Frankie looked at Tom in disbelief. “Tom, all of your ideas are great, but you need the Boeing team to assist you with this. We have some of the greatest minds working here, and I am sure Boeing would be willing to assist you in developing whatever you need. We don’t want to lose a person with your skills and fantastic ideas that may benefit everyone. We have the company that can mass produce whatever is created. I am sure we can come to an agreement that will satisfy everyone including you.”
Tom stood silent for a moment. He looked down at the ground and then started to shake his head with his arms crossed. He then continued, “Thanks for the possible offer, but my colleagues and I have decided to do this without going through all the red tape and decision-making processes. We have already decided what must be done and will begin work soon. I don’t mind staying open to the possibility of you sponsoring some of the technology. Maybe that’ll be beneficial for everyone. Please feel free. I wish you the best of luck.”
“What about the conference tomorrow?”
“I’ll be there and won’t say a thing about my resignation. I’m sure what I have to say, with Boeing’s blessings, since you’ve seen the presentation, will still make the impact we need.”
Tom offered his hand to Frankie who was agitated and angry.
Frankie raised his voice. “What a fool you are, Tom. This dream of an impossible project will surely fail. You will end up broke, and you and your children, and grandchildren will never recover from it. Plus, you are going to drag down all the other people you plan to hire with your con job. Even if you succeed in building a ship like Noah’s Ark, it will probably explode or end up not going anywhere, and you will still be broke. What the hell do you think you are going to accomplish with all this nonsense?”
Tom said, “We can only accomplish something if we try. If we try and fail, then we can die knowing we did everything possible to save the human race. If someone else comes along and follows up on this and succeeds in saving the human race, that would be great too.”
With those words, Tom turned in his letter of resignation and walked out of Frankie’s office.
He never spoke to Frankie again.
Chapter 2 – The Short Flight
Tom Burns, Chicago-bound
During the flight to the climate change conference in Chicago, Tom reviewed his presentation. It was an early morning flight. He was ready for his mid-afternoon presentation. He felt great having talked to Frankie. He felt even better about the conference and the next few weeks. In the past one hundred years, people had done more harm to the climate than the last six hundred million years. This was unacceptable, but there was not much he could do about it. The United States government under Donald Trump had been resistant to accepting any report the environmental scientists had produced. Tom had become interested in saving the environment ever since his dad, William, died from cancer inflicted by Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The United States government during the 1960s and 1970s had not only killed thousands of Vietnamese with these dangerous chemicals but also thousands of United States citizens. The military had been less than forthcoming about the effects of Agent Orange and tried to cover it up for years.
Before his dad died, his dad had made it clear to him that he was proud to have served his country and proud of his only son. He wanted his son and grandchildren to enjoy life and have as many opportunities as possible. Tom believed in what his dad had told him. But now it was clear that the only way to enjoy a full life would be by leaving Earth behind.
After watching his dad die a horrible death in 2001, Tom promised himself that he would do whatever he could to save people from the dangers that governments were inflicting on people of the world. He decided to travel to places where climate change was having an impact to gain as much information as possible. It was the subject of his presentation. Since the increase of cars, carbon emissions had increased significantly causing the polar caps to melt, the ozone layer to disappear and the oceans to rise. First, he had taken a job at Boeing where he was one of the youngest engineers.
In 2008, Tom had met with a group of scientists to discuss the climate changes happening in the world. Tom had left the meeting with a real sense of purpose. His daughter, Sophie, was only a year old and he and his wife, Sarah, had been focused on building a family. They wanted three children. Once the kids were old enough, Tom would be ready to travel and gather first-hand accounts to prepare for what he would be able to do to help solve the problems beyond what he was doing at Boeing ever since he was twenty-six years old.
Seven years later, Tom had traveled to the island of Kiribati. Jeff Tirortu, a native of the islands, had met him there. After being introduced to Jeff and having a meal, they had sat down to talk.
“Our people have lived mostly off the land and sea, building up our subsistence agriculture, relying on coconut trees since our soil quality is poor and we have great fishing grounds. Kiribati was once a much larger island than it is now. It is part of a group of islands called the Gilbert Islands that stretches hundreds of miles. Our ancestors have been living here for hundreds of years. During World War II, we were the battlefield for one of the bloodiest battles between Japan and the allies. In the Battle of Tarawa in 1943 nearly 6,400 soldiers from the United States, Korea, and Japan died. The villagers experienced terror, torture and destruction under the Japanese. Forced labor, being forced to provide goods and homes to soldiers, and the destruction of canoes made them think the end of the world had arrived. Then they were evacuated.
“And the American bombings left nowhere to hide. After the Japanese surrendered, the local people saw better working conditions and compensation and provisions with an end to the forced labor. Their traditional way of life was gradually restored despite how long it took to recover from the war’s ecological and economic damage on the land and subsistence living. It’s taken decades. And they still find remains of servicemembers in unmarked graves who were killed during the battle, providing some answers to the families who were left in the dark back at home. And, now, how are the latest damages to the environment affecting our people and our lives living off the land and sea?”
Jeff had slowly shaken his head, recalling stories he’d heard about how long it took to develop before a crop could be harvested again.
“Once the industrialized countries started to mass produce cars, there has been a considerable loss of land due to carbon emissions. We’re low-lying islands. Many of the smaller islands have had to be evacuated due to extreme flooding and drought as the sea rises. All of these evacuees have had to relocate to Tarawa, our capital. The losses seem endless to us, we haven’t been able to isolate ourselves, between the war and the environmental damages, and we struggle to survive. What kind of answers will ever be provided?”
“Good question. Is it overpopulated?”
“Now, over 100,000 people. There are so many people living here now that the living conditions have deteriorated. It is almost like a can of sardines. We are forced to try to relocate our citizens in other countries. We try to relocate as many citizens as possible close to each other so that we can try to preserve some of our cultural traditions. Some have been sent to New Zealand. When we move to New Zealand, we are forced to give up most of our cultural ways. The graves of our great ancestors are left behind, and many are underwater now. Many structures and buildings which were built in the last forty years are also underwater.”