Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 412

Project Komnenos
Harrow International School Hong Kong, Sun, Zhaoping - 11
Come quick. Project Komnenos has commenced.
I turned over on my bed and pressed the “screen up” button on my computer-watch and a screen popped up. I
clicked on the “AirConverse” icon and a page filled with names of conversations popped up. I clicked on
“Project Komnenos” and looked at the new messages:
Director: Timothy, Jack and Carsten, meet me in the Control Room immediately.
Jack: I have finally figured out how to build my little invention!
Carsten: What invention?
I typed in, “So when are we leaving for Alexios?” and glanced at my watch. It was 2:30 in the morning. I had
only slept for an hour and a half.
The Control Room was more of a hall than a room. In fact it was split into three sections: The first was filled
with monitors showing the state of the four areas of the Komnenos District(Alexios, John, Manuel, and
Andronikos), the second acted as the main office of the Department, and the third was a kind of library, with
four quantum computers, each with an electronic copy of every single book and document in the gigantic library
upstairs. I loved to spend hours in the third section looking at failed inventions and looking for inspiration for my
own ones.
I strode into the office area to find the Director and Jack chatting over a cup of tea. “Why, do sit down,
Timothy, while we wait for Carsten - the procrastinator,” Jack said, pouring me a cup.
“Mm. Green tea is my favorite,” I said as I sipped my drink. “I can’t wait for my flying automobiles to be put to
good use.”
The Komnenos District was the name of the last un-eco-ized area of the Greater Bay Area, and it was huge,
housing eleven million people. The Komnenos Project was the name of the program to eco-ize the Komnenos
District. I had joined as a junior inventor four years ago, when the project had just started, and spent the next few
years inventing eco-friendly items. We wouldn’t get paid until the District was fully eco-ized, which was going
to take an estimated three years, but our needs would be taken care of and there were dorms for all the inventors
(but not their families). This meant that the inventors were alone when they arrived and the other inventors
became their family.
Our salary was double that of the average office worker, and we would be given a large bonus if we continued
working for the Department, but we could also retire with a massive pension. But if we failed, we would be
kicked out of the Department without so much as a penny. The thought wasn’t even worth considering...
“We need Carsten to fly the plane because only he knows how to get that awfully complicated piece of junk in
the air,” Jack yelled angrily, jolting me from my daydream. It was already 3:30.
“Well, he is here now,” Carsten said as he made a dramatic entrance. “Why, my sliding door failed to open, and
I was stuck there for half an hour.”
“Serves you right for building a horrible door, then,” Jack grumbled.
We couldn’t stop laughing until Carsten cried, “If you keep laughing, I will hit the ‘auto-destruct’ button on the
plane!”
Carsten’s supersonic aircraft made the journey from Guangzhou to Komnenos in two minutes. He claimed that it
could fly around the world in two and a half hours.