Excerpt from Roland Hughes' book, "John Smith Last Known Survivor of
the Microsoft Wars"
SK: That still doesn’t explain Earth That Was.
SK: That still doesn’t explain Earth That Was.
JS: The seven continents.
SK: What are you talking about? There are twelve continents!
JS:
Today, yes. Back in the day of Earth That Was, there were only seven
continents and that is a map of them. The picture hanging beside it is a
picture of Earth That Was taken from outer space on a clear day. As
you can deduce from the map, it shows much of the North and South
American continents.
SK: American?
JS: <sigh> What is the first continent you encounter today when heading in the direction of where our sun sets?
SK: Dians.
JS: What is the country we are in right now?
SK: Rica, but shouldn’t you already…
JS:
Back in the day of Earth That Was, Canada was a country occupying the
northern portion of the North American continent and the United States
of America occupied the lower portion of it before you got to this
skinny connecting piece. The sun traveled from this edge to that edge
of the continent each day.
After
the events of 2013, or during, depending upon how you look at it, part
of Canada became the land mass you now call the Dians continent. The
rest of the North American continent also turned and split up. Some say
it simply had an ocean form over part of it. The difference between
split or sink doesn’t really matter. Today, you cannot walk from one
chunk to the other, so they are considered separate continents.
The
country we live in now was once called America. Several other chunks
floating around the globe were also part of America. You are having
trouble believing what you have been told because some big pieces that
are at the root of the story are under the ocean now. As a country, we
no longer have any means of getting to them or taking pictures for
others to see. At some point, perhaps we will regain that but not at
this point.
SK:
Do you really expect me to believe that you have hanging on your wall a
picture taken from outer space? A beautiful picture in full color that
was somehow taken while someone or something was in outer space and
then given to you?
JS: It wasn’t given, it was downloaded by my grandfather. Many people had them back at that time.
SK: Downloaded?
JS:
Yes. With a thing called a computer over something called the
Internet. America had some kind of organization known as NASA, which
sent ships, satellites and people into outer space.
SK: Internet? People in outer space? I don’t know what you’ve been drinking but it would have been polite to share!
JS: <chuckle> Do you see that black rectangle resembling a book sitting over there?
SK: Yes.
JS:
On the front of it is a little ridge, which you can push to the right,
then lift the top portion of it to open it. Good. Now near the bend
where the two pieces come together is a button with a circle and a line
sticking out of the circle.
SK: I see it.
JS: Press it.
SK:
It is making noises. There are lights flashing. Things are appearing
and disappearing on the top piece that feels like glass. What is
OpenVMS?
JS: It is the most robust computer operating system ever created by man. Here, let me log in.
SK: Log in? Computer operating system?
“John
Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” is one big interview.
It is a transcript of a dialogue between “John Smith” (who, as the
title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft
wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.
Genre – Dystopian Fiction
Rating – PG
More details about the author
Website http://johnsmith-book.com/
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