Tabula Rasa

by Filip Forsberg

  Silas nodded and showed Jonathan against a worn table along one of the corners in the fishing shack.

  “Here. Look here.” Silas unfolded a large map, put it on the table and pointed at a point on the coast.

  “We are here. A little less than five kilometers from the west entrance. From this village, a road leads up to Tabula Rasa. This road is intertwined with other roads that make the traffic surprisingly dense, the closer you get to Tabula Rasa.”

  Jonathan leaned forward and studied the map.

  “Why is there so few people in this village? Shouldn’t it be crowded with people if there is so much traffic around Tabula Rasa?”

  Silas shook his head.

  “No, this village is a good distance away from the main ports. There are two major ports to Tabula Rasa and traffic flows almost exclusively through them.” Silas smiled broadly, revealing two teeth missing in his mouth, “The village is fortunately too far away to be noticed by them.”

  Jonathan nodded.

  “Ok, that sounds good.” he stretched out his arms and mumbled, “We will need some luck on this mission to pull it off.”

  *

  Tabula Rasa, Madagascar.

  2048-12-29

  Malin was glad that Denver was with her and could share her joy. The interview with John Vendrick III had gone surprisingly well. John had been both open and inviting and Malin had received lots of information. It would be a magnificent piece of work that she would write. She smiled to herself. And as if that was not enough, John had promised them that the second interview was going to happen. She was thrilled, now she would have time to prepare follow-up questions on everything she had found out today.

  They were with Lamm and the elevator slowly ascended. The floor was soft and the sounds inside was muted. It did not go straight up like a normal elevator but more obliquely along the ceiling, diagonally upward.

  Below them, the main area spread out. An oval-shaped park was in an arc along the western edge, and a couple of smaller lakes lay next to each other. The sun rays glimmered in the blue water. Small asphalt and gravel paths crossed the park in an irregular pattern.

  Outside the park, the green surroundings changed to more modern settings. An oval road surrounded the park and the road was filled with various vehicles on their way to their destinations. Smaller vehicles, which accommodated one or two people, moved softly in and out of the regular traffic rhythm. Larger vehicles, which resembled busses, moved more slowly, and Malin absorbed the scene in front of her. The vehicles were moving rhythmically in and out of traffic like a beating heart. When she stood still and took in everything it seemed as if some invisible power played the role of conductor and let all the vehicles in traffic to find its natural rhythm. She smiled.

  After the interview with Vendrick, Malin and Denver had spent the afternoon together with Lamm, who gave them a tour of Tabula Rasa's world-famous Zoo. All citizens had free access to it and after a longer tour they were now heading back to their apartment to rest. Malin looked over at Lamm who stood besides her looking at his cell phone. She shook her head when she smelled the faint sour smell that constantly seemed to emanate from Lamm and shivered. In three hours they would be picked up for dinner. In the afternoon, in addition to the Zoo, Lamm had shown both the giant greenhouses that were located in Cibus and produced the grain that was consumed at Tabula Rasa and the power stations that were in Primus and generated power from the earth's interior. Both Malin and Denver where impressed with the efficiency that Tabula Rasa had arranged everything. Her mind was filled with impressions of everything she experienced during the afternoon.

  She glanced over at Lamm who had been an excellent host but somewhere inside her a warning bell still rang faintly. There was something that was not quite right with him but she still could not put her finger on it. It was not only the smell but also something else. Something undefined. His smile seemed to be natural, but she still felt something that lured just under the surface. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Perhaps she was only hypersensitive and worn-out and that made her see ghosts everywhere. She heard a sound and was yanked from her thoughts.

  Small drones got up and headed for their destinations while others came in for landing. A couple of larger vehicles resembling small helicopters slipped by as if they glided on water.

  Malin was riveted by the view. She had never seen any society that seemed so calm and controlled but at the same time alive. She had come to Tabula Rasa and did not know what to expect. What she had heard and what she had learned was that Tabula Rasa was at the forefront in the development that in the last decades had accelerated even more.

  Metropolitan cities like New York, London and Tokyo had all introduced strict exhaust requirements and the air quality had improved the last decade but here, it did not seem to be a problem at all.

  In the beginning of 2030, the smog in the largest cities on earth had been so bad that hundreds of people had died every day by the pollution. The conversion to green energy had accelerated seriously after 2021 but the development had not gone fast enough. In the major cities, both petrol and diesel cars had been banned and a ban on certain types of aviation fuel had been introduced, but it had not been enough. During certain periods, pollution along with certain special weather conditions had caused the thick smog to settle like a suffocating blanket over the cities.

  People had been forced to remain indoors and mobile air purifiers for home use had sold out immediately. People had hoarded dust protection and gas masks to the point that they were almost worth their weight in gold. The crisis had meant that authorities around the world had been forced to draconian measures for both transport and heating transgressions and the climate issue had in just a few years emerged as the most important issue facing humanity. The measures that were introduced helped some and slowly the environment improved in the big cities, but there were also other downsides that now made itself felt. The economy quickly slid into a downward spiral when transports stopped and deliveries failed to arrive. Companies quickly went bankrupt and millions of people became unemployed.

  Malin glanced over at Denver. He stood with his forehead wrinkled, deep in thought, and looked out through the panoramic window in the elevator where they stood. They stood together close to the edge and watched the view. She glanced furtively over at Lamm. He spoke in his phone with a low voice. Malin leaned closer to Denver.

  “It's impressive, right? One million high-performing people in a high tech environment with all possible resources. That is something of a breeding ground for amazing results or what?”

  Malin followed his glance down to the crowd of people.

  “Yes, it certainly seems so. The potential here seems to be almost limitless.”

  “But what do you think the downside is?”

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “I really don’t know but I have a feeling that everything may not be as rosy as our guide, dear Mr. Lamm, want us to believe. Not to mention the boss himself.” He said and winked.

  “Yes, there's something with Derek I cannot put my finger on. He does nothing wrong and says all the right things, but there is still a small alarm clock in me that keeps going off.”

  Malin looked up, Lamm left his assistant and walked towards them. He smiled widely.

  “Well, my friends. How are you doing? Are you satisfied with the day?”

  Denver nodded and returned the smile.

  “Absolutely. The whole afternoon has been both informative and productive.”

  Lamm laughed.

  “Excellent” he turned to Malin, “And you are also pleased, Malin?”

  Malin smiled.

  “Yes, we are very pleased. We have got a lot of material to go through for our story.”

  Lamm beamed.

  “That sounds great.” He looked at the clock on his bracelet, “The time is now a little after five. If you will be picked up around eight o'clock we will meet for dinner. Would that be ok?”

&nb
sp; Malin looked towards Denver who nodded.

  “That would be perfect. Then we can work some before we get ready for dinner.”

  Lamm shone even more.

  “Fantastic.” He smiled at them, “I'll make sure that you really have a wonderful evening ahead of you. You go on to your floor and when you get there you will find your way.” Lamm winked, “And if you get lost ask somebody and you will get help. We are nothing if not helpful here in Tabula Rasa.”

  Malin smiled at Derek. The elevator stopped softly, as on command. Lamm bowed deeply and walked out of the elevator, followed by his assistant.

  *

  ESA, seventy kilometers south of Paris, France.

  2048-12-29

  He loved surprises. Louis Timmo who worked as an operator at ESA, the European Space Agency, which was seventy kilometers south of Paris, was standing at the coffee machine, waiting for a cup of steaming hot coffee to get ready. He liked the smell of the freshly brewed coffee. Almost everyone else in his department thought that the coffee in the coffee machine tasted like something that the cat dragged in but Louis liked it.

  He gently picked up the cup with the steaming hot liquid and sipped it. He was barely thirty years old, tall, and thin and most of the time wearing a black polo shirt and a pair of worn jeans. Louis walked the long, narrow passage whose tiled floor echoed slightly when he walked on it. The passage led to the big control room and he sat down at his desk and his monitors.

  ESA had the task to control and coordinate European cooperation regarding space. Over the past decade, ESA had more than seven launches of astronauts and two missions to the moon. ESA had gained more and more influence the last years when it was clear that the next big race with the other superpowers would be in space.

  The resources of the earth had begun to run out and with the last few decades’ population growth, it became increasingly clear that sooner or later humanity would have to start the colonization of the moon. Shortly after 2040, the global population had been estimated at more than eleven billion. The thought was staggering. So many people stretched the resources and forced new, radical solutions. He would sometimes fantasize by himself that it must have been like this that the Spanish and Portuguese explorers must have felt hundreds of years ago when they were about to leave to discover new, unknown lands.

  ESA was one of the key players in space research and Louis was proud to be a part of it. He looked around in the room and saw his early-bird colleagues sitting next to him in long lines at identical desks like him. It was early in the morning and there were already quite a crowd in the place with all the operators who sat at their workstations and stood in groups talking. A dozen sat and controlled their experiments. Gigantic holoscreens were placed on the walls around them and gave the room an appearance similar to a digital version of an auditorium.

  Louis had been there for almost four years and still had that tingling feeling when he was on his way to work. He had the task of analyzing data from different experiments that were active and he also oversaw the data that streamed down from a telescope that was in stationary orbit around Earth. Normally it was quite a lot of routine work, but Louis still thought every day was an exciting challenge. A couple of minor crises, as failing solar panels of a space probe, the past year had been averted but nothing serious.

  Louis carefully put his cup of coffee on the shelf next to his terminal and then sat down. He took a sip of the hot coffee and looked at the screen in front of him. It showed an area around the moon and the two rockets that were heading for it. It was a mission that was jointly administered by ESA and NASA, and was tasked with preparing that people finally be sent to the moon within the next two years. It was the most ambitious project they had undertaken and consisted of a number of major expeditions where the former expedition laid the foundation for the next and so on. The task of the present mission was to send the housing modules to the moon and make them land safely on the surface. It was a mission that included thousands of researchers and engineers and vast sums of money and work should finally give their reward.

  Louis pressed a couple of buttons and adjusted the resolution and saw how the two unmanned, automatic rockets approached the moon and made the necessary adjustments. They were fascinating. Instead of human pilots, they were equipped with an advanced intelligence in the form of an electronic brain that controlled everything on board. The AI should in principle handle the entire mission without human intervention.

  Everything in Louis`s responsibility had gone smoothly and he took another sip of coffee and looked forward to when the two rockets landed so he could relax. He was on station for almost eight hours in a row and he would be there for a little more than two hours until his part should be over. Satisfied, he leaned back in his chair, relaxed while the two rockets hurled towards the moon. The screen was filled with its dusty surface.

  He sat for several minutes, pondering the next step in the process. In a little less than an hour and a half, both rockets would begin to prepare for landing and Louis tried to imagine what it would really look like on the moon when the two rockets landed on the surface. He imagined the big dust clouds that were created by the powerful rocket engines, the clouds would rise high above the surface until it reached the top of the thin atmosphere. Louis sat deep in thoughts for a long time while his eyes automatically followed what was unfolding on the screen and he did not understand what he saw at first. He blinked. It must be something wrong with the screen.

  Along an edge of the screen, a dot slowly grew in size. Louis sat up with a jerk and spilled hot coffee over his shirt. He swore and leaned closer to the screen to see while he rubbed a hand over the hot coffee stain on his shirt which quickly cooled. Louis fingers flew over the keyboard and he adjusted the screen to get that strange dot to disappear but nothing helped.

  The dot stubbornly remained and had now grown to the size of a grape on the screen. His mouth became dry. Stunned, he looked at how the big rockets appeared to approach whatever it was. His hands were sweaty and alarm bells began to sound in his head. The control room was usually airy, now it was as the walls were closing in on him to crush him.

  The image in front of him was as steady as before and whatever he did, data showed that there was nothing wrong with his system. He stared at the screen in front of him, but could not believe his eyes. Quickly he adjusted the settings, perhaps it was some interference? Nothing helped. His mind raced. ESA had access to more than four different telescopes in orbit around the world, and he quickly sent the coordinates of the object to a colleague who had access to another telescope. He put on the headset and pressed a button.

  “Johnnie.” a voice answered.

  “It's Louis.”

  “Hey Louis, how's it going today? What…”

  Before Johnnie could continue Louis interrupted him.

  “Listen, this is important. I have sent coordinates and you have to set Pegasus VII on them. "

  The handset was quiet for a few seconds.

  “Pegasus VII? You know that I can’t do that. The boss will be furious.”

  Louis continued to look at his screen.

  “It doesn’t matter. You must do it right away,” he was silent for a couple of seconds, then continued, “I have a stationary level seven object on the screen.”

  It took a few seconds before Johnnie understood what Louis had said.

  “A stationary level seven object?" He hesitated. "But that's not possible.”

  Louis nodded.

  “No, I know. The problem is that I’m looking at it right now. It looks like it's in orbit around the moon. You must immediately interrupt what Pegasus VII is doing and target the telescope to the coordinates I just sent to you.”

  Louis listened while he heard Johnnie click furiously on his keyboard.

  “Okay, interrupting now. The boss can kick me later. "He laughed nervously, “Programming the coordinates you sent.”

  Relief rolled through Louis, at least he would get confirmation if h
is system was broken or if it was really true. The screen in front of him did not move. It showed a glowing sphere that could impossibly be above the lunar surface, but did it anyway. He had never seen anything like it. Louis continued to adjust his controls while calling his boss, Magdalena Ribovitz.

  “We have something here. Something you’ve got to see.”

  A few minutes later, Louis sat and adjusted his controls when steps behind him were heard.

  “What is it? I was in the middle of my workout.” the voice sounded slightly annoyed.

  “Excuse me, Magdalena, but I have a surprise for you.” Louis replied, rubbing the cool spot on his chest.

  *

  Tabula Rasa, Madagascar

  2048-12-29

  The soft, vaulted walls dampened the sounds when the elevator doors closed. Malin glanced at Denver.

  “We are allowed to move on our own to our apartment?”

  She went to the window and looked down.

  “Yes, it certainly seems so.”

  They approached their floor and the elevator came to a halt. Denver was just about to ask Malin if she wanted to rest for a while when they got back to their apartment when a faint, rasping sound was heard. She froze. Denver moved instinctively from the window towards the center of the elevator. They looked at each other, both of them on edge. Several seconds passed. Then another sound. Same rasping, a bit lighter this time.

  The doors opened with a hissing sound. Malin and Denver looked straight at a blonde woman and an older man that held an arm around her. The woman`s gaze was haunted and at the same time exhausted. The older man seemed to be near collapse and Malin saw that the woman was propping up the older man. None of them said anything.

  It was Malin who broke the tense moment. Malin gesticulated to Denver to help and both rushed out of the elevator to help the woman and the older man. The woman smiled gratefully when Denver took over the weight. Malin rushed to help the woman and they sank down on the ground in front of the elevator.