Memoria

Ella had her legs up on the edge of the balcony, surrounded by flowers and house plants, enjoying the view of the park in front. She was sipping on a glass of Barolo, relishing the rich taste of the wine and the quiet scene around her. She had put in a mix of vegetables to roast in the oven and had bought a couple of nut cheeses to serve later tonight when Zoe finished work.

Ella and Zoe had dinner together every night. It was a tradition much enjoyed by both. Zoe was working late today as she had a meeting with the Head of Beyond-Earth Partnerships, who was responsible for marketing the Memoria product in the Martian colonies. Her office was on one of the community’s top floors, which is where all the working spaces were located.

The community consisted of several buildings - a main residential building, a gym, several restaurants and a holiday hub. The lush park, 10 km in diameter was right in the middle of the estate. From satellite view, the community looked like the Apple HQ in the early/mid 2000s, now a museum within the “ExAmerica” communal area. Ella and Zoe lived in the “ExEuro” communal area which spread across what was formerly known as Switzerland, Italy and France.

The communal areas were built on lands with high altitude that were left intact by the “Big Flood” of 2085. Formerly ski pistes, the mountain slopes now had more of a Mediterranean feel to them, with some shores forming up small pebbled beaches. The communal area was protected under a giant dome that was rooted deep into the ocean and would form a half circle over the land, reaching over 8km in height. People called these massive protective bubbles “umbrellas”. The umbrellas maintained an environment that made it possible for humans, as well as other organic matter, to survive on Earth. The land under the umbrellas would still produce fruit and vegetables and people would still be able to enjoy nature. Travel between the umbrellas was possible, but time consuming and costly as the only option was to travel by electric car in one of the tunnels built by The Boring Company in the 2020s.

****

Zoe put her palm up to lock in her workstation and headed downstairs to her flat for dinner with Ella.

- Hey, how was work? - Ella said enthusiastically. She was happy that food will be served soon now that Zoe was back.

- Yeah, good, seems like we’ll be hitting our target for newly activated Memoria lockets this quarter.

- Oh nice, you deserve a glass then! - Ella was excited to have a drinking buddy now.

- Have you added anyone new to your Memoria collection? - asked Zoe casually.

- Nah, I’ve been watching too much of Natalia’s grandmother’s reel of her gap year in Napoli when she was 24 - Ella was a bit tired of speaking about Memoria at this point.

- Oh, the views must be amazing! I am guessing a lot of trips to sandy beaches and delicious smelling pasta - dreamily said Zoe. The sense of smell was the newest feature on the Memoria locket.

- Yeah… Are you hungry? I’ve put some veggies to roast - Ella really wanted to change the subject.

- Sure, let’s do it! Hm, I kind of wish we had a version of Memoria to see what’s going on on Mars, don’t you?

- I can’t imagine it’s a lot of fun to look at landscapes of red dust.

- Yes, but I’ve heard the living compartments are really cool… and there’s a lot of partying going on! At least, for those not involved in the construction…

- Maybe. I still prefer to enjoy the greenery and the beaches.

When faced with the choice on whether to expatriate to Mars or stay on Earth, Ella and Zoe decided to stick to Earth as they valued nature, old school food & drinks and also did not want to be slapped with a “childless” tax on Mars. Reproduction technology had not developed enough to completely eradicate the natural method of conception, so young heterosexual couples were first in line for expatriation on Mars. They also received benefits for each child, as well as housing, provided by the Universal government. Childless couples, on the other hand, would need to pay tax for the fact that they are not reproducing and just taking up space on the Martian colony. Building a new world from scratch was a lot of work, so the Universal government was in a rush to create more humans on Mars.

- Yes, you are right! And we get to produce more content for the Colony here - Zoe was really buying into the Government’s campaigns aimed at encouraging people to create memories of life on Earth.

- Oh yeah, what a treat! - Ella viewed these efforts with a healthy dose of suspicion.

- Don’t mock me now! We still enjoy memories recorded decades ago. Speaking of which ... have you seen this week’s most viewed reel yet?

- No, not yet.

- Let’s have a look then! Do you want to?

- Yeah, sure…

Zoe unzipped her top, which was made of stretchy thermo-regulating fabric. Memoria’s v4 heart-shaped locket looked very elegant around her neck. It was made of gold, which was resistant to the atmosphere outside of the umbrellas on Earth and Mars. This ensured the content will be protected in case a locket gets exposed to the outside environment. Memories from life on Earth before 2085 were precious, so the lockets were made of top notch materials that would ensure their survival for generations. In the centre of the heart there was a small ruby-like stone that held all the information stored on the locket. Zoe stood in front of the black screen, which was almost the same size as the wall, and raised her palm up. The screen activated and connected with the stone.

Tammy, the virtual assistant, popped up.

- Good evening, Zoe! How can I help? - said Tammy. She was digital but scarily real looking, as the image was very precise and three-dimensional.

- Hi, Tammy! Can you please play this week’s most viewed reel on Memoria?

- Yes, sure! Here is this week’s most viewed reel on Memoria. This is Jason and he’s sharing the reel left to him by his great-grand uncle - Johnny from his gap year spent on Bali in 2018.

The screen flickered and Tammy was gone.

The reel started with Johnny sitting in a garden, surrounded by huge palm trees having breakfast. His plate was full of mangoes, bananas and pineapples.

Ella fully appreciated why this was rated as top viewed - such fruit didn’t exist anymore and fruit in general was even more of a hype on Mars where it was extremely scarce and considered a luxury. The fragrance of the freshly cut mangoes filled the room. “This new fragrance feature is a smash hit”, thought to herself Zoe.

Johnny was then joined by a bunch of other young looking guys, in shorts, messy hair and Patagonia T-Shirts. They were sipping on coffee, chatting and enjoying the tranquility of the garden. After having finished eating, they each picked up what looked like a wooden board with sharp edges from the floor.

Luckily, Memoria had a trivia feature as well, which explained the history and usage of various items, that did not exist anymore. Apparently, that wooden board was called a surfboard and people would use it to ride the ocean waves. Then, another trivia bubble popped up and gave a definition of a “wave”. Audiences would need that as waves could not form anymore because the umbrellas were designed to control the water coming to the shores, keeping oceans as still as a pond.

Johnny was now heading to the beach with his buddies. They were walking on a dusty road, surrounded by unidentifiable but tropical looking plants. Once they reached the beach, the view got even more mesmerising. The ocean looked so alive, with huge waves forming, enlarging and then splashing with tremendous power.

Ella and Zoe were standing in front of the screen, speechless. They were both amazed by the views and sad to realise how much the Earth had changed in the past 100 years or so.

Back on the Balinese beach, the boys picked up their surfboards and headed into the sea.

- Wow, this gets even better - murmured Ella.

These days it was impossible to get into the ocean. There were still beaches with sand and palm trees in certain community areas, however the water carried a lot of the same poisonous particles that existed in the atmosphere outside of the umbrellas. People enjoyed being at the beach and looking at the water, but actually swimming in it or even putting one foot inside could cause serious health issues. Hence why most beaches would have swimming pools, attached to bars where people could enjoy a refreshing swim and a drink. The “sun” under which beach goers would lay was a result of a high tech heating system designed for the umbrellas. Being under the actual sun was unthinkable at this point.

Johnny was apparently decent at surfing as he managed to catch quite a few waves to the bewilderment of Ella and Zoe, and surely anyone else watching in 2150. The reel ended with him sitting on the beach, drying up under the scorching sun, silent and content. Memoria did not have an empathy feature, but the audiences could not miss the happiness that oozed from Johnny’s face at that final scene of the reel. Something about the way he was breathing and staring into the vast landscape in front was telling of the calm content and peace that Johnny felt from the sight of the ocean.

- That’s the end of Johnny’s summer in Bali reel. Here are some suggestions on what to watch next. Would you like to continue? - Tammy’s voice popped out of nowhere, almost ruining the moment for Ella and Zoe. The screen was now showing a few other reels similar to Johnny’s, most of them of people at pool parties.

- No, thanks, Tammy. Turn screen off - said Zoe. She raised her palm up and the screen turned black again.

- Well, that was something! - said Ella.

- Yeah, it sure was - murmured Zoe and they both fell silent for a brief moment.

- Ok, let me grab the dinner. Also, a glass of Barolo? - suggested Ella.

- Yes, definitely - replied Zoe.

- Do you think whatever Memoria records from us will be interesting for people to watch in 100 years?

- Yeah, I guess. Probably the Earth will be no more by then. Everyone will be living on Mars.

- Ha, maybe the memories of the last Earthlings will be a huge hit!

After dinner, Ella and Zoe headed to the balcony and sat down on the garden chairs they had bought specifically for sunset watching. Luckily, sunsets could still be enjoyed under the umbrellas as they were made of transparent and very subtle material.

The ruby-like stones on their lockets flickered. It meant that Memoria was recording this moment.