Better Future

Chapter 5

San Francisco, California, Year 2150

Cars sped by down the street. Their electronic engines hummed as they flew past bystanders on the sidewalks. A particular bystander happened to be on his way to a rather important day at work.

His name was Jason Samuel, and he was head researcher for the Agricultural Research Center. He was developing a way to add more nutrients into food without disrupting the way plants grow. Yesterday he had seen improvements in his protein additive samples, and was eager to get to work.

Having left ten minutes early, he decided to walk to work, as it was only a few miles from his home. He breathed in the scent of flowers and herbs growing in the gardens he passed. He nodded good morning to a man tending to a bush ripe with ruby tomatoes, and kept walking.

The houses were all adorned in blooming greenery. The doors and garage doors were the only parts of the houses without some sort of plant growing on them.

Jason looked forward and kept walking. As he approached the central part of town, he looked up at the skyscrapers shooting up from the ground. Across their rooftops were networks of interconnected greenhouses that spread across a square of buildings. Down two sides of each wall, plants grew, and workers repelled down from wires to water harvest vegetables. They stood out in the town, like a family of giants watching over the streets.

He smiled up at them. They were his work. He had worked with many engineers to design a layout for the buildings' alignment so that every plant received the perfect amount of sunlight. A team of researchers and himself had developed soils and fertilizers to help the crops grow faster.

Trees in the center of the square were ripe with apples. The small orchard was open for anyone. He saw people lying underneath the shade and enjoying the sunny Friday morning. He himself picked an apple off of the tree as he passed, examining the mottled, pink and yellow surface for imperfections. The sweet fruit was a sufficient snack for the rest of his walk to work.

Inside of the building, he signed in at the front desk, being sure to be extra polite to the receptionist who was already balancing many calls at the moment. He took his badge from her and continued over to the lifts to get into his office.

Jason walked into his office and sat in front of his computer. He snapped to pull up the home screen, then asked for the news. He half-listened to celebrity drama, waiting to hear something of substance. The screen then showed a news reporter standing in front of a dig site. He listened.

"... Archaeologists have discovered a piece of actual ancient technology," the screen flicked to an old, dusty sphere. "This artifact dates back to almost 70 A.D. said Professor Nathan Brin, head of the dig project," he rewound the footage to get a glimpse of the artifact. He stared at the glassy orb for almost a whole minute.

Something about it was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Oh well, he thought, no one should dwell on the past for too long...