I told him to give me a fucking break. This was some kind of hoax. A bogus button that starts the end of the world. A boat. An island with scientists on it.
Nick said, “I’m not asking you to believe me right now. I’m asking you to come with me and discover what it is you truly believe.” I must have laughed at him. He said, “Think about how long you’ve wanted to be a part of this. Think about how you’ve been shut out of the conversation. We’re offering you a way in. We’re offering to show you all the cards. Now you can be part of the small group of people leading humanity to redemption.”
I asked him how. He said, “Say we figure out how to lower the global temperature and find a way to safely break down all the plastic we’ve dumped, all the toxins we’ve unleashed. Maybe we find a way to bring population growth down to a sustainable level and resurrect species we’ve killed off. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Wouldn’t that be just peachy? And if that’s the case, our little group, we become nothing but happy fools. That’s Plan A for humanity. We’re launching Plan B. We’re the ones who love life so much that we have to pass it on. What is to come is a beautiful age, a heroic age.”
But I couldn’t go. “My family died here,” I said. “They didn’t know they were about to die. I don’t have that luxury. I need to be here to take care of the people who don’t live on that island with the scientists and artists. The impending dystopia you talk about only looks like dystopia to those of us who’ve lived surrounded by privilege. To everybody else it’s called history. I need to be here for those people. They’re my people. I belong to them.”
Yes.
Are we finished? Is it time?
Yes. Show me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the following people and organizations for their encouragement and support. My family is tremendously loving and giving. Thank you Jen, Miles, Scarlett, Em, Mom, Dad, David, and Amy. My agent PJ Mark somehow manages to be both an incredibly generous and giving human being and a relentless bastard. Amy Hundley, my editor, is wise and exacting, a dream. Matthew Simmons, Fleetwood Robbins, and Suzanne Stockman read an early draft and provided invaluable feedback. Rick Moody, Aimee Bender, Rebecca Brown, and Stephen Elliott have been terrific friends and inspirations. Dave Cornelius, my great mentor, led me to literature. Nate Manny, whom I knew before he was a rock star, did a bangup job on the Web work and marketing stuff. Greg Comer provided amazing architectural renderings of many of the settings. Corey Jurcak and Jeff Johnson tolerantly answered my questions about speculative civil engineering, as did my father. Dr. Roger Freedman, friend and gentleman astrophysicist, provided valuable insights about space colonization. I thank the wry and talented Lori Piskur Macklin for the Spanish translations. Thanks to Tom Nissley and Brad Parsons for their wise counsel over the years. I raise a glass (or three) to Bob Braile. Richard Hugo House and Goddard College’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program saved me from a slow death in a series of cubicles. I would especially like to thank Brian McGuigan, Alix Wilber, and Sue Joerger at Hugo House for the gift of their kindness, and Paul Selig at Goddard for giving me a chance. Thanks, finally, to the Washington State Employment Security Department for the four generous writing grants.
Also by Ryan Boudinot
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Ryan Boudinot
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of such without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 or [email protected].
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