The Ashan Report: An Idiosyncratic Sci-Fi Adventure

Part One

ZEITGEIST

Make no mistake: ours is a relentless fight of thought against instinct – the elusive human nature versus the ever-evolving conscious mind – the primal instinct to compete versus the conscious need to cooperate. This isn't a classic battle, not in the normal sense, as there is no winner or loser… Instead, in the face of the overwhelming fight we face, we settle on the compromise of co-existing with both conditions, establishing a sort of natural equilibrium. This is the root of our most complex problems.

Jakarta. Thursday, April 15, 2320. 1:30 PM, Local Time

The protest outside is causing a lot of noise, but nobody seems to notice or care. Despite the desperate period humanity is trying to overcome, a fragile sense of normality is still driving people’s lives, children still go to schools and graduate universities; hope is not yet lost and dreams of a better future are still being dreamt. The crowded room is buzzing with all the students trying to find their seats. The faded, yellow sunlight making its way through the large windows does little more than emphasize all the dust floating in the air. The old, scratched metal and wood furniture is almost a luxury for many. The building, a reminiscence from the old era, repurposed years ago for the Civil Council’s University in Jakarta, is right next to a small park, in front of the newly built Council Hall.

The room slowly starts to quiet down as professor Jawaad Noya - a prominent name in human, social and political sciences – makes her entrance. The tiny woman, well in her fifties, wearing her usual two-piece white suit and large purple hat, is in extreme contrast with the gray and dusty room. She was appointed by the Civil Council to hold a special lecture for today’s celebration – another welcomed chance for her to inspire the young minds attending.

She briefly analyzes the class as she’s making her way to the center of the podium.

Good afternoon class. Please be seated.

All the senior students are present, quietly watching the professor as she sets her tablet on the stand. Looking down at the bright display, slowly scrolling through her notes, she addresses her audience. Who can tell me why we’re all here today?

We’re here to celebrate, professor, answers one of the young minds, seated near the center of the classroom. Today is the day that marks two-hundred years since we sent the terraforming probe to Asha. After a short pause, he continues with a sarcastic tone, Or, more accurately, today marks two-hundred years of incompetence from our leaders, professor, and we’re all here to celebrate it.

The room seems somewhat amused, a soft murmur of whispers slowly taking over the background noise. But Noya isn’t impressed and barely shows a slight nod, before addressing the student directly: I see... It’s great that you can see the incompetence, as you call it. You don’t agree with it?

Of course not. Does anyone? The situation we are in… is simply unacceptable.

She takes a few seconds to look around the room, quietly examining her audience. And what do the rest of you think? Do you agree with your colleague?. Her question is met with a brief and determined confirmation.

Well... I do agree with you, it is unacceptable. After a short pause, she lifts her head and looks the young student in the eye: "But tell me, what are you doing to change it? Aren’t you just as incompetent as those you accuse? Simply hiding under your superficial excuses… I’m just a student, what can I do?, or That’s not my job, our leaders should solve these problems, not me. Is any single one of you doing anything, anything whatsoever, to change the unacceptable state we are in today?"

Puzzled, the student looks away, avoiding eye contact.

Certain that she’s captured the entire room’s attention, Noya paces around the podium, making involuntary hand gestures as she delivers her speech. The word you’re looking for is not incompetence, but ignorance, I think… Of course, this isn’t new. It’s not something recent, happening only in the past two decades… Or even the past two centuries. No… Throughout our entire history we can clearly see it. Egos more powerful than common interests, assigning blame instead of finding solutions... History, my young and eager minds, history is an indistinguishable entanglement of truths and lies, written and told and studied by all of us and all those before us… And everyone that is yet to be born, as we, right now, at this very moment, are writing the history future generations will learn. Remember this… The past is a tool, offering us a way to look back and forever wonder how we could have done things differently; a way for us to clearly see the crucial importance of key decisions… sadly, only after they’ve been already made. Of course you can see the incompetence now, after learning about our history, after reading about the effects our past decisions had. And of course you can determine what should have been done, instead of what had been done. Why did we choose so poorly, so many of you wonder… The never-ending discussions that starts with that simple… what if…?

Noya stops and turns towards the young student. But what are you doing different from all those before you?. Making her way back to the center of the podium, she signals him to stand up. What’s your name, young man?

Reluctant, the student complies with her request: Filip, professor...

"Unfortunately, my dear Filip, my initial question wasn’t about our reason for gathering here today, but for the reason we are all here. The human race. Mankind. She looks to the rest of the class. So. How did we get here, on the brink of extinction, as a race? What are those crucial moments when we should have chosen differently?"

The question comes as a surprise, all eyes lost in thought, contemplating, searching for an answer. They all gathered here expecting just another lecture, not a thought experiment.

Noya, just standing there quietly, patiently waiting: Anyone?

There are hundreds of reasons why we’re in this situation someone finally answers. Perhaps hundreds of known and unknown decisions that led us here. But I think, probably one of the most important reasons why we’re so close to failing as a race, is because of all the wars, the endless fighting for territory and resources, for control. I believe that’s what kept our ancestors from focusing on what should have been done…

Wars. The fight for resources. Greed. Good. Let’s start with this and perhaps by the end of this discussion you’ll all see the true reason we’re here, says Noya. Filip, you’re already standing up, so perhaps you could help me. Let’s go back to the formation of the World Alliance, the Unification Act. What caused it? What determined our forefathers to demand it?

Filip, a passionate history reader, seems relieved to be asked about a topic he knows well. I believe the mechanism that led to the signing of the World Alliance was put in motion in the early 21st century. Sure, we know now just how important the health of our planet is, but back then no one seemed to care. Not really. Despite a few attempts to work together and slow the accelerating decay of our planet, despite signing agreements several times, the world’s leaders of that period never seemed to truly grasp the importance of their decision to ignore nature – or all the scientists making endless pleas to pay more attention to our precious world. No… People’s focus in that age was somewhere else entirely. Huge consumption rates meant that corporate interests were driving the economy and, in turn, the economy was dictating politics; so it’s no surprise that a lot of territories were involved in armed conflicts over natural resources all over the globe. Back then, humankind was geographically divided into countries, each with its own leader, each considering itself more important than any other, each struggling to get the upper hand in the never-ending race for control over rich territories. It’s hard for me to imagine what it must have been like, hundreds of leaders all wanting what someone else had…

Noya interrupts Filip to address the class. Indeed. It’s hard now to realize the incredible friction and tension this must have implied. With no central leadership, Earth was heading in 195 different directions, that’s how many different countries and different leaders we had. Imagine the improbability that they would all agree or decide on a common direction to follow.

The noises outside seem to be getting louder as the protest is moving closer to their building. Noya points to Filip, instructing him to continue with his story as she walks to the open window and closes it.

The Third World War started over an area now known as the Syrian Strip, an area of strategic importance for several, conflicting powers. It’s not entirely clear what caused the final escalation that lead to the entire world entering the war, but tensions had been growing for years; the historical records of that period are conflicting and different entries from different nations are telling very different stories, so we don’t even know the exact date when the war started, we just know that it was somewhere in the Autumn of 2017.

Noya decides to intervene, glancing around the room. I want to make something clear to all of you, because I know most of you are imagining a world war much like the fighting we’ve had last year. A world war is exponentially more devastating and consuming than a revolution. A revolution generally involves less militarized conflict, certainly less heavy arms – like tanks or armed aircraft – and definitely a lot less so called weapons of mass destruction – like bombs that could destroy entire cities or weaponized viruses that can eradicate entire nations; the damage caused by a civilian revolution trying to overthrow the leadership is considerably less than the heavily armed forces waging wars for competing nations. She turns to Filip. I appreciate your knowledge on the subject, but let’s jump forward a little. We don’t want to bore everybody with details, do we?

Filip shyly smiles in agreement. After the Third World War, there were almost thirty years of sporadic peace with only localized armed conflicts. But previous tensions were never resolved, so the world again joined in another, even more devastating. When it finally ended in the late 21st century, the peoples of Earth were still divided, barely surviving, desperately trying to recover. Years of bombardments and blatant disregard for nature left eleven billion people struggling with heavy pollution and global water shortages. Water, ground and air pollution meant crops couldn’t be effectively grown anymore and famine quickly became one of the worst problems in human history. And as the dominoes started falling, solving this and other problems became increasingly difficult as technology prices were spiking due to the depletion of the much-needed rare earth elements, consumed or destroyed by the wars.

Noya signals Filip to sit down as she’s taking over the story.

"And that’s just part of the problem. Competing megacorporation interests, corrupted politics and conservative religions, all with their own agendas, were effectively blocking any kind of chance mankind had to survive. Millennia of greed-based thinking was finally, and literally killing people on an unprecedented scale. Earth was at its worst, incomparable with any other period in our entire history. And instead of solutions, records indicate that leaders were preparing for yet another world war. History’s inaccuracies sometimes deprive us of the most important details… It’s unclear