A Visitor to the Future - 43 - The Journey Home

You could make a request of the Consortium in almost any way that you could think of. Some people used gestures, some used verbal commands, and others used neural links. Response preferences were even respected. Sarkona had told me all about this on the Promise of Sol, telling me about a former Biodev colleague that communicated with the Consortium exclusively through handwritten notes.

My preference had been to have the Consortium communicate through a small messaging application on my tablet. It had seemed like a familiar way to keep myself grounded for the time being. I loaded up the application and looked at the history of what I'd requested previously - there were a few test exercises that I'd done with Sarkona but my list was otherwise empty. I really hadn't gotten used to asking the program for anything in particular yet. So I felt a little strange requesting a drone-craft to take me, Sarkona, and Tungsten across the sea and out of Anchor. I showed Sarkona its return message: A drone-craft is available for your use at Anchor Landing Pad 18. I scrolled through the other messages briefly - they were all very punctual and matter-of-fact.

"I too like to make my requests in writing," said Tungsten, "But keyboards are so inefficient! You may find setting up a gesture set to be useful."

We made our way across the city to the landing pad in question. It was an overcast day today, with large banks of grey cloud that threatened to turn to rain later. At our destination, a drone-craft patiently awaited us, virtually indistinguishable from the two I'd been in on our trip to Baobab. We stepped inside, and it took off into the air.

Tungsten and Sarkona made conversation over the next hour or so, which I was glad of, because I felt more and more nervous the longer we flew. I was glad of the distraction. Sarkona had visited Antonia yesterday, it turned out, and passed on her regards. I tried to look out of the window once or twice, but the blur of the ocean passing by was still too much for me.

"How are you feeling?" asked Sarkona.

"Nervous," I said, "Do you think I should have looked up what's there?"

Sarkona shrugged, "That's up to you. One way or another, you'll find out what's happened, whether that's with your own eyes or by reading about things."

"I suppose the Consortium did recognise the name, so that's promising at the least," I said.

Sarkona looked contemplative for a moment, and went towards one of the back walls of the craft. They reached toward a wall panel, and at their touch it tilted away from the wall to form a ninety-degree flat surface. I could then see a mechanical arm move out from the gap, a smaller version of the fabrication equipment I had seen with Blaise and Tungsten yesterday.

"Don't mind me," Sarkona said, their expression thoughtful, "Just an idea. Carry on!"

Tungsten leaned forward in his chair slightly, "So, you've told me a little about your home before. What else can you tell me?"

"Well," I said, "I was born in Edinburgh. I should say that's in Scotland. But we moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands when I was about six or seven."

"I'd never have guessed where you were from!" said Sarkona, "Your file was quite lacking in details, as with many cryocontained. You don't really have an accent either - not that I can really tell the differences between them."

I nodded, "So I've been told - moving around sort of averages things out. But home was really IJmuiden - that's a port city near the North Sea Canal."

Tungsten and Sarkona seemed to share a glance. Sarkona did a small, repeated nod and looked up at me, putting down what they were working on, seeming to resolve to tell me something.

"I think I should say," said Sarkona, "That as you've probably seen from space, the sea level has risen over the past thousand years. Climate change really wasn't kind to some areas from what I know. Flood defences have come a long way, but there is a limit. What would you do if you see that your former home is now underwater?"

I sighed. "At least I'd know, I guess. Flooding was always a possibility, even in my time - I used to watch the KNMI weather alerts like a hawk. But surely the sea level rise wasn't that bad?"

Sarkona went back to working, pressing buttons and making gestures - but continued to talk to me over their shoulder. "It was fairly bad. It's gotten better over the past hundred years or so, the ERP have really been busy."

"Sorry, ERP?"

"Ah, the Earth Reclamation Project. They're an Org who have taken responsibility for undoing a lot of the ecological damage that was caused over the years. It might be good to talk with them at some point, if you're interested." There was a slight cracking noise and Sarkona's attention suddenly snapped back to their work, cursing in what I assume was Human.

"Ecological preservation isn't usually my thing," Tungsten said, "But I'd be interested in talking to them too, just to see how they work."

Sarkona seemed happier with what the machine was doing, and turned around to face us, "But one thing at a time - no more distractions, right?" they said.

I nodded and gave a nervous smile. It wasn't long after that I could feel the gradual signs of the drone-craft slowing, as we drew closer to our destination. I decided to risk taking a glance out of the front of the craft, and stood up to approach the front window carefully.


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