The E Utopia Project (33 page)

Chapter Eleven

Nzue burst into Sara’s office
and announced, “I’ve got good news,”

Sara looked at him with
raised eyebrows.

“The rate of oxygen decline
for the past month was only three point three percent.”

“And that is good news?”

“If you see it the way I see
it, it’s good news,” Nzue said. “At one time we recorded monthly oxygen decline
rates of as high as nine percent. Last month’s oxygen decline was only three
point three percent against four point five percent for the previous month. If
we maintain this rate, we’ll be able to arrest the decline.”

“Listen, Nzue. Last month the
Earth lost three point three percent of its meager oxygen. The margin looks
small because we replaced the lost atmospheric oxygen with oxygen derived from
the reduction of sand. We created mountains of silicon dumps and we still had a
decrease in atmospheric oxygen.”

Nzue refused to let Sara
dampen his mood. “But for the first time since El Monstruo began, we’re close
to having zero percent oxygen decline.”

“Do you know what it means to
attain zero percent net decline of atmospheric oxygen using the methods that
we’re currently using?” Sara asked with exasperation.

“Enlighten me.”

“If we manage to stop the depletion
of atmospheric oxygen without stopping the oxygen loss, it means the amount of
oxygen we’re producing by sand reduction is equal to the amount of oxygen that
the atmosphere is losing. It means we’re going to have to continue reducing
sand and creating mountains and mountains of silicon waste forever.”

“Maybe we won’t do it forever,”
Nzue reasoned. “Maybe the reducing agent that is absorbing oxygen from the
atmosphere will be used up.”

Sara shrugged. “Maybe the
hypothetical reducing agent in the lava from the hypothetical volcanoes will be
used up.”

“We need to be optimistic if
we want to win this war, Sara.”

“Yes, we need to be
optimistic. But we also need to explore other alternatives instead of sticking
to this volcanic axiom. We need to find out where the oxygen is going.
Otherwise we’re going to fill the whole world with silicon dumps.”

“You have a point, Sara,” Nzue
said. “Sand reduction is not the answer but it will buy us time.” He sighed. “Let
me know if you need anything.”

“I’ll let you know.”

She returned her eyes to her
computer and resumed watching livestreams from Earth observation satellites.
For two months, she had watched real-time images of the Earth for at least six
hours a day but she hadn’t found anything suspicious. It was as if someone had
warned the satellite companies. Sara believed that one of the people whom the President
had consulted about this matter had warned the space agencies and satellite
imagery companies. Someone in the Cabinet was involved in the attempt on her
life.
Maybe it’s not just an ordinary member of the Cabinet,
Sara
thought with a shudder.
Maybe the President himself is involved in this
dirty game.
If the President was involved, any attempt to stop him would be
seen as politicking. Some people could even see it as treason. If the President
was involved, then the bodyguards that he had given her could not be trusted.

She put her hands on her
belly, wishing she could somehow freeze her pregnancy and delay the birth of
her child until after the end of El Monstruo.

Sara almost jumped when a cloud
suddenly appeared on the screen. She picked her phone and contacted the
Administrator
of Environmental Protection Agency.

“Sir,” she said, breathless
with excitement. “The cloud has magically appeared in the usual location over
the Indian Ocean. Please alert the Pentagon.”

“Let me check it out. I’ll get
back to you as soon as I can.”

Sara returned her eyes to the
computer screen, praying the cloud would last long enough for the submarines to
surface and take pictures.  She suddenly felt hungry. She had eaten a heavy
breakfast but she felt as if she last ate more than twenty-four hours ago. Without
taking her eyes away from the computer, she opened her lunchbox and took out a
chicken slab pie. Her food cravings had grown so much that she had to bring a
lunch box to work. Eyes glued to the monitor, she devoured the pie.

The cloud disappeared after
thirty-nine minutes. Sara held her cell phone, willing it to ring. It didn’t
disappoint. Her heart palpitated when she looked at the phone’s LCD.

“Tim, do you have good news
for me?”

“Yes. The servicemen in the submarine
didn’t see any clouds above that area. They took some pictures of the cloudless
sky.”

“Now what happens?”

“They’re going to send the
pictures to the Pentagon. I think they’ll train the NRO’s surveillance
telescopes on the area to find out what’s happening.”

“I hope so,” Sara said. “You
never know with these military types.”

“The President is taking this
matter seriously. I believe he’ll do something when he sees conclusive evidence
from surveillance telescopes.”

“Thanks for the update, Tim.
Let me know when something happens.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

Sara munched another pie. “Oh
baby, you’re making me so hungry,” she soliloquized, putting a hand on her
belly. “I hope you’re fine.” She sprang to her feet and her mouth gaped when
she realized she hadn’t yet had a pregnancy scan. She was at least ten weeks
pregnant and she hadn’t thought about going for a scan. She had been so worried
about making the world better for her unborn child that she forgot to check
whether all was well with her baby. She sank back to her chair and searched the
internet for the best prenatal care centers in the city. She found a prenatal
care clinic with nine-hundred and seventy-three reviews and decided it would do
for her.

She sped out of the office as
if having the scan was a dire emergency. George and Agent Kane were playing
chess in the corridor.

“Is everything alright, Sah?”
George asked.

“I’m going to the doctor. I’m
two and a half months pregnant and I haven’t had a single scan. George, I forgot
to have my baby checked. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to the
baby.”

George rose from his chair
and walked to Sara. “It’s my fault. I should have reminded you to go for the
scan. You’ve been under so much pressure at work and the attempt on your life unsettled
you.”

“Thanks for making me feel
better,” Sara said before she walked past him.

“She saved you,” Kane said.
“You were losing this game.”

“It’s still one nil, Kane.
You’ll have another chance to get even.”

The two men followed her to
the elevator. When they got out of the building, they found most of the other
members of Sara’s guard standing outside their cars. The driver of Sara’s car
was sitting on the hood of the car, texting a message to his girlfriend.

As usual, George opened the
door of the car for Sara. He sat on her left and Kane sat on her right.

“Take me to 19
^th
street just before the intersection with L Street,” she ordered.

Her motorcade drove through
the gate. One of the uniformed Secret Service men manning the gate gave Sara a
mock salute when her car passed through.

Being midday, traffic was
light. It took them a quarter of an hour to reach the prenatal care centre.
Sara put on her breathing machine and followed George out of the car. Now that
she was pregnant, she didn’t want to walk even the shortest distance without a
breathing machine, fearing her baby could be harmed if she deprived herself of
oxygen. George and Kane flanked her during the short walk from the car park to
the clinic. As Kane walked, only his left hand swung normally. His right hand
remained near his hip, ready to draw his gun if need arose.

The Latino receptionist got
starstruck when Sara took off her breathing machine.

“Doctor Cummings!” she exclaimed.

“I need a pregnancy scan,” Sara
said.

“Fill this form.” She gave
Sara a slip of recycled paper. “Let me call Doctor Wilson. She will be thrilled
to see you.”

Doctor Wilson was indeed
thrilled to see Sara. Having celebrities at the clinic was good for business.
“Doctor Cummings, it’s an honor to have you here. What can we do for you?”

Sara looked at the plump doctor,
wondering why a doctor would let herself become overweight. “I’m at least ten weeks
pregnant and I haven’t had a scan. I’ve been so busy that I forgot to have a
scan. Can you believe it? I put my work before my child.”

“Don’t be too hard on
yourself. You’re not late for the scan. Most women have their scans at twelve
weeks. Have you been experiencing any bleeding?”

“No.”

“That’s good. Let’s get into
the scan room.”

“Honey, let’s get in,” Sara
said, taking George’s hand.

They entered the dimly lit
sonography room. Doctor Wilson normally let her sonographer do the ultrasound
scanning but because Sara was a celebrity, the doctor decided to do the scan
herself in order to ingratiate herself with Sara. There was a big chance that
if Sara liked the clinic’s service she would recommend it to her celebrity friends.

“Please lower your skirt to
your hips and pull your T-shirt to your chest,” the doctor said.

Sara complied and the obstetrician
applied ultrasound gel on her belly and rimmed her clothes with tissue paper to
protect them from being soiled by the gel. She placed the ultrasound probe on
her belly, applying gentle pressure.

Sara’s heart sank when she
looked at the black and white picture on the ultrasound screen. She wasn’t an
expert but she could clearly see what the pictures meant.

“Congratulations,” Doctor
Wilson said. “You’re carrying twins.”

“We’ve twins, Sah!” George
rejoiced, squeezing her hand.

Sara remained impassive.

“Are you alright, Sah?”
George asked.

“I’m still trying to recover
from the shock.”

“It’s pretty normal to feel
shocked,” Doctor Wilson said.

“I can’t believe I’m going to
bring two babies in a world with unbreathable air,” Sara whispered.

“Sah, we’ll do everything in
our power to make sure our babies will be alright.” George tucked a stray lock
of her hair behind her ear. “They’ll be fine because they have us.”

“Your babies look fine,” the
doctor said, wiping the scan gel off Sara’s belly. “You’re around eleven weeks.
Your babies have separate placentas and that’s good. Sometimes when twins share
one placenta, one twin gets more blood than the other. Well, that’s it Doctor
Cummings. Come back for another scan after four weeks.”

George helped her to her
feet.

Sara forced a smile. “Thank
you, doctor. See you in a month.”

She walked to the car the
word
twins
ringing in her ears.

* * *

“What do you think about E
Utopia, darling?” Vice Admiral Andrew Frankson asked his wife.

“The temperature is much
cooler than on Earth and the air is more breathable than Earth’s air,” Akeela
said, trying her best to look delighted. “The air feels a little heavy. I think
it needs a little oxygen to be perfect. E Utopia would be paradise if it wasn’t
so barren and if it had more oxygen.”

“The Executive Council is
discussing ways to increase oxygen in the atmosphere.” Frankson said. “We’ll
soon have plenty of vegetation, darling. Tree planting has begun in earnest. You
saw it yourself during your volunteer work.”

“Yes, we planted many trees
but it will take years to grow enough vegetation to sustain an ecosystem.”

“The fact that it took
thousands of years for polluters to destroy Earth’s environment bears testament
to nature’s resilience. Our vegetation will grow much faster than you think.
Here we live under strict environmental law. There won’t be any indiscriminate
chopping of trees.”

“Still, I think it will take
at least a decade for the planet to be covered with vegetation,” Akeela said.
“But even without vegetation, life here is a thousand times better than the
life we had on Earth.”

“EU climate is good for plant
growth. The soil has a good pH and contains enough nitrates and trace elements
for plant growth. You’ll be surprised how animals and plants will colonize this
planet.”

“Thanks for securing us a
place on this new planet.” She looked around the house. “And this is the
biggest house I’ve ever lived in.”

“Did I tell you that the Executive
Council promised farms to all pioneers?”

“Yes you did. I’ve never
imagined that I’d one day be a lady of the manor.” She smiled to conceal her
sadness. She was grateful to her husband for bringing them to E Utopia and she
didn’t miss Earth. She just wished her brother, Lawrence, had agreed to come. Frankson
had included Lawrence, his wife and two kids on the list of chosen ones. But
Lawrence couldn’t come because his wife refused to come. Her parents were not
included on the list of chosen ones and she refused to abandon them. Akeela and
Frankson had made an invitation video specifically for Lawrence and his wife
but his wife wouldn’t budge.