Plastic

He was walking along the Atlantic coast one evening. The weather was fair, as it always is now, never changing. He spends his evenings scouring the coast for small pieces of plastic. How hilarious it is, he thought to himself, that just 200 years ago people discarded plastic waste as if it had no value. If they only knew then that they were holding a substance so valuable it would become the dominant form of future currency. There’s only one way to make plastic, and that’s oil, and oil has been gone since before my time. They wasted it all literally lighting it on fire. If they only know burning it was the most inefficient way possible to utilize the energy contained within. These days a plastic bottle cap is a wage for a day, a whole bottle, a week. It’s the energy inside that matters, ha, matter, a pun. Like ambergris and seaglass of old, the beach has become the stomping grounds of treasure hunters, hoping to capitalize on the carelessness of the last 10 generations.

It’s all about gravity, gravity and magnetism; not like the magnets on your fridge, something different. I don’t understand it all. Contained in this cap is the current and flow of the universe. What they do with all that energy, I do not know. It certainly isn’t for the benefit of you and me; Well, I take that back, the weather doesn’t kill us anymore, I know that much, they tell us the planet is on a “new path,” and that we have avoided our predetermined fate to collide with another celestial body. Life is hard though, most of us are struggling just to get by. Just then he stumbled upon it, what was it? Half buried in sand, the dark color of tree bark; he almost kept walking but something compelled him to investigate further. As he picked it up, he noticed it was something man made. As he scratched the surface he exposed a portion of it’s luminescence, it felt delicate in his hand. He wondered how it had survived intact this long. The long, delicate chain he now realized was coated in some stain of time. He worked the material in his fingertips, rubbing off what he could, exposing portions of its splendor. At the end of the chain there was a small heart shaped shaped disc, apparently fused shut with corrosion. He felt a sensation of warmth emanating from within his chest, which felt almost like a distant memory. He dismissed the sensation as it was overshadowed by the growl of his stomach, which had not been filled in some time. All he could think about was if he wanted to eat red paste or brown paste with his green paste for dinner. Tired from the day’s endeavor, he put the disc and chain in his pocket and started walking home. Two bottle caps and a half broken plastic fork was an honest days work; more than he’d hoped for. He stopped by the drop-off kiosk and deposited his bounty in the chute. “Thank you citizen! Your efforts make all the difference! 124,302 universal credits have been deposited to your account. Have a splendid day!”.

Back at his “hab hole” as he liked to refer to his humble abode, he settled in for the evening. Green paste was light, vegetal, effervescent. Hints of tropical fruits, the tang of acid, a hint of salt. How pleasing he imagined it would be contrasted to the metallic, roasted, umami like qualities of brown paste. What fantastical fiction he would watch tonight on the holo-wall before going to bed dominated his thoughts. His 6 ft by 10 ft habitat didn’t seem so small once the holographic walls were activated. Of course, it was all an illusion, quickly ruined if he veered as much as a foot from his seated position. In the background he heard the public announcement channel. “Just a friendly reminder, at 08:00 universal standard time, there will be a scheduled gravimetric impulse vector correction lasting 2 minutes. Remember to take your red pills 20 minutes before this scheduled vector correction to avoid nausea and headaches. Remember, gravimetric impulse corrections are safe and there is no evidence of lasting ill effects to humans.” “Great,” he thought to himself. He always hated these. He felt so strange for hours afterwards; trouble sleeping, blurry vision, upset stomach, nausea, and a cloudy headed feeling. Every few months they would do these, changing the Earth’s elliptical orbit ever so slightly to avoid collision with “the big one”. They say there’s nothing to worry about and estimate we will only have to do a few more of these before the planet is outside of the collision path. “Would it really be so bad if they just let us run into that thing anyway?” he thought to himself briefly, before dismissing his dark sided humor.

07:59 universal standard time. “This is a reminder of the scheduled gravimetric impulse correction. There will be a planetary blackout during this time as all available energy reserves will be diverted to the impulse drive. Normal planetary power will be restored at 08:02:01 UST. There is no cause for alarm. Don’t panic”. He never took his red pills.

As the lights went out there was a complete silence. An uncomfortable silence. The hab floor began to shake slightly as the night’s sky became brightly illuminated with aurora. An otherworldly green and purple hue blanketed the night sky, quickly organizing itself into linear currents oriented obliquely to the horizon. At this time he felt something hot in his pocket. He reached in and grabbed the chain and heart shaped disc he had found earlier. The heat in his hand was uncomfortable. His vision began to blur and he had an intense, piercing headache. He dropped to the floor fearing he would faint. As his knees impacted the hab floor a flash of light overtook him and suddenly he was elsewhere.

Looking down, he could see cobblestone neatly oriented side by side. Moss and grass grew between the stones. He heard a loud clamor and looked up. He hurriedly moved to avoid being trampled by 2 clydesdales carrying a 4 wheeled cart filled with barrels and hay. The horses jumped to avoid him while the driver yelled at the horses and pulled the reigns fervently to get them back on course. As he looked up, he found himself in broad daylight in what appeared to be a bustling city center. Street peddlers hollered for pedestrians to take interest in their wares. The smell of smoke and meat filled the air as food vendors were cooking meals over open flames in shantily clad street stalls. People dressed in petticoats and top hats walked the side walks in front of storefronts clad with wavy, bubble laden glass. Looking about, he found the by passers seemed unaware of his presence, often walking within inches of him without taking any notice.

Across the street, he could hear a little girl crying. She was clad in a peach and white striped dress with a matching hat and umbrella. Directing his attention in that direction, he began walking towards her. She was cowered over a drain culvert, balling tears as she reached in the grates with her fingers. Her caretaker was urging her to move along and continue walking, seemingly embarrassed at the scene she was causing. He crouched down next to the girl and asked, “what is the matter.” The crying girl exclaimed she had lost her locket in the drain. She wailed that it was her only remaining possession reminding her of her mother. The caregiver, with a stern voice, asked to whom the girl was speaking. “Don’t you see him he’s right there!” she exclaimed. “How many times have I reprimanded you about your lying, you are going to sit on the stool when we get home!”, exclaimed the caretaker. “I’m not lying he‘s right there,” replied the girl as she looked into my direction. Just then, he noticed again the heated object in his hand. As he looked down he noticed the chain and heart shaped disc were no longer corroded and brown, but were in fact a bright lustrous gold. He held it up amazed at the seemingly unexplained transformation. As he lifted it up to his face the girl exclaimed “My locket!, ohhhh thank you so much!” as she quickly grabbed it from his hand with joy. Her caregiver grabbed at her arm and directed her to continue walking. She kept staring at her presumed lost treasure smiling with a new found skip in her walk. He smiled to himself, and placed his hand on his knee to brace himself to stand. As he pushed up from the ground, he felt a spinning sensation in his head and a palpable rush of wind on his face. As soon as he made it to a standing position he found himself back alone in his hab hole. A few seconds passed and the lights in his habitat turned back on. An audible tone was heard followed by a message from the public announcement system. “We are pleased to announce the return of normal operations. The gravimetric correction is now complete. Remember there is no health risk to humans and any ill effects should resolve within 15 minutes.” Astounded by the events he had just witnessed, he stood there silent for several seconds. Had he passed out and imagined it all during the gravimetric correction? Reminded of the heat from the heart shaped metal disc, he observed his hands, with palms upfacing; They were empty.