by Adam Steel
Ellie left the penthouse carrying her coat over one arm and an overnight bag in the other. She was wearing a pair of large black sunglasses, a smart white trouser suit and a blue silk scarf. Her hair was tied loosely into a knot and held up with blue clasps. She took the lift straight down to the underground car park where Jon Li’s limousine was usually parked. Rexton would be waiting. He was never late.
She wanted to avoid Agatha, and Mr Baginski. Their idle chatter only made her feel worse.
Jon Li’s silver limousine was parked in his allocated space. Rexton was standing outside of it waiting for her. He tipped his cap and held one of the back doors open for her to get in, taking her bag and putting it carefully into the boot. The boot clicked shut. Once the doors were closed, the tinted windows hid her from the outside world.
‘Good morning Dr Rutherford,’ Rexton said, as he started the engine.
She could see his brown eyes in the mirror. The expression on his dark skinned face was calm and thoughtful, but not intrusive. It made her feel easier.
‘The next train leaves at 9:30 a.m. We will be there at 9:25 a.m,’ he said in an assuring voice.
The Coney to Eden City link was affectionately known as The Link and was a super-speed, monorail train, which linked Coney City to Eden (two hundred miles north). It did not stop. It did not connect. Its only purpose was to connect the two cities. The two hundred mile journey, took precisely sixty minutes. The Link had its own station which was located in Sector One, off Diamond Square, right next to the Fin-Sen building. The Link’s boarding platform was located in the middle of an ostentatious underground, shopping mall. Ellie had booked herself in an executive class, private carriage, at extra expense. She rarely splashed out with her own considerable wages and felt no desire to skimp out today. It was the first time she had taken The Link, as it had only been completed quite recently. Bridget had come down to Coney City on The Link only a short time before, when the three of them had met up for the afternoon on Diamond Square. Bridget had raved about how marvellous it was, and how they should both come up to Eden on it, to visit her, and Brian. Ellie couldn’t believe that had been such a short time ago, when the three of them had got together, and everything had been so perfect.
Rexton pulled the limousine into the mall. It glided alongside the platform and halted at the queue of electric cars near the boarding platform. The mall was bustling with Utopians and normally she would have enjoyed being in the mall, but not today. She hid behind the darkened glass of the limousine.
She had shopped there many times in the past and eaten in the exclusive eateries that inhabited the underground extravaganza. It was more an experience than a mere shopping trip. The whole place had been themed as a gigantic Egyptian Palace with its surrounding courts. Immense holograms projected the image of being inside a real Egyptian Palace. The main elevator, which connected the numerous levels, had at its entrance a huge Sphinx. The people had to step into its mouth to ride the moving staircase. Transparent cubicle lifts, adorned with gold and silver hieroglyphics, moved slowly up and down inside the structure. The staff in the many small cafés which lined the monorail platform were dressed as ancient Egyptians. The noise of the busy commuters was masked by the sounds of music and noises that could have been heard in the courtyards of an ancient palace many thousands of years ago. The walls inside the mall were covered in paintings of life in ancient Egypt, and huge pillars rose up from the floor to resemble the supports of a palace. The floor was tiled with elaborate mosaics.
The monorail track was disguised as a canal that ran through the centre of the mall. The tunnel through, which The Link would emerge from its underground world, was made to look like the entrance to a tomb. Either side of it were two huge statues of the Egyptian God Anubis, (a man with the head of a Jackal). The sound of running water and the feeling and smell of water, was enhanced as the passengers got nearer to the edge of the mirage that was the monorail platform.
Ellie stepped out of the limousine. Rexton held the door open for her. He gave her the bag from the boot, and then, with a smile, got back in and left her waiting for The Link. Ellie was standing on the mosaic tiles (looking at a picture of a chariot and horses) when she felt the rush of air coming from the mouth of the tunnel.
The Link was approaching. A trumpet blast announced the imminent arrival of The Link, just as it would the arrival of some ancient king of kings in the palace of ancient Egypt. The excited people waiting for The Link moved closer to get a better look at the entrance of the tunnel. The Anubis statues came to life. Their robotic arms unfolded and each bowed and hailed the arrival of The Link. The crowd gasped in awe at their life-like appearance. The water in the canal rippled forward as The Link appeared in the mouth of the tunnel. It glided silently towards the waiting crowds. It was a spectacular sight to witness. The gold monorail train (that was The Link) was a smooth tubular object. It glided silently on the canal water just as a royal barge of some ancient Egyptian Queen may have done. It had no visible window or doors. The whole object floated half in and half out of the illusionary water, which rippled as it came to a halt on the platform. Its body was covered in hundreds of hieroglyphics depicting scenes from the pyramids and the palaces of those times. The pictures were etched in silver and filled with the deepest turquoise blue. The front of The Link was painted with a large head of the Egyptian Goddess Hathor: a woman with the head dress of horns and a sun disk. The ancient Egyptians believed that she was the Goddess of protection, love and joy.
The crowds waiting to board The Link gasped in astonishment. Several children shrieked in excitement at the sight of The Link.
The loudspeaker system announced the order of boarding:
“Executive class board first at the front”
The sides of The Link (nearest to the front) lit up with neon-blue colour and a hologram projected the words:
“EXECUTIVE CLASS CARRIAGES”
Ellie walked towards the shimmering tube that was now hovering above the illusionary flow of water. The whole side of the carriage slid open to reveal a luxurious interior which matched the theme of the rest of the mall. She was feeling a huge sense of unreality as she boarded The Link. The executive carriages had been subdivided into private compartments. She quickly found an empty one and settled inside. She swiped the control with her Utopian ID card. A polite message appeared on a screen above the control:
“Thank you for choosing to ride Executive Class on The Link.
Enjoy your journey to the City of Eden.
Freedom and Equality exists in Utopia.”
Ellie sat down, and the door slid shut; sealing her inside. She would remain private from the rest of the world, inside The Link for an experience that would last exactly sixty minutes.
Ellie was thinking about the words “Freedom and Equality” as she settled into the Executive Class cubicle. The rest of the commuters were boarding and filling up the main carriages of The Link. She hadn’t really thought about the hypocrisy of her situation until now. She realised that the experience the night before (in Jon Li’s sanctuary) had opened her eyes to something very different about Utopia. It was an incredible place to live – if – you had the right connections.
The Link started to move. It was so subtle that she was only aware of it because of the slight feeling of displacement inside her body.
The interior of the cubicle started to change. She had been told by others who had travelled on The Link that each of the Executive Class cubicles were designed to respond by presenting images to enhance the experience of the particular passenger that was aboard. This in turn was determined when a person swiped their Utopian ID card. She wondered how much they knew about her and what they would determine would be right for her – especially at this point in time. Did they know her best friend was dead? Did they know she was grieving? Did they know she was feeling confused? What did they know of her past life, her dreams and her hopes for the future? How would they know all of these things and how could they
hope to reflect her happier moments in a fleeting sixty minutes? Ellie thought.
The carriage went dark inside and momentarily she felt helpless, and then, almost instantly, the sides of The Link started to come to life with colour and images. It was as though she were sitting in an old steam train of the American West. The train thundered along the tracks of a wild desert area. She could feel and hear the vibration of the tracks. A warm breeze rushed through the open windows and the smell of open air filled her senses. The light changed to bright sunlight. She leaned out of the window to see a herd of wild mustang racing across the desert. Hundreds of them were running at full speed alongside of the train. They came so close she could smell them and hear them snorting and whinnying. They were magnificent and they reminded her of the night before in the sanctuary. They threw up clouds of dust as their hooves hit the dry desert wasteland. The herd of horses peeled off in one direction as the train rocketed towards a pass. It went down through a cavernous slope, which was hemmed in on both sides by steep cliffs. The sound of the train on the tracks, echoed up the cliffs as it passed through.
Eagles soared overhead, circling and screeching and it reminded her of the fateful day on the beach at Brighton and the seagulls whirling overhead. She wondered what idiot would have programmed an image that would be such an unpleasant reminder.
The train started to slow up. Ahead, there was a wooden bridge over a river and she could smell the water coming up from below. She looked down at the twisting river which flowed hundreds of feet below the tracks. Ahead of the train was the entrance to a dark tunnel. The train slowed as it entered the blackness of the tunnel and she felt a shiver as the air changed from warm to cold. The light from the entrance disappeared until the train was in total blackness. What in God’s name, she thought, this is horrible.
Time slowed down in the blackness of the tunnel and Ellie had a nasty feeling of being out of control. Some pleasure trip, she thought, more like a nightmare. Then she started thinking about the nightmare, the bloody water, Irene, and she found herself shivering. The cold musty air of the tunnel stank of mildew and slimy moss. She was thinking that she was going to ask for a refund on her ‘Executive Class Experience’ the minute she got off The Link, but then she had an idea. What if it was programmed as some sort of psychiatric counselling device: to make me face the nightmare and then take me forward.
She felt a strange sort of release, as though her anger had overtaken her grief, even if it was very briefly. The instant she had that feeling, a light appeared at the end of the black tunnel. It grew larger and larger until the train emerged into a soft warm light. The train had now become something else. It was now a luxury yacht and it was sailing across the sea. The smell of salty water and the sound of waves breaking the bow filled the cubicle. The ceiling above her turned to blue sky and she peered over the edge to see a pod of dolphins swimming towards her. They were following the yacht – leaping in and out of the waves, and calling to her in dolphin clicks and whistles. In the distance, she could see the shores of some tropical paradise. The yacht cruised towards the shore and near to its white sandy beach. It was so warm, and the smells were so real, that she was instantly transported back to her holidays with her parents when she was a young girl. She felt overwhelmed with happiness and joy at being given such a vivid reminder of those times. They would never happen again because Utopians rarely left Utopia and the beaches she had visited as a child may not even have existed since the Day of Reckoning. She enjoyed the imitation pleasure of sitting on the decks of the yacht in the warm tropical sunshine. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep, exhausted, sleep.
Ellie dreamed she was at the pleasure park in Coney City with Irene and Bridget. They were all getting dressed into virtual reality costumes and laughing at how ridiculous they looked, as the technicians hooked them up to the machines. The three of them were booked to take a trip to a simulated world. They waved to each other as the technician started the machines. Before they had a chance to finish what they were saying they were in the simulated world. Reality and unreality mixed, until it was impossible to tell which was which. They were transported through whirling holes of energy, until they found themselves floating inside a dome. They were now on an outer colony of a planet where they encountered strange creatures and vast robotic machines. The three of them walked across the surface of an unknown planet. It was full of strange and unknown plants that were so big they could swallow a sky-scraper. Things that resembled enormous butterflies floated above them and then descended down to ground and allowed them to take a ride on their velvety backs. They rode the alien butterflies through the blue and yellow forests of the planet until they were so exhausted they had to stop.
Ellie found herself drifting back to reality when the speaker system announced their arrival at Eden City. Sixty minutes had seemed like five and she felt amazingly revitalised at the short, but deep and peaceful sleep. The idea of asking for her credits back (for the tunnel experience) had now disappeared. Perhaps they knew what she needed after all, she thought.
The carriage had changed completely during her sleep. It was now a monorail train interior again, except that it was very luxurious with its white leather seats, and plush flooring. The Link had become completely transparent and she could see everything outside very clearly.
They were approaching the fortressed walls of Eden City.
Chapter 20: Eden
Eden City: 200 miles North of Coney City
Saturday 21st July
Ellie had seen a model of Eden City back in the Hall of Holograms in the Fin-Sen building, but nothing could have prepared her for the awe inspiring sight of the real thing. She imagined that it was like a gargantuan Geode that had been ejected from an alien planet and come crashing to earth to embed itself into the ground. On impact (the imaginary Geode) had split clean in half and its shell had formed the stone walls of Eden. The Geode, was now growing tall obelisks of black crystals out of its centre that were the size of sky-scrapers. She believed that they were stretching up as though trying to get back to their dark and distant ‘outer space,’ home.
The Link slowed down as it slid down under the wall and through a concealed underground opening. For a brief moment everything went dark, only to change to artificial light again as The Link entered the bowels of Eden City. It was as though the city had ‘eaten’ The Link. Ellie had no concept of how deep they were under the city, or, how far into it they had travelled before the robotic voice announced their arrival:
“Welcome to Eden City fellow Utopians.
Another free journey fuelled by Genie.
Enjoy your stay.
Freedom and Equality to all”
The Link stopped. It was inside Eden City.
Ellie prepared to leave the carriage and her revealing experiences behind. The doors slid open and she stepped out onto the brightly lit underground platform. The whole underground was alive with moving pictures along its walls. It was noisy, busy, bright and fast. Up-beat music drowned out the sounds of moving feet as the many passengers, and she, made their way up the elevators to the living city above.
Ellie looked back at The Link. A small group of TALOS soldiers were getting off the last carriage. The Link let out a tiny ‘hissssss,’ as all of the doors closed. It slid off like some giant silver worm, down the underground and out of sight.
Ellie took the elevator and emerged into the open air. Everything about Eden City was different. It was a smaller, more modern version of Coney City. All of the initial problems that had been experienced during the construction of Coney City had been eliminated. Coney City had been built partly over the ruins of an existing city, whereas Eden had been built on open land.
The backdrop to Eden was a range of hills that loomed up to the west of it. To the east, a river flowed which supplied the city with its drinking water and also took the unusable liquid waste away. The whole city was very compact in its design. The skyscrapers (that housed both business and residential spaces)
were extremely tall and thin, tapering at the top. They were covered in a film of solar panels that gave them the look of black, glass obelisks. Everything was designed in Eden to maximise energy and efficiency and the concept of the city was to be as self-sufficient as possible. In the heart of the city was an area covered in glass domes. They were all linked together. The domes were immense. They produced all of the food required to feed the population of two million Utopians that lived and worked in Eden.
When Eden had been established, the masons had set up a selection procedure to take the growing population of Utopians from Coney City. At that time it had reached twenty million. By the time Eden had received its quota of citizens, Coney City had been reduced to fifteen million people. The aim of the masons was to populate Eden with young and educated citizens. The average age was just twenty-five years old. This gave Eden a very different feel to Coney City. It was fast, vibrant and electric. The competition to do well and get a place in Eden City was tremendous.
Eden had a brand new centre of excellence where young students went to develop the skills needed to run such an advanced society. Great emphasis was placed on the enjoyment of creative arts and music, which gave Eden a beautiful aura. The glass domes were open to all of the citizens, at any time, and were used as much as exotic covered parks as they were for growing food. The CUB at Coney City had transferred some of its younger technicians to the satellite bio-research station in Eden. There they went about the business of developing alternative food products. Deep underneath Eden there were caverns where large quantities of fungal products were grown and synthesised into proteins. These were used to create delicious alternatives to eating meat. Animals were not reared for food in Eden. All of the proteins were either grown artificially, either from fungal, or bacterial sources, or from the huge algal towers than ran up and down the sides of some of the tall buildings. Space inside Eden was at a premium and none was wasted. There were no cars in Eden and everything ran on the free internal monorail and shuttle buses that glided silently around the many stations within the city.