Melodious is greeted at the airport
Thousands of carbon removal plants are built
Ocean carbon removal plant operating
Click the puzzle piece to work a jigsaw puzzle
The Indigo Jewel
Chapter 15 - Healing the Planet
Intro,
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
Epilogue,
Afterward
“The Ants are with you!” - Melodious, upon arriving in Reykjavik
When the planes from Ant flew to Reykjavik, they carried more than just passengers. They carried the promise of a new world. Among the 195 people traveling, one stood apart. Melodious sat quietly, her hand in her pocket, fingers curled around the unseen jewel. Several times during the flight, she locked herself in the bathroom, emerging only after pleadings from the crew.
The journey was a long, grueling twenty hours. But when the wheels touched the ground, she was composed and ready. The flight attendants ushered everyone else off the plane first, but when Melodious moved to follow, one of them gently held her back. With loving hands, they washed her face, combed her hair, straightened her collar and spoke encouraging words into her ears. She wasn’t sure why they were doing this. Preparing for what? A flicker of fear gripped her, but she steadied herself.
Then, the door to the plane opened again. She stepped out onto the platform and froze for a moment.
A crowd stretched all around her as far as she could see. Thousands of people waving, cheering, calling her name. Banners rippled in the wind, adorned with her name and symbols of unity. A microphone was placed in her hands. They wanted her to speak.
Melodious looked out at the sea of smiling faces. Was this the moment she had been preparing for her entire life? The songs had been part of it, but they were just a prelude, setting the stage. This was her true mission. And though it was hard for her, she was determined to go through with it. She knew what she had to do.
She counted her breaths until her heart slowed to its normal pace. Then she smiled broadly at the sea of humanity facing her, chanting her name.
“Thank you for coming to greet me!” she called out, waving. “I thought there might be a few people here when I arrived, but I had no idea there would be so many!” She smiled again and they all cheered. Then a hush fell over the crowd as she continued. The words came effortlessly. She had practiced them the entire flight. “I promise you, people of the north, the Ants are here to help you. We are with you in everything you are trying to do. And as the official representative of my country, I promise you this, you will not face this challenge alone.”, then she shouted the catchphrase she would repeat over and over during her visit, “The Ants are with you!”
A cheer erupted in the crowd, swelling and rolling like a great wave. It went on and on. She thought it would never end. Melodious couldn't help herself. She broke down and cried.
Hours later, after speaking with hundreds of people, Melodious retreated to her hotel room to recover. Watchful guards stood outside her door protecting her. Inside the room, she was not alone. Her grandmothers were anxiously waiting. They understood what had transpired even before she spoke. They talked long into the night about the mission Melodious had volunteered for. For the next few days, she remained in the city, speaking with the leaders, listening, learning, planning. There was so much to do.
Others who had traveled north on the flight set about their own tasks. The land was beautiful, rich with thermal springs and towering forests. But their purpose was not recreation. Representatives from the newly unified northern governments gathered to work closely with scientists from Ant. They began laying the foundations for the greatest undertaking in human history.
The deployment of carbon capture and storage facilities would take more than 50 years to complete. They would be built across the planet—on the land and under the oceans. Then, it would take hundreds of years to remove the excess carbon, and even more time to restore the planet to complete equilibrium.
But this was only half of the project.
As the heat abated in each region, it would be reclaimed and repopulated with appropriate bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. All of these had been meticuliously saved and cataloged. Eventually people would join them, but only in sustainable numbers. Never again would the human population swell to the billions it had been before the Great Divide.
There could be no gaps during this effort. Maintenance of the extraction infrastructure would be critical. And throughout the coming centuries, the future holders of the Indigo Jewel would return, again and again, guiding each generation in small but subtle ways toward healing the planet and preparing the people for what was to follow.
The borders of old had crumbled, and with them, the barriers between people. The world was healing. The north and south worked closely together, knowing the outcome their actions would ultimately bring. As carbon was drawn from the atmosphere and oceans, the poles would eventually refreeze. Their people would be forced to relocate, but the cost was worth it.
A detailed strategy emerged:
- Massive carbon extraction towers would filter the air on every continent, sequestering the emissions underground.
- Oceanic sequestration stations would utilize deep-sea trenches to safely store compressed CO₂.
- Microbial solutions would be introduced to restore marine ecosystems and absorb excess carbon.
- Reforestation efforts would be conducted with carefully cultivated genetic diversity from Ant’s nature preserves and the two seed vaults.
- As each latitude became habitable again, appropriate creatures would be reintroduced to the areas they had previously occupied.
The Post-Anthropocene age had begun.
Copyright © 2025 Elton Smith