On a smoggy wednesday morning in New York, something strange happened. As workers bustled about on the streets en route to their industrial jobs, one of them noticed something peculiar. That strange thing, as it happened, is the beginning of this story. He was walking on the sidewalk, carrying a small sack with his meager lunch, listening to the clicking and clacking of the carriages as they rattled down the street when he noticed an odd shimmering in the air. It was visible enough to stop him in his tracks, much to the garbled shouts and complaints from those further back down the sidewalk. As people passed him on his right and left, he continued to be transfixed by the peculiar shimmer. It warped, shifting its position and creating a strand that wisped off to his right. It seemed to trail off into an alley. He pushed his way through the writhing mass of people, reaching the alley with one final shove. The alley was full of steam billowing in the the early morning. He walked into the massive white cloud.... And walked out into a different world. The sky was the color of the ocean on a calm day. The light was so bright that he found he was briefly blinded. He realized the ease of which he could breathe, noticing suddenly the lack of pollutants in the air. As his eyes adjusted, he began to observe the world around him. The street was very clean, and the buildings seemed to be made of polished silver, shining brightly in the morning sun. There was a gentle breeze that seemed to carry the smell of a meadow that reminded him of his childhood. As he looked around in wonder, he heard a voice behind him
"Hello sir! You appear to be lost, do you need assistance?"
"Um.. Hello mister" He managed to stammer in reply, turning to face the plain dressed, clean faced man who had addressed him "wh...where.. Where exactly am I?"
"District 1, Section B, Lat transit line 3 and Long transit line 24" the man replied, smiling
"Excuse me, but I mean what.. What city am I in?" he asked, becoming increasingly confused with the rather odd string of words this clean shaven man had just uttered
"Why, you're in the People's Cooperative New York City! Some claim it's the most beautiful urban habitat zone in the system. It's also got plenty of history too" the man replied, seemingly bemused by this stranger's odd questions
"Oh. Okay then"
"Say there fellow, what's your name? Mine's Jack" Jack offered, drawing back the wandering gaze of our hero
"Nice to meet you! My name is Harry. If you don't mind me asking, Jack, um.. But what year is it?"
"It's 2085. Do you need me to take you to the Clinic? Have you hit your head?" Jack asked, worriedly
"No, no.. I'm okay. Just..." He trailed off
"Are you new here? Would you like me to show you around?" Jack asked
"Thank you! I would really appreciate it"
"Okay. Well I'll give you a tour. My labor shift doesn't begin for another hour. What do you want to see?"
"Um.. I don't rightly know. Say, why are the buildings so shiny? Do you have to polish them?" Harry asked perplexedly
At this, Jack began to laugh, stopping once he realized Harry was serious
"Oh.. Well, all of these building are covered in photovoltaic cells. You see, after the climate scare of 2020, there was a widespread realization that things had to change. A mandate was passed soon thereafter that buildings should be made to be self sufficient. Thus the photovoltaic cells. They power a battery that takes over at night, or on particularly cloudy days"
"Photo-?" Harry stuttered, prompting Jack to laugh
They walked down the street for sometime, passed occasionally by the incredibly fast, silent vehicles that Jack called Mag-lev trains. Jack showed Harry the many wonders of his world, from pointing out the eco-roof food production units, to the automated waste collection machine. All the while, Harry was barraging Jack with a flood of questions.
"So is the United States at war with anyone? England? I could feel a conflict between them brewing for some time." Harry keenly asked
"The United States...of America? Well, we no longer have a 'United States of America'. The individual countries of the world have given up their nationalist separatism. Now we have a United States of Earth which functions much like the former in that it's made up of a union of many states (most of which were once countries). We have a senate that meets every month to discuss affairs" He replied, much to Harry's amazement
"Well, what do you do for a living?" he asked, hoping to get a reply that he could make more sense of
"A Living? There is no longer a need to 'make a living' as most work is done through automated processes"
"Then how do you make money?"
"We have found that an arbitrary monetary system leads to exploitation and misery. Workers become non-entities, their worth based solely on their ability to produce. We believe that people are more important than commodities"
"Wait. How do you get food? How are you able to gain anything?"
"We have such an excess of goods that we no longer need to worry about any shortages. If everyone had two of every single thing in the world, there would be four of every single thing left over! As for food, you saw the rooftop eco-roof food production units. They produce enough food for everyone in each building. If there isn't enough, for some odd reason, one need only ask and before long, a delivery vehicle would bring food, and then some. The same applies if one craves a foodstuff that you aren't able produce on a rooftop food production unit"
"But if you don't have to work, what do you do all day?" Harry asked, trying to grasp the concept of this society with some difficulty
"Well, we create. We explore. We have had one of the largest continuous pushes in human advancement ever. We have established colonies on the moon, Venus, Mars and on Titan., and we have a unmanned ship en route to Proxima Centauri. We have also had one of the biggest blossomings of artists, producing an immense quantity of work."
"Oh."
"You see, Harry, we believe that people are more important than anything else, such as monetary constructs. None of what we achieve matters if there are no people to see it!" Jack said, stopping and turning to face Harry "We are the eyes of the universe, the sentients of the Abyss, and before all this-" he said gesturing around him "was created, it seemed we were perpetually attempting to gouge our eyes out to attain some status that we created out of nowhere. It was ridiculous. Look, the thing is this; we are all just people, and we must appreciate that"
At this, Jack produced a small, glowing device from his pocket
"It was nice getting to know you, Harry, but you'd better be getting back. So long" he said, tapping the device.
Harry awoke with a start to a policeman tapping his shoulder.
"Hey there Mister, you alright?"
"I have just seen the most wonderful thing!" Harry replied, still contemplating what Jack had told him.
