The Destroyer

Chapter Five

There were parks, lakes, a canal system and lots of sidewalk eateries. Laszlo remembered his father always saying that it was loosely based on a place called Amsterdam, which was now tens of meters under water because of the sea level rise. None of this held significance for Laszlo and Jack. They only knew that they loved the place and wondered why they couldn't live inside there like some families did.

In reality, the city was mostly commercial, government, education, scientific research and a small number of wealthy or just lucky people. Most of society had to live outside of the dome. And outside was where economic factors spelled life or death in some cases. While Laszlo's and Jack's parents could afford the home upgrades required for basic healthy existence, others suffered due to cheaper, less effective solutions. In the extreme, some families had no upgrades at all and for these families, the probability of respiratory complications was extremely high.

The government did what it could, which wasn't much. The main focus of all governments at this point was food supply and clean water. As the boys queued up at one of the main air locks, they went into a special lane reserved for bikes and pedestrians. Periodically, the huge door would raise up and then they would still have to wait while those seeking exit would clear out. Then the lights would signal the incoming people and vehicles that they could enter. Once the giant airlock hall was filled, the doors would roll down and close with a big thud.

When the air was really dirty outside, the giant exhaust blowers would create what looked like tornadoes, briefly, until the air had clarified. Today, the air was relatively good, so the keen observer would only note that the air went from hazy to clear in about a span of one minute. The giant, inner door then raised up and the boys followed the procession of people and vehicles in.  Vehicles were sprayed with a rinse water above and below, which was recycled, every drop being a precious resource at this point.

People entering were not sprayed, but there was a large building that contained lockers for people to store their protective gear. The boys entered that building and stowed their suits and helmets and ran out to remount their bikes and see as much as they could in the several hours they had available.  First stop was the zoo. It wasn't much of a zoo, but the boys were fascinated with the animals, almost none of which thrived in the wild these days.

That day, the two nine year old boys could be seen zigzagging their way through the entire city, which they knew quite well for boys their age. Laszlo in particular, had a very willful nature. Jack wasn't much different and this was part of the reason they had been selected for a special program that had pulled them from the ranks of regular education. While their peers attended school out in the suburbs, the boys came into the city with their parents and were dropped off each weekday at a special government research lab focused on Artificial Intelligence.

Later that afternoon, the boys were pressing, hopelessly, to get Jack home by three. At some point the boys parted ways and Laszlo arrived home shortly thereafter.  "Honey, you will be really happy to hear that you kids don't have school this week."

"Wow. Awesome! Thanks mom!"

"It's not me. They contacted us and there is something going on at the lab so they don't want any students coming in this week. Me and Dad, we need to go in for work. So you will be on your own. Since Monica's not working, maybe you can hang out with Jack this week." Monica was Jack's mother.

*****

Lola's condition had been worsening. Despite the rapid decline of the natural environment, average life expectancy was still holding at around one hundred. Lola was unfortunate to have sensitivity to the air quality, which developed into acute pulmonary fibrosis. It had only become debilitating in the past several months, which represented both a tragedy and an opportunity. There were thousands of people, whose mentality had been "uploaded" to the research AI system. All but a few of these individuals were still alive and coexisting with their uploaded selves.