The E Utopia Project Read Online Free

his
office.
    Sara’s deputy, Lee Wong
entered three minutes later. He was a little Chinese with spectacles that gave
him a professorial look.
    “Good morning, Sara,” he said
with a slight, almost imperceptible, Cantonese accent.
    “Morning, Wong. There is
nothing good about it.”
    “You’re right,” Wong said,
tilting his head. “Each morning is a sad reminder that another day passed
without any progress. Time is ticking away fast. We still haven’t drafted your
UN speech.”
    “Time is ticking not just for
the summit but for our survival as a planet.” Sara sighed and rubbed her hands
on her desk. “In the past, they used to say that time is money, now we say time
is life. We’re all sitting on a time bomb. Do you have any new ideas, Wong?”
    The Chinese shook his round
head. “Nope.”
    “Me too. I’ve nothing new to
tell world leaders except my theory about an extraterrestrial cause of El
Monstruo.”
    Wong sighed. “I gave your
theory much thought.”
    “And?”
    “I don’t think it holds
water. I just find it unlikely that the Solar System changed as you
hypothesized. How did the Solar System change and what do you think could have
triggered such a change? Are you suggesting that the Earth’s orbit around the
Sun changed? What exactly do you mean when you say that the Solar System
changed?”
    Sara threw her arms up. “I
don’t know. But I believe that El Monstruo has little to do with human activity
here on Earth. I’m sure that the root cause of the problem lies out of the
planet. A change in the Solar System was the best I could come up with.”
    “I give you kudos for trying
to come up with new ideas but I find your theory preposterous.” Wong folded his
arms and simpered. “The Solar System has been in existence for millions of
years without any drastic changes. Why now? If you are right, then there is
nothing we can do to save ourselves. If the Solar System changed enough in
three years to bring such drastic changes in temperature and rainfall, imagine
what will happen in the next ten or twenty years.”
    “I hope I’m wrong,” Sara said
somberly.
    “You’re wrong. A change in
the Earth’s position relative to the sun would affect temperatures but it would
not cause loss of oxygen from the atmosphere.”
    “You’re right,” Sara
relented. “My theory doesn’t hold water.”
    “Let’s concentrate on
administration, Sara. Leave the formulation of scientific theories to the
scientific community.”
    “I need something to tell world
leaders at the summit. I feel helpless. As GEMA, we should help the world fight
El Monstruo but I feel we are going nowhere.”
    “We’re doing our best, Sara.”
Wong finally sat down. “World leaders followed our recommendations and their
governments are now building standalone UVL plants throughout the world.
Although we can’t see the results yet, I believe we’re on the right track.”
    “Some force out there is
taking our oxygen,” Sara mused. “It could be aliens. Maybe some aliens with
more advanced technology than us want our oxygen for industrial use.”
    “Aliens,” Wong scoffed.
“Don’t let your frustration get the better of you, Sara.  We’ll find something
new for you to tell world leaders at the summit. Don’t tell them about aliens for
God’s sake. They’ll all think you have gone nuts. The answer to the problem
lies here on Earth. I believe that if we look hard enough, we’ll find it.”
    “Wong, we can’t leave
anything to chance. The countries of the world have to create a space force to
protect our atmosphere against possible alien activity.”
    Wong snickered. “A space
force?”
    “Yes,” Sara said with unflinching
conviction.
    “Sara, I hope you don’t plan
to tell that to world leaders.”
    “That is going to be one of
my recommendations to the world leaders at the summit,” she declared.
    “They will scoff at you. The world’s
governments need money to build dams, sand reduction plants and UVL