Trash Punks

Summary: A science fiction story about the year 2185 where there are floating cities made from recycled garbage. | Word Count: 6,404

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They once called it Shit Hope.

That was the name of a technological and social movement that became widespread in the later half of the twenty-first century. Some referred to it as Garbage Hope on the account it was more palatable, but either name describes the predicament humanity was in on Earth. A nihilistic view of the future seemed all but certain to most people living during that time until a re-formed hope bloomed up from the piles of filth that was humanity.

They called themselves Trash Punks and they live in a floating high-tech carbon-neutral city built from garbage that recycled nearly everything it produced. This was the utopian achievement that the previous green revolution desired.

The year was now 2185 and the future had been built from garbage.

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“Yo! Bakari!” Jace shouted from a few feet above.

Bakari looked up from the electrical box panel he was working on to see his coworker Jace poke her head out of a service door of the steel wall about ten feet above him. He was working below her on some maintenance repairs to a computer control hub, which was inserted into a compartment within the wall.

He was attached to the wall with gecko boots, which acted the same as gecko feet to help him stick and was part of an exoskeleton that surrounded him. It looked like a metal skeleton had been wrapped around his entire body with bulky boots. The suit helped support him and give him extra strength, while the tips of his boots were flat so that he could stand up while attached.

Of course, he had an automatic safety line attached to his back that would pull him up if anything went wrong. He came down here using the pulley crane. He looked up to see Jace’s smiling face and beyond that was the metal wall which stretched three hundred feet above. This was only the outer wall of Alpha Zero, the first Atlantean city ship, commonly called A-Zero.

“I can’t believe you are not even a little afraid of heights. The last intern I worked with had a panic attack when he climbed down.” Jace said, holding her chin on her hands as she held herself precariously out the window.

He gave a moment of thought to her comment.

Jace had all manner of piercings on her face, along with several tattoos, and her hair was colored a bright purple. She, like many who lived at sea, found freedom in how one chose to appear. By comparison, Bakari looked normal besides some tattoos that reached to his neck and a short mohawk fade.

The Atlantean culture was all about freedom to be yourself and however strange you wanted to appear. The only catch while working on this ship was both of them had to wear gaudy blue and green jumpsuits with silver reflective tape, which were standard work clothes for their Mechanical and Software Computer Engineering (A-MECS) internship – Jace complained about the color of the suits frequently.

Bakari took his work goggles off his forehead and looked down. He was four hundred feet above the sloshing waters below. The A-Zero city ship was floating at a leisurely pace of ten knots like a slow-moving cruise ship. By all means, this was a frightening height to work at for any amount of time, but Bakari loved it.

It was impossible to discern the sheer enormity of this floating structure. From this point, all you could see was miles of metal that slightly curved into the horizon of never-ending water. It was a colossal metal ring sailing on the blue seas of the Atlantic Ocean.

As a human, one felt so small compared to the A-Zero. Sure the Mainland’s had the colossal space elevator and then there many skyscrapers which reached six thousand feet, but A-Zero was an entire metal and concrete island. There was more freedom than just going up and down as it sailed the seas exactly as a ship does.

Bakari looked up.

“Of course. I was born a Trash Punk remember, before I moved to the Mainland’s. Heights, deep waters, storms, and this metal bulkhead wall remind me of what’s good and exciting in this world.” Bakari said.

Jace’s face beamed with pride as both of them were born in the third-generation Atlantean Cities, her being on Gamma-two and Bakari on Gamma-One. Although anyone who stayed long enough in an Atlantean City would be considered a Trash Punk eventually, actual citizenship or not – it was a way of life. It meant living with the Earth and learning how to make a better tomorrow.

Freedom, responsibility, respect, innovation, discovery, and diversity. Those were the Trash Punk values as well as Atlantean ones, which is where the social movement originated from.

“You’re right. Nothing against land walkers, but not all of them love the sea as much as us.” Jace commented, “Anyways, I came to get you for lunch. The Chief wants to have a luncheon with some esoteric math guy.”

Bakari pressing a button on his smartwatch.

A robot arm extended from his bulky rectangular backpack attached to the suit. He handed the arm some tools he had in his hands which took them, then pocketed them back into different compartments of his exoskeleton backpack all on its own.

“Was it one of the people who solved the Navier-Stokes Equation? That’s been in the news.” Bakari said while removing a part from the inside of the compartment.

“Yeah. But instead of the nicer ones, they got the snarky curmudgeon one. Old guy with a wizard-like beard. I heard he uses a modified flip phone from the twenty-first century – doesn’t even have a brain-chip implant. The smartest ones are always weird.”

“Look at who’s talking! The Landwalkers call us weird.”

“Fine. I am weird. And glad to be – by the way – what boring maintenance things are you doing?” Jace said, clearly more interested in his work than the software navigation she should have been updating.

“I was trying to fix this control hub for this section of auto wall scrubbers. These ones also have the sacrifice anodes on them. After so long in the water they are supposed to return to the city recycling center when it’s all corroded, but the wiring here was done incorrectly, given that it’s ninety years old the other hubs probably took up the slack until now.” Bakari explained and held up a corroded disc to Jace that was the size of an extra wide Frisbee.

“A-Zero should have retired decades ago.” Jace said inspecting some rust around the windowless porthole, “All the bugs in the software she had and instability of the central stability gyrus had her financially sunk, but being she was the first prototype city of tomorrow the Foundation just had to fix her up and donate her.”

“This baby is kept afloat by the power of dreams. Even the Alpha-One sank twenty years ago. She won’t die easily.” Bakari commented and laid his hand on the metal wall.

His haptic feedback gloves could pick up very faint electro-magnetic waves and produce a vibration that was used to determine where there may be a shortage in different electric equipment. The gloves were incredibly sensitive, giving a symphony of vibes in varying degrees when against the wall. There was enough length of superconducting cable behind this metal to go back and forth from the Earth to the Sun twenty times. In many ways all of Atlantean cities were alive in the sense of how many parts of the city worked together to maintain each other like an ecosystem. 

Bakari reached upward towards the hatch above the opening. He pressed his finger around a glowing circle to close the hatch. He moved out of the way as it hinge pulled it down until it closed, yet sat outside the wall. With both hands Bakari manually pushed the entire hatch back into the wall. where a self-sealing gel reappeared in between the cracks to ensure it was waterproof. This was one of the thousands of small innovations that led up to this city being possible, although it was those things that often gave the most trouble and required maintenance.

“True. But A-One did not have much luck with all those terrorist attacks. Critically damaged her undersides. Her days were numbered after that.” Jace reminded him.

“Yeah. That was bitterly unforgettable. I was four years old when I saw that on the news. I heard from my great grandpa who lived in the second cold war that America’s crazy was coming back. His father lived the darkest ages of America’s turn to dictatorship. Crazy!”

 “As much as I make fun of them. My grandmother’s side of the family escaped the U.S. in 2080,” Jace said, “she said the same thing – it all went downhill once their people ate too much propaganda and elected more authoritarian leaders and all their companies consolidated into a few oligarchs. They radicalize themselves into near destruction – tons of cities are still abandoned. Never been in person, given the coast is a no port zone.”

“Yeah. After reading about it for so long I am interested in seeing the place with my own eyes. I guess we will see tomorrow when we get there.”

“Yo! Bakari! Look at the clock. We’ve been wasting too much time yapping. Get a move on – food is at The Terrace.”

“Oh. Yeah. I keep forgetting the time.” Bakari said absently.

“Bruh! There’s a clock in your eye!” Jace exclaimed and pointed at her eye.

He was too focused on the work he was doing – as usual. Having permanent contact lenses installed over his eyes with computer screens was normal for anyone in the twenty-second century, but no matter how many clocks there were, they were never useful if you never noticed them.

 “No dilly dallying!” Jace said as she climbed out of the window.

Bakari waved his hands in fright.

“Hey! Jace! That’s not safe! Proper standards protocols – ah – why do I even bother.”

Jace leaped out the window like a cat who made a crazy decision, but rather than fall to her death, she caught onto an object in a split second.

Bakari glanced over to see the airbike that flew from beneath him. The device was like a motorcycle combined with a giant propeller on the bottom, with several thrusters positioned around it to help it maneuver. It was powered by ultra-energy-dense batteries that kept charge for months if not used.

They were used for long distance air travel. Small and easy to maneuver for up to two people, although it was also very loud. Bakari pressed the back of his ear.

Embedded under his skin was one of many cybernetic implants. The one by his ear controlled an audio blocker to help muffle sounds, like earplugs. Then with his eyes, he could use his permanent contact lenses to text. He focused on the right keyboard buttons using the eye-tracking software and blinked at the right moment. This would send the message to another user. It was part of the internet of things IOT Neuro-Experience Connectivity (NEC) that used implanted devices to communicate with other people and the environment. Everything from giving information, directions, leaving messages, mass-city wide announcements, or specific person communication while surrounded by others.

“You’re going to give me a heart attack.” Barkari complained in the message.

She received the message in her ear implant receiver. She also had the same heads-up display lens installed onto her eyes.

All she did was give him a thumbs up.

“Going up or back to the room?” Bakari messaged.

Jace responded with her message which was repeated by a robotic voice in his ear.

“Up. I’ll give you a ride. It’s faster. Hungry!” the voice said.

Bakari rolled his eyes. He preferred to take a shower before going to eat or at least wiping off with a cleansing sponge which had nano-controlled bacteria that aided in cleaning off small particles of dirt, sweat, and foul smell. It was temporary, yet useful for last minute fresh ups.

“Fine.” Bakari messaged.

It was against safety protocol for what he was about to do, yet one thing he learned working on this internship is that Jace was persistent. And being the last two interns on A-Zero, their supervisor had become lax on the rules.

He touched his watch and disengaged his body from the exoskeleton, then positioned himself and jumped onto the back of the airbike. It tilted back like a seesaw from his weight, making him throw his arms around Jace’s waist. She turned the thrust and balanced the bike adjusting the jets to counteract the additional weight.

From behind him a compartment opened in the bike and Bakari reached behind him to grab a pair of discs. He took them and gave one to Jace, then took the other one for himself. He used his display through his eye lens to activate the connection to the disc which unfolded into a helmet.

Jace was reckless, but she always carried a helmet. As soon as Bakari secured the strap under his chin the airbike shot up at max speed upwards, pressing him down into his seat.

“What fun!” Jace messaged through the communicator.

All Bakari managed to do was yell and hug Jace tight. He was not worried that Jace had a lack of experience flying these vehicles, but rather for the type of maneuvers she pulled with the darn things. And she tilted the airbike sharply, arching through the air until she was over the top of the wall and soared downwards about thirty feet above the walk way.

As they flew along, Bakari could see hundreds of thousands of solar panels and thousands of small windmills that sat atop the outer wall that was two hundred feet in width. In the middle of the was a magnetic levitation train track that could run around the whole diameter of the wall and pass through four of the wall topside ports.

The ports included aerial landing pads and enormous cranes to hoist ships and cargo from outside the wall to the inside. Those were added recently since wall bulkhead gates that let ships in the past no longer worked. The warehouses were intended as distribution systems as there was a large elevator below them inside the wall. Behind the gates was a wet dock that could unload cargo.

Bakari looked to his left to see a beautiful view of the city.

The most noticeable structure from this angle was an inclined tunnel from the middle of the North Warehouse District was made from a half glass-polymer material to allow riders to see outside the tunnel as they climbed. It climbed two thousand feet arching like a blue painted rainbow until it reached the main part of the city which floated on an island within the outer wall. And from there there was a second arch that connected the city to about two-thirds of the way up an enormous three-thousand foot tower.

Unoriginally, the city was called Liberty after the name of the main skyscraper, Liberty Tower which is the tallest point of A-Zero and the backbone of this ship. Much like an iceberg Liberty went nine thousand feet below the surface  resembling an upside down pyramid. Below the flat top of the city platform is a half sphere made from a self healing micro-carbon reinforced concrete. The engineering of this city was beyond belief for when the concept was first proposed.

From the very beginning, Atlantean ships were made to look like the old tales about an advanced city. It was like seeing a mythical island from the skyward heavens that descended upon mortals to land in the ocean. The idea in the past was a fantasy, but for Bakari it was his everyday reality.

“What a time to be alive.” Bakari thought as they soared over the docks.

The magic in Atlantis came from its unified energy production system. There were six main 3-gigawatt nuclear power plants, plus a dozen smaller ones throughout the city and the wall. Solar, wind and even watermills provided extra power that was stored in specifically designed batteries to last for months, giving additional reserves for the redundancy backup systems.

More than that, A-Zero used a smart grid to efficiently shift power to whatever current circumstances required. Everything from trains to smartphones and even the airbikes were interconnected with the smart grid. AI automated the power management including the A/C system, which was aided by the natural difference in temperature from the cooler temperature of the structure below the water to higher temp areas near the direct sun. Even the data centers here used water cooling methods or pumped excess heat into the heat pumps during cold nights.

Jace flew them over several old administration buildings that had been empty for over a year. Only the Automatic Upkeep Robotic Abstergents (AURA’s) were inside which had been cleaning everything for the past few months. All the buildings were air and watertight unless you manually opened a window. The moisture, temperature, and accumulation of dust were all monitored by a weather AI system.

A-Zero was an automatic city, designed to be minimally cleaned by humans. Mechanics, engineers, and scientists took over the jobs of many manual labor jobs or were aided by robots like Bakari exoskeleton. Some tasks were not suitable yet to robots and probably would not be until a true AI that thought like a human emerged. The idea excited Bakari. Humans were becoming more like machines. So why not have machines meet us in the middle.

Technology was a tool, nothing more and nothing less. It reflected the will of the one who used it. America and many authoritarian countries used theirs to imprison and control their own people while Atlantean ships used theirs to create freedom and progress. Atlantean cities had virtually no homeless on board – there were jails, but sparsely used.

Permanent citizens had a hybrid combination of mechatronics, trade skills, and a two year post high school-level education relating to finance, real estate, history, art, and politics. Working on any Atlantean vessel allowed workers to pay for traditional college degrees or certifications. Otherwise, other people on board who were not tourists were stay-at-home parents or worked for the Atlantean Federal Government.

Everyone onboard had free health insurance, easy access to mental health facilities, and adequate child care planning resources, and plenty of vacation time. Most housing communities were mixed-income and had well-designed zoning to prevent gentrification of all kinds and overcontrol of the most wealthy onboard. There were still different income levels here, but it was not destructive to the lower levels. This made for very little crime and a flourishing of art and entertainment. Many renowned scientists and artists were born on Atlantean city ships. And many businesses rent office space there.

Only about thirty-percent stayed their whole lives on one ship. About another third transferred to different Atlantean ships and the other third were immigrants who naturally became Trash Punks. Percentages changed overtime, but the core culture remained the same – that was the magic of these cities. No one was stuck living here.

Jace landed the airbike on a landing pad next to a helicopter that belonged to their professor. The engine of the airbike shut off and the propellers went silent. A ring of light around the bike on the ground turned red to indicate the wireless charging status.

“That was fun right?” Jace said, with a devious smile.

“Yes. But I feel like you have too much fun these days.” Bakari said, getting off slowly a little air sick.

“Hey! I work smart, not hard. It’s not wrong to have some free time if you are efficient. Plus I don’t stare so much at the ship so much like you do. I think you are in love with the A-Zero.” Jace said haughtily.

Dr. Naomi Kosmo was the Chief Scientist that oversaw the refurbishing of A-Zero. Her great-grandfather invented new types of composite metals, refined self-healing concrete matrices, and created different sets of highly durable plastic polymers that were used in the A-Zero.

“You caught me! I do love ships and even more for historical ships. But maybe not as much as you love joyriding the airbike down Liberty Tower. ” Bakari pointed out.

“It was only once! And Dr. Kosmo said I was not allowed to do it anymore. It’s not like she ever watches the footage around here. She is busy with the AI management for the power production system or thinking up something insane device to build.” Jace waved at a security camera pointing at them from atop a corner of a building.

Bakari and Jace walked around the port in the direction of the train station. The train was now off automatic schedule since only three people resided there. Instead, Bakari could request a pick-up by pressing a button on his watch. He set the destination to The Terrace, which was the only operating restaurant in the city, located at the top of Liberty Tower.

“I heard from the last intern that her personal assistant AI does keep tabs and reports our moments to her.” Bakari said, “I assume if we don’t mess up too much, she doesn’t care. I mean — one of the rules for this internship was for the independence of daily work, cultivation of good judgment, and making mistakes while learning from them. Dr. Kosmo’s own personal motto.”

Jace narrowed her eyes at Bakari.

“You now just tell me that?” she said, crossing her arms.

Bakari shrugged, “I forgot until now.

They walked for a few minutes and arrived at the boarding station which had barriers next to the track. They passed through the sliding glass doors and to a covered waiting platform.

“You know a lot about my professor. I took her classes before I took this internship. Yet you know more than me sometimes. Are you in love with her too?”

Bakari rolled his eyes and held up his hands, “I was a history major turned robotics engineer. I learned everything I could about the origin of the A-Zero. So of course, I would study the very doctor whose family was an integral part of the construction as her parents being part of the research group to finalize the Fusion Engine used on the Third Generation Atlantean ships. She was invited to go be part of the deep space project team, but didn’t go.”

“Yeah. She is also a strange one.” Jace said looking up at the sky, “a world famous scientist decides she would rather work on a charity project than be part of the next race to invent a workable antimatter engine for long-distance space travel.”

A loud chime cut through the air, which rattled both Bakari and Jace. The A-Zero did not have a NEC communication channel, which would have been adjusted to an even sound level, instead the chimes echoed through old school speakers inside the terminal waiting station. And it was loud.

They both stood to see a blue blur zoom past them. In a smooth motion the twelve car double-deck high-speed train came to a stop. It was sleek and recently repainted a bright blue and green color much like the jumpsuits with a silver number one printed on it.

“All aboard North W to Terrace station.” spoke the AI voice, “My name is Rachel and I will be your guide.”

Bakari and Jace boarded the first train car as the door opened and the barrier blocking the track opened.

Inside was a clean passenger car with cushioned seats that had recently been replaced. The smell of new material filled the air. Rather than sit there, they decided to walk to the second floor to the observation deck. They went up the stairs to a panorama window with an open air portion that gave a good view of all sides of the train cars behind.

“Attention Alpha-Zero Passengers. This is the C route leading to atop Liberty Tower. Please watch your step, hold onto the handrails, and have a pleasant day.”

Right as they took hold of a nearby guard rail, the train lurched forward accelerating quickly.

“Welcome and thank you again for riding the A-One Transit Rail. As you wait for your destination, let me give you a brief history lesson about the era of Garbage Hope.” Rachel spoke.

Jace was forced to listen to the whole speech every time she rode, since the whole system was currently in test mode. Bakari held no such frustrations as he was glad to hear a history lesson over again. This route was used by the very first passengers boarding the A-Zero in the past.

“In the year 2045, Dr. Cynthia Cruz and Dr. Elena Cruz set sail on a ship to recycle trash while at sea called The Scrappy Hope. It was a monumental advancement in robotics and a more efficient recycling process. Before that time they were refugees from the United States of America. After the borders to the US closed in 2028, they sought refugee status in Mexico from where their grandfather was born. Through the support of the new Canadian-Mexican-Japanese Alliance (CMJA)for Earth Conservation, a scholarship allowed both twins to fund their research into materials processing.

During their post-doctor research in Tokyo they met Material Engineer and Chemist Masaru Qi, a Japanese-Taiwanese America who was deported from America in 2027 and took up residence in Japan. QI wanted a printer to help build the future and partnered with the twin prodigy Physicists, Dr. Cynthia and Dr. Elena Cruz who previously designed the Material Processing Unit called the Alchemist Matrix that transformed any item into the proper raw material. Qi had previously finished work on the Envisage 2100. The combination of the Alchemist Matrix and Envisage 2100 produced a revolutionary device that used an AI collection system to sort different materials, a nano-shredder to break down material in manageable size, a rising process, a specially designed furnace, a molding unit, and a composter that recycled biological waste along with decomposing different plastics using bacteria. There was nothing that could not be recycled for the 3D printer. Sadly, it was on the eve of the new year of 2044 that an American terrorist attack killed doctor Qi. Grieving, but not deterred and despite sailing during the peak of the Second Cold War, both Cruz’s set forth to clean the Earth’s oceans.

The Scrappy Hope sailed around the world cleaning and gathering every piece of garbage she came across. In the year 2050, a new concept was born from a meeting of the European Union, CMJA, Australia, New Zealand, and along with the newly formed Cruz-Qi Foundation. An international partnership that included sixty-seven separate countries became the United Coalition of International Countries (UCIC) and created a new country at sea. This project would be called the Atlantis Project, the first island made from recycled material donated from different countries. Construction started in 2066 and twenty-four years later in 2090 Alpha-Zero had been completed. Billions of metric tons of garbage, recycled structures, and excess materials had been reassembled into a city adapted to a post-climate changed world. It was environmentally sustainable, helped ease population overcrowding, took the burden of mass immigration, and connected the world like never before.”

Bakari agreed and nodded along thinking how amazing history was – despite all the wars, greed, and death, the world could come together and celebrate achievement and technological advancement. They did it in the post-US era and in a time where climate change was thought to be unstoppable.

He continued to listen to Racheal.

“While the Lunar Base and finally the Martian Outpost all connected humanity in partnership, it focused research and development only benefited the Oligarchs of the US, Russia, China (URC) axis. Space travel ended up being monopolized by the wealthy. Trillionaires kept getting richer through asteroid mining of rare minerals and metals.

It was The Atlantis Project that was the beacon of hope that helped spur the green tech revolution right when Earth needed to act. At the time it was an order of magnitude more complex than anything the world had seen before. The logistics and planning were ingenious, taking an incredible amount of focus and investing in the next generation of engineers, yet it was legal and political that was the last to come together.”

Jace rolled her eyes since she heard it a million times.

“I wish Dr. Kosmo would already turn off the broadcast systems. I am getting tired of Leroy asking if I want to hear about the first mayor of the city whenever I go to the park.” Jace commented.

“Oh. Yeah. I have been meaning to fix his sensor program. It is on my list of things while the US team secures the permanent docking process.” 

Leroy was a robot that mostly stayed in Central Park right below Liberty Tower. He was built to give directions and relay history lessons. That was his favorite robot on board.

“He is really annoying. He doesn’t have expanded human facial recognition. So he can’t tell I am very angry at him for asking the same thing over and over.” Jace said while moving her foot out of the way of a floor-waxing robot.

Bakari laughed, “I am waiting for the day humans and robots just fuse completely. I want to get a cerebral implant at some point.”

“Those are way too expensive.” Jace waved as the wind blew her hair around.

“Yeah. Right now. In the next fifteen years, I expect it to be affordable. I am waiting for newer models to be developed. I don’t want headaches, constant ringing, and the year of brain training it takes for the chipset to even interpret your thoughts and send them as an actual message.”

“Sounds like another way to insert ads.” Jace said skeptically.

“Unfortunately. One of the sponsors of that project is a flying car company. But since the Armistice with the URC they have allowed multiple companies to use the same basic patent. I will get a version that has open source modularity to it. Making sure to install ad-block.”

The train slowed in acceleration and Racheal came back onto the speaker having finished her history lesson at some point prior.

“Please prepare for the change in incline, take hold of the nearby railing as we ascend the bridge.” 

Barkari and Jace held onto the hand railing, and firmly held down their feet.

The train took a turn right, and they were able to see it rise on an incline. If not for the car automatically tilting in relation to the other cars, they would have slid downwards as the train went nearly vertical. At this point the car acted as an elevated that floated on tracks. They were heading from the outer edge of the island to the top of Liberty Tower.

The center city had many tall buildings scattered along malls, movie theaters, colleges, supermarkets, running tracks and gyms. Parks and plants surrounded every part of Atlantis, inside and out. It was smaller in scale than all the other bigger Atlantean cities, which had entire amusement parks in them, but it was nicer than some cities of the world, especially what was left of the US.

“I know I make fun of you for it. But this really is a nice place. The original Atlantean city.” Jace said suddenly, “it might just be the old architecture that combines art deco and the 21st century Green Era, but it’s pleasant to look at. Colorful.”

She looked out the window of the train as the sun reflected off the buildings below in a glittering light show. Metal and concrete fused with trees and plants all around the entire city that was painted with murals, spectacular graffiti, and rainbow lights. The buildings were painted with various bright tones and molded with décor. It was like riding on top of a giant sea turtle that just so happened to let a 1970’s era humanity build a city on it.

“I know you love this place. I could tell it from the beginning of the year when we both got here.” Bakari said.

A-Zero was a work of art in every way. They were built by immigrants who needed a job to support their families and had no place left to go in a world ravaged by climate change and they were not exploited by the Cruz-Qi Foundation. This future was built from right from the start. Bakari’s great grandparents were from Haiti and lived in the US. His parents’ families applied for Atlantean citizenship and prospered under it.

 Those who have no home came to Atlantis. The world got worse for a time: more wars, more pandemics, and more mass migrations from broken countries, especially from the US. Atlantean cities accepted many of them. The transition was difficult, but it paid off. Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist and every type of belief was accepted when they accepted the laws of tolerance. Straight, gay, Transgender, Non-Binary, that did not matter. A person that was committed to self-discovery and education was the defining factor in applying for citizenship in the city. The weak and the strong were given equal opportunity.

By all means, there was a lot of conflict on the A-Zero as humans very quickly, but it was handled by responsible public discourse, where voting days were paid holidays for everyone and allowed early voting for an entire month. Politicians underwent a strict vetting process and lies were punishable by jail. The laws reflected what citizens needed to live fulfilling lives and provided a means to prevent the worst outcomes in a complex society. The world was always changing and Atlantis was the model to look to for hope while other countries backtracked in their human rights commitments.

Bakari was grateful for being born in such a city.

The train came to a stop at a roundabout inside Liberty Tower, which held a train station of its own. The door opened, Rachel bid them farewell, and they walked off the train to a waiting lobby with many dozens of elevator doors. There was one large door painted red and on it was painted the symbol of A-Zero. It was an outline of the city with a banner that said: Renewal in Hope.

The two of them walked up to a security clearance panel by the door. Bakari raised his hand to the panel and the door opened. He and Jace had a chip in his hand that allowed him to gain access based on the recognition of identity.

Through the hallway was a waiting lobby for a restaurant. If there had been more people it would be reservation only, but since there were no lines the two of them went up another elevator to the restaurant.

Once they exited the elevator they were welcomed to a breathtaking view of the city and the sea in a 360 degree view. The horizon stretched so far and the clouds wandered far off into the distance. Bakari had been up here a good many nights looking at the stars.

“The server bot, Dante will be with you shortly,” said Jasmine, the hosting robot who walked up to greet them.

Jasmine looked like a 1920’s flapper and Dante had a tuxedo. The Terrace was a theme restaurant and part of the refurbishing contract included that the restaurant stay the same theme. The rest of the city followed suit. It was an irony proposed by the elder Cruz’s that the A-Zero be centered around the time where the wealthy of the twentieth century was flaunting their exaggerated riches. To take it back, A-Zero would be a treasure for everyone.

She led them to a table by the window and they sat down thinking about their arrival tomorrow.

Jace held her chin in her hands and looked towards the waters that lead to the coast of Florida.

“Bless America.” Jace said, “Crashed the economy. Did nothing as the poor were left in sinking homes. Then lost the status of world power. Couldn’t get a plan together and now the country is a depilated mess for the past 155 years.”

Bakari leaned back in his chair and then agreed with her, “America always acts at the last minute, that’s for certain, but they are pretty spunky. Ever since 2040’s they have managed to prevent a civil war, but the damage was done for decades. Almost made a comeback in 2100 if not for their polio and tuberculosis outbreak. Then they almost did it again in 2170 before their domestic terrorist resurgence knocked them into disorder again.”

“Well, it took them a while to learn to remember history.” Jace said and started remembering her history lesson, “Parts of the country were swallowed into the sea in the last 2030’s, the west coast was severely damaged in the 2049 – 9.7 earthquake, and in 2050’s the midwest turned into another dust bowl. Their power and transportation infrastructure decayed as decades upon decades of deadlock in their government made their people lose faith. America’s local wildlife was on a break after exhausting all their natural resources. They were left with no plan on how to adapt to the new world as the other two axis partners took advantage of their weakness. Part of the country was given to foreign governments in exchange for more economic support. Their landmass shrunk by a third and the population dwindled to eighty million by 2091. They have a lot of work cut out for them if they want to be the leading country again.”

Jace seemed less inclined about a positive outcome than Bakari. They all had a history chapter on the decline of the United States of America while in school. It was dreadful. He was glad to be living as a Trash Punk.

Bakari felt the words he memorized in class. The original statement from the announcement of Project Atlantis that first gave birth to the Shit Hope movement. It was a promise of hope and a commitment to the betterment of humanity. It gave him hope that America could rebuild itself into something like Atlantean cities.

“No sovereignty is guaranteed. And no hope is useless. The world will be rebuilt from the garbage that it created.”