(S)kin(s)

[Environmental Science  &  Fiction]

In the middle of the night Ms. 238 wakes up shivering. The yellow disk behind the naked mountains is posing for whoever is willing to disperse a minute of the tight schedule. Soil levitates beneath the Bubble, lonely sky above. The lamenting fingers of Ms. 238 are rippling around a bouffant improvisation of a polar bear fur -guard hairs worn on the head of inhabitants for adornment. Ms. 238 is a mother of one- the permitted number of descendants per inhabitant. 365 is a boy with many more respiratory problems than his age could handle who for that exact same reason is in a need of extra skins.

The skins are tight garments inhabitants cover their bodies with for protective purposes and life maintenance. There are different types of skins related to various conditions each individual carries from birth. From Velocity, to Mosquito and Ventilation Skin, White, Cooling and Coral skin, most of the skins serve for reduction and regulation of the parts per million of carbon dioxide each individual is permitted to emit. Whereas some of them are associated with the prevention from the multiple infectious diseases continuously expanding in the air, the rest are in service of preserving the body temperature from the extreme weather. Additionally, skins such as the Memory skin and the Te- Ch one are sustaining the cognitive, behavioral and emotional balance of the individual, also necessary for carbon dioxide emission maintenance. More frequently than not, the unharmonized interaction between the skins makes movement and benevolence challenging for the individual.

Ms. 238 stretches the rubber skin, pulls it over the other already transparent ones and starts customizing the lines on the monitor. Some seconds after the ‘send to printer’ command is submitted, a 3D printed pie appears on the table; breakfast is ready. While 365 is preparing himself for the opening speech at the ‘Education and Organization of Information Greenhouseshire Forum’, a Forum that is the system for education and life maintenance in Greenhouseshire, his mother is feeding the silicone fish with some 3D printed crumbs. Most of the rituals and fashions, such as the feeding of sea world or wearing polar bear fur as adornment, are a valuable part of everyday life in Greenhouseshire. This way the Greenhouseshire community is not only mourning for the outcomes of apathy but cultivating connectedness in the sparks of nostalgia for the lost world. 365 shoves his skins through the air to finally reach the table.

A step away from the Exit, 365’s regulatory systems alert him that he has forgotten his external memory bracelet on which all trains of thought are uploaded, including the one with his Speech. 365 shovels himself back to the cell to get it. Even though he intends to be quicker, he walks slowly, disturbed by the quantity of skins that cover his tiny body. His frail steps carry him back to the door where his mother’s worrying face signals the need for haste. With the bracelet on his left hand and together with his mother, they approach the lightcycle. The lightcycle is a self-regulatory tricycle with a cybernetic consciousness. Because its cybernetics are built on the memories and feelings of 238’s former human partner, it always gets tetchy when 365 and mother are late. This time it was furious, as the Greenhouseshire Forum’s Opening, which only happens once every 4 years, is one of the most prominent events on the entire levitating soil.

The tunnel at the entrance of the Central Bubble where the ‘Education and Organization of Information Forum of Greenhouseshire’ takes places is closing. Ms. 238 and her son barely manage to enter. This is 365’s first day at the Forum. As 365 is a couple of hours away from delivering his speech about the biophysical environment of change, he recognizes the feeling of excitement, a tremor in his stomach. However, the skins prevent him from any behavioral manifestation as this is likely to increase the probability of emitting even more of the unwelcomed carbon dioxide. Any additional activity, no matter its nature, would mean emitting more carbon dioxide. This would certainly infringe upon 365’s chance of earning the additional skins he needs to enhance his vitality and longevity. It is year 500 After Apocalypse.

At the entrance of the Central Bubble a detector scans the air consumption capacities of each single body and provides diagnostics suggesting rooms that are most prudent for that particular individual. Upon arrival and organization of the invited in the transparent cells-rooms surrounding the main floor, the sharing of awareness begins. This year is Mr. 3’s turn to give the opening speech before the candidates begin with the reminiscences, deconstructions, and expectations, namely their speeches.

Mr. 3, like most of the tenants of the Central Bubble, is asthmatic. A machine ‘Prompter 63’ predicts the possible interruptions in his voice and covers them up with a vocal simulation so that the audience experiences his wisdom in an uninterrupted manner. ‘As smooth as fresh snow’- Mr. 3 exclaims- ‘our present endeavors continue to contribute to the maintenance of the Atmospheric skin. The hoarfrost of good practices we have cultivated upon the demolishing outcomes of the Two Hot Cataclysms and the Apocalypse have once again demonstrated that memory is a crucial part of our survival on this ruined planet.’-as he delivers the speech mountains covered with snow are projected in the center of the space. In Greenhouseshire, Snow is God, Snow is Love.

‘The Two Hot Cataclysms followed by the Apocalypse have outlined a period of great loss rooted in our ancestors’ self- destructive propensity, myopic views, social dissolution and apathy’ continued Mr. 3 with a powerful, but calming voice modulated by the machine. ‘The floods and the climate refugees, the sea world disappearing, the food shortage, the melting of the glaciers…we all remember today that there is no battle against ourselves we can win’ – while orchestrating with words, holograms and sounds;  places, memories and ideas spread around the room, externalized directly from his synapses. The speech is wrapped up with the Global anthem ‘Snow please fall’. The audience is invited to the Coughing Room.

At the Coughing Room, the public is free to cough the phlegm of hot weather infections out, those that easily cling in lungs. Dengue spurred by the temperature is slowly evaporating in the atmosphere as the mosquito layer of the rubber skins is activated. The smell of the repellent circuit around the square chandelier is neutralized with the sound of the lights signaling the beginning of the second half of the Event. It is the learners’ turn to contribute to the shared awareness and spark the debate for the upcoming year. The participants, young learners at the beginning of their constructive social engagement assemble forming a half circle around the projected snow-covered mountain.

After the Two Hot Cataclysms catalyzed by climate migration-the declining amount of resources and living space, the Apocalypse was nature’s answer to the human apathy. The population that survived the junctures were the families of Fishermen and Spacemen. Ms. 238 was the offspring of a Space mission manager. ‘Glaciers cracking, oceans covering the soil, carbon dioxide changing the chemistry of the oceans, oceans evaporating in warmth, higher wind velocity, hurricanes, dry arid, hot weather, diseases, corals bleaching, no food, no drinking water, climate refugees; today we remember the Two Hot Cataclysms that were brutal wars between increasing communities fighting over decreasing amount of resources. The Apocalypse, a wave of hurricanes propelled by changing surface temperature of the oceans, jolted dramas that have reached inhospitable climate climax’ 365 was recalling virtual memories as an introduction to his speech.

As a follower of the Post-Eskimo culture, 365 was prone to deliver exhaustive representations of the world he held dear within. At his age of 7, 365 was highly conscious and well aware as all of his Greenhouseshirian  peers who inherited the Memory Drives containing the human history and evolution that was archived and sent to space before the Apocalypse. Despite his young age and skinny frame, 365 already wore over 10 skins. He was born with asthma and Dengue Fever. In his first year of life he was infected with Lyme Disease. Later, Rosacea flushed his appearance. By the age of 4, 365 could hardly move in the multiple layers of rubber he was covered with. The skins, though, are a necessary condition for life in Greenhouseshire.

Based on the planned economy of the community, the average amount of skins per person was calculated ever since the Apocalypse. The skins are allocated based on the average amount of productive years of a Greenhouseshirian, which is 30 years. One of the skins, the Ventilation one is related to the limitations linked to the emission of carbon dioxide that serves as a medium for exchange. 365 was kept alive by the community due to the additional skins and available parts per million of carbon dioxide he inherited from his great-great-Grandfather who was part of the Space mission during the Apocalypse. These skins were a compensation and a symbol of recognition of the significant contributions of his ancestor to the survival of the post-apocalyptic world. Nevertheless, the rapidly expanding emission of carbon dioxide 365 produced due to his symptoms, such as coughing beyond the permitted limits, did not leave many years of life ahead of him, even though he was performing beyond the average productivity for his age. Anything above the allocated parts per million amount of emitted carbon dioxide was considered a crime, as this lowered the permitted amount of CO₂ emission for the community as a whole. Thus, the climate criminal was instantly taken out.

‘Now, 500 years after the Apocalypse’ -365 was pointing- ‘our Atmospheric skin must be kept on 200 parts per million. ‘Holograms of 365’s suggestions, sounds of the voices in his head, are spreading in the shared space of the Hall. The colorful thoughts of his mind are instantaneously projected. The audience can feel his anger and passion to engaging all his Being in the work of the Forum. 365’s visualizations of his observations, virtual experiences, and imagination seduce the public. After his deliberation, he was granted an enrollment in First grade which Ms. 238 proudly salutes. Suddenly, amid the euphoria, the Mosquito skin got activated. It seems that the phlegm from the Coughing room they were previously at during the break and the euphoria triggered the receptiveness of the Malaria microorganisms. The Mosquito skin turning yellow was a visible sign alerting a situation of communal concern. At the next moment, 365 is in the Emergency Tube. His mother is calming him down, as he has to be able to control the level of the exhaled carbon dioxide at any time.

‘There is a tip of an iceberg in my throat’- Ms. 238 contemplates while settling on the bubble chair next to her son. The deserted mountains far away are unusually feeble. Upon the detection of the additional parts per million of emitted carbon dioxide, the Nurse machinery concludes that 365 is stabilized and is hence not an atmospheric threat to the community. With this acknowledgment he is released to go back to his Home Bubble. After passing through the controls at the exit of the Emergency Tube, Ms. 238 leaves 365 in the Home Bubble and goes bug hunting. Bugs are core for generating energy.

Ms. 238 puts the Cooling skin on and harmonizes the sounds coming out of one of her pockets. Mesmerized by the sounds, bugs start piling up in her Bag skin. Bugs are artificially reproduced and are well kept incubated in the Local Bubble Laboratory to be woken up for anyone who would need energy and, at the same time, be willing to engage in pocket signaling. Ms. 238 Velocity skin (a pair of opaque tights with small wheels anchored at the bottom of the garment) takes her back in the Home Bubble. There she finds her son next to the lightcycle who was taking care of her son while she was out, and a couple of pills with projected mood swing generators in silicone cups, on a fixed sea world decorated platter. His fever is gone.

There are around 5-10 renewable skins each average individual wears. 365 urgently needs more. Ms. 238 brings food to 365. In addition to the 3D printed dish, she has prepared the main meal- small pills mapped with projections of different forms of steamed vegetables to imitate the diversity of forms food had in the pre-apocalypse world. The pharmaceutical and automobile industries were most innovative in the pre-apocalypse times. The generated information from these fields impaled the creation of sustainable necessities for the after apocalypse. Greenhouseshire inhabitants are working on building new methodologies to approach the environment in order to reduce the dependency of the human on the skins.

‘Human is an extension of nature. Nature needs the maintenance of the Atmospheric skin. It is forecasted that the Greenhoushirians would need more than 1000 years to tone down the skin protections’ 365 whimpers. Ms. 238 takes her Ventilation skin off and covers her son. She does not expend many words doing this. That way it is more energy efficient. ‘Mum, the frost on my heart is burning’– cries 365- ‘I feel my lungs are calving’.  Ms. 238 recalls love and fear: that white cloth of flakes that cradles empty vessels and pillows visceral fruits to juice surfaces of longing. For the first time, after a long time of sole perception of projected textures and colors, 238 senses real visceral longing for 365 skins to last. She turns her head to the wall and notices that the holographic portrait of her mate is missing. 365 had taken it off.

Ms. 238 partner. Mr. 237 was a human. Now he is a hologram with Human skin. Also, his memory was uploaded on the family vehicle, the lightcycle, that was just taking care of 365’s necessities related to locomotion and transportation, and is now feeding the energy transmitters with bugs. Mr. 237, the human, died from Malaria on the first expedition to soil. Some say he committed suicide after he was infected and he realized that coming home would mean putting many more skins than permitted and consuming more oxygen than allocated. 365 thought of his father’s act as a cowardly rather than brave. He thought instead of staying outside of the levitating Greenhoushire, his father could have been more productive in here, working in the Factory of Ideas, where most of his friends’ parents are, despite his challenging condition.

After soothing 365, Ms. 238 goes to the round tables in the Center of Greenhouseshire to work. The city’s infrastructure is a bigger version of the Home Bubbles. The Factory of Ideas is on the Central Square. The Greenhouseshire Bubble is protected with White skin for cooling purposes, to prevent light and warmth penetrating in the city. Biotechnology and geoengineering are the most prominent sciences in Greenhousehire. All endeavors go in line with expanding the pool of choices in everyday life and restoring the symbiotic relationship with nature. Ms. 238 has a new idea for these topics. She hopes to gain an extra Ventilation skin for her son upon contributing with the idea.

The Augmentation of reality is part of the everyday life in Greenhouseshire. The general thinking is that the simplicity of the materials used for the production of the landscapes and architecture is complementary to the complexity of colors and forms projected in public spaces. The drive for innovation is perpetuated by the latter. The projections are not only emitted by the Central Technology Bubble, but each individual, being related to an external memory bracelet, a sensor and a projector, is a transparent participant in the community as thoughts, and memories (based on directly experienced or virtual reality) are projected on the fabric of the social environment, around the inhabitant, in real time. This allows the locals to be in each other’s skin at all times. This way, no lies or inconsistencies are feasible and the social glue builds on ceaseless empathy necessary for maintenance and progress. Ms. 238 projects the mental image of the model based on her new idea for skin preservation on the roundtable in the Factory of Ideas. The idea is greeted with an instant prototype. The potential for gaining a new skin rises.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Greenhouseshire, 365 prays to the Snow. Nothing is falling down except his Ventilation skin. The alarm for exceeding the permitted carbon dioxide emission limit is about to activate. 365 thinks about his kinship-a humanity where not a single body should be a waste of skin. Ever since he turned 7, for almost a year now, there is a wonder lingering in the labyrinths of his blooming mind:

‘How free must have people been without skins.’

In the middle of the day, 365 falls asleep shivering. The yellow disk behind the naked mountains is posing for whoever is willing to disperse a minute of the tight schedule.