Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 413

Carsten landed the aircraft on a helicopter pad on top of a hospital skyscraper. His little flying machine was
VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing), which was useful as it could land on almost every flat surface, whether it be
a road or a lawn. The sudden change in atmosphere when we stepped off the vehicle was appalling. The air was
nothing like I had ever breathed. Unlike the sweet-smelling air of eco-ized areas, the air of the District was
foul-smelling and almost knocked me out. Black columns of smoke rose in the distance. The sky was a grey that
would never appear anywhere, not even in London six hundred years ago. There was not a single plant in sight
for many miles around, and humans seemed to be the only species of animal that existed in this barren landscape.
I peered down the edge of the building. The cars were sleek and fast, but there were so many of them that all the
designer’s efforts were for nothing, and that they barely moved a single inch in the space of thirty seconds.
Despite this the exhaust pipes still injected a dark gas into the air, even when the car was almost stationary. I
presumed it to be the by-product of the engine, but oh! For such a wonderful machine as a car to emit such an
infernal substance! When the gas reached me I coughed and spluttered. Why, for a moment I was afraid I would
contract consumption or lung cancer.
“This place is killing me! What idiot designed this thing!” I cried, turning to the Director. The Director was
addicted to snuff(smoking had been banned a long time ago), but he still suffered from the ill air. He looked
rather pale. “This infernal monster was not constructed by a single human’s stupidity alone, but by that of many,”
he said. “Climate change has ground to a halt, but not before dealing quite a lot of damage,” he said pointing to a
sign that looked like it had been corroded by some sort of strong acid. In an instant I knew that he meant. When
I was but a child the acid rains had completely destroyed the roofs of many buildings, and even before I was born
rainwater was labeled as “irritant” or even “corrosive” in labs.
Carsten collapsed in a coughing fit, clinging at his throat. Two members of the hospital staff ran to assist him. He
was carried downstairs, still coughing profusely. “Well, there is a reason why we landed on top of a hospital,”
the Director grimaced.
#
Two years passed quickly by. The change in environment was profound. I stood on top of the very hospital
where we had landed twenty-four months ago and glanced at the azure skies, dotted with puffy, snow-white
clouds. Dark columns no longer rose in the distance. The factories had become smokeless, “like gunpowder”,
Carsten had quipped. I did not need to lean over the side of the building to look at the cars. My models now
dominated the roads, sorry, skies, and the helicopter pad had been converted to an ambulance pad. Firefighters
could now flick a lever and sit back as the fire engine, set to “hover” and at a safe level above the fire, dumped
hundreds of gallons of water on the flames. What was once high-speed chases on highways became dogfights in
the air, and this often attracted many drivers, many of which had to use great willpower to stop themselves from
participating in it.
I retired to my hotel room that night and took a long glance at the high-tech space. When I had first arrived this
was a dirty guesthouse that lacked all the technology back at the mouth of the Pearl River. Now it was a fivestar
hotel stuffed with the greatest luxuries. Room service could be ordered just by locking eyes with a sensor and
speaking one’s choices out loud. Urine was transported to a cleaning center and pure water was removed from it
to be reused. And what was once plastic was replaced by a multitude of alloys created by Carsten and Jack.
I reclined on my bed and clicked the button marked “king-sized”. In an instant, the bed inflated, crushing
against the windowsill. I sighed and began the laborious process of moving the bed away from the window. I did
not care if it was damaged; the material would bounce back its original position if squashed. The mattress was
designed to soak up any urine if the tenant peed in his or her bed, but it was just an extra precaution(I hope!).
One could press a button, and the instant that person was out the door, a dozen or so robots would make the
room spotless in the space of a few minutes. For houses it was even better; one could go to a large control panel
and determine which rooms of the house or flat needed to be given a good scrub-down. Balconies doubling as
garages became popular with the rise of flying cars. Finishing the task of moving the bed, I opened the window
and gazed at a nearby hospital, lit by a myriad of lights displaying information about how to live a healthy life.
Inside, patients were being diagnosed by robots and surgeries were being performed in which the incision was