Infineon

A BRAVE NEW WORLD

Paul was not surprised that the civil servants of the border at the Danube River seemed to know his companion very well. It was a quick and smooth transition to Bulgaria. There have been times when Bulgaria was part of the European family. Now that the Old Continent was a bit fragmented and was an aggregate of high-tech-cities and low-tech villages, this Eastern European community isolated itself from the other Ex-Member States of the legendary European Union. Regarding values and lifestyle, it now tended to be more pro-Russian oriented. Whatever happened during the decades and centuries in the political arena, something kept the alliance between Bulgarians and Russians.

The two guys were supposed to drive more than 400 kilometers across the land of Bulgaria. To the Outlander's surprise, they were not using an electric car but a gasoline-powered vehicle. Gasoline was unavailable in most parts of the world after the Great Collapse. Strange how these vehicles survived and managed to take the test of time. Paul remembered that even before the world was re-shaped, all governments and political leaders had promised to ban it. "Where do you get the gasoline from?" asked Paul.

"Nowadays, it is not easy, but you know—if you have some cash and know the right people, you can get permission to buy it from RusOil, once the biggest company in the Balkan Peninsula refining oil and now the only one. It runs at a limited volume, but small needs can be met."

"How about the officials and the authorities – won't you have problems driving that dinosaur on the streets? I believe you can quite easily exceed your carbon footprint."

"Mine own, for sure. But I have a big family and a lot of relatives that have authorized me to use theirs", he smiled. "I already told you, my friend. You can always find a way out of the system."

"As far as I understand, you are just trading with carbon. How about the environment? You are causing it harm. All these exhaust gases coming out of the car..."

"Oh, c'mon. I have been listening to this for decades. And in the end, nothing happened to the environment. Before a piece of the population of our big cities started dealing with microgreens and city gardening, we were producing food in greenhouses. And can you guess which gas was added to the greenhouses?"

"I do not know", Paul admitted.

"Carbon dioxide," Ivan affirmed. "It had been a prerequisite for the burst of worldwide production in the early 1990s. You would have understood my point if you had followed my thought."

Hmm. Just an illiterate man, speaking nonsense and diving into disinformation, thought Paul.

"Besides," Ivan continued, "Do you think that all of us can afford to buy electric cars? This is not Infineon, my friend. You have come to visit a poor nation and a country that cannot ensure the infrastructure needed to use smart vehicles over long distances."

"Okay, that might work as an excuse—at least for today," Paul said, ironically.

"As if I needed your redemption", the Bulgarian took his revenge.

They passed by a few towns. Paul noticed that this land needed improvement, and technology had not evolved as much as in Infineon. Still, the towns had relatively dense populations. At least judging from what he could see when driving along the second-class and bypass roads near the towns and villages. There was no need to create holograms of people so that the real ones did not get depressed when going outside. In Infineon, for instance, one could walk for half a mile before meeting a real person outside Infineon City and downtown.

It was a six-hour journey by a car produced before 2030. Paul did not mind keeping silent in the car and not speaking to his guide. He did not like him and did not have to pretend. But suddenly, Paul decided to ask a question.