Humanicity (English version)

Chapiter 2 : The AntHill

After our escapade in the landfill, it was time for us to return to Humanicity. It was safer not to be offline for more than three-quarters of an hour during the day. The only way to reach the city from underground was via a ten-kilometre tunnel leading to one of the branches of the Ant Hill. This tunnel was around one and a half metres in diameter and ran beneath the foundations of Humanicity. It would have taken more than an hour for an unequipped human to complete the journey. But thanks to our MoonQuads, shoes equipped with four electromagnetic levigators, we were able to cross the tunnel in around ten minutes.

Exactly 13 minutes and 47 seconds later, Ram, Margue and I reached the main junction of the Ant Hill. At the same time, we reconnected our AR glasses to the network. Several 3D notifications appeared before my eyes. With a simple slide of my fingers through the air, I swiped them.

Illuminated by a faint orange glow, the Ant Hill came into view. It was a mining operation where thousands of people worked every day. Men and women dressed in exoskeletons were painstakingly digging through rock and earth in search of the world's most precious resource: thermatite. Also known as Cooper's stone and named after the woman who discovered it, thermatite has the unique ability, once melted at 4028° Celsius and combined with a metal alloy unknown to the general public, to manufacture ultra-high-performance electronic devices without any loss of thermal energy.

At the end of the Plastic Age, after the discovery of thermatite, humans did try to extract the mineral, but as it was also one of the strongest, it could only be extracted using huge oil-powered machines.

Another piece of horseshit from that era. Mines began to spring up all over the world, tearing up the soil, destroying reefs and the seabed and causing the extinction of many aquatic species. Cooper's stone is found in a stratum of the earth's mantle around one kilometre below sea level. In just one year, the mining of the mineral caused the ice to melt and the waters to rise. Nature began to wither as a result of the CO2-saturated air. It was hot. Very hot. A grey fog hung over the world, blocking out the sun and amplifying the global warming effect. No one really worried until the situation got worse: poisoned water. The thirst began. Every drop of water was sold at a premium. People ate powder, dehydrated condiments, insects... Worse than famine, people were dying very quickly. For several months, no power really tried to find a solution. According to them, this was the fate the gods had in store for us.

The Humanicity project only began when the rich had just one litre of water per person per month.

Humanicity: 10 billion people on 2% of the Earth's surface.

Faced with the urgency of the situation, the ecumenopolis was built with the means at hand on an area that seemed to be the best placed with its quality of water, soil and air. The first stones, or rather buildings, were laid between London and Paris. Crossing the Channel and encompassing the Shroniger quarry, Humanicity was erected, surrounded by its photovoltaic barrier. Humanity quarantined itself there. After massacring the world, they hid themselves away, ashamed of their stupidity...

- Are you all right, Ace? You don't look well. Margue asked, snapping me out of my reverie. - Yeah, I was just thinking about our history lessons.- But we don't have any more exams to pass! exclaimed Ram. And with a bit of luck, I won't be wearing this bloody brown uniform any more. And you won't call me the zero any more, but your hero! We laughed together as we strolled through the immense gallery.

Humanity created a new system to organise society fairly. Humanicity is divided into 15 levels. Level 0 is called 'Mineral Resources' and its workers are called N0. These individuals represented the basis of our society: strong, loyal and humble. My friend, Ramez, was one of them. It was while accompanying his parents to the mine that he discovered his passion for insects. Humanicity was a clean city, maintained at all times by cleaning robots. Animals outside the Animal Resources Centre were strictly forbidden. For reasons of hygiene. Only insects were still present, after all, you can't control everything...