds and the
hill beyond that.

  “So you grew up here, huh?” asked Sofia.

  “Well, sort of. But I can still remember living in the Midlevels near Biopolis,” said Rowan. “When I was about nine, my parents left the mainland and took us here. They’ve been teaching me themselves ever since. It’s not bad, really, but sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we had stayed on…you know. I think about my friends back in school sometimes, and wonder what it’s like to live like them, not knowing the kinds of things the government is up to.”

  “I kind of know what you mean. Up until a few days ago, I was like them, just going to school and tuition, attending my CCAs, that kind of thing,” said Sofia reflectively. “But what your parents…what you’ve all built here is incredible,” she said. “It’s like a whole…alternative society. What the world could be, if only we let it.”

  “It’s all right,” said Rowan. “It could always be better, of course.”

  “You know, this place reminds me of something about the Utopia Machine.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, what it’s called. I mean, apart from the corny acronym my dad came up with so it also spelled out my name. Utopia Machine. Don’t you think, you know, that it isn’t so much the machine, but we humans, that generate utopias?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, we’re always looking for something better, no matter where we stay. Those of us who dream, anyway. Like you. You live here in this…paradise. Yet you still wonder what it’s like to be outside.”

  Rowan laughed. “Yeah, I guess. It’s like that lah. Grass is always greener. But you created a new world. A real new world, not a far-off colony on an offshore island. A whole universe!”

  “It’s not perfect, though,” said Sofia, thinking about the Lotan.

  “Maybe there’s still some way to make it perfect,” said Rowan insistently. “Maybe someday, we will be able to live there…” Sofia smiled.