Earth on the Cusp of the Twenty-Second Century
How the world has changed in the last seventy-six years. In 1948, scientists ran the first computer program, and “the Ultimate Car of the Future,” the futuristic, three wheeled Davis Divan, debuted. Since then, a succession of inventions—the personal computer, the internet, the World Wide Web, smart phones and social media—have transformed every aspect of our lives.
The next seventy-six years will change things too, in ways we can barely even begin to imagine. Culture, climate change, politics and technology will continue to reshape the world. Earth in 2100 will be as unrecognizable to us as today would be to someone from 1948.
Eighteen writers tackled this challenge, creating an amazing array of sci-fi possibilities. From emotional AI’s to photosynthetic children, from virtual worlds to a post-urban society, our writers serve up compelling slices of life from an Earth that’s just around the corner.
So dive in and take a wild ride into these amazing visions of our collective future.
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The Last Human Heart by J. Scott Coatsworth
Merriweather spun the lock on her bathyscaphe’s top hatch and made room for her new oceanographer. She avoided poking her head out, because the world above water was unbearably bright, and the weather extremely sunburn-ish. Merriweather was tall, freckled, and spent so much time underwater that she had to wear really dark goggles every time she went topside. Her bathyscaphe was technically indoors, but the submersible pen’s roof was just a metal lattice thickly overgrown with vines and creepers, so patches of blinding sunlight leaked down to flutter on the ashcrete slips every time a breeze blew through.
A small, duffel-sized thump reverberated through the hull, followed by nothing else. Merriweather rose to full height, which was tall enough to poke her head out.
The pen was mercifully cool and relatively dark, but Merriweather still had to squint. Her bathyscaphe had been winched to the surface for loading, and its float was a massive off-white blob beside it. Somewhere in the green water below, skin divers with artificial gills were loading her cargo points with eutactic suspension crates. This was going to be Merriweather’s first free-roam iron-fertilization run, and she was almost vibrating with excitement. No course, no schedule, just sailing until she saved the world.
There was another thump as someone fell awkwardly onto the hull. Merriweather reached out and caught a small but very firm hand.
“Careful, she rolls on the surface. Just crawl over here. I’ll get your stuff.”
Merriweather pawed around to grab the duffel by feel and dropped it down the hatch.
“Watch the float cables. I’m Sarah Merriweather.”
“Otohime Sato,” the oceanographer said, sitting awkwardly beside the hatch.
“Cool. You can just swing your legs in if that’s easier. Watch your step.”
“That will not be a problem.”
Sato rolled up her pants and removed her legs. The prosthetics were beautiful twists of genetically modified bamboo. Merriweather cringed. She would have known her new crewmate had limb differences if she had bothered to read all her email, which she hadn’t.
“Right. Sorry.” Merriweather helped the smaller woman down into the pressure hull and tried to think of something to say that was less offensive. “On the bright side, you’re not going to take up much space. Let me show you around.”
- Tim Newton Anderson
- nathan bowen
- Elizabeth Broadbent
- Gail Brown
- J. Scott Coatsworth
- Monica Joyce Evans
- Isaiah Hunt
- Blake Jessop
- E.E. King & Richard Lau
- Morgan Melhuish
- Eve Morton
- Christopher R. Muscato
- Jennifer R. Povey
- D.M. Rasch
- Joseph Sidari
- Mike Jack Stoumbos
- Joseph Welch
- KB Willson
