Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 249

Technology Breaks Boundaries Beyond Imagination - The Story of a Space Shuttle Captain in China Greater Bay Area 2040 Singapore International School, Leung, Sze Long Cyrus - 10 “Tick tock, tick tock!” chimed the clock and the hands just struck 6am on the first day of 2040. Today is the BIG DAY! I already ironed my new uniform of the captain of China Space Shuttle Fleet in perfect shape. I can’t wait to put it on and show my face amongst the cheering crowds today which certainly would start a new chapter in the history of China and humanity. Oh, sorry! I forgot to tell you! My name is Conrad Lee and I live in Hong Kong which has become one of the most prominent and prestigious cities on earth. Looking back twenty years ago when I was just a tenyear-old student, I couldn’t have even imagined human technology could catapult at such an exponential speed. Space travel to Mars? Yes, it was achieved in the past year because our Hong Kong Space Science Team has successfully mastered the technology of travelling through wormholes, which was thought to be impossible in 2020. So now, our new and enhanced space shuttle can now travel to Mars in three hours flat. Technology which has astonished our human race certainly isn’t limited to space travel. Could you imagine that I just paraglided with my parents from the top of the 200-storey high Macau Tower yesterday? At the age of 65, my parents could still engage in these exhilarating sports because their bodies have returned to their teenage age thanks to the newest technology in DNA rejuvenation. After the enthralling games with my parents, I returned to Hong Kong by Uber-Air. In case you forget, Uber, the app for cars succeeded in securing its hegemony in air-taxi service. Just seconds after a few clicks, an air-taxi would stop at my home’s doorsteps and take me back from Macau to Hong Kong in 5 minutes. You may doubt why entering Hong Kong from Macau does not need to go through a border control point. Let me make it clear that borders, control points, immigration and customs clearance were concepts as ancient as history itself. As soon as facial recognition, big data and artificial intelligence were in full application by the government, human travel and cargo transportation could be mapped and monitored. Above all, along with the advancement of technology, food and services are in bountiful supply and therefore, poverty became an extinct word that you could only find it a dictionary before 2025. Back then in 2020, the Greater Bay Area was just a concept. But now, when I travelled on the new space shuttle, hovering above the earth, I found out the Greater Bay Area was the brightest spot on the whole globe thanks to the glamorous and state-of-the-art skyscrapers in the Area. Fortunately, human technology was not just focused on constructing cold and lifeless hard structures. Advancement in DNA engineering and biotechnology have elevated biodiversity to new heights, which means many extinct species like the elephant bird and the dodo bird have been restored and returned to the earth in their lively forms. Rest assured that resurrection of dinosaurs was banned owing to the horrendous scenes of Jurassic Park Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 … and 10. With conscientious application of such technology, the boundary of the Greater Bay Area has been restored to the most pristine face of mother nature. It is my family’s favorite activity to have wild camping amid the hundreds of acres of forests with sky-reaching trees at the boundary of the Area at Guangdong which is now like District 12 in the Hunger Games. I believe that technology not necessarily runs against mother nature. Technology could help humans achieve perfect harmony with nature. After all, all flora and fauna species need each other to coexist in a lively and sustainable ecosystem on earth, just as humans of diverse races, beliefs and religions need each other to escalate civilization to new levels generation after generation. How about life forms on other planets? Do they exist harmoniously with each other on other planets? Oh, excuse me, please. The first questions I should ask are: are we alone? Is there life on other planets? Advanced as human technology has become now in 2040, we are yet to solve this mystery since the birth of the universe. Tick tock tick tock tick tock…not just I heard the clock’s chiming in the shuttle, I also heard from my ear phones: