Terranovus

Chapter IV - Art, Culture and Tradition

The screens behind the Commander lit up and a luscious green island appeared glimmering amongst blue water. The crowd gasped and a buzz of excitement filled the room.

What? How? Was that really a new island? The screen zoomed onto the island and flew across hundreds and thousands of acres of empty land - land filled with trees, bushes, plants and so much grass. I had never seen so much green in my life. And sand! Golden shimmering sand lined parts of the shore. It was incredible.

The Commander was grinning profusely and he leaned forward into the microphone.

"Three years ago our HQ detected an earthquake in the North Atlantic Ocean. The earthquake was so severe the Earth's crust created a small volcano island. A year later the volcano erupted and stretched the island to 110,000 square kilometres. We sent our best botanists, zoologists, marine biologists and architects to the island and two years later I can proudly announce we have produced a first-class country our ancestors would be proud of. Rich with nature, abundant with life, we have provided Terranovus with all of the technology it needs to be sustainable and innovative. 

"It has been fitted with modern self-sustainable homes-"

The screen behind the commander flickered and a modern bungalow house appeared, complete with a garden that was twice the size of the house. It was beautiful! The house itself was made of sustainable eco-friendly materials, even from this distance I recognised some of the materials I wrote about in my e-learning assignments – solar panel tiles, resident-friendly wind turbines and tinted windows that retain heat in winter but kept the house cool in summer. The gardens had tall trees, shrubs and roses and cute little wooden white fences surrounded each property. 

"We have built hospitals, offices, markets and even physical schools complete with playgrounds," continued the Commander.

At this the room whispered in excitement. The screen flew down streets, through quaint suburbs and town centres filled with large spacious buildings. The tallest building looked to be perhaps only seven stories high.

At that moment my Ingo buzzed and I looked down to see a message from Tommy, asking if it was true the Army had discovered a new island, apparently it was all over social media.

"Now, as you may be wondering – who will live here?" continued the Commander. At this everyone stopped typing away on their Ingos and leaned forward keenly. "We spent months pondering and searching for a solution that was fair, equal and unbiased for we knew everyone would want to live here. Unfortunately, Terranovus's capacity is currently only 100,000-"

At this news the room erupted in loud whispers.

"Bullshit," someone muttered from the table behind me.

"For a reason," said the Commander, his face stern and strict. The room fell silent again. "Currently only 10% of the land is habitable, we're working on the other 90%. As with a new land, there will be hiccups and setbacks which is why within the first year we want to obtain a 100,000 person population, then another 100,000 the following year.

"To ensure everyone is given the equal chance and opportunity to move to this new island, we have created a lottery system which will come into effect tomorrow evening. Once a day a family from each Sector will be drawn from a lottery and announced as new citizens of Terranovus. More information can be found online. Now, I think that is enough talking from me, let the celebration begin!"

The room erupted into a round of applause. I clapped too and watched the couple opposite me smile lovingly at each other. It would be a dream to move there. To see grass in real life would be wonderful. But only 100,000? My chances had to be 1 in a million or something crazy like that.