The E Utopia Project (19 page)

Nzue entered the office
holding a tablet. His dark face broke into a smile when he saw Sara. “I’m glad
you’re back. How’s my good friend Snoopy?”

“Snoopy is alright.”

“You’re back in time for the
summit,” the huge African said. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it.”

“Thanks for worrying about
me, Nzue. I can see you’ve brought Professor Wong a document on your tablet.
What is it?”

“It’s the speech that he was
going to read at the summit if you failed to turn up.”

“Let me see it?”

“Sure.”

Sara took the tablet from Nzue
and browsed the document. “I can see that you excluded all of my—shall I
say—crazy ideas about extraterrestrial factors.”

“Professor Wong isn’t a fan of
your revolutionary ideas, Sara,” Nzue remarked.

Sara returned the tablet to Nzue.
“Send me a copy of that document. I’m sure if we combine Wong’s speech and my
revolutionary ideas, we’ll come up with a great speech for the summit.”

She led George and Kane out
of Wong’s office. The door to her office opened when its scanners finished
scanning her irises. Kane blocked her way before she could take a step into the
office.

“Gentlemen first,” he said,
walking into the office.

He checked the office for a
minute before he told Sara to enter. She led George into the office. Everything
was just as she had left it.

“I will stay outside,” Kane
said.

“Me too,” George said. “Do
your job, Sah. Just pretend we’re not here.”

“Easier said than done,” Sara
said, walking to her chair. “Mr. Kane, when I go to the toilet will you be my
forerunner again?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when
we come to it,” the FBI agent said.

When the two men left the
office, Sara switched on her computer and read the document that Wong wanted to
read to the world leaders at the summit in the event of her absence. It would
have made a good speech but it contained little that had not been said in
previous summits. The only new thing was the proposal for governments to obligate
airline companies and space companies to build oxygenators to replace the atmospheric
oxygen used by their aircraft and space shuttles.  She opened the draft of her
speech. It sounded new after days without reading it. She made some changes
here and there in the language but she didn’t put in any new ideas. When she
was tired of reading and rereading the document, she started looking at real-time
satellite images of the Earth, looking for anything suspicious.

Her phone rang and she purred
when she saw that the caller was Zachary Jeffery. Zachary was the Deputy
Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA),
which was better known locally as EPA. Sara worked as his deputy in EPA’s Region
2 office before he was appointed Deputy National Administrator. When he left
for EPA Headquarters, she succeeded him as administrator of Region 2, which
comprised New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight
tribal nations.

“Zachary! It has been a long
time since I last heard from you.”

“Are you alright, Sara? I saw
your press conference.”

“Apart from the fact that
someone tried to kill me, I’m alright.”

There was a moment’s silence
as Zachary thought what to say next. “Did the President offer you bodyguards as
he promised?”

“Yes.”

“Did you accept the offer?”

“Yes, I did.”

Zachary sighed with relief.
“I’m glad you’re safe. So you’re convinced NASA, ESA and those companies you
mentioned are involved in the attempt on your life?”

“Yes.”

“And you think some beings
from another planet are stealing our oxygen?”

“Yes,” Sara said, imagining
him raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips as he always did when he was
skeptical about something.

“It sounds pretty
complicated.”

“What do you think about my
theory? Do you think I’m crazy?”

“Galileo was called crazy
when he said the Earth was a globe. I don’t subscribe to your theory, but I
don’t think you’re crazy.”

“Thanks for your tact, Zack.”

“I’ve got to run. Let me know
if you come up with new evidence to support your theory.”

“Thanks for calling, Zack,”
she said, realizing she was angry with him for not subscribing to her theory. She
worked with Zachary Jeffery for four and a half years and they shared many
beliefs and values. Zack was her professional soul mate. She valued his opinion
more than that of anyone else in the scientific community.

George entered. He walked to
her and gave her the briefest of kisses before he took out a ring and dropped
to one knee. “I won’t ask you to marry me because you already said yes.” He
slipped the ring on her finger. “I love you, Sah.”

“I love you too, George.” She
caressed the ring with her right thumb and middle finger. “It’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you,
Sah,” he said before he pulled her head toward him and kissed her.

“When did you buy the ring?”

“Just now. I’m coming from
the shopping center.”

“Let me leave you to your
work,” he said, rising.

He left her looking at the
ring with a silly smile on her face. The ring was made up of six diamonds that
tapered in size and were handset in enduring platinum.

Nzue came to Sara’s office twenty
minutes later and found her still admiring the ring.

“My mouth’s watering in
anticipation of a wedding cake,” he said, looking at the ring.

“I’m engaged to be married,”
she said without taking her eyes away from the diamonds.

“George is a lucky man.
Congratulations on your engagement, Sara.”

“Thanks, Nzue.”

“Sara, the summit is around
the corner,” he said, “We should work on polishing your speech.”

“You’re right,” she said,
minimizing the satellite images on her computer. “I’ve to polish my speech.”

“Are you going to use your
old draft?”

“You mean the one with my
theories about extraterrestrial factors?”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t yet decided to use
it,” she lied. “Wong could be right. Maybe I was being too imaginative.”
Although her intuition told her to trust Nzue, she decided not to tell him her
plans. Nzue was more supportive of her theory than Wong but it could be just a
facade.

“Okay, Sara. Call me if you
need anything.”

“I will. Have you made
arrangements for my journey to Paris?”

“Yes, Sara. All travel arrangements
for the summit have been made.”

“Thanks. How is your family
in Gabon?”

Nzue looked up and sighed. “They
tell me that they are alright. What can they say? They don’t want to worry me.
The country is near the point of starvation.”

“We’ve got to beat El
Monstruo before it eats us all. It’ll be difficult but I know we’ll defeat this
monster.”

“I’m glad you’re back, Sara.
This place seemed so hollow without you. This place needs your optimism.”

“Thanks.”

Nzue walked out of the office.

Sara looked at the ring for a
minute before she began sifting through real-time satellite images. After a
quarter of an hour, she decided to look at the news on the internet. The story
that was making headlines was Sam Cruz’s pledge to provide ten billion dollars
for the construction of standalone ultraviolet vacuum laser plants worldwide.
Everyone, from the United Nations Secretary-General, heads of governments, and scientists
to the common man, praised Cruz for his generosity. Hundreds of thousands of people
posted comments praising Cruz and his International Green Movement for their
efforts in the fight against El Monstruo.

“He’s barking the wrong
tree,” Sara reflected somberly.
If he wants to save the world, he should
donate money for a space force.

Although she saw little
benefit in the construction of standalone UVL plants, she posted a statement
praising Sam Cruz and the International Green Movement. As the head of the UN
arm that oversaw the world’s environmental issues she was expected to encourage
and compliment people who made efforts to save the environment. She also praised
Sam Cruz on her private social media accounts.

Her engagement ring renewed her
vigor in her fight against El Monstruo. She was getting married to the man of
her dreams and if she wanted to raise a family with him, she had to fight El
Monstruo and make the world a good place to bring children.

She paged Nzue and he
promptly came to her office.

“Raise the International
Green Movement and make an appointment for me with Sam Cruz.”

“You want to have a meeting
with Mr. Cruz?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want us to do a joint
project with the IGM?”

“No. GEMA and the IGM are
fighting the same fight. I want to discuss issues of mutual interest between us
and the IGM.”

“Alright, Sara. Let me make the
appointment.”

“Thanks.”

Nzue took three steps toward
the door before he turned and walked back to Sara’s desk.

“Sara, have you heard the sad
news about Dallol, the Sahara, the Arabian Desert and the Syrian Desert.”

Sara shook her head. “No.
What’s happening in those regions?”

“Yesterday, hundreds of
people, mostly small kids and the elderly succumbed to high temperatures.”

Sara sighed with despair.
“We’ve got to do something to alleviate the situation. The people of the world
are looking to us for solutions.”

“We’re doing our best, Sara.
You’re doing your best. Don’t put yourself under too much pressure.”

Sara covered her mouth with
her hands, imagining the inhabitants of these hot areas being slowly baked to
death.

“Sara, it’s not your fault.”

“I’m fine, Nzue. I won’t turn
into a nervous wreck if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I know you’re strong, Sara.
I just don’t want you to blame yourself, that’s all.”

“Thanks, Nzue. Go make the
appointment for me.”

“Done,” Nzue said, walking
out.

Sara’s eyes returned to the
internet. One of the first stories she found about the heat-related deaths was
entitled:
The Poor Perish in the World’s Hottest Regions.
Part of the
story read as follows:

The ability to afford an
air conditioning system for one’s home has become the difference between life
and death in the world’s hottest regions.
In several regions across the
world, infants and old people who live in homes without air conditioning died
from exposure to high temperatures. Most of the deaths occurred in the Sahara,
Arabian and Syrian deserts. The surface temperature in some parts of the Sahara
was over sixty-four degrees Celsius.

I’ve got to talk to Sam
Cruz. Maybe I’ll be able to convince him to donate air conditioners to these
poor people instead of funding the construction of standalone UVL plants,
Sara thought when she finished reading the story.

She opened GEMA’s website and
posted a message encouraging people with air-conditioned homes to take in
neighbors who couldn’t afford air conditioners. She said that she was not sure
whether these record-breaking temperatures were mere heat waves or had come to
stay for good. If these temperatures had come to stay then the world would face
a huge refugee crisis. All countries should be prepared to take in refugees from
the world’s hottest regions. She ended her message by telling the world that
now was not the time to be obsessed with controlling immigration. Now was the
time to think about saving fellow human beings. Now was the time to consider
all human beings as citizens of one united Earth.

The phone on Sara’s desk rang.
She snatched it and gasped a “hello.”

“Sam Cruz is on the line,” Nzue
said. “I’m putting him through.”

“Okay.” There was a click.
“Mr. Cruz. It’s a pleasure to talk to you, sir?”

“The pleasure is mine.”

“I want to thank you for
everything you’re doing to save the environment. I think the United Nations
should have an award to honor people like you.”

“This is not the time to
think about awards, ma’am. This is the time to think about saving the world.”

“You’re right, sir. This
isn’t the time for personal aggrandizement. Mr. Cruz, I guess you have heard of
my theory about an extraterrestrial cause of El Monstruo?”

“Yes. I saw your press
conference.”

“Well, I think the world must
set up a space force to protect the Earth from possible invasion or piracy. I
shall try to convince the world leaders to set up a United Nations space force.
Funding will be the limiting factor in the establishment of such a space force.
Countries are stretched with atmospheric oxygenation efforts and it won’t be
easy to convince governments to set aside funds for a space force. Mr. Cruz, I
want you to consider contributing to the funds that will be required for the
creation of a space force.”