Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 511

No-one wants to put money into a country which is suffering from a nuclear crisis. All the screens are flashing red! Panicked phone calls from clients keep coming. My managers have woken up and want to talk. At this rate, stocks will fall to zero before one of them gets here. The once prospering international financial centre will be shut down. People will lose their jobs. I will lose my job. What was once a hub of wealth and diversity will soon be a barren rock. January 3, 2052. 2:45 am. National Energy Production Offices, Shenzhen, Greater Bay Area, P.R.C. The man woke up an hour ago to the sound of phones ringing in his home. For a split second, he thought of his wife and son. Then he realised that they were not home. They have not been home for a while - 5 years in fact. His wife is now his ex-wife and she took their son with her. The last time he saw Tommy was when he was a young boy of 12 years old. He would be 15 now. He slowly got out of bed and checked the time - 2:45 am. What on earth had happened that would need his attention this quickly? “Hello?” he whispers into the phone. “Hello sir,” he can hear his secretary greet him. “There has been an explosion at the Huizhou Nuclear Power Plant. Most of our clients’ electricity has been shut off. We need you at the office now.” His secretary finishes and hangs up the phone. He rushes to his office where he is greeted by the most difficult question he has ever encountered: what now? His job is to supply electricity. Almost 75% of the Greater Bay Area’s houses and offices have run out of electricity. The explosion has caused all of the nuclear reactors in the power plant to shut down or malfunction. The rest of the area’s electricity is produced by other nuclear power plants or the few coal power plants still running in the region. The nation faces a major emergency. Millions could be affected. We will lose prestige. Somehow other international power companies have been notified of the explosion. The National Energy Production Association’s (N.E.P.A) allies have already sent messages of their disinterest in the projects going forward. Thank goodness Tommy isn’t in the country. He is at school in Britain. Hopefully, he would be able to see his son again; but now, he has work to do. January 3, 2052. 8:00 pm. Greater Bay Area, P.R.C A statement has been released with details of the incident. The nation has been sent into a state of panic. The Greater Bay Area has entered an economic crisis. Energy is a rarity in many homes. Homes have been destroyed, crops contaminated and hundreds are falling ill from the radioactive particles in the air. Hundreds of thousands are leaving the area. The future is uncertain. The Greater Bay Area will never be the same again.