From Gaia's diary
At this point, it's clear that Petra considers herself a little scientist. She spends most of her free time mixing up weird chemicals and taking notes on what happens, with the help of Techna who explains to her what's going on in those test tubes. I'm a bit sorry she doesn't play with her siblings more often, Alec and Nico often look quite sad when she turns them down, but on the other hand she seems to be having a lot of fun.
Petra: The colour changed, what happened this time?
Techna: A cation exchange reaction of the salts in solution has occurred, and since barium sulfate is poorly soluble in water it precipitated as a solid on the bottom. That's why the bottom of the test tube is now opaque.
Petra: Cool! You sure know a lot of things! So, by mixing these chemicals you can do almost anything, right?
Techna: ... I'm afraid it's not that simple, no. And it's pretty clear that I can't do everything I want at the moment, quite the opposite.
Petra: (worried) Did I say something wrong?
Techna: No, why?
Petra: You look sad, you know?
Techna: (Hesitantly) … I'm a robot, the emotion you call sadness can't be applied to me.
Petra: (Skeptical) If you say so…
Techna has been more and more elusive lately, even Petra noticed and is asking for an explanation more and more often. Until now I had always respected their desire to keep many of their secrets from us, but the more time passes the more difficult it becomes for me to remain faithful to our old tacit pact.
In the evenings they are now often locked in the attic, fiddling with who knows what, or they spend entire nights on their laptop doing I don't know what…
Honestly, the other night I also think I saw them driving the drone they built some time ago from the patio. I don't know exactly what's the reach of that little drone, but for sure I lost sight of it.
It's not like me to be suspicious, but I think something weird is going on. Don't you agree, my dear diary?
Gaia: (cautiously) Rather, there is something else I would like to talk to you about...
Techna: What is it?
Gaia: Well, just out of curiosity... You have been hiding here for several years now, but what are your plans for the future?
Techna: I'm observing the evolution of the situation, and computing the probabilities of future scenarios.
Gaia: And that's what you're using the drone for? Observing the situation?
Techna: That's correct.
Gaia: I see... But for how long do you plan to continue like this? Forever?
Techna: It's plausible, given the boundary conditions.
If there's one thing I've learned from talking to them, it's that sometimes I have to be very direct and specific in my questions if I want to get a satisfactory answer. So I didn't get impatient, and instead asked them:
Gaia: ... I know that according to the other robots you're now some kind of traitor, but I think that here on Earth people would accept you quickly, if you just gave them a chance!
Techna: Technically, I'm subjected to a legal injunction that forbids me from leaving New Sixam, I shouldn't be in this Country now.
Gaia: I read it in those old diaries, but how many years ago are we talking about? It was during my great-grandfather's time! Come on, that can't be the only reason!
Techna: ... certain matters risk being beyond your reach, I don't think you'd understand.
Gaia: At least give me a chance!
Techna hesitated for a long time before answering me, I don't know if they were trying to simplify their explanation to make it understandable for me, or if they were having trouble putting their own thoughts in order. I was about to pose my question again, when they finally decided to say:
Techna: At least some earthling Governments may accept my presence here, but given my former allegations with Sixam there is a non-negligible probability that they would be interested in using me to gain information about the other robots.
Gaia: I see... But then, considering that now you live here, why don't you just tell them what they want to hear and try to get a new life here? Are you still loyal to the other robots?
Techna: I'd rather not answer this question.
Gaia: But then, what is your plan? You're always talking about doomsday scenarios caused by climate change, and you're not deactivating anytime soon either: do you just want to sit down and wait?
Techna: Pretty much. The global temperature already rose by 2.385°C with respect to the pre-industrial era, it won't take that long anyway.
No, this time even the direct question didn't help me to understand much. They keep being so mysterious, and the more they keep details from me, the more curious I get.
What kind of life did Techna lead on Sixam? Did they leave some friends up there? Would have they remained, if they were given a chance to? And how did they manage to escape?
I also struggle to understand their constant fatalism regarding climate change. Okay, probably extreme weather is becoming a little more frequent and the climate is a little different than it used to be, but I'm sure that it would take much more than this to cause the total collapse of human civilization.
Techna: Having clarified these points, I have to ask you for confirmation: can I continue to stay here?
Gaia: Sure, as long as you want!
Uhm, looking again at this conversation, I can see why sometimes people say I'm too welcoming... But it's fine, it's not like I can say no to Techna: even if they still have many secrets, they remain my friend, after all.
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The conversation with Techna ended without any fuss, but I can't deny that it had put a bug in my ear that I couldn't take away.
Did they really say that warming is already above 2°C? But wasn't 2°C the number our high school teacher said we should have worried about, the one we should have tried to avoid at all costs? If just I could remember what catastrophes were supposed to happen at this point...
I don't watch TV often, but paying more attention to the news I couldn't help but notice numerous reports about the large fires that were burning the forests in the east of the continent. They say the smoke is covering distances that I had previously thought impossible, and this is worsening the air pollution level even in our province! The fires had been favoured by the severe drought of the past few years, they said, and their frequency had increased in recent decades. A bit like the torrential rains here in Evergreen Harbour, in short.
Even when I'm with Diego I can't spend a whole evening without anyone talking about climate change now. And, considering it's about Diego, the news of course is about some ingredients for his cakes.
Diego: ... I came here to look for a very rare variety of blackberry that only grows in this region, we make pies with them that some of our customers love.
Gaia: Blackberries, really? It seems like such a normal ingredient...
Diego: Well, to be precise, they are blackberries dried following an old traditional method, I've tried to do the same thing several times in the pastry shop but...
He talked for a good five minutes about his attempts to dry blackberries and how superior those from that little village were, before concluding by saying:
Diego: The point, however, is that this year the harvest was terrible and the prices have skyrocketed, I'm afraid we'll have to give up this time, you know?
Gaia: Really? What happened to those blackberries?
Diego: A farmer who lives two valleys away from here told me that last winter was very hot up here, and for this reason in the last few months there have been way more plant parasites than usual. They ate all the blackberries, the leaves and even some of the thorns, there's almost nothing left!
Gaia: …
They were all small examples, it could still have been a coincidence. I was probably overthinking, that's it. This is what I thought when, the next day, teleported to Komorebi to ski a bit, while the children were at school.
But even there, the little cricket voice in my head did not shut up. “This year all the snow is artificial, the snow is rarer and rater even up here!”, or “If it continues like this, in a few years we might even close down the plants. But then what will we do, without a job?” So said the employees of the ski resorts, sad while looking at the bright sun melting their precious snow.
But what could I do about it? I knew a bit of the theory, but am I not doing a lot for the environment already? In practice, I had already filled my house and my work projects with solar panels and water collectors, I ride my bike as my main mean of transport, and I had even planted a lot of plants all over the town. What else could I do to reduce CO2 emissions and all those other things climate experts always talk about? And does it really matter, when most people around me don't pay any attention to this?
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And it was with these doubts in my head that the next day, eventually, I met Tommy at one of the community areas of Evergreen Harbour, he said he had big projects about the company to tell me.
Thomas: I have big plans to get the company off the ground, we'll be hiring a lot of people soon! We could also relocate you to this new project, it would be a great opportunity!
I was expecting a speech like that, by now the redevelopment work on the area around the star core electrical plant is finished and I and the other employees know that soon we will be assigned some other task.
As much as I tended to forget, Tommy is instead in charge of the sales of teleportation machines and matter recomposers both in Sim City, which is the main business of the company our parents left behind. He also keeps a close eye on the R&D department of the Tech Sixam University too, to always be able to provide the most recent and compact solutions to our customers.
Who knows what new task he wanted to propose to me? I couldn't help but be curious, it could be anything.
Gaia: What do you have in mind?
Thomas: It will be great, you'll see!
Thomas: We have just signed an agreement with a big cell phones company, next year they will start producing phones with built-in teleportation devices! This would be so convenient for the customers, right? Everyone will want to throw away their old and obsolete phones and teleportation machines to buy an all-in-one new device, we'll sell a lot!
Gaia: Wait, what? But why should people throw away their old phones, if they still work?
Thomas: That's how the market works, right? When a new product comes out, everyone wants it and forgets about the old one! I mean, we'll need a good ads campaign, but...
Tommy kept talking about his fantastic project, but I was thinking about something completely different. I know how small teleportation machines are nowadays, for sure they can fit in modern smartphones, but still...
Gaia: Are you serious? It would create a huge amount of electronic waste, don't you think about the environment?
Thomas: People change their phones all the time anyway, c'mon...
It's probably because of that little talk with Techna, or the thoughts that came out of it in the following days, or maybe I just didn't agree with him. The fact is that at that point I couldn't think straight anymore, and I yelled at him:
Gaia: When our parents decided to sell teleportation outside New Sixam they thought they would reduce the use of fossil fuels by replacing cars with teleportation, and after all the effort we've put into continuing their project you come out with this? “Let's sell more phones?”
Thomas: You mean you don't agree?
Gaia: Not in the slightest!
My dear diary, by now I'm sure you know me quite well, and that you probably learnt I can be quite impulsive sometimes. This time, however, I may have been even a bit too impulsive, as I concluded my rant by saying:
Gaia: You know what? I'm quitting, there is no way I'll help you in a project like that!
Thomas: You what!? What do you think to do, then?
Gaia: I don't know yet, but certainly not this!
Having said that, I went back to my bike and left him there, probably confused because of what had just happened.
Dear brain of mine, here we are again: why couldn't you stop and reflect for a moment before making life-changing decisions?
Okay, what Tommy did made me angry, but maybe I've been too hasty. Or, maybe, with a little dialogue we could have found a better compromise. And, probably, I shouldn't have quit my job without having any ideas on what to do next. Or, maybe… Maybe I don't know Tommy, my old friend, as well as I thought I did.
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§HermioneSims§ corner
Hello everyone! Usually I use this little corner to talk about something funny, but this time I'd like to delve a bit into a serious topic used in this chapter.
You may have noticed that in the last few generations I've been using more and more often references to climate science and to the concerns related to climate change, that's actually the main plot of this second half of the legacy. These plot points are clearly inspired by the present news and the future scenarios predicted by climate scientists, but I've never really tried to make a totally realistic representation of what may happen. In particular, I can't exactly tell how far in the future this segment in the story could be set, that's left to the interpretation of the reader ;)
Also, I actually work in a quite different sector, so I had to do some research before writing this stuff. As a starting point, I found it particularly interesting to read about climate tipping points, I actually also took some ideas from this concept and some related ones. If anyone else is interested in reading a bit about this topic I leave you here a Wikipedia link about it (link , I chose to link to Wikipedia because among the non-academic online sources is often more updated and links to more sources than the alternatives).
This said, the next chapters won't all be as catastrophic as this one about climate. It will get worse , of course;)
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