August 2025 Short STory

Boom! Boom! John winced after he woke to the sound of construction next door. 

Another high rise building in Surrey, he thought and right next door to his one-hundred floor apartment building. The skyscraper would join the thousands in the southern half Sector 604, formerly known as the province of British Columbia. 

The entire world, including Canada, had united to pursue a common goal, that is to urbanize the entire Earth and to civilize the wilderness of nature. Every square inch of land was to become paved over by cement, asphalt, gravel or water, in an effort to tame the elements to mankind’s will. 

As the curtains automatically unfurled upwards, the young man crawled out of bed like a sloth from the jungle exhibit in the Surrey Zoo and stumbled down the stairs while unsuccessfully stifling a yawn.

“Good morning Mr. Lee. How would you like your coffee today?” chirped a mechanical droid as it busily flipped bacon and eggs in a pan.

“Just black today…wait…what?” John smelled his own breath and realized he had forgotten to wash up before breakfast.

“That stupid smart radio forgot to tell me to brush my teeth and shower again. Cheap junk! Gonna have to get Roger to fix it in the garage.”

As John rinsed in the perfectly temperature-controlled water, he didn’t even notice that past his tinted window were a sea of buildings, soaring into the sky like pillars leading up to the heavens.

By the time John was ready to eat, his cooking droid called Daisy had prepared a picture-perfect complete breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon and buttery toast.

“Daisy, report to me the latest news. Thanks.”

The droid projected a holographic screen from its wrist and created an impromptu TV for John to watch. 

“Today marks a historic occasion, Sector 604 has officially urbanized much of the land from Victoria in the Southwest to Kelowna in the Northeast. There will be celebrations later today to commemorate the occasion as we reach closer and closer to our goal of a completely urbanized globe. In other news, apartment prices have decreased, as we near the next rotation period. As a reminder, all citizens of Sector 604 are to report at the nearest airport for rotation and be transferred to our Summer Territories as directed by law.”

John preferred his primary residence in the district of Surrey, but his apartment in Kamloops was nearly just as well, apart from the scorching heat outside his air-conditioned room.

After breakfast, the stout young man took his hardhat and prepacked lunch before entering the teleporter at the end of the hall in his apartment building. Having a destination chip bracelet on his wrist, the teleporter sent him directly to the jobsite, where a large portion of the population worked as construction workers building more and more high rises. Many of the other jobs and services were left to droids to fill the gap in employment.

John scanned his bracelet at the main office building and immediately got to work. There was a relaxed atmosphere at the workplace as the pharmaceuticals given to all workers before their shifts ensured high productivity, mental awareness and efficient thought process. There was also no injury too difficult for the doctors to fix. John had seen various individuals who were by all accounts dead only to be brought back several months later ready for work. Advances in science, biology and medicine created a new breed of human, a more civilized and dominant species in the world.

As John looked out towards the Pacific Ocean, he couldn’t help but think of Sector 203’s job to build over the oceans, starting from the coastlines. Having already developed ninety-nine percent for the land in what was Washington State, they had started on reclaiming the space from the waters itself. Strong foundations resting on pillars of concrete reached far to the depths of the ocean, propping up more buildings built literally floating on top of the water surface.

A sense of pride washed over John as his mind reminded him to concentrate back on his work. The average worker carried up to twenty-five percent more weight per load than an average human could a hundred years ago. Combined with state-of-the-art technology, new drugs had allowed humans had become stronger, faster and smarter. It also allowed those in charge to keep tabs on society, ensuring that peace and prosperity would be universal.

The streets surrounding the construction site were also being upgraded with Mech-Trees and biologically altered grass that grew at twice the rate of normal grass. The trees were designed to filter out carbon dioxide and release oxygen, just as natural trees do, but without the slowing down of efficiency at night.

With the advancements of technology, even the weather was being subject to human manipulation, with large kilometer-wide fans pushing air upward to stimulate orographic precipitation when, and wherever they wanted. Precipitation could be controlled and would only occur in situations when it best suited the people. In addition to the gigantic fans on the coast of Sector 604, the ocean itself was the target of climate control as well. Large floating heating pads could turn on and evaporate millions of litres of seawater, making it much more likely to rain given the large amounts of water in the air.

As John worked in the midday sun, he wiped his brow with the back of his glove before continuing fastening window panels into place. It was nearly fifty stories high where he was working and they each wore safety harnesses as a lifeline in case an accident occurred. 

Like annoying flies, tiny drones buzzed around the construction site, allowing managers to keep an eye on all the work being done. Every move by each individual were carefully being watched with hawk-like eyes; like a helicopter parent watching their child with their ever-diligent supervision. 

At first the small fly-like cameras creeped John out, but overtime he had gotten conditioned to the procedure and realized it was just a precautionary thing.

“It is now lunch break, please proceed to the worker’s station,” said John’s smart watch, which was synced to the managers for ease of communication. Putting down his load, he teleported downstairs and retrieved his packed lunch, which had been stored away in the fridge to keep cool from the scorching sun.

“My radio bot is acting up again. I keep getting Roger to fix it, but each time it just breaks down again. Should know better than to trust a bot made from Sector 901.”

John’s coworker Mike shook a spoon at his complaining friend, chastising him for not being grateful, “At least you have kitchen and garage droids! Some of us actually have to cook and fix things ourselves you know!”

Eager to change the subject, John recalled hearing someone on the news last night, “Did you hear Mike? Another frog species went extinct in Central America. They say the only living specimens are in zoos or reptile houses.”

“It is a small price to pay for urbanization. It’s too bad their forests are in the way of our buildings. I’m sure they’ll create buildings just for the jungle animals, all realistic and such,” said Mike hopefully.

John looked out the window as another Mech-Tree was being installed, “Hey Mike, do you really believe these trees can replace the real ones in nature? I mean they would need to build billions of them to replace every tree.”

“Who’s to say it can’t be done? Where there’s a will, there’s a way. No problem is too hard for mankind to solve,” said Mike with a smile.

“You sound like a government ad on TV. Can you hear yourself talking man? It’s like they’re brainwashing us.”

Mike shot John a warning glance, making sure he be careful about what he is saying, “Better not make any more suggestions like that in public. If management catches you, you’ll be on psych drugs for a week. They’ll have you sedated like a dog in a veterinary hospital.”

The warning made John keenly aware that the fly-like camera was still buzzing around his head, recording every thing he said or did.

For the most part, John had been compliant with the authorities, which meant moving every half a year to a different home in Sector 604. This way, every citizen would sustain two properties, allowing more places to be occupied till population growth could provide enough people to support all the new homes. Ideally, homes in areas like Surrey would be occupied in the winter, where the temperature was milder, while places in the Okanogan like Kamloops would be occupied in the summer.

In fact, the sectors comprising of what was Canada was one of the last frontiers of the natural world, alongside the vast Eurasian forests. These sectors were proving difficult to manage, because of the remoteness and hostile climate. Europe had already finished urbanizing and was developing eastward to help Sector 844, formerly known as Russia. Most of Southeast Asia followed suit shortly after, given the preexisting urbanization already in place since the early twenty-first century.

John sunk his teeth into the turkey bacon club sandwich with relish, enjoying the sweet yet tangy flavour of the honey mustard. No one would have guessed that the animals raised for butchering were raised in a completely climate-controlled facility, one of many floors in a mega-skyscraper dedicated to domesticated livestock. The grass and grains being fed to the animals were genetically modified for faster growth and increased yield. Growing animal feed and produce took place in hydroponic buildings, where artificial daylight and supercharged fertilizers were used, allowing plants to grow almost anywhere. The electricity powering the entire process was strictly from wind turbines and solar panels, creating pockets of energy generators among the sea of buildings.

“Lunch break is now over, please proceed to your work stations,” said the announcer, with the distinct accent of an AI generated speech. Technology had come close to mimicking the complicated sounds and nuances of language, but it wasn’t a perfect replication yet. 

As the workers exited the lunch room, they stepped into the pre-summer heat, which was amplified in its effect due to the lack of trees to soak up the energy or transpire water vapour. Sprinklers were placed in accessible places for workers to cool down, along with ice packs for anyone showing he slightest signs of heat stroke. Already, scientists and inventers were thinking of ways to reflect some of the sunlight reaching the earth, allowing a cooling effect to relieve high-temperature areas such as deserts. While the intense sunlight in those areas created an abundance of solar energy, the heat was unbearable for anyone even for short periods of time.

When the smart watch announced the end of the work shift, John decided to visit the local bubble tea shop for a refreshing drink before heading home. The icy-cold milk tea flavoured with honey and infused with tapioca pearls on the bottom was a great way to unwind after a hard day’s work. 

John sipped at the drink while looking at his receipt and realized the price had increased by fifty cents since he last bought a drink a couple days ago.

“The price of honey has gone up, the artificial bees are having trouble replacing the real honeybees which are going extinct. If those mechanical bees can’t make honey like the real bees, we’re probably looking at a global shortage of honey.”

John nodded his head, thinking how difficult it must be to replicate a field of flowers for bees to visit, in a world where every square inch of land is developed and urbanized. 

“Well, at least we have stevia, and aspartame. But they don’t have the rich sweetness as honey does. It is too bad we’re still unable to make honey ourselves.”

The server nodded at John’s reminiscing and busied herself with the next order, leaving him to ponder what a bubble tea would taste like without honey.

Suddenly, the lights in the café started flickering then began to sway in a hypnotic sort of motion. People began screaming as chunks of cement began crashing onto the street. A delivery truck careened into a Mech-Tree, resulting in a fireball explosion as the fuel in the truck ignited the structure on fire. At first, John ducked under a small table, then realized that the entire building may collapse in the earthquake. He bolted for the door and headed for the closest teleporter around, which happened to be at the construction site. But there was a problem. His bracelet was preprogrammed to send him back to his apartment, where he was located fifty-five stories above the ground. A sinking feeling grew in his stomach as he realized there was no place he could go. All around him, glass began shattering and the smell of natural gas being leaked into the air was suffocating. Covering his mouth and nose with his shirt, he ran for the water, figuring that at least he would be safe from falling debris if he stayed near the open waters of Burrard Inlet. As he dodged runaway vehicles, glass shards and exploding fire hydrants, he eyed the Iron Worker’s Memorial Bridge begin to crumble as it fell apart like a bunch of building blocks in a domino effect.

All around him, there was chaos, mayhem and panic, as teleporters stopped working, elevators froze dozens of stories above the ground, and tens of hundreds of high rises began crumbling from the now rhythmic S-waves which destabilized the foundations of the buildings with its slow-moving yet damaging effect. 

Then, several minutes later, John regretted heading to the water as a large tsunami could be seen rippling through the inlet. He ran as fast as he could, unsure where to go but wishing he was anywhere but here at the moment. John dashed into a building and began climbing the fire stairwell, hoping to get high enough to be safe from the coming wave. By the time he reached the fifth floor, he could hear the water rushing inside the building, rising at an alarming rate. Thankfully the rising waters peaked and as he stopped to catch his breath, he looked out a small window at the devastation all around him. All his life, his goal; society’s goal was to tame the wilderness, control earth’s processes and bring stability and peace to all humans, yet a single earthquake destroyed nearly half a century’s work of urbanization. John thought to himself as he shook his head, Perhaps it is true, pride does come before a fall.

The End