Magda M. Olchawska's Blog

Hi, I’m Magda, a neurodiverse filmmaker, artist, and writer currently living in London, UK, with my two neurodiverse children and my husband. Subscribers can explore a rich legacy of my posts, as I have been writing and creating content since 2007. My focus areas include creativity, environmental and financial sustainability. As a member, you'll have access to new posts on slow creativity, environmental and economic sustainability for women in the arts, and "Another Way Creativity" videos. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter and gain a deeper insight into my art practice and projects.

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… look at the screen where a woman sits with her head bowed down, letting her long hair cover her cheeks, which makes it impossible to see her face.

The drones above the men’s heads are searching the database for the images of the Ecotopian fighters and the citizens of the New and Old World in the hope of finding the right match for the unknown woman. Even though the drones cannot scan her face, their advanced technology, in theory, should allow them to match her overall body shape with the archives records kept in the Above.

– “Are you certain she asked for me?” asked the man wearing the uniform with the red stripes.

– “Yes, sir. She asked for Patrick Brus several times. She didn’t cause any trouble when we captured her and said that she was only going to talk to you.”

– ” Hmmm… and she said she was from Ecotopia, right?”

– “That is correct, sir. She also had all this equipment on her. Sir, nothing of this is ours. We checked all the catalogues, and none of our drones had any record of the equipment. Even the Above doesn’t have anything as advanced.”

– “Yes… Well… The equipment will have to be sent to our research team.” Patrick replies and then scans the table, where the high-tech equipment is scattered. He picks up one of the radios and tries to turn it on. But all in vain; the radio, just like the rest of the Ecotopian equipment, can only be activated by the person it belongs to, in ways that the Old World hasn’t been able to decode yet.

– “Hmmm…?” – murmurs Patrick before throwing the radio back onto the table. “Hmm… I’m going to talk to her. Make sure the Above gets the transmission.” says Patrick.

– “Shouldn’t we follow the protocol, sir? Shouldn’t the Above know before we engage with the enemy?”. At that very moment, the unknown woman turns her head up and looks right at the camera.

– “Yes, I’m… sure… I’m sure. Yes, leave it to me. I’ll deal with the Above.” On the way out of the communication room, Patrick can already sense anxiety rising up in his body while he struggles to take a deeper breath. He lets the door slip through his fingers, taking ages to close while giving the mutated crawlies a perfect opportunity to slide in through the crack of the door.

The corridor leading to the interrogation room, where the woman has been kept, is covered with cameras and droids every inch of the way. The signs of the never-ending revolution are still visible all along the walls, which are desperate for a new paint job; the ceiling is leaking, making toxic rain patches on the floor, which in turn allow the mutated crawlies to sneak into the building.

Patrick takes careful steps between the toxic rain puddles while trying to calm his rapid breathing, which seems to be in some sick competition with his thoughts.

His actions are as scrutinised by the Above as those of the ordinary citizens. There is no exception, not even for him, not for anyone who decided to stay behind on Earth.

Closing his eyes and slowly counting to ten isn’t working. In the last desperate attempt to kill the panic attack, preferably before he starts interrogating HER, he reaches out to his pocket. He double-checks the location of the droids and the cameras before pulling out the green plastic capsule.

Once in the dark spot, Patrick quickly pops the green capsule into his mouth right before reaching the interrogation room door. Patrick knows that every move must be carefully planned. The key is not to rush, allow the feelings to come up high and then wait for the calmness to be restored.

The only way to get inside the room is by using the computer code, which changes daily. The Above only makes the code accessible to the highest-ranking commander’s personal drones. Without saying anything, Patrick looks up at his drone, which is already inputting the code.

Through the crack of the opening door, Patrick can already see who the unknown woman is. The memories of the long lost but not forgotten past take control over his body and mind, intensifying his panic attack, which loves feeding off anxious thoughts and feelings. The only way to make sure the Above sees none of this is to wait until the first phase of the panic passes.

Slowly, Patrick pulls out a chair from underneath the table and sits down opposite the unknown woman. When the door finally shuts behind him, their eyes meet.

Maggie fights an urge to smile, but it would give her away even before her plan could fully kick in. She knows that under no circumstances the Old World can find out what is happening to Patrick and as she has known him since the two of them were five, she knows what a massive undertaking it is for him to get the panic attack under control. If the Corporate Government knew about Patrick’s predicament, it’s more than certain he wouldn’t be allowed to hold such a high profile position within the ranks of the Old World. The Old World is all about maximizing productivity and perfection, leaving no room for mistakes.

Ever since the two of them chose the opposite sides of the revolution Patrick tried to follow Maggie’s political career as much as he could. From the start of the Ecotopian movement, and during the revolution years she has been a very powerful figure in the New World. But what he couldn’t understand was why the Old World’s archives had no records on Maggie.

For a brief second, his fearful mind engaged with the idea that maybe, just maybe, the Ecotopians were finally winning the revolution. But allowing himself to stay on that path for too long would be very dangerous. After all the sacrifices he made for the Old World, he couldn’t merely become a non-believer.

Once the panic attack starts to ease (the blue pill always works), Patrick realises how often he has dreamt of that very moment and how much he had hoped for it to become a reality. Maggie was the reason he stayed behind on Earth. The whole Command Above thought that he had taken his duty as a protector of the Old World and its values very seriously and was committed to keeping the old order intact. But it was always the dream of Maggie coming back that made him stay on Earth.

And finally, she came back. He… he wanted to tell her how much he had missed her and how long he waited for her to come back… because… because deep down in his heart, he always knew she was going to come back; one day, she was going to see that Ecotopia has always been an unrealistic and unsustainable illusion for dreamers. At that very moment, he was even ready to forgive her, forgive her for breaking his heart, for running away, and for choosing the wrong side of the revolution.

Maggie looked at one of the cameras, which was rusting away in the top right corner, then looked right back at Patrick.

– “I’m willing to trade vital Ecotopian information with you as long as you will help me,” she said.

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Hi, I’m Magda, a neurodiverse filmmaker, artist, and writer currently living in London, UK, with my two neurodiverse children and my husband. Subscribers can explore a rich legacy of my posts, as I have been writing and creating content since 2007. My focus areas include creativity, environmental and financial sustainability. As a member, you'll have access to new posts on slow creativity, environmental and economic sustainability for women in the arts, and "Another Way Creativity" videos. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter and gain a deeper insight into my art practice and projects.

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Patrick tried his hardest to make his voice calm and steady. His control was indeed coming back. As always, the blue pill has worked its toxic magic throughout his body and mind.

– “No,” says Maggie “I need your help, Patrick. No one else is to be involved from the Old World.”

– “This isn’t a decision I can make.” He replayed it and immediately felt like he was letting her down. He waited for so long for Maggie to come back and… and in no time at all, he managed to disappoint her. His thoughts were racing fast, and he wondered how he could help her. The Ecotopians have developed a much more sophisticated communication system than the Old World has ever seen. In theory, his assistance wouldn’t be of much use, or would it? What does the Old World have that she needs? – he pondered.

– “After all those years, you still can’t make independent decisions. How frustrating it must be?!” – Maggie teased him.

Maggie has never been politically correct and never wanted to be. Her big mouth usually got her in trouble, and Patrick’s job was always to get her out of trouble. At least, this is how he perceived their relationship. She was the one who needed saving,g and he was the saviour.

– “You haven’t changed much, have you?”

– “You want to know what the Ecotiopians are working on at the moment? It’s huge.” – she uttered with so much conviction that it was hard not to take her seriously.

– “Why? Why would you give up all this information?” Since Patrick’s anxiety attack passed, he felt strong enough to ask questions, even though the whole encounter was as uncomfortable for him as it was for Maggie. His duty was to interrogate the woman he loved, who should have been his mortal enemy in this divided world. But she wasn’t, and he couldn’t be the harsh version of himself he usually was while in the interrogation room.

– “The new technology will help us win the revolution. The New World will rule over the Old World, taking over every single inch of everything you have built in the Above and taking our land back. Is this what you want, Patrick? Is this what the Above would want?” The confidence and conviction in her voice were chilling, especially for the Ground Guards listening in the communication room who knew nothing about Maggie’s and Patrick’s past.

– “If you are so certain about your… whatever it is you are developing, what are you doing here, Maggie? Why would you, from all people, give up that information?” – asked Patrick, who couldn’t figure out Maggie’s intentions.

– “As I sai,d I need your help.”

– “What kind of help?”

– “I can’t say. With all this…” – pointing to every corner of the room: “…listening.”

– “Maggie, you want me to go to the Above and ask them to grant me permission to help you with something. And you won’t even tell me what that is. “

– “That is correct.”

– “Maggie?”

She touches his hand, which he quickly pulls away from the table. But her soft, warm touch lingers on, bringing back all those happy memories of their youth together.

– “Believe me; you want to help me. You know who I am. You know what kind of information I have access to, and you know you can trust me.”

His heart and thoughts began to race; his rational thinking stopped the moment he knew who the unknown woman was. He wants to help her, and deep down, he knows he should help her. She is the only family he ever had after his parents disappeared. If it weren’t for Maggie’s family, he would have inevitably ended up in social care and never made it to the top of the Old World. But so much has changed since the revolution.

However, in a moment of spontaneity, filled with memories of their adventurous childhood together, Sunday brunches, and hot summers full of homemade food and baking smells, he turns to his personal drone and says.

– “Cut the…” – the drone delivers faster than Patrick can finish his sentence. It cuts the power to the main transmitter, which practically means that neither the Ground Guards nor the Above can follow the conversation from now on.

– “Maggie, as much as I am… happy to see you, you can’t be here; you can’t be talking to me. The Above will come and get you, and I won’t be able to protect you. Why are you here?” – He looks nervously at his personal drone, which will restore the power any second now. Cutting the power off is risky enough,h but having it off for too long would mean his drone would have to be scrapped. Patrick has been with his personal drone for years now and has no desire to get a new one, which most likely would come equipped with sophisticated control tools and be fully compliant with the Above orders.

– “Your” – Maggie hesitates and takes a deep breath: “Our children… are lost somewhere in the Old World. I have to find them before they do.” – Patrick’s personal drone restores the transmission.

Patrick is very silent and still. However, this time his inability to respond isn’t caused by a panic attack, he is trying to figure out how on Earth the Old World never knew about Maggie’s kids. And why she never told him that he was a father.

Maggie anxiously looked at Patrick, but she couldn’t read him, a sliver of doubt entered her mind. Was her plan going to work? What if Patrick has changed so much over the years, and the person she once loved is gone? What if he decided to use her against the New World? Fear started spreading in Maggie’s stomach. For a brief moment, she closed her eyes, trying to stop the flow of all the negative emotions. When she opened them again, Patrick was looking right back at her with tears in his eyes. She expected him to say something; she needed him to say something, but instead, he abruptly stood up, knocking down his chair. His drone opened the door for him before he even got a chance to give his instructions, and just like that, Patrick was gone.

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If any of the luxury goods were around in the Old World, most likely, they were smuggled from the New World illegally, often with the help of the New World government, or had to be sent by someone from the Above. The average person who lived under the rule of the Old World had no access to services, and the goods the Above had access to. Living in the Old World is far from easy.

Patrick has always been a social smoker, at least before the revolution. Under the Corporate Government, people couldn’t get together to socialise or spend time with people outside of their household. Now, he smokes under pressure or when he can’t cope with the reality he helped to shape. Patrick has been battling doubts and was unconvinced about many of the rules the Above has been forcefully implementing in the Old World for some time now. But unfortunately, there is no room for mistakes or doubts in the Old World. Doubts and mistakes are the enemies of the state as much as the people who express indecisions or are prone to mistakes.

The Above was created for the top 1% that made it to the top before or during the revolution, as for the rest of the population, reaching the Above was impossible to materialize. The Old World’s residents mostly survived on artificial food that everyone had to work for in factories that belonged to the Old World’s Corporate Government.

The Corporate Government was formed right after the revolution began as a strong force opposing change, innovation, and equality the Ecotopians (who, before the revolution, referred to themselves as Eco-Warriors) were calling and fighting for.

The first time he ever smoked was with Maggie. She was always the first one to experiment with life, passing her newly discovered knowledge down to Patrick. Maggie was also the one who initiated their first kiss. Patrick still believes that that was the best day of his life. He often thinks about the first time they were together, their breakups, and passionate reconciliations. Those memories keep him going in a world covered in darkness.

Since the Corporate Government followed Maggie’s every move, it allowed Patrick easy access to all her files. He knew everything there was to know about her, or at least he thought he did. None of the Old World’s records ever mentioned Maggie’s kids. Could that possibly be some kind of trap? The Above was known for setting traps to imprison the enemies of the Old World’s order.

Maggie was one of the first leaders of the revolution that sprang out of control, dividing Earth into two worlds. The Old World, run and governed by angry middle-aged men who firmly believed in the old patriarchal rules, and the New World, with many women in power, put social progress ahead of financial and corporate gains. One of the main reasons there was still no peace treaty between the two worlds was because the patriarchal government didn’t accept women of the New World as equals, even though Ecotopia had been thriving, while the Old World slowly and painfully was disintegrating.

Ever since they were children, Maggie believed in a fair society that could function successfully, flourish, grow, and develop their potential accordingly. Maggie has always been driven by social justice and progress and ean qual society where wealth is spread amongst the people. Something the Old World’s elite would never accept or approve of.

As a kid Maggie always shared her toys and sweets with other kids in the hood, who were less fortunate than the two of them. Patrick never liked sharing his stuff with others, but wanting to impress Maggie, he did. Later on in life that need to impress Maggie led him to join the Corporate World. Little he knew that this decision was going to ruin his future with her.

By the time his second cigarette was finished, he was trying hard to remember when was the last time he saw Maggie. It must have been when the Old World negotiated with the New World seven days’ peace. After nearly ten years of fighting, the Old World finally agreed to exchange New World’s fighters and some of the family members of the Ecotopians who hadn’t managed to escape. The New World was going to provide much-needed medications and seeds that the Old World struggled to produce. The negotiation only lasted a day.

During that time, the Old World was already moving its headquarters to the Above and planning to keep its workforce on the ground, which meant that the Corporate Government needed supplies of seeds and medications for the Down Below while the secret move was taking place. The Above treated the population Down Below as a necessary evil to keep the Above afloat.

Even before the revolution, when Maggie and Patrick were just on opposite sides of the political spectrum, the sexual attraction between them was undeniable. Sexually, they’ve always been compatible, and sexually, they were able to connect on a cosmic level. The sexual tension always made it hard for them to keep away from one another, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Before the revolution, Maggie broke up with Patrick on several occasions but found it gruelling to keep away from him. Splitting up and getting back together made their relationship toxic in so many ways.

The last night they spent together was right after the negotiation was over. For Patrick, that night feels as if it was only yesterday. It was just like the old times: sex, talking, then some more sex. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of falling asleep at some point during the night. When he woke up, Maggie was already gone. He wanted her to stay; he was even ready to defect to the New World, but she was gone.

Now, he is a father to kids he’s never met and who has gone missing somewhere in the Old World. The Old World was nothing like the New World. It was wild, dangerous, toxic and full of mutated creatures, starving people and drones which captured anyone who travelled without the right documents, sending them straight to the massive work camps full of unidentified people who could easily be disposed of.

Patrick was fully aware that helping out Maggie would be seen as betraying the Old World and its draconian rules. Was he ready?

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Hi, I’m Magda, a neurodiverse filmmaker, artist, and writer currently living in London, UK, with my two neurodiverse children and my husband. Subscribers can explore a rich legacy of my posts, as I have been writing and creating content since 2007. My focus areas include creativity, environmental and financial sustainability. As a member, you'll have access to new posts on slow creativity, environmental and economic sustainability for women in the arts, and "Another Way Creativity" videos. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter and gain a deeper insight into my art practice and projects.

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Once she was calm enough, her thoughts rushed back to that last night she was with Patrick.

The logical Maggie should have never come to negotiate with the Old World. She knew that seeing Patrick couldn’t possibly end well. Unfortunately, love, passion and desire aren’t ruled by logic.

The negotiation took place on the Isle of Wight, which was designated as a neutral zone at the start of the revolution. On the way to the Isle of Wight Maggie worked hard to convince herself that her decision to sit at the negotiation table had nothing to do with Patrick. But the closer to the negotiation, the less convinced she was of her reasoning.

The two of them used to be inseparable. He was her best friend, her love, her lover, and her whole lif,e whether she liked it or not. At least, this is how she felt before Patrick decided to join the Corporate World and then the Corporate Government, which Maggie still can’t rationalise. Why did he choose the wrong side of the revolution, having the opportunity to build a new sustainable society with her? Time after time, she tried to start all over again, but in none of the relationships she was in, she felt such a deep connection she felt with Patrick.

Having not seen him for years, Maggie had no idea how much he had changed and whether trying to persuade him to join the New World would be a wise move. She wondered if Patrick was married and had a family. She feared the most that Patrick, whom she known all those years ago, was gone. Ecotopians pride themselves on being very forgiving and always willing to give another chance to those who wanted to redeem themselves and join the right side of the revolution. But what if Patrick didn’t want to join the revolution? What if he was rotten to the core, just like the rest of the Corporate Government was?

One of Maggie’s deep beliefs was that power and money corrupt people and make them do anything and everything to get ahead. She lost many dear friends to glitter and glitz. But she still hoped that Patrick didn’t become one of them.

For many years, the Old World showed no interest in negotiating with the New World, so the offer to negotiate a seven-day peace treaty was met with considerable scepticism in the Ecotopia. The Ecotopian government knew that punishing the general population for the sins of their government would never build a strong and long-lasting relationship between the two worlds, so they agreed to supply only the seeds and medications for the Down Below.

The Ecotopians were well informed of the Corporate Government's move to the Above. They also knew that to build the Above, they spent 90% of all the non-renewable resources they had left. 90% of the precious life-preserving resources were wasted to accommodate the needs and demands of the 1%.

Regardless of what the Old World was aiming and hoping for, the Above turned out to be a bigger challenge than expected. Soon enough, the need for basic supplies such as medications and seeds turned out to be greater than the Old World’s pride. The Old World’s population was already starving. The new limits on food distribution wouldn’t help the regime to strengthen its control over the Down Below. Maggie always had difficulties understanding why anyone who had a possibility to cross over to the New World, would consciously choose the Old World with its limitations and ever-increasing poverty.

The Ecotopians built their society on equality, respect, and shared responsibility; that belief helped them to create an innovative, pioneering society with a collective responsibility towards one another as well as Mother Nature.

Still, anyone from the Old World would be accepted by the New World as long as they managed to follow and accept the New World’s rules and the Ecotopia’s ethos and beliefs. People who didn’t believe in what Ecotopia represented didn’t belong in the New World.

Since the Ecotopians were always aiming for reconciliation, not for a longer and bloodier conflict, the negotiation was a perfect opportunity to show the Old World’s population that the New World was caring for everyone equally and not putting profit ahead of people or the planet. Maggie feared that the seeds wouldn’t produce the quality of food people deserved to eat. The soil in the Old World was abused and neglected, and even years before the division of the world, it was already hard for the farmers to grow good quality food.

During the negotiations, Patrick sat across the table from Maggie. They both tried hard to avoid eye contact just in case they gave away too much. The Old World didn’t take kindly to the New World and surely wouldn’t take kindly to women of the New World mixing with the high-ranking government officials of the Old World.

By the end of the negotiations, the Corporate Government agreed to exchange the “prisoners” as well as some of the family members of the Ecotopian citizens who didn’t manage to escape before the Corporate Government built the wall between them. During those seven days, the Ecotopians were going to keep the seeds and medications supply coming while people from the Down Below were allowed to cross the bridge (the bridge connected the Old World with the New World) freely.

When the deal was agreed upon, Patrick suggested that Maggie stayed behind to finalise the dates with him. She agreed while her team went back to Ecotopia to prepare the transport and temporary facilities for everyone who was going to cross over.

Once everyone left and it was safe enough to show feelings again, Patrick walked over to Maggie and touched her hair, then her lips. Maggie closed her eyes, trying her best to control herself, but the desire to kiss him was stronger than her.

After that kiss, Patrick suggested a hotel nearby. Even though Maggie was in a relationship, her yearning to be with him was out of her control.

As always, after sex, they talked, had wine, ate real food (something even Patrick didn’t have access to very often) and had more sex. Just like it used to be before the revolution. Deep down, Maggie hoped that Patrick would want to come with her and start all over again. Unfortunately, her hope was shattered when she saw his incoming message:e “Did you get the information we need?”

After reading that, Maggie’s heart stopped. ‘He just … to… all they had that night wasn’t real… He needed something… that was all…’ It was surreal and reminded her of all the previous times he used her. She got dressed as fast as she could and left, determined to put that night and Patrick behind for good this time.

Maggie cried all the way back to Ecotopia. She needed to accept that Patrick wasn’t the same person she had known and loved for so long. It was inevitable that he changed to survive the austerity of the Corporate Government.

Upon her arrival to Ecotopia, she truly thought that the past wasn’t going to catch up with her in the future. Soon enough she found out that she was pregnant, which made her beyond happy; she never even thought that her kids could have been Patrick’s as well.

Only a few weeks ago, she discovered that her daughter had a rare immune disease. The Ecotopian doctors needed to find a blood donor to help her daughter survive. However, after doing the DNA and blood tests on both Maggie and who she thought was the father, it turned out that the DNA didn’t match. After hearing that, Maggie knew who the father was and what she needed to do.

Since she always believed in honesty, she told her kids and her ex-partner about that one night on the Isle of Wight. The next morning, her children were gone. Not being able to hold them, comfort them, and be there for them made her weak, prone to mistakes, and willing to do anything to find them.

Upon hearing the door being unlocked again, she opens her eyes.

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Hi, I’m Magda, a neurodiverse filmmaker, artist, and writer currently living in London, UK, with my two neurodiverse children and my husband. Subscribers can explore a rich legacy of my posts, as I have been writing and creating content since 2007. My focus areas include creativity, environmental and financial sustainability. As a member, you'll have access to new posts on slow creativity, environmental and economic sustainability for women in the arts, and "Another Way Creativity" videos. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter and gain a deeper insight into my art practice and projects.

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Unfortunately, after all those many years of service, he still had to explain his decisions and actions. Maggie, indeed, was right; the Above wanted to control everyone, especially people like him.

For a very long time, he believed that his priority in life, once Maggie was gone, should be loyalty to the Old World. However, over the past few years of being permanently stationed Down Below, his doubts about the system and what it was trying to accomplish started growing. He worked hard at times, not giving in to the negativity of his doubts. There was so much about Corporate Democracy (an illusion of democracy kept in check and controlled by a tight group of few corporations) that he didn’t agree with. But he would have never expressed his concerns; he always kept himself to himself.

When he was at his lowest in years, Maggie had to show up and offer to give up information that potentially could help the Old World win the revolution. However, he wasn’t sure that she was going to give up anything of value; at the end of the day, she was one of the creators of Ecotopia.

He didn’t really want or care for the information. What he wanted the most was to hold her and tell her how much he missed her. But the odds of Patrick confronting his feelings were slim; he was too scared to expose his soul, and the fear of punishment the Old World instilled in him was stronger than any other feeling. In his mind, the odds of her not feeling the same were high, and that was painful in itself. The last time they were together, she left in the middle of the night without even leaving a note behind, and that said more than any words could.

He sat down in front of her and offered her a cigarette, which she refused. He put the cigarettes back into his industrial, worn-down shirt’s front pocket.

His droid was hovering about, evidently searching for something in a database every now and then, getting frustrated when it wasn’t able to find what it was after. Patrick’s droid was an old-fashioned one, unlike the new droids it was durable and easily adaptable to new technologies. The modern droids the Above was feeding the people Down Below with were cheaply made but sold expensively and weren’t as half as good as the old ones.

Unfortunately, a life Down Below without a droid was like a life without oxygen. People were always so busy trying to “make it to the top” that the droids lived everyday life for them so they could solely focus on “making it” to the Above.

Patrick’s piercing gaze didn’t make her uncomfortable in the slightest; she always loved when he looked at her.

– “I’ll help you.” – He finally said when the silence between them became too unbearable. If it was twenty years ago, they would have been already on the floor canoodling. But it was now, not then.

– “You will? Did you …?”

– “I’m the commander in chief Down Below, and I don’t need anyone’s permission to cooperate with the enemy. As long as that enemy is willing to give up important information that will help us win the war”.

Maggie took a deep breath before replying with carefully chosen words.

– “Yes, I’m willing to give up vital information.” – What she thought was hers, the cameras that were everywhere recording and following every move of every person, had no access to her thoughts or her heart.

– “We’ll go to my quarters. Then sort out your travelling papers just in case you need those. In the meantime, you must tell me what exactly you are after and what you can offer us in exchange for my help.” Down Below, freedom of movement didn’t exist, so having travelling papers seemed like a good move at the time.

– “Thank you.”

– “I’m not doing this for you; I hope that is clear. I’m doing this for the right side of the revolution. We deserve to win.” He stood up abruptly as if he was trying to get away from his own words.

Maggie grabbed his hand and looked him straight in the eyes. She wanted and needed him to know that she was telling the truth. But how could she communicate what’s inside her soul with cameras watching her every move? Since she couldn’t come up with anything clever to say, she decided to let his hand slide. At that very moment, the lights in the interrogation room started flickering and the ground shaking.

Patrick looked at his Droid; it was already down. He quickly looked at the front door, which flew open before starting to close. Judging the situation, Maggie quickly threw her shoe at the door, which allowed them enough time to make it through to the other side.

– “What is that?” – she asked Patrick.

– “Must be the bandits. Or perhaps the rebels.”

– “Bandits? Rebels?”

– “We must get out of the building!!!” – Maggie was right behind Patrick, who was holding on to the droid with one hand and holding Maggie’s hand with another. When the ground stopped shaking, Patrick suddenly stopped, turned to Maggie and grabbed her arm.

– “Do you have anything to do with this?”

– “Don’t be stupid, Patrick!!! Ecotopians never attack. Besides, no one knows I’m here.” – She pulled away from him and managed to put her shoe on quickly.

He muttered something, slightly abashed.

Both began walking towards the exit. On the way out, they passed the control room, where both staffers were dead. Patrick decided to enter the room; once inside,e he seemed lost to Maggie. Maggie bypassed him and went to collect what was hers. Patrick didn’t stop her. She quickly grabbed her radio and the rest of her gear. On the way out, she pulled Patrick along. He surely didn’t expect her to take him with her. In a way, he was grateful that she found some compassion for him. Moments after escaping from the building, it collapsed right behind them.

The shooting, screaming and fire seemed to be coming at them from every single direction. Luckily, Maggie managed to unlock the protective shield the Ecotopians designed to cover themselves from the unfriendly fire.

– “Stay right next to me, and we will try to get to Greenwich Park. I think I still remember the way.” – She screamed to Patrick. She tried to act brave even though she was terrified for her kids lost somewhere amongst all that fire.

– “It’s up the hill.” – Patrick replied while taking the first left, which he hoped was the shortcut to the park. After what seemed like forever, they managed to get to what used to be Greenwich Park; before the revolution made it look wild, disorderly, and dark, the whole place had a terrifying feel to it.

The Above made all green areas illegal, and the general public wasn’t even allowed to walk or use the remains of the parks. The Corporate Government always used clever and manipulative propaganda to make citizens afraid and obedient. The parks were occupied by the homeless and the rebels. To Patrick Greenwich Park was a sad reminder of the past long gone.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, where the remains of the old Royal Observatory still stood, Patrick stopped to look towards the river. The whole north of the river was on fire. Maggie looked at him, and as much as she wanted to give him time, they had none.

– “Patrick! Patrick! Patrick! This way.” – She ordered.

He followed her. Luckily, soon enough, Maggie got to her ship moored in what used to be the flower garden before the revolution destroyed everything that was beautiful about this place. Patrick remembered this place well. They had a picnic here once, and he even planned to propose in that very same spot. But now the darkness covered what once used to be beautiful.

– “Here we are” – Said Maggie. Every single piece of the Ecotopian equipment could operate only after a voice or a fingerprint activation. The ships and cars were no different.

– “Let’s get going before…” – Maggie started saying, but her words disappeared inside what looked like a small capsule.

– “Before the Above descends on the Down Below.” – Finished Patrick.

Maggie peeped her head through the little door. Maybe deep down, Patrick still remembered who he truly was.

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But it all shifted the moment the ship’s door closed behind Patrick. The rebels came out of the bushes with all sorts of weapons pointing at the vehicle while advancing towards them fast. Maggie was anxious to make the ship take off but the closer the rebels were getting to the ship, the more nervous she felt. Patrick knew well how stress influenced Maggie’s thinking and actions. When they were still young, every time she got into a situation she wasn’t familiar with, she would become fearful and paralysed, always imagining the worst possible case scenario.

Patrick always believed that he had the magic touch and even tapping her gently on the shoulder was enough for her to feel safe, at least this is how it used to be. He wasn’t sure if his old method would work, but he tried it anyway. Once Maggie felt his touch, she felt calmer and closed her eyes for a brief moment to collect her disorganised thoughts. When she opened them again, she knew exactly what to do.

– “Hold on tight” – She shouted as if she were trying to overcompensate for the noise coming from the outside. Patrick looked around to find something he could hold on to, but there was nothing. The interior was minimalistic and simple; there was nothing in the ship’s design that could be considered unnecessary.

– “Patrick, just put your arms around me” – Maggie ordered. He did just that. He tried to control his desire to smell her hair, but it was hard. He waited for this moment for so long, and she was so close but unreachable at the same time. Finally, the ship skidded and went straight after the rebels.

– “Where are your quarters?” – Asked Maggie while skillfully navigating through Greenwich Park's darkness and thickness. She didn’t want to put the headlights on, just in case the rebels were in possession of advanced weapons that could reach the ship.

– “Isle of Wight.”

– “Isle of Wight? That’s…”

– “Yes, it’s… the Southside.”

– “Computer, take us to the Isle of Wight, the Southside” – She said just before the ship gained speed, leaving the burning London behind.

Patrick tried to analyze what had happened in the past few hours, but whatever his mind came up with made very little logical sense.

The fire was spreading fast across London, and Patrick knew that there were no resources Down Below to fight it; he wondered if perhaps the fighting and burning were all planned by the Above and the Above weaponised the rebels. But engaging those thoughts was too cataclysmic even for him.

Despite the small size of Maggie’s ship, the machine was fast. It could cover great distances in the shortest time, and within a few minutes, they were already approaching the cliffs of the Isle of Wright.

– “Is there a place where we could hide the ship?” Maggie didn’t want anyone on either side of the Revolution to know what she was up to. Since the Isle of Wight was a free island, it was a haven for smugglers, traffickers, and dodgy characters willing to sell their own families if that could help them progress to the Above. That kind of dishonest people could never make it in Ecotopia. Ecotopia was very particular when it came to allowing people to settle within its borders.

– “Can you move the ship closer to that house?” – Patrick asked while pointing to what must have been one of the largest houses on the island.

– “One of the perks of this job” – He added as if trying to justify himself.

– “You could have so much more than that in Ecotopia.” Maggie carefully glided through the darkness towards the house.

– “If you park right between those trees and under the bushes, none of the satellites will pick up on the movement.” – He instructed Maggie.

Once they landed, Maggie locked the whole operating system and closed the door using her fingerprints. She put her hand on the tail of the ship and whispered: “Thank you.” This ship served her for many years and saved her life many times over. She always believed that they had a special connection, which allowed the ship’s computer to feel her mood.

Patrick’s quarters not only looked magnificent from the sky but very impressive up close as well. The exterior was old-fashioned and preserved in a pristine condition, taking into consideration the limited resources the Down Below had. It reminded Maggie of all the old houses people lived in before the revolution. Ecotopians don’t build big houses for single people or one family. Ecotopia, unlike the Old World, wasn’t based on a consumption economy, and big housing seemed like an indulgence in consumption within the Ecotopia world.

Inside the house, the modern appliances didn’t take away the charming and adorable pre-revolution luxury. Maggie looked around, thinking, “That the house was exactly like…”, but he interrupted her thoughts.

– “You must be starving.”

Maggie looked at him.

– “I can quickly fix us something.” – He offered.

– “This house…” she started but couldn’t finish.

– “Yes, the same.”

– “But why?”

Feeling safe, Patrick came closer to her and put his hand on her cheek.

– “Do you really have to ask?”

Maggie touched his hand. She wanted to kiss him, but instead, she said.

– “I… I had a long day… can I just shower first.”

She needed to focus and not get distracted by her feelings or her past with Patrick. Her mission was the priority, not her personal desires and needs.

– “Of course, let me… let me… I’ll take you. Just follow… me.” – He tried to find the right words, but it was hard to dominate his longing. Maggie followed him to a large, old-fashioned bathroom that was located on the lower floor.

– “I’ll fix us something to eat, and you can tell me why you are really here” – Said Patrick.

– “Your house is safe, right?” – Maggie wanted to know.

– “The Above doesn’t know I live here. The Droid is still down, and unless they tracked your ship, we are safe here. At least for now.”

– “Of course for now” – Repeated Maggie. “Thank you. Once I’m done, I will… find my way…” – Maggie said while slowly closing the door. When the door closed, she rested her head on it. On the other side of the door, Patrick rested his too.

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The Ecotopians knew that the resources on Earth weren’t only limited but also running low for both sides of the revolution. Rather, sooner than later, the Down Below would run out of supplies, and the Above couldn’t exist without the productive and strong Down Below. The hunger and fighting to survive could only cause more global unrest and suffering unknown ever before.

When Maggie and Patrick were still kids and lived with her parents, Patrick used to tease her about the amount of water she used for her showers. The water has always been Maggie’s element, helping her think and make decisions when she felt unsure and anxious.

Of course, she has changed not only her habits since their childhood; her life has become all about sustainability and preservation. However, now and then, she still loved indulging in a long shower or hot bath. She was certain that this shower was going to be her last for a long time. She knew that time was of the essence and every minute counted.

Her whole plan was built around Patrick. In the Old World, without him, she couldn’t do much or rather, couldn’t do enough to save her children.

The hot shower slowly started turning into a cold one. Not only freedom of movement was restricted int he Down Below but also a cap was imposed on natural resources that had to be re-directed to the Above.

Maggie could never understand why, after all those years of austerity, limitations and suffering, the people of the Old World were still willing to put up with the Corporate Government, why no one was fighting or demanding change? She quickly jumped out of the shower, dried her body as fast as she could, and pulled out a spare jumpsuit from her backpack. Before leaving the bathroom, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and noticed a few grey hairs accompanied by dark circles under her eyes. The past 24 hours were challenging, and the next 48 weren’t going to be easier. So it wasn’t a surprise to see how much she has aged over the past couple of days.

Patrick used to be an excellent cook and always experimented with food, but now, with such limited supplies, he did what he could.

His droid was still off, which meant that the Above must have suffered a greater loss in London than Patrick expected, leaving the power grid still unrestored.

When Maggie walked into the kitchen, the dining table was set for a romantic candlelight dinner, not something Maggie expected but she was truly grateful that he tried, despite the circumstances.

Patrick served Maggie pasta with what looked like tomato sauce but didn’t taste like one. The last time she ate was before she left Ecotopia, and she surely wasn’t going to care for the strange aftertaste. An apple sat in the middle of the table, which they would share afterwards. Real fruits were a true rarity so Patrick always treasured those moments when he had access to one.

He secretly wished his day-to-day reality was like that. He longed for simplicity and was tired of the bleakness of his real life. But he knew he couldn’t have what he wanted, not now, not ever.

– “Can we talk now?” – he asked in an attempt to stop his imagination from making impossible plans for the two of them.

Maggie put down her fork, had a sip of water and took a deep breath as if she was trying to prepare herself for the confession of a lifetime, and then she nodded.

– “Do you remember all those years ago when the Corporate Government invited us for negotiations?” – she asked.

– “How could I forget?”

– “The night we spent together, do you remember that?”

– “Do you really have to ask?”

– “I got pregnant that night. I didn’t think it was possible, but it happened. No,w we have two amazing kids. A boy and a girl.”

– “How do you know they are mine?” – he quickly realized what he had just said, and he immediately started apologizing: “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean… I didn’t want… It wasn’t meant to sound like that.”

– “I didn’t know you were the father until a few days ago. Mine, our daughter’s DNA, didn’t match her father’s. I mean my partner, my ex-partner.”- confessed Maggie.

The awkward silence that fell between them was throbbing.

– “What happened a few days ago then?” – Patrick was trying to wrap his head around a situation so alien to him that it felt as if it was happening to someone else.

– “I need you to listen to me very carefully before you … before you say anything… or judge what I’m about to say” – Maggie stopped for a second while looking for the right words: “The Ecotopian scientists have found a way to travel in time. However, the time loop we can use for travelling is short, and I only have 72 hours to find the kids, go back to Ecotopia, and have the blood transfusion for Josephine before the time loop closes.”

– “Are you serious?” – he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

– “We have run the experiment a few times, and it works. Besides, this is the only way we have to try to save humanity.” – Maggie added in desperation. She gave him all she had, but clearly, it wasn’t enough.

– “By time travelling? Maggie, I beg you.”

– “In order to stop the destruction of the rainforests that your Corporate Government was in full support of, we need to go back to 1999. We must stop the triumphant march of the climate deniers, the plastic pollution, and the meddling of corporations with non-renewable resources. That is our last hope.”

– “Ecotopia is safe, you are well protected.” – Patrick tried to argue.

– “Not for long. Even though we are divided by a wall, we still share the same piece of rock. The pollution the Old World keeps producing has been affecting us for years. That is why we started looking for solutions “ways” to change the future.”

– “So, you are going to send our kids to the past to fix the future. That sounds like… like… lazy science fiction.” – Patrick slowly was beginning to think that Maggie lost her mind. She clearly didn’t sound like Maggie he knew.

– “Our daughter has a rare immune disease and needs your blood if she is to travel. Otherwise, she won’t make it through the time loop, or at least this is what our doctors think. Her immune system is too weak to make such a huge jump into the unknown.” – Maggie was well aware of how crazy all that must have seemed to someone like Patrick.

– “Maggie…” but before he managed to finish, Maggie interrupted him.

– “Patrick, we both know what the Old World is and what it has done to the planet. In our current circumstances, we must believe in the impossible. When we were kids, did you ever think that this hellish destruction was possible? I didn’t! I believed in society and the good intentions of those in charge. We’ve been trying for years to find an alternative planet to settle on but so far everything that seems good enough is too far for us to even attempt to travel. We’re not running out of time, we already have. And if I can save my children, I’ll do whatever it takes to do so.”

– “Why did you leave?” – Patrick asked out of the blue.

– “Leave when? – she asked.

– “After that night.”

– “You can’t be serious?”

– “I wanted to jump the ship, I was ready and willing to come with you.”

– “The message, Patrick, the message you got.”

– “What?? What message?”

– “The one on your phone, saying that…asking if you got the information from me.”

– “There was no message on my phone, there was nothing. You just left. No note, no nothing…” – Patrick stopped mid-sentence. A very soft but distinctive sound could be heard coming from outside.

– “The Old World’s droids aren’t allowed to come that far without special permission. I’m the only one who can give them that permission.” – he whispered while making his way towards the window.

– “Patrick?”

– “Downstairs! We need to get downstairs!”

Patrick swiftly moved away from the window, grabbed Maggie’s hand, and ran towards the safe room. On the way out, Maggie managed to snatch her backpack. By the time Patrick closed the door behind them, Maggie could clearly hear footsteps approaching the house.

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At first, everyone in Ecotopia thought it was only a one-off incident, but when the situation happened a year later, the Ecotopians realised they were all living on borrowed time. The New Government (Ecotopian Government) came to understand that the only way to survive was to find a new home for humanity.

Luckily, The Space Program had been established for fifteen years and had attracted the brightest and the most progressive minds in Ecotopia. Those scientists and innovators had managed to develop self-sustained solutions for water purification, food distribution, energy-saving, distribution and recycling, which all could be used outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Ecotopian Space Program also sent robots to the far ends of the galaxy and received transmission signals back from those journeys and planets. Those explorations identified two inhabitable planets for re-location. Unfortunately, they still didn’t have the technology that could allow them to travel through space fast enough to make the journey.

When the Space Program got stuck, some politicians and thinkers suggested that perhaps moving the population to the Above, just like the Old World was planning to do, was a solution. But Maggie knew it was unrealistic, draining on the resources and unsustainable in the long run. All the resources would still have to come from Earth for many years before food production was established to sustain the growing Ecotopian population.

Searching for answers and solutions led the Ecotopians’ New Government to put together another small team of scientists, engineers, inventors and creators to figure out an alternative way of travelling that could help save humanity from the looming destruction. Maggie took charge of this force, which didn’t operate under the Space Program authorities. The team was an independent group with its own facilities and unlimited scientific resources. Every member of the team represented a different field and was willing to go to the end of the world to complete this task successfully. However, despite their expertise and best efforts, they struggled to make any significant progress in their search. Nevertheless, they increased their efforts, and one day, something unexpected happened.

While doing a routine experiment on increasing the travelling speed of small objects, the team opened a mysterious loop. At first, the loop kept changing in size from small and narrow to pretty wide before the loop finally settled in size. It looked and felt like a living and breathing organism.

At the start, the team observed its behaviour. When nothing unusual happened for a week, the decision was made to send the drone in with its sophisticated and advanced navigation technology to collect data from inside the loop (just the way they did while exploring the far ends of the galaxy for the Ecotopian Space Program).

The whole team closely and in anticipation observed the first drone flying through the loop. Once inside, the loop looked like a tunnel made up of identical white squares. The energy running through the tunnel was incredibly forceful, and some parts of the drone’s exteriors started to fall off. Soon after, the transmission ended, and the drone disappeared from the Ecotopian tracking equipment.

The team ran the same experiment fifty-five times, each time upgrading the drone with the improved travelling and sensitivity equipment, and each time, the drone went further before finally reaching the end of the tunnel. The drone arrived on New Year’s Eve, 1999. To make sure they had discovered what they thought they had done, five more drones were sent through the loop, and each landed on the same day as the first one before the transmission was cut short.

After this incredible discovery, an emergency meeting was called, and a decision, fully supported by the New World’s Government, was made to try to build a capsule that could carry a human to the other side of the time loop. The materials used were the same cutting-edge and innovative that the Ecotopians used for their space travel with a simple, slick, practical design.

Since it was a very risky undertaking, the team decided to send one member of the team each week. Ten members of the team were going to travel back to 1999, each member specialising in a different field. The initial plan and the hope for the mission were to change the degradation and destruction of the Earth by attempting to influence political and social change and make the people of the new Millennium aware that the doom was coming sooner than anyone could predict. Also, if possible at all, start designing a space carrier that could host hundreds and hundreds of people.

The first person to travel was Jessica, a futuristic engineer. Her mission was to set up a camp for the rest of the members and find out as much as she possibly could about the loop. Alas, the transmission Jessica tried to set up in 1999 to get in touch with the Ecotopia failed, and she could only communicate by sending a message back in the capsule when the next member arrived.

During the first two runs, the time-travelling was a success, and the capsule got back with no problems, carrying the first message from Jessica: “The landing spot – Oxley Woods London UK. I’m caught in a sort of time loop and repeating the same day over and over again. However, not all the events seem to be repeating themselves. If I act on something, that action has implications and consequences on the next day, which proves that changing the events was possible. I sorted out accommodation for everyone. The food in 1999 is polluted, but bees aren’t an endangered species yet. The Internet is just being born, and social media don’t exist, so the underlying anger and frustration aren’t fueled by the meddlers and troll farms yet.”

Unfortunately, a few days after the second run, the time loop started acting up, shrinking and then becoming wider and smaller again. Since no one could predict how the loop was going to behave and how long it was going to stay open and stable, the decisions were made for the rest of the Ecotopian team to travel in the next 48 hours in case the loop was going to disappear altogether.

Before jumping in the capsule, every team member had to go through a thorough medical check-up to make sure that their health condition was good enough to allow them to undergo such a strenuous journey.

Maggie’s children were also going to travel with her. But as soon as their medical checkups came in, it was clear that her daughter couldn’t make such a risky journey unless she had a blood transfusion to help her immune system. The doctors believed that the transfusion was going to improve the little-known immune disease she had, but they couldn’t guarantee anything. That way Maggie found out that Patrick was her children’s father.

Maggie immediately made up her mind to travel to the Old World to find Patrick, but before she could do anything, her children had already run off to look for him. It was agreed that Maggie was going to travel last, which should give her enough time to find Patrick and the kids and return for the blood transfusion.

If Maggie didn’t return within the next 48 hours, the last team member, Daniel, was to travel and not send the capsule back, just keep it for the team stuck in 1999 to have some way of returning to Ecotopia if it was ever possible to re-open the Time Loop again, if it, shuts down.

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Based on his experience, Patrick knew that the group roaming around his house wasn’t only well-organised but also working in coordination with one another. They surely weren’t random robbers hitting a random house.

Ever since Maggie was a child, she hated feeling helpless. And now, in the most crucial moment of her life, when she needed to act fast, she was stuck in a room without a way out. Each passing minute was adding to her desperation, and the more distressed she became, the less clearly she experienced. Within a couple of minutes, her hopelessness threshold started tipping over.

Needing to do something, act somehow, she decided that regardless of what was happening upstairs in the next five minutes she was going in. Luckil,y she still had her backpack and was able to log onto her ship’s system to request backup.

As for Patrick, he desperately tried to track back his steps to see if he was responsible for dragging them into that spectacular trap. He knew for sure that for the Corporate Government to track him back here, his personal drone would have to be up and running. Since the power to the main IT generator and the emergency supply systems had been blown up, his droid was non-operational and unresponsive. The Old World’s powers couldn’t trace them here.

While he was preoccupied analyzing his every move, Maggie whispered, – “I’m going in.”

– “What? You can’t go in. We know nothing of what’s out there.”

– “We have no time, look.” Maggie pointed to her wristwatch, which showed 36 hours and 10 minutes (It was an electric watch, but it still ticked as the old-fashioned did.)

– “What is that?” – Muttered Patrick.

– “This is how much time we have left.” – Maggie explained.

Patrick still couldn’t wrap his head around how an educated, intelligent woman, a leader of Ecotopia, could be so naive to believe in the concept of time travel.

– “To do what, Maggie?” Patrick asked, although he already knew what she was going to say.

– “To find our kids, of course, have the blood transfusion and be on our way back to 1999 if the time allows.” – She replied with so much confidence and conviction in her voice that it was hard not to believe her.

Since Maggie was determined to act and do something, she swiftly opened her backpack and, as quietly as possible, took out two small handguns.

– “I know that Ecotopia is much more advanced than the Old World but for heaven sake, time travel doesn’t exist Maggie!” – Patrick tried to argue his case. But he knew that once Maggie made up her mind, there was no turning back.

– “Only because you have no tangible proof of the time travel, it doesn’t mean it’s unreal. I’m going in.”. She was just about to make her move towards the door when Patrick grabbed her hand. She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes. In that very instant, all her senses remembered how his touch felt.

– “Maggie, Maggie, can you please wait? Can you give me a few moments to think? I need to think. I… I need to make a plan.” – Patrick was trying to buy himself some time.

– “I am afraid we don’t have that luxury anymore.” – Maggie sadly confessed.

Between all the whispering, discussing and arguing they failed to notice that the noise coming from the house died down. When the silence finally reached them, without giving much thought, Maggie quickly entered the four-digit code on her watch.

Then, in a spare moment, she touched Patrick’s cheek and kissed him. It felt just like it used to feel when they were young and careless before the revolution shaped their destiny. When the kiss ended, Patrick moved Maggie aside and stepped towards the door. He was just about to reach for the handle when Maggie’s watch beeped. That distracted him enough for her to swiftly get ahead of him and open the door with a bang. She was expecting to meet the enemy, but no one was waiting for them. Patrick was as surprised as Maggie was.

Without a moment to spare, Patrick grabbed his droid and made his way towards the back door. However, neither Maggie nor Patrick anticipated that the enemy would wait outside, surrounding the house.

Even though the garden was pitch black, they could both see the red light at the end of the weapons pointing at them. At that very moment, the escape felt impossible. Maggie dropped her guns to the ground.

-“Who are you?” – Maggie demanded to know. But no answer came back, and no one moved from the shadows.

-“What the fuck is that?” – She turned to Patrick feeling her anger reaching the boiling point. “Is that part of the Old World’s strategy? What the fuck is that, Patrick?”

– “It’s not the Corporate Government. Since you turned up a few hours ago, everything in my world seems to be falling apart. I should be asking if it’s not the Ecotopians pulling some sick trick on me.” – Patrick was starting to feel angry, too. She had no right to direct her fury at him.

Instead of confronting Patrick, Maggie picked up her guns and began walking away. Suddenly, a warning shot was fired.

– “Who the hell are you, and what game are you playing? If you say nothing, I’ll keep on walking.”- Maggie replayed.

– “Maggie?” – came from the shadows – “We know why you crossed over to the Old World and what you have discovered.” – A woman said.

Maggie said nothing, but her mind went into overdrive trying to figure out how the hell someone knew about the Time Loop if no one, besides a very few people directly involved in the discovery, knew about it all.

– “We also know where your children are” – The same voice continued.

Maggie wanted to say something, but Patrick stopped her. He wasn’t sure what kind of game their captors were playing, but he surely knew that revealing such sensitive information was unwise.

– “We know you came here to find your kids and take them back to 1999.” – The woman kept on talking.

Patrick’s heart started beating faster. Maggie wasn’t crazy after all, and there was a real possibility that the Time Loop was real; it seemed that not only the Ecotopians knew about it.

– “The time is ticking and the longer we spend here, the less time you have to find your kids.” – Said the voice calmly. Maggie looked at her watch and finally asked.

– “How do you know about the Time Loop?”

– “We opened it.” – The voice replayed confidently.

– “It’s impossible.” – Maggie responded.

– “Why? You did it, and your technology isn’t nearly as advanced as yours.”

– “What year are you from?” – Maggie wanted to know.

– “2447” – Echoded the voice while walking out of the shadow. A black mask covered her mouth; her long hair was tied up in a bun, her clothes were loose and dark, made from a heavy fabric neither Maggie nor Patrick could recognise.

From under the black mask, Maggie could just about to see her face covered in scars. While the woman was moving closer to them with her high-tech weapon pointing at Maggie. Neither Maggie nor Patrick moved, but both could see the bushes moving behind the woman.

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Unfortunately, it was often used as part of the warfare tactic against anyone who disagreed with the current cosmic state of affairs.

The reality of time travel wasn’t as glamorous as perceived by many; it was both mentally and physically exhausting for the traveller. It wasn’t easy to come back, and often, the travellers got lost in the past. Some of the nasty, full of hate, rough travellers used time travel to disturb the Galactic co-existence of many species, as well as the progress of many planets and eco-systems. For the Galactic leaders, it was impossible to find those groups and punish them accordingly. With time, a lot of those groups would disappear somewhere amongst the time tunnels and time zones, ending up somewhere where they surely didn’t belong.

Some of those travelling tribes coming from the future were able to use sophisticated and advanced technologies to manipulate the less evolved species into complete obedience and, in this way, alter the future. In 2447, no one could check what had been changed and what stayed the same. Time-travelling was getting out of control and slowly becoming a major security threat.

The group of rough travellers that captured Maggie and Patrick had only one aim; to go back to the moment the time travel was discovered and manipulate the events in such a way that wouldn’t allow for the time travel to be uncovered. Jenny, the leader of the group, believed that time loops and time travel were destroying the Galactic order and influencing the future in too many negative ways.

Jenny, a young woman barely in her 20s, was born into slavery on Earth to two human parents. When she was still very young, her father managed to escape to Aqua Moons with her and her older brother on one of the old-fashioned Ecotopian space shuttles. However, her mother wasn’t as lucky and died during the escape, sacrificing her life to protect the three of them.

Jenny has never forgiven her father for not trying to save her mum. After the Galactic trial against her family was brought to the Aqua Moons court Jenny and her brother were allowed to stay on Aqua Moons. However, the judge ruled that her father had to be deported back to Earth and back to slavery.

After the ruling, Jenny became angrier with each passing day until her whole life was consumed by revenge.

When she couldn’t contain her anger any longer, she left the secure and stable life that Aqua Moons offered. She was only 17 when vengeance became her path. She finally got beautiful retaliation on the people who killed her mother and caused so much suffering to her family. The revenge Jenny was pursuing her whole life didn’t have the sweet taste she was hoping for. It felt bitter.

While Jenny was pursuing a career as a Galactic criminal, her brother became a Galactic politician. For the sake of his political career, Jenny chose to break all ties with him. Of course, in moments of loneliness, she longed to see him at least one more time, but luckily, those moments of sadness never lasted long enough for her wish to somehow materialize. Jenny cared very little for her own life and was always willing to sacrifice it if that meant getting what she wanted. However, she cared for her brother deeply and would never do anything intentionally to endanger him.

Each act of violence she committed hooked her more on spilling the blood. However, the darkness of violence that became her legacy was creating more unhappiness in her life than she could handle. The emptiness and dissatisfaction started to overtake her mind, her spirit, and her body. In her destructive state of existence, which quickly turned into her everyday reality, she was prone to mistakes that were lethal to many of her companions.

She was undoubtedly spiralling down when, on one of the routine checks on Earth, she stumbled upon an old book with the Ecotopian markings on the cover. Markings that she remembered very well from her childhood and from all the books her mother had given them before she died. The book spoke about the history of the world from the moment the Ecotopian Society was created until they left the planet. Jenny found it fascinating and easily connected in an authentic way to those stories.

The book devoted one chapter to Maggie and her team, responsible for discovering the Time Loop for the first time changing the course of the whole Galaxy. It depicted Maggie as a fearless warrior of the Ecotopian society who went back to 1999 with one goal in mind: to build the space carrier that would allow Ecotopians to leave Earth when it came to that. After reading the chapter about Maggie a few times, Jenny convinced herself that her true calling was to stop Maggie from meddling in the past and allow Earth to run its course, even if it meant total Ecological catastrophe.

When the Old World’s Corporate Government discovered the reason behind Ecotopian's sudden departure, it was too late to make significant changes towards saving the depleting natural resources. By then, most of the resources were gone already, and the Corporate Government retreated to their safe heavens up Above, allowing the rebels to take over whatever was left of the dying planet.

By the time Jenny was born, a few families who had access to water were able to enslave 99% of the remaining population.

Fortunately, a few Ecotopians stayed behind on Earth to monitor the journey of the spaceships through the Galaxy and to make sure that the Ecotopians would and could reach the New Earth.

Since the Ecotopians feared that the Old World was going to follow in their footsteps to the New Earth, everything that had to do with their technological advantages was to be destroyed by the remaining Ecotopians.

However, one of the scientists who stayed behind had a change of heart and decided that some parts of the Ecotopian culture and knowledge needed to be preserved. She hid several Ecotopian spacecraft all over the Earth, together with instructions on how to use them and how to get to outer space to continue towards the New Earth.

During her travels across the world, she met a Freedom Fighter with whom she had a child. He never lived to see his daughter grow up as he died battling bandits that were roaming whatever was left on Earth. But Sarah kept on travelling, continuing her mission to leave the knowledge of the Ecotopian culture for future generations to discover and use.

Sarah taught her daughter everything she knew about engineering and passed the Ecotopian values and ethos onto her daughter, who later in life passed it all onto her daughter.

Jenny always felt that she was much more than a mere slave born to human parents, and now she had proof that everything her mother protected so dearly over the years was connected to the Ecotopian heritage and that very blood was part of Jenny’s inheritance.

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