The Runners: Chapter 1
“WOW! This is what I’m talking about! I mean, this is awesome! Definitely worth trading my life savings for! Dude,” looking over to Jacob, Jason asked, “have you seen anything like this before?” Jason couldn’t contain his excitement even though he has been in a long line that was moving at a snail’s pace for the past twenty-five minutes. They have been standing in a passenger processing line and moving forward, inch by inch, to be screened at the security check point. With large crowd of travelers to be processed, the waiting has become unbearable for Jacob. But, to Jason, it was all a great fun part of the journey.
Jason reached 6 ft in height, skinny for his stature, weighing only 165 pounds. He was an average looking first year graduate student in the school of business at Wisconsin. He wasn’t the smartest or what one would consider having to possess the alpha male type of personality. However, one thing he did well was drawing other people’s attention to him and had a goofy sense of humor, which wasn’t necessarily all that creative. They were more like accidental humors.
He had on a baseball cap of the Chicago Badgers, which wasn’t the most successful baseball franchise. Yet, Jason was a diehard fan of the team. Perhaps, recognizing similar traits in the baseball team and himself, Jason always enjoyed cheering for the horrible Badgers. The team was as goofy as Jason, but always tried their honest best in putting on great shows for the spectators even in lopsided losing games. In one of the regular season games, the Badgers allowed 25 runs in a single inning while scoring just 2 in the entire game. The Badgers took the last place for the past three seasons in the North America Region Indoor League, which was made up of sixteen professional baseball teams.
Nearby, a family of four, mom and dad, both in their late 40’s, sporting Hawaiian shirts and matching shorts, sandals, and sunglasses hung over their foreheads, were standing in line with awed looks in their faces. At the same time, the two boys, wearing white polo shirts, yellow shorts, and a pair of white Apex sneakers, were very excited to be going to some great beaches of Pacific Islands or somewhere in the Caribbean.
Another group of travelers was spotted carrying bulky backpacks filled with sweaters, heavy wool and parka coats, tall snow boots that could cover up to their knees, thick weather all gloves, thermo water bottles, and other essential equipment necessary to brave the arctic freeze. It appeared to Jacob that they were ready to explore the great outdoors of snowy Alaskan mountains or the desolate land of tundra. However, there was nothing odd about such contrasts in tourists all comingled in long lines like a factory assembly line. They all looked eager to be processed and be on to their respective destinations.
There was a look of anticipation on Jacob’s face as he answered anxiously, “Uh, no. This is my first with this travel company.” Then he flashed a friendly smile at Jane and reaching out to hold her hand, he gave her a gentle squeeze. Soon Jacob turned his attention back to the security check points as if to complain about the slow pace of processing as he murmured, “come on let’s move…”
It was an early spring day in the year 2190. As expected, it was an extremely hot day. The sun was barely visible although it was high noon, nothing unusual about it at this time of the day. Looking outside through the protective environment energy shield that was doming over the travel agency, there was the usual haze in the air. With scorching temperatures hovering around 159 degrees during most of the day, being outside in the Earth’s natural environment has long been a forgotten past time.
With the initial rise of the global temperatures, the world experienced irrecoverable flooding near the coastal cities due to the rising sea levels. Soon, this trend reversed. The rising temperatures along with significant lack of precipitation for the past five decades have caused the sea levels and other bodies of water to recede to the unprecedented lows around the world. Some parts in North America and Africa were faced with accelerated desertification and the Midwest region of the former USA was not an exception to this ill effect. As a result, Lake Michigan had all, but dried up for all purpose and practicality.
The pace of global warming has accelerated at an unprecedented rate since the beginning of the twenty-second century. Large amounts of carbon dioxide exhumed from the massive industrial manufacturing facilities, increased use of fossil fuels, and many countries that utilized coal energy applications to sustain their economies brought about disastrous consequences. As these practices flourished, the global warming accelerated, resulting in unmanageable amount of greenhouse gas deposits in the atmosphere.
To curb the unchecked usages of those energy sources that were causing dire consequences to the environment, the UN had adopted a resolution that encouraged various industries to develop and use alternative energies. Unfortunately to the UN’s dismay, these concerted efforts by the responsible agencies were soon abandoned, not because there was lack of efforts or technologies, but more due to the reasons of economics. The cost of harnessing comparable amount of energy through the alternative energy sources, as opposed to the traditional ones, was too expensive to bear for many.
Consequently, the world has turned to developing and mastering technologies that helped people to cope with the harsh environments and in some cases, even enhancing various aspects of human lives. Today, Jacob and his friends were standing in the long line in order to experience one of those new technological innovations, which had swept the travel industry by storm in the current world.
‘Welcome to Vector Travel Technology’. A mixed platinum and gold colored signage, welcoming the travelers prominently projected high above the main gate. Behind the sign, lively 3D sceneries of the Earth in its glorious past were slowly floating by. Beautiful images of the Great Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean islands with white sandy beaches and lush green mountains, the deep forests of the Amazon and the towering Iguana Waterfalls, white snow capped Alps of Europe, and bustling outside markets of South East Asia, all streamed by. Hypnotized by it all, every traveler unconsciously fixated their eyes as soon as the VTT agency came into their view.
These images were being illuminated above the massive three story glass gate that was enshrined between the two imposing crystal pillars. Carved smoothly and round, the pillars boasted over ten feet in diameters and towered well above the top of the VTT building that stood over thirty stories tall. Designed similar to an ancient ice igloo, the building was constructed with tens and thousands of diamond shaped glass tiles. The height of each tile gradually rose from its edges to the center of the tile, giving it an illusion of having the shape of a pyramid, except, with a rounded peak. The size of the tiles grew smaller as they were placed at higher positions from the ground level, the smallest one being the size of a basketball and the largest one being close to a trailer truck.
The tiles were fused together on its edges with the latest synthetic metal and cement adhesives. The integrity of the whole structure was designed to withstand tens of thousands of lbs per square inch. Yet, sufficient level of flexibility was made innate to the architecture, allowing the building to withstand twice the force of the strongest seismic movement that has ever been recorded since such records were first kept in the 1800’s. Upon gazing at the igloo, there was an unmistakable feeling of nostalgia as far as the character of the building’s façade was concerned.
At the front of the building, a tunnel that extended fifty meters long was connecting the building’s entrance and the initial reception area where the travelers were being dropped off from their vehicles. Multitudes of cars, vans, buses, SUVs, and other forms of vehicles would enter an enclosed drop off zone, so no one would be exposed to the harsh outside conditions.
The agency’s building employed the latest 3D image projection technology that could utilize any open air space as a canvas for incredible image creation. The 3D technology lends itself to emitting certain controlled lights at a virtual 3D image matrix, which would also be projected into the air, yielding billions of pixels for resolution. Then, invisible pulses of lights at varying intensities and lengths would be emitted to various coordinates in the matrix. Delivering holistic imagery information in the process, the physical depth, color and clarity would ultimately manifest. Although, it worked at its optimal performance level in the absence of any natural light, adjustments were made to deploy the technology to certain non-image intensive applications such as the VTT agency’s signage.
The glass was engineered to deflect any unwanted heat and harmful rays. Autonomously, the tinting factors are adjusted to the intensity of the sun’s rays at instantaneous moments of the day. As a result, the inside of the building would be at least 45 F degrees cooler than outside even in the absence of any active cooling system. Engineered to vent up cool dry air directly from below the ground while pumping hot air out of the building, the VTT agency doubled as a nice oasis as a cooling spot to its employees and vacationers alike. Only when the temperature became unbearable inside, the massive New Arctic Cooling System would kick in to provide human comfort zones.
“Welcome to VTT where our technology brings you to your travel destinations.” A loud, yet, seemingly hypnotic announcement was being played as Jacob began his walk through the tunnel. “For your customized instructions, please place your VTT headset that was provided to you at the entrance of the tunnel.” After a short pause, the announcement continued. “As you activate your head gear, the natural wonders of your chosen destinations will be projected in living 3D images.”
The four friends proceeded to put on their headsets. “Good morning, Jacob! Welcome and thank you for selecting VTT for your holiday needs. Your destination is Mexico. As you have requested, your trip will include the beaches of Cancun and the natural habitat of Chocolate Cosmos…” This time, customized announcement played only for Jacob.
As Jacob looked up through his headset, the white sand beaches of Cancun bordering a row of five star hotels appeared. The water stretched as far out as to the endless horizon. From light to deep turquoise as it went further away from the beach, the ocean appeared calm while sun was hung at high noon. Watching the glistening sun’s rays reflecting off the waters and listening to the crashing sounds of water accompanying the rows of small waves that came onto the shoreline, Jacob felt as if he was under a magical spell.
The waves broke off as it met the sand, briefly forming white bubbles. As the bubbles popped, they shot out fine white sand grains into the air, causing what appeared to be white mist along the shoreline. It made the beach glitter. Jacob also saw the tall palm trees surrounding the hotels. The large leaves of the palm trees were dancing gently as the soft ocean breeze came and went. In the pool area of The Pan Resort, the palm trees surrounded the swimming pool, providing the much needed shades for shelter from the sun.
“Mexico is awesome! I will definitely enjoy this vacation,” exclaimed Jacob. The white sand beaches, the sounds of the waves, palm trees, swimming pools and sea gulls, all seemed hypnotically inviting.
“This place is beautiful. Isn’t it? How beautiful and peaceful is this place!” with appreciation, Jane softly blurted out.
“Yes, it is amazing…,” continued Jacob, “Jane, now I see why you wanted to take this trip so much. And I am glad that I am here with you!”
After a long silent pause, Jane leaned her head onto Jacob’s shoulder and whispered, “I am glad that you are here, too.” But, there was a slight quiver in her voice. Perhaps, some sign of regret or hesitation from having to be there. But, Jacob and his friends did not notice that.
Jacob and Jane met in school. Although Jacob was a few years senior to her, they both developed mutual feelings for each other. They were on the borderline between platonic friendship and being more than friends. Jane seemed to have some reservations towards serious relationships. But she could not cite to Jacob specific reasons as to why. However, honoring her disposition, Jacob never made attempts to cross that line nor did he ever make Jane feel uncomfortable.
Jacob had his share of history that he wasn’t sure if he was ready to share with anyone else. So, they both kept sufficient distance and stayed just as very good friends. Perhaps, this trip may change the dynamics of their friendship, thought Jacob.
“Please continue to proceed towards the main entrance of the building where you will be processed through the security!” The announcement followed after few more comments about the itinerary in Mexico. Some distance away, Jacob heard other travelers gasping in amazement and uttering the words like “Beautiful”, “Wonderful” and “Look at that snow capped mount Fiji”. Endlessly as far as Jacob could hear, people exclaimed the words that are synonymous to astonishment and wonder.