Dystopia at a New Level

 Gabriel's hometown of Santa Rosa is a hodgepodge of buildings and technology that his ancestors had cobbled together with nothing but pure grit. That's the legend at least, that after what they call "the Cold World" died in some undocumented apocalypse 200 years ago, a handful of survivors rebuilt human civilization—or did they? Because here's the kicker: Imagine living in a world with no history! We've got examples of dead civilizations today—the Khmer, the Mesa Verde cliff city, and Stonehenge—all are relics that have survived from a civilization that didn't. That's the kind of world Gabriel finds himself in. History is partly guesswork, part deduction and part fabrication. But their forefathers left behind an immense library filled with scientific and cultural records from Earth up until 1891. How they changed from the flourishing planet mentioned in these documents to their current living arrangement under domes and floating vessels, wasn't even hinted at. Thus, while there is plenty of speculation about their past, everyone fairly agrees that the earth was taken by surprise, and that's what they believe left them with no documentation of the catastrophe.

Let's talk about the Furness just a little, until I tackle that matter in its own blog. Survival in the hostile and barren Furness beyond those city walls was no joke. Their forefathers survived, it is assumed, through the bleak and desolate Furness beyond the city walls by clinging to their faith, fashioning everything they needed from scratch. But let's be real here: unlike our stone-age ancestors, nothing at all comes free here; not even Mother Nature. Air, water, sunlight—they all come with a steep price tag in this dystopian world. And boy is it expensive! The production of oxygen alone requires an entire freakin' acre of vegetation for just 18 people! And don't forget about all that artificial light they need to keep their plants alive. Talk about energy-intensive! The Furness was a place of death and desolation. It was vast and full of limitless raw resources, but completely lifeless. It is a scorched, dark, toxic wasteland where nothing at all can possibly grow. Workers and travelers outside speak of scorching heat that could melt metal, and toxic fumes that would choke a man to death.

Oddly, as Gabriel goes through his modern city of Santa Rosa, the bustling streets and industrious manufactories were filled with reminders of the battles his ancestors had to fight in order to survive. Yet for some reason, he rarely found himself dwelling on those hardships; instead, his head was usually occupied by thoughts more close to home, in his own troubled family. He glanced up at the towering girders holding up their sky and artificial sun, shielding them from the unforgiving Furness beyond, and instead of worrying about his hellish world, he stays deep in thought about the wasteland of his own dystopian life. There are some undeniable parallels in these themes, and it is no accident.