Feeding Time
A ‘what if’ piece of speculative fiction about a possible future that could result from the systemic forces changing our world.
// With impending climate change, what will we hunt in the future?
// 2043 - A cramped control cabin in Montana
A tired man slumps in their chair, and flips a transmit switch for their throat mike - “This is Starbuck, checking in. Boomer, you copy? Over.”
Hundreds of miles away, an equally tired figure in an office chair in front of a bank of displays, reaches out to hit transmit for their headset - “Starbuck, Boomer here - read you loud and clear. Status?”
Starbuck - “Nothing but grey here. Nothing on the scope or on the Mark 1 eyeballs. Anything reported in?”
Boomer - “Nope. All spotters are reporting Grey.”
Starbuck - “That’s no good. I’ve got 4 collectors idling and tanks are at 16%. Frak!”
Boomer sees a flashing light in their peripheral vision and their pupils dilate - “Starbuck, hold on…”
Mapple - “Priority Override! Priority Override! Big break at 44.59, 104.71! Partner AI is projecting at least 7 hours of harvesting, maybe into tomorrow. Sensor steam uplink commencing.”
Boomer - “Mapple, your data is confirmed! [General broadcast] All units. All units - it’s feeding time! Converge on Mapple’s location. Deployment pattern Theta - First come, first served. Good hunting!”
Boomer watched the rapidly shifting positions of dozens of units move on the map. They raised their cup and took a sip. Tension slipped from their shoulders. It had been quite the dry spell.
Boomer looks a hand-written timeline and sighs:
2028 - More than 40% of households get power from solar farms, due to fallout from the Russian / Iran / Nato conflict triggering $150 barrels of oil
2037 - Miami floods due to climate change
2038 - Emergency UN session approves Thomas Midgley’s plan to seed clouds to cool the planet
2039 - Riots as governments officially confirm that cloud seeding ingredients block key wavelengths used by solar collectors
2042 - US congress passes laws regulating companies towing floating solar collectors to capture breaks in cloud cover in uninhabited land