Extatic Inc. The Hopper - Chapter 1: Origin

Part 1: Jon Parker

In this life I'm Jonathan Parker, I've spent my life lazing around my family's wealth and at the age of 38 I've done nothing but soil my family's name. As my line derives from a major investor that had eventually led mans colonization of Mars, a huge burden had been thrown on me since birth. Engineers, scientists, explorers and bosses are pretty much of what my family consists of. And there's me, the gambler, the risk taker, the outlier of the batch who should've been disowned if it weren't for the pedestal my heritage so narcissistically posturizes on.
Just mentioning my last name brings people to either kiss my feet or aim for lethality to which I'm not all too grateful for. 

Anyway, I reside on the upper echelons of the New Austrian sphere, a utopia surrounded by tenements and aluminum homes. You could imagine the layout being like that of a dartboard. Where you live is how much you're worth and I just happen to live dead center of that board, not that I have much of a choice. I'd very much rather stay in the Roterdam or the Manila Spheres but informal contracts and agreements bind me for the sake of my very generous allowance. With that being said, I spend most of my time just wandering around or taking the subway in search of anything or anyone that may amuse me. In fact, I remember it well... It was just one of those days when a particular projection gloomed over the dome before changing my foreseeable life... then.

I had just exited the train and sat myself down as my motion sickness got the better of me. Speeding just below the sound barrier all the while you sit motionless gets the better of me. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't feel just a little tense compact in a box passing lights so quickly it's as though you were looking into a strobe. Anyway, I slipped in some designer drug and just allowed it to envelop my nerves. I think I dozed off or went into a trance, anyway, i don't recall exactly what happened but I remained there for at least 3 hours before I came back to my senses. Nearly hopping as I stood, I then rose from the subway to be greeted by the massive dome keeping all those within it alive. At least for human standards anyway. The dome then went dim, it often happens, the wealthiest of the wealthy have the privilege to project whatever they hell they want on them. Of course it's mostly used to make urgent announcements or during festivities but every now and then it'll be like a commercial break except you can neither mute nor change the channel. It was probably some residuals from the stuff I had earlier but i couldn't help but be overwhelmingly interested on whatever it was.

So yeah, the dome went dim, seemingly close nightfall. Glitters of stars then appeared and zoomed past as I seemingly flew through them with ease. I was growing closer and closer to a massive spherical object. It was definitely a planet but given my state mind it could've been anything from the obvious to a hilariously large kidney stone. The planet then introduced itself as "Earth, the home we long lost."

I think that announcement aroused everyone's interest as the world seemingly stopped and all there was was the projection up above. You see by my time, Earth had been labeled as no longer suitable for about 5 centuries now. We've pretty much settled up on Mars and the moon with words like "Ocean" and "Wild" being nothing but historical terms no one cares much for. And why would we, here in a controlled environment man has thrived beyond comprehension. But Earth had always been a tickle to all our fantasies. Photos, videos, virtual moments captured for us to relive showed us the beauty of what it once was. And the projection did exactly that. But it showcased nothing anyone had seen before. Vast expanses of steep rocky ranges, dense rainforest where every inch was alive, and barren wastelands that made me crave a drink. It seemed that an entire continent had been induced into a pseudo habitable state. But not for the purpose of reclaiming the planet, this landscape was formed all for a game. 'FOR OVER A CENTURY NOW EXTATIC INC. HAD BEEN REFORMING THIS LANDSCAPE,' the voice over for the feed said, 'AND NOW AT ITS FINISHED STATE, WE INVITE YOU TO PARTICIPATE.' The projection then faded away, leaving behind the company name in bright bold text.