The E Utopia Project (21 page)

Cruz looked out the viewport
at the Eureka Research Space Station. Many people laughed at him saying that
the research station was just a vanity project that had never experienced a
single eureka moment. Eureka was just over a tenth of the size of the International
Space Station, making it the largest privately held space station.

Everyone in the orbiter put
on their space helmets and the spacecraft docked at the station. The orbiter’s airlock
could only accommodate two people at a time. Cruz and the girl recruit were the
first to get out of the spacecraft.  The girl clumsily followed Cruz to the
space station’s airlock. He punched a code on one of the space station’s air
locks and the outer hatch opened. He led the girl into the airlock, and the
outer door closed and the inner door opened, admitting them into the space
station where Rear Admiral Roy Harper, the station master, waited for them with
a grin.

“Mr. President,” Harper saluted
and helped Cruz take off his helmet.

Cruz extended his hand to
Harper “It’s good to see you, Harper.”

Harper shook Cruz’s hand. “It’s
good to see you too, Mr. President,” he said, the grin refusing to fade away
from his face.

The girl recruit finally
managed to take off her helmet.

“What’s your name by the
way?” Cruz asked her.

“Hilda.”

“Harper this is Hilda one of
our new recruits.”

“Hilda, welcome to the E
Utopian community,” Harper said. “I suggest we go to the living room, Mr.
President.”

Harper led Cruz and Hilda to
the living room, the largest room at the station.

Hilda was surprised to note
that the living room actually looked like one from a house on Earth.

The grin finally left
Harper’s face. “I’ve been watching the news on TV. It appears that the scare we
got from Doctor Cummings has passed.”

“Yes, it passed,” Cruz said.
“Of all of the member states of the United Nations, only Mozambique endorsed
her proposal.”

“So when will E Utopia be
fully habitable, Mr. President?”

“I’m on my way there to assess
the situation, but I think it’ll take a few months.”

“I miss E Utopia,” Harper said.

“Me too, Harper.”

“Can I get you a snack or a drink,
Mr. President?”

“No, thanks.”

“Mr. President, when do you
think that life on Earth will end?”

“It’s taking much longer than
we expected,” Cruz said. “The sand reduction plants have reduced the rate of
decline of oxygen levels in the Earth’s atmosphere and the decline in
atmospheric pressure. We thought that by now the Earth’s atmosphere would be so
thin that the sun’s rays would reach the Earth with deadly intensity. If the
current situation continues, E Utopia will become fully habitable before the
Earth becomes totally inhabitable.”

“If that happens, what will
we do to wipe out Earth’s polluters, Mr. President? If they continue to build
more sand reduction plants they’ll soon be producing more oxygen than is being
milked from the Earth.”

“Don’t worry, Harper,” Cruz
said. “Earth’s polluters won’t beat us. We have plan B and if that fails, we
have plan C.”

“I can’t wait to live on a
pristine E Utopia.” Harper paused, thinking about his son and two grandsons. “When
can we expect the evacuation of our families from Earth to begin?”

“If everything goes according
to plan, we’ll start the evacuation in less than three months from now.”

“The sooner the better, Mr.
President. I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed since I saw Cummings’ press
conference. If the Earth’s powers blockade the Earth we won’t be able to see
our loved ones again.”

“Don’t worry, Harper. We’ve
got everything under control. Did any milkmaids pass by today?”

“Yes, Mr. President. One
finished milking three hours ago and has already made the jump to the Luz Cruz
System.”

“I need a lift. Is there any fleet
coming?”

“Let’s see.”

Harper looked at one of the
big displays on the walls of the living room. “Harvesting Fleet 4 is milking
right now. They’re still in stealth mode. I think they will finish milking in
the next twenty minutes or so. Harvesting Fleet 7 is scheduled to milk today
and they’re still in the Luz Cruz System.”

“I’ll go on board HF4. Raise
them as soon as they get out of stealth mode.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is everything functioning
well here?”

“Yes, sir. The station is
running smoothly.”

“And how is your crew?”

“My guys are okay. They’re
doing routine maintenance work.”

Captain Anderson, Commander
Pardew and Lieutenant Commander Grump, the three members of Ultravoyager 3’s crew,
entered the sitting room with Hilda’s fellow new recruits. The recruits sat on
sofas near Hilda and the orbiter’s crew saluted Harper and stood at attention.

Harper returned the salute. “At
ease. Sit down.”

“Thank you, sir,” the three members
of Ultravoyager 3’s crew chorused before they sat down.

“If you want something to eat
or drink, gentlemen, you know where to get it,” Harper told the crew of Ultravoyager
3.

“Thank you, sir,” Captain Anderson
said.

“Ask your passengers if they
want refreshments.”

“Folks, if you want drinks and
snacks, raid the fridge over there.” Anderson said.

None of the new recruits
accepted the offer for refreshments. They were still recovering from the awe of
being away from Mother Earth.

An alarm rang seventeen
minutes later and Rear Admiral Harper sprang to his feet and scooted to the
communications console. Thirteen dots appeared on the communications console’s 206
inch monitor. “Half of HF4 is out of stealth mode, Mr. President. The other
half will appear soon.” He pressed the broadcast button. “Harvesting Fleet 4,
this is Rear Admiral Harper from Eureka Station. Do you copy?”

Cruz and Captain Anderson followed
Harper to the communications console.

“Station Master Harper
speaking,” Harper repeated. “Harvesting Fleet 4, do you copy?”

“Copy that, station master,” Rear
Admiral Sopoaga’s voice came out of the speakers.

“The President is at the
station with five recruits and he wants you to give him a lift to Base.”

“Okay, station master. Send them.”

“They’re on their way,”
Harper said. “They’ll intercept you in five minutes.”

“Okay, station master.”

“Anderson, you’re going to
intercept HF4 and put the President and the new recruits on the fleet,” Harper
said. “Mr. President, get ready to get back to the Ultravoyager 3.”

“I’m ready,” Cruz said,
putting on his helmet.

“Put on your helmets, we’re
going back to the ship!” Captain Anderson barked at the new recruits.

The crew and passengers of
the Ultravoyager 3 quickly returned to the ship. The ship left the station and
accelerated to gather enough speed to break away from Earth’s gravity.

“Rear Admiral Sopoaga, can
you hear me?” Captain Anderson said.

“Yes, captain.”

“We’re on our way.”

They left orbit and travelled
along a trajectory that was at an angle of hundred and eighteen degrees from
the trajectory of Harvesting Fleet 4.

Harper’s estimation wasn’t
far off the mark. Ultravoyager 3 intercepted the first squadron of Harvesting Fleet
4 after five minutes thirty-six seconds. The voyager followed the fleet’s
course and accelerated till it was stationary with respect to the fleet.

“I’m ready to transfer the
passengers, sir,” Captain Anderson told Sopoaga.

“Come to the flagship, OH64,
and give me the President. Put the other passengers in other ships, one
passenger per ship.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sopoaga ordered the captains
of the squadron’s ships to be ready for passenger transfer.

Ultravoyager 3 accelerated
and caught up with Sopoaga’s ship. The Ultravoyager’s higher thrust to weight
ratio enabled it to outpace the Oxygen Harvester. Flying next to the Oxygen
Harvester, the Ultravoyager looked like a tiny beetle.

“Mr. President, have a
pleasant journey,” Captain Anderson said.

“Thank you, captain.”

“Grump, escort the President
to the milkmaid.”

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant
Commander Grump said. “Let’s go to the airlock, Mr. President.”

Cruz and Grump went into the airlock
and strapped safety belts on their waists and upper thighs. Grump punched a
code and the airlock’s outer hatch opened. The two men spacewalked to the OH64 and
found the outer hatch of one of the Oxygen Harvester’s airlocks open for them.
They entered the airlock and Grump untied Cruz’s safety belt and saluted. Cruz
saluted back. The outer hatch of the airlock closed when Grump walked into
space. The inner hatch opened seconds later, admitting Cruz into the ship.

“Welcome aboard, Mr.
President,” Sopoaga said before he saluted and stood at attention.

“At ease, Sopoaga,” Cruz
said.

“Welcome aboard, Mr.
President,” Commander Jantunen said with a salute.

“At ease, commander.”

Sopoaga introduced Cruz to
the senior officers of his ship before he offered him a sit beside the bridge.

“How is Mother Earth, sir?”

“Mother Earth still has
enough oxygen to sustain polluters,” Cruz said.

“We’re winning the war, sir.
Soon our new planet will be fully habitable.”

“Yes, we’ll soon be able to
walk on EU without oxygen masks, but that doesn’t mean we should leave Mother
Earth to polluters. We shall wipe all polluters from Earth, re-oxygenate
Earth’s atmosphere and return animals and plants back to Earth. We shall soon have
a bi-planetary empire that we shall rule under strict environmental law. That
day is coming, Sopoaga. And it’s coming very soon.”

Sopoaga felt a chill running
down his spine when he thought about his family and friends on Earth.

“When will the evacuation
begin, sir?”

“Soon, Sopoaga. Don’t worry,
we’ll make sure that the people on your list will be evacuated to E Utopia.”

“Rear Admiral Sopoaga,”
Captain Anderson’s voice came out of the comm. “Can you hear me, sir?”

“Roger, captain.”

“We’ve completed passenger
transfer, sir.”

“Thank you, captain. Have a
safe journey.”

“The same to you, sir.”

* * *

Sara moaned as George’s
erectile member oscillated inside her. Half of her wanted him to go on forever
and the other half wanted his assault of her most sensitive areas to end. The erotic
sensations were almost too much to bear. The contractions of muscles inside her
became more pronounced and she felt as if she was drowning in a sea of
pleasure, tingling waves running throughout her body. She suddenly felt as if
she wanted to pee and she shrieked when she felt an explosion inside her. He
came seconds after her and rolled away from her.

“You’ve sapped my strength
again, witch,” he said, looking at her contented face.

“People are happy that sand
reduction plants have reduced the rate of the fall in oxygen levels,” Sara
said, looking at the ceiling. “But it’s clear that sand reduction won’t provide
a long-term solution to El Monstruo.”

“Don’t tell me you were
thinking about El Monstruo while we were making love.”

“I wasn’t. When we finished
making love I started thinking about the events that brought us back together.
El Monstruo played a huge part in bringing us back together. The attempt on my
life came as a result of my efforts to fight El Monstruo. If there was no El
Monstruo, maybe we’d still be away from each other.”

He kissed her forehead. “We’ll
never be away from each other again, Sah.”

“I want our kids to live in a
clean hospitable world but the world is fast becoming a huge silicon dump. I
think the people of the world should not put all their efforts on sand
reduction.”

“Given a choice, I’d rather
live in an environment full of silicon dumps than die on immaculate land,”
George said.

“To return the atmosphere’s oxygen
levels back to normal, we’ll have to build thousands of sand reduction plants
and the plants will have to continue running for God knows how long.”

“We could send some of the
silicon to space,” George mused.

“But that will leave huge
pits on the Earth.”

“These pits can be used as
dams.”

“Taking the silicon to space
will reduce the weight of the Earth and this might actually change Earth’s
gravity as well as its speed and position relative to the Sun and the moon,
probably causing disastrous climate changes.”

“But still it’s better than
letting El Monstruo kill us right away.”