The Island City and its Implications for Humankind

David Stone

 University of Michigan, 2071

Introduction

Global climate change has affected the planet’s oceans to the point that it has made many low-lying coastal cities uninhabitable. In response to this, starting in the late 2020s organizations public and private from many different countries have invested heavily in aiding this displaced population.

Enter the so-called “island city.” These marvels of modern engineering accommodate former citizens of Florida, Louisiana, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Burma, the Maldives, Micronesia, and many Caribbean and Pacific islands as well as other low-lying areas who were forced from their homes by the still rising waters. Basing their designs on oil rigs of their day, engineers, geologists and marine scientists collaborated to plan and build cities literally on the water. These cities were, and still are being built on underwater shelves, and are supported by networks of massive 10-foot steel I-beams.

The first and largest of these cities is Prizhina. A joint venture by Russian and Italian firms, Prizhina was built in 2026 on top of an underwater mountain in the South Pacific as an experimental solution to the rising oceans (The traditional solution would have been to concentrate populations further inland, and therefore destroy increasingly valuable farmland.) The experiment worked. The city held up excellently during storms, and existing shipping lanes were used to provide goods, with only a modest increase in price over land-based living.

Refugees began to flood in. New sections were added to Prizhina and new cities were built at the same time. Commerce flourished and several cities, Prizhina included, became centers for international trade akin to Singapore or Hong Kong. Ultra-efficient hydroponic farms were built, though much food still has to be imported. Buildings were covered with lush vegetation in order to make the salt air more pleasant to breathe.

Prizhina today has a population of over 800,000, mainly of Netherlands and United States descent, though in recent years Bangladeshi and Burmese immigrants have diversified the population even more. An average of two people per day becomes permanent residents of Prizhina.

Prizhina is but one of the many thousands of island cities, which range in population from 80 to 800,000, and this will indeed be the primary development in human settlement for the next century.

 Todd breathed in the cool, fresh air after stepping out of the office building. Another dismal day at work. He hated his job, he hated his life. Not that he was suicidal, or even depressed. It was just… his life hadn’t turned out the way he had wanted.

“If only I hadn’t chickened out back in senior year,” he thought as he walked toward the train station, starting a conversation with himself that was all too familiar. “I should have just gone for it, should have gone after her like there was no tomorrow. And there wasn’t! Within a couple months he comes along and sweeps her away, leaving me in the dust.”

“How do you know that it would have worked out? The feeling of rejection by the love of your life is probably ten times worse than not having her in the first place!”

“At least you would have been with her at all! This life is probably all you’re going to get! You were given the chance to make the most of it, and you failed!”

“You shouldn’t even think about it. It’s in the past now. And it’s a public secret that Emily and Brian are engaged to be married, so give it up Todd. You’ll find someone else.”

“Like hell I will. I don’t care if Emily has to be the last thing I see, so long as I’m with her for even one moment.”

Todd walked past the walls of the great skyscrapers, shaded by the ferns which grew on their sides. Her visage filled his mind.

Or was it his field of vision?

“See? You’re thinking about her too much!”

He looked again down the street perpendicular to him. He definitely saw her. But she was nowhere near him. Emily’s figure seemed to rise above the horizon past the city, obscured by haze. Todd began to panic. He was hallucinating. He reached to grab his cell phone and call his father, at which point he heard exclamations from all around him.

“What in the world just happened?” Emily thought. She was standing a bit less than waist deep in what seemed to be a large lagoon—the water was perfectly still.

“The last thing I remember is… no, that’s not right. I was… wait—” Come to think of it, Emily couldn’t actually remember what happened before she got here; only that she was… here. The sun felt nice against her tank top and the bare skin of her waist, and the smooth, sandy bottom felt smooth against her bare feet.

Emily’s first thought was to enjoy the sunlight for a while, when she was struck with a sharp pang of hunger.

“I can’t enjoy anything feeling like this. Better find something to eat.”

She began to take a step when she noticed something below her.

“Hmm… ooh, I think that’s a type of edible seaweed I read about online!”

It was a dull green, textured patch, about the size of a dinner plate, floating on the surface of the eerily still water. Emily had seen a picture of something like it on a cooking website.

“I’m not sure I should just… eat that.”

Another pang of hunger struck Emily.

“Well, I can at least try it!”

She went to tear off a tiny piece, and it unexpectedly sort of crunched between her fingers.

“Must be some salt crystals.”

Emily gingerly placed the bit of seaweed on her tongue.

“Mmm!” She exclaimed. It was salty, crunchy, and had sort of bitter undertones.

“I might as well eat it!”

When she picked the whole piece up, it did not sag as she expected, rather, it was rigid, and several pieces fell off the edges. She hesitated a bit.

“Oh, yeah, it’s just the salt!”

Emily then took a large bite.

“These fools!” Todd thought. “A marvel of Nature is before them, and all they can think to do is put their eyes behind their damn camera-phones!”

Todd was smarter than that. He wanted to take it all in.

“I need to get closer.”

Todd ran up the stairs to the station and climbed into a deserted Prizhina Transit Authority train module. He got to the main controls and pressed the throttle forward, straight toward the majestic female form.

He watched, awestruck, as Emily seemed to move forward a bit—actually a quarter mile—and then abruptly stopped. She paused for a second and then reached down toward the Docks East district.

Sweet God, she was even larger than he thought! The tip of her finger alone cast a shadow several blocks in width.

The module continued forward, as Emily slammed her fingers into Docks East and tore the greater portion of the district, as well as several blocks surrounding it, from the main city.

The sound of 10-foot-thick steel beams breaking surrounded Todd, and the train jarred slightly but continued.

He then saw her raise what was left of the neighborhood up to her mouth.

“Ha. HA HA HA!” Todd voiced.

He strained to look that high, but he could see her place the neighborhood wholly into her mouth. He could see her chew for a bit, and then swallow.

Maybe he could hear screams echo through the streets. He wasn’t paying any attention to such trivialities.

“MMM.” Emily’s unmistakable voice shook the very foundations of the city.

Todd simply shook his head and smiled. “There is no more of a perfect way…”

He stopped the train at the next platform and got out. Emily was reaching down again.

With one arm far over his head and to the other side of the city, Todd felt the tearing of ten-thousand tons of steel.

The tracks buckled beneath him. The rest of the buildings miraculously held up.

The ground beneath him groaned as Emily’s face got closer. Todd figured it must have been about as large as the city!

Her face, and then only her lips and chin, and then, yes, her mouth!

“Truly there is a just and caring God!”

Her mouth was now all he could see, and then only the inside of it. It seemed to all happen at one mile an hour!

Emily’s hot, sweet breath filled his nostrils. Todd tore off his shirt and stood head up, arms back. He let her breath permeate his skin. It was like the finest sauna he had ever experienced!

He laughed a laugh of euphoric joy as he went on to the World to Come.

Before she knew it, Emily was finished with her little snack.

After brushing some crumbs off her breasts, she waded off toward a thin strip of green in the distance that had to be the shoreline, for soon she would be hungry again.