‘It’s time to leave, Inda! We’re going to be late!’ Rodger said as loudly as possible, on the verge of shouting, ‘Are you ready or not!?’
‘Just a few minutes. You don’t want me to look worse than Oprah today, do you! I need a little bit more time.’ Inda was irritated and shouted back, so that her voice would surely reach the ground floor. ‘God, it’s the same thing every time. First he pushes me, then he mumbles that I should have paid more attention to the details of my appearance so that everyone would know who’s who.’ Inda muttered, looking at the various earrings arranged in beautiful caskets on the dressing table. ‘What to wear, so that this ... Oprah would finally understand her place …’
Rodger plunged himself into an armchair in the living room, glancing from time to time at the changing background of news pictures on the large screen panel on the wall.
‘How long will it take us to get to the theater, Sith?’ Rodger asked addressing the panel.
‘Rodger, it will take no more than an hour to get to the Grand Opera. The roads are all clear at the moment.’ A route map appeared on top of the news release on the panel, occupying about a third of the screen. ‘The starting point of the route is Luxembourg. Destination: Grand Opera, Paris.’
‘Let me have a closer look at the route.’
‘The optimal route, Rodger, would be as follows,’ the assistant replied, ‘the road to the central transport hub will take you and Inda 10 minutes, at the station you will change for a high-speed TGV capsule. The journey time to Paris will take no more than 30 minutes. Then a taxi will be waiting for you at the central station in Paris, which will take you to the theater. You’ll have another 10 minutes left, Rodger. You should leave the house no later than 18:00, in 10 minutes, so that you and Inda have enough time to get to the theater with no fuss before the performance begins.’ Sith summed up. ‘Rodger, would you like to order some drinks or something special for dinner while you are on the train to Paris?’
‘Probably not. In the evening, after the theater, we are meeting with friends. I don’t want to ruin my appetite. Moreover, they promise that the chef there is just a wizard.’
‘Of course, Rodger. Is there anything else I can do for you?’
‘No, thanks. Unless you make Inda hurry up.’
‘She’s already coming down. You can leave now. The capsule is waiting for you in front of the house.’
‘OK,’ Rodger replied, getting up from his chair in his new blue-black dinner jacket, elegant shiny shoes and a maroon bow tie. It seemed that the bow tie was oversized, given Rodger’s slightly dry neck. But he couldn’t help wearing it. ‘Inda would be offended. Today is her birthday—everything should emphasize that she is special. Today is her day,’ Rodger thought.
Inda was slowly and carefully going down the staircase, lifting the hem of her dress, which shimmered with soft turquoise shades. Its simple classic lines and high rigid top emphasized the refined shape of Inda’s shoulders, while the fabric below the waist emphasized the light and slim figure of the owner of the dress. A small handbag complemented elegant blue shoes trimmed with dark beads.
‘You are absolutely dazzling, dear!’ Rodger almost whispered, staring at his wife with delight. ‘I’m glad you’ve decided to wear these earrings today. ‘Almost cobblestones on the ears,’ that’s how you described them, if I’m not confusing anything.’ Rodger said, smiling broadly.
‘Thanks, Rodge. I have to say, you look pretty good too. And the bow tie complements perfectly the color of your brown eyes.’
‘I didn’t doubt a second choosing it, Inda. Thank you, dear. It’s time to leave. The performance starts in less than an hour.’
The doors of the capsule started opening in the opposite directions as the couple approached, warmly inviting them to the passenger compartment. The dim light in the cabin gradually brightened, and the approach to the doors was additionally illuminated. The snow-white interior of the capsule trimmed with light wood stressed the status of the passengers—their lifestyle implied precisely this kind of style, refined and exquisite. Nothing prevented access to two free-standing chairs, where Inda and Rodge were supposed to be accommodated. The seat closer to the entrance moved back a little, providing even more space for the first passenger to get in. Rodger held out his hand, inviting Inda to come into the cabin. At the same moment, a step silently moved out of the capsule body. Instinctively ducking a little, Inda climbed into the cabin and took her seat. Rodger followed her. The doors closed quietly, and the seat belts fixed the passengers in place, securely and delicately. The capsule started its smooth and soundless acceleration, getting out of the street with cottages on both sides, only slightly visible through a dense hedge, neatly trimmed the other day. Approaching the entrance to the underground highway, organically integrated into the surrounding landscape, the capsule slowed down a little. A new message appeared on the route diagram on the front panel inside the car.
‘Entry 51, Highway A7: Diekirch–LUX International Transport Hub.
Distance: 40 km.
Travel time: 7 minutes.’
The capsule was just following a taxi with a pronounced orange stripe in the middle of the car. Speeding up, the cars descended into the tunnel leading towards the capital, where the main transport hub of Luxembourg was located. A minute later, the capsule joined the traffic flow and was already rushing along the main highway at the speed of 350 km/h in the leftmost lane, where there was no speed limit.
In recent days, mild April weather has settled in the Western Europe—spring was quickly taking over its domain. ‘It’s good that we didn’t have to put on any coats,’ Roger thought. The capsule suddenly shook slightly, as if it had fallen into an air pocket. Sometimes it happened on a plane. Inda was all absorbed with something on her communicator and did not pay any attention to this circumstance. Rodger took his communicator out of his jacket pocket and made a note, glancing at the information panel indicating the current route details: ‘Check the A7 highway, 31 km—field gap?’
Rodger Fehler was one of the high-ranking officers of the Central European Transport System, or ETS, the history of which dated back to the last century. At the beginning of the 21st century, forward-thinking engineers and businessmen began to realize that the economic model of the time required major changes, a profound reform. The population of Europe was aging rapidly, unwilling to make a vital investment into the future—every decade the birth rate was going down. Politicians stimulated migration by providing an influx of fresh blood. But in the end all this led to even greater economic problems, since the main issue couldn’t be solved—the performance indices of companies, and the economy on the whole, were on the downward trend. Economic challenges could have been overcome by consolidating society, resources and, of course, keeping in line with the advanced scientific developments and achievements.
When it became obvious that the first high-risk privately financed projects were working, when their positive impact on the economic growth of the region and the whole world could not be ignored any more, politicians started looking closely at those crazy undertakings, as they had been addressed before. Realizing the importance and the potential of what was happening, they could not have afforded to miss the opportunity and stay aside, watching the birth of a new model of the world, a new world order. One such project was the construction of a distributed transportation tunnel system in North America. In the middle of the last century, not only was the entire American continent riddled with underground tunnels, Europe did not fall behind either.
Europe had thousands of underground highways connecting cities from Ufa in Russia to Lisbon in Portugal into a giant network. A modern, fast, safe and reliable new transportation system acted as a springboard for the global economy, and already in the first decade after its launch added another 4% to the global GDP growth. These changes could not have been achieved in such a short time were it not for a radically different scientific approach, high-tech developments and a breakthrough in computing technology. The launch of the PAX, distributed system of cluster quantum computers, provided the additional booster effect. The name PAX was then given to the artificial intelligence, which for the first time surpassed the intellectual potential of a human being.
Twenty years later, the economy of the planet, the political structure, the whole society and the world have changed. The most daring and inventive science fiction writers of the time could not have even expected of humanity to be capable of mounting the pace of development so quickly and overcoming so global challenges.
The PAX served as a support for humanity in the invention of a new transportation system too. The logistics infrastructure, entangling the entire planet with a web of multiple multi-level underground tunnels and nodes, required an infinitely capacious, reliable and efficient energy source. A source not only free of a negative impact on the natural system, but on the contrary helping to restore the ecological balance.
The operation of ETC alone not even taking into account the American and Asian transportation systems, would require over 10 thousand gigawatts of energy annually.
The challenge to provide for a historically high level of energy consumption all over the world was exactly the factor hindering the almost universal use of the fundamentally new means of transport in the middle of the last century. The energy consumption of new levitating vehicles, based on the properties of superconducting magnets, was comparable to cars in the early 21st century. To deploy power supply lines providing for capsules movement, as the new means of transport was called, and to keep them in operation, presented an energy-intensive task. The PAX has helped the scientific community to bring a long-nurtured dream of the 100 years of history development to the level of unquestionable efficiency. The first large thermonuclear reactor, ITER, put into operation in the first half of the last century, was refined on the basis of an expanded list of AI recommendations. This resulted in a network of ITER-type installations with an almost infinite energy potential available for civilization. The cumulative estimate of the new power system capacity reached up to 1 million gigawatts. The Human has reached the next milestone in its development.
‘Inda, Rodger, we’re coming up now.’ Sith interrupted the thoughtful passengers. ‘Please get ready. Your shuttle to Paris is waiting for you on the second platform. It will take you one minute to get to the shuttle.’
The capsule slowed down and stopped in the immediate vicinity of one of the travelators reading ‘To platform No. 2: Luxembourg–Paris Shuttle’. The tracking and registration systems at the station automatically identified Linda and Rodger and registered them for all the required transfer hubs. All there was for the passengeres to do was to try to be not too late for their flights, wherever they went.
‘I will be waiting for your decision regarding the time to come back home. Have a nice evening, Linda and Rodger.’ Sith said a polite goodbye to her masters.
‘OK, Sith. Agreed. I’ll let you know,’ Rodger said, helping his wife out of the capsule.