Free The E Utopia Project by Kudakwashe Muzira

Monstruo are funny.”
    Sara returned to her office.
When she looked at images coming from NASA, she discovered that the agency was
now showing real-time images of the diminishing storm. She logged onto the
other sites and wasn’t surprised to see them livestreaming the storm. Whatever
was happening in that area is over, she thought, sucking her thumb.
    She paged Nzue and the
Gabonese came at once. She struggled for calm as she told him what she had
found out.
    “So you think NASA, ESA and six
privately owned satellite imagery companies are involved in some wicked scheme,”
Nzue said thoughtfully. “What common interest would draw them together? The
privately owned companies are competitors and it will take something remarkable
to bring them together.”
    “Maybe someone is coercing
them.”
    “Who could have the power to
coerce a United States federal agency and an agency belonging to the European Union?”
Nzue asked.
    “I don’t know but I believe
that this is all somehow linked to El Monstruo.”
    “Linked how?”
    “I don’t know,” Sara said
with a shrug.
    Nzue thoughtfully squeezed
the tip of his nose with his thumb and index finger. “You could be onto
something. El Monstruo is a big mystery and we have to explore all
possibilities if we hope to overcome the disaster.”
    “Did you have a look at my
draft?”
    “I’m still going through it.”
    “Thanks, Nzue. You can go
back to your office. I’ll call you if I need anything.”
    Nzue left and Sara resumed
watching satellite images, only taking her eyes from her computer when her
phone rang. “Hello.”
    “Ma’am, the drones are now in
the location.”
    “Thank you, Andreas,” she
said, wishing the drones had arrived earlier.
    She spent the whole day
watching satellite images, hoping to find another anomaly in the images coming
from Earth observation satellites.
    At exactly half past three,
she left her office and drove her car out of GEMA Headquarters. She was about
to pass the shopping center when she remembered she needed some groceries. She drove
into the shopping center and parked in the almost empty parking area. She
disembarked from the car without her breathing machine because she knew the
shops were all air-conditioned. She scooted into the largest supermarket.
    Only a year ago, the
supermarket had a dairy section, a butcher and a poultry section. She picked
some soya mince for her dog and two packs of tofu for herself before she walked
to the greens section. She did the shopping on autopilot. Her mind was
preoccupied with the strange discovery she had stumbled upon today. She had the
feeling that if she figured out what the puzzling behavior of the space
agencies and satellite imagery companies meant, she could save the world.
    She mechanically pushed the
cart to the till. Her chest constricted when she saw a tall, athletic man
pushing a shopping cart toward the same till. He was wearing a cycling helmet, a
T-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, his breathing machine slung on his neck.
    “Sara,” he said.
    “Hi George,” she said, trying
her best to appear unfazed.
    “It’s been a long time since
I last saw you in flesh. I’ve seen lots of you on TV busy trying to save the
world. I listened to quite a few of your UN speeches. They were all quite
impressive.”
    “Thanks. It was nice bumping
into you, George,” Sara said without turning back. “I’ve got to run.”
    “See you, Sara.”
    She pushed the cart to the
till, desperate to get away from George. She had told herself that she was over
him but one look at him had told her that he still owned a big chunk of her
heart. Her preoccupation with solving the environmental disaster facing the
world had helped her forget about him and she had assumed she was over him.
    “Good afternoon,” the teenage
sales clerk said.
    “Afternoon,” Sara said anxiously.
From the corner of her eye, she could see George going to the next till. Sara
sucked her thumb, willing the teenage sales