COVER FEATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | FICTION
the poorest 90 percent of the countries in
the world.- Likewise, all contact between the most
fortunate nations and the others was sup-
pressed and all movement banned. - That happened first.
- The intention was to cut off the sourc-
es of information and the possibilities of
movement of the less fortunate sector of the
species: to prevent it from anticipating what
was going to happen. - What was to happen was at first called
the Exodus. Later, the Retreat. Finally, the
advertising agency in charge of the cam-
paign was replaced by another one, more
closely allied to a handful of extremely pow-
erful billionaires. - The second agency dubbed the proposal
as the Advance Party and proposed it as a
project for the whole of humanity. - That is to say, the portion of humanity
that knew about the plan, that saw the vid-
eos and the announcements, and to which
the shutdown of global communications
had been sold as a great achievement, in the
face of the threat of the resentful, the wicked,
the savages. - The project consisted of opening up new
habitable areas: nothing less than the colo-
nization—now that the Earth was heating
up—of the polar regions. - Thousands of years of ice had melted. It
would soon be a temperate zone. It was nec-
essary to get there first, before the others.
To establish areas for housing, cultivation,
mining, or oil exploitation. - The stories of the great European
explorers from previous centuries were
revived: those who had died in search of
the South Pole or the Northwest Passage.
There was talk of heroism, adventure,
effort, and triumph.- Later, the war of extermination against
the populations that were already living in
the polar areas began. They would not be
part of the Advance Party. - In this war, the wealthiest and fiercest
weapons companies were able to put their
conventional arsenal into action as never
before in history. - Never had there been a war so big or so
quick against the rest of the world: the rest
of the 90 percent, because they had been
kept sufficiently at bay, and it was expected
that most would die in the first decade alone
of the Advance Party.
70. Beside this, always in the back of the
minds of the best people on Earth, lay the
Grand Experiment.
71. This was not actually an articulated
principle, much less promoted or studied.
But they all defended it, and it was easy to
understand.
72. The Grand Experiment was simply the
objective of the existing political and eco-
nomic systems during that period of the
world, and of their predecessors.
73. The Grand Experiment: to maximize the
welfare and power—and at the same time to
minimize the size—of the ruling castes.
74. Many decisions were made, as always,
with the implicit aim of ensuring the success
of the Grand Experiment.
75. For example, the big weapons manufac-
turers should receive greater opportunities
to develop and sell their products, which
meant using the ones they already had.
76. In this way, several nuclear bombs were
used in areas that were already considered
lost. Above all, in those near the bor-
ders of the fortunate nations, to intimidate
through fear.
77. And other forms of subtler and less
polluting weapons were deployed in more
remote areas.
78. The first to arrive in the newly cleared
polar areas were the workers: millions of
bodies, with the help of machines, in charge
of preparing the land, erecting buildings,
constructing new cities.
79. They all came from their regions’ lower
castes and were slaves: hired as such, or
taken from prisons, and other sources of
personnel for forced labor.
80. Most were not going to return nor had
anywhere else to go.
The project consisted
of opening up new
habitable areas:
nothing less than the
colonization – now that
the Earth was heating
up – of the polar
regions.56 W LT SUMMER 2019.
.
.