PART 1

Three million.
That is how much of humanity is left in 2119 C.E
A hundred years, what happened?
Too much. Not enough.
This is an imagined future.
But it could be real.

***

Hubs and cities were two different things. Above, the world wasn’t simply dark—it was completely devoid of even the faintest light from space. No sun, no moon, not a single star. Cities gave the light themselves, with energy cycles. There were only about sixty left after the world went dark from pollution and war took its toll. What the artificial lights of an energy cycle couldn’t give was handed out in pills. These cities were in the eastern hemisphere, whose countries had fared better against the Earth’s reckoning. When a city died, those citizens either died with it or found a new one. Earth’s weather was a mess, and natural disasters were frequent and deadly, so death was frequent.

That was where Hubs came in. What remained of Earth’s leadership gathered together with what remained of Earth’s scientists. The scientists proposed sending humanity underground. A temporary solution until Earth’s atmosphere could be fixed. Humanity was already choking. When not inside, oxygen masks were necessary. When not inside, where fillers did their best to make the ruined air breathable, death was far too likely. So the solution, the scientists proposed, was simple: take the metal and plastics of dead cities and corrupted landscapes. Recycle them and build the Hubs.

By the time the Hubs were built, humanity was down a few billion. Epidemics, weather, and fighting all played its part.

It was in one of these Hubs that Aleshia—then called Zaiden—was born. A baby with blue eyes and curly black hair that would be a hassle to keep straight. It was in one of these Hubs that she was reborn, into what she was – a girl. A beautiful girl whose parents were supportive, who knew she needed gender affirmation surgery. It made a rare girl even rarer. Rare in that her skin was a vibrant russet brown reminiscent of a time before the sun was blacked out by humanity’s need to destroy. Before humanity grew its plants in FPS (Forced Photo Synthesis) chambers, and before paleness was a norm because genes and sunlight no longer communicated. It was in one of these Hubs that Aleshia learned a terrible truth. The Hub she was reborn in was also the Hub where she learned that the leadership of Earth would not be considered a “fix” to the problem they created.

They would be looking for ways to leave Earth. The goal: Mars. Aleshia knew that once, Mars colonies had been thriving on the barren red planet. There had been about one thousand of humans living in domes and growing all their food. One day, though, in the year 2025, war broke out between two countries that no longer existed. A nuke was sent to Mars.

From leaked images, it didn’t look pretty. The colony on Mars was gone—as dead as the cities of 2119. How could anyone occupy it? Aleshia wanted to know the leaders’ plans.

“Aleshia? Hello? Are you with us?”

Aleshia grabbed Res’s fingers, stopping her best friend from snapping them. Currently, the two were in Res’s small, curtained off room putting away clothes and making Aleshia a bed of sorts. “Yeah, yeah, I am. I’m…thinking.”

“About what? Was it what Greer said at dinner? He didn’t mean anything by his remark about your surgery. He was just—”

“Curious,” Aleshia interrupted as she took a shirt from Res and packed it into a clear container which constituted Res’s dresser. There wasn’t a lot of furniture in this Hub. Most people ate on the same floors they slept on. The lights would sporadically flicker, sometimes turning insanely bright. Too often, Res would be affected by this. She would whimper, and Aleshia wanted nothing more than to shield her from the pain. “I know. I asked many of the same questions myself before I went under for surgery.”

“What was it like, seeing your new body? If you don’t mind.” Res asked, looking away. She sat down on the pristine white floor. Aleshia joined her, sitting on a sweatshirt.

Aleshia placed a hand on hers and smiled. “I don’t mind. I want to talk about it, and since my parents won’t be here for another week or so, you’ll be the first to hear it. I don’t know where to start.”

“You had to get undressed at some point, right?” Res noted.

“That was a painful experience. I was still pretty sore afterward, so I had to have help,” Aleshia began. “But when the hospital dress came off, it was like…well, like a total shift. I saw what I had always seen, but it was…real. It was true.”

“I understand Aleshia.”

Aleshia blushed before continuing, “I was so happy. I began to cry, and the nurse asked if I needed something for the pain. And while there was pain, I knew it was worth it.”

“It was. You look great Aleshia. You look happier.”

Aleshia blushed again. So many of her nurses had told her that. “Yeah.”

From underneath a pile of unfolded clothes, the holo Aleshia had brought with her chimed. Aleshia dived for it and turned it on silent since Greer was in the next room sleeping. “Sorry. Sorry. I must have forgotten to—”

On the holo, a picture showed. It was a picture that Aleshia had, out of curiosity and boredom, wanted to find. Not very many pictures of Earth post-BlackOut existed. No one wanted to see what damage humanity had done. No one, beside Aleshia.

There was no green, nor a single drop of blue either. Earth, from this picture taken by one of the few remaining satellites, was a wasteland. This was not the picture Aleshia was used to seeing, not the one from the 1960s when man had made it to the moon in a race.

“Nice screensaver,” Res said as she looked over her shoulder.

“It’s not a screensaver,” Aleshia told her as tears began to form in her eyes. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “What have we done?”

“Wait…that’s—”

“Earth. Yes. I requested this picture while in the hospital.”

“How did you get a hold of it? The One World government censors these, don’t they?”

“One World can’t censor everything, Res.” Aleshia stood up and wiped her cheeks. “There’s a message attached to it I would like to read in private.”

“Okay.” Res got up, biting her cheek. She picked up the pile of unfolded clothes. “That picture…did humanity really—”

“Yes. Yes, we did. Don’t breathe a word of this,” Aleshia responded. “This picture is illegal to have.”

Res, not speaking a word, nodded. Her face portrayed terror and sadness. She disappeared around the curtain. When Res was gone, Aleshia took a deep breath and opened the message. She had already seen that picture of Earth, but each time it was just as shocking. In the hospital, she thought a lot about that picture, about One World’s plan. And about truth—

Truth and consequences.

Consequences and conscience. The conscience of one thousand souls, as well as a million more that was light years away.