‘Ten points for the young man in the back!’ Antares

shouted. ‘We are indeed in the beautiful Alaska, the

perfect place for Borealis. Here we could still f ind

truly desolate places, hundreds of kilometres from

civilisation. High, cold, quiet. No one will bother us

here.’

That was it then. HELP. No one would ever read

Joppe’s cry for help on the slope. No rescue was

coming. 

‘Sirius and Polaris have already said something

about the f lood that will come,’ Antares continued.

‘The climate disaster that the world is heading for

because climate change is unstoppable.’

Joppe thought of his brother Timo. He was about six

years old when Timo went to torment Joppe while he

was showering. ‘Do you know how bad that is for the

polar bears?’ Timo had said, and when Joppe didn’t

turn off the tap immediately, he had started to count:

‘One dead little polar bear, two dead little polar

bears, three dead little polar bears...’ Until Joppe

f inally turned off the shower.

Timo had teased him for years because he had been

crying so loud. 

Joppe looked through a haze of tears at Antares, who

by now had conjured up all sorts of statistics on his

screen. ‘I’m a climate scientist. Sirius and Polaris

brought me in to build Borealis storm-proof. It can

even withstand a superstorm - and it will need to.’

Antares pointed to a graph on the screen. ‘This line is

the global warming temperature. When it gets above

two degrees - and look, it’s almost there - it will be

too late. There will be no turning back and nature will

turn into a feral beast. Nobody knows exactly what

will happen. All we know for sure is that it’s not good.

Not good at all.’

Antares turned away from the screen and looked into

the hall. Joppe could see the panic in the man’s eyes,

even from his seat at the back of the hall.

‘I’ve been shouting about it going wrong for years.

Years! Everyone answered: «You’re right! We have

to do something!», but nobody did anything. Yes, put

up some solar panels and wind turbines. As if that

would stop the disaster. And then came the Great

Summit Almost all countries concluded they had

to save the world You may know that I cried with

relief But almost nothing changed after that No

country dared to take on polluting companies or shut

down dirty power plants They may want to save the

earth as long as they dont have to pay Simpletons

However they have no idea what price they will soon

pay

Antares took off his glasses and wiped his eyes as if

tears started to f low again at the mere thought

I gave up Shortly after Polaris and Sirius came to

me They had really heard my outcry Too bad they

hadnt come sooner together we could have achieved

a lot When they knocked on my door it was too late

and they knew it Thats why they already thought of a

solution: Borealis.’

Antares put his glasses back on and peered into the

distance as if he dared not look at the children.

‘Look guys, the earth will survive it all. But the people

won’t, well at least, a lot of them won’t. Everything

will change. By building Borealis and keeping you

safe, we are securing the future of humans. Although

sometimes I wonder if humanity deserves it. Any

questions?

It remained silent. The children seemed crushed by

Antares’ words. Joppe wasn’t. He didn’t believe any

of it at all. How was it too late? There were just all

kinds of actions for the climate. Just last year solar

panels had been put on the roof of the school, in the

changing rooms at football there were signs telling

them not to shower for too long. He jumped up and

shouted as loud as he could: ‘How are you so sure

you’re right, Antares?’

That was the go-ahead for the others. Everyone

started shouting through each other.

‘Are we really safe here?’

‘Do we have to stay here forever?’

‘Can my family come too? And my friends?’

‘Why do you use these weird names?’

‘How long before the f lood comes?’

Antares took a few steps back and made a calming

gesture with his hands.

‘Calm down, calm down... not all at once. Who was

f irst?’

‘Me!’ shouted Joppe, but no one heard, as Marc

from the Crew jumped on stage and stood in front of

Antares.

‘What did we agree on? Finger up and ask questions

one by one. Now you all start shouting through each

other anyway. That’s not how Antares is going to

answer, otherwise you will never understand how

important it is to stick to the rules here. This meeting

is over. Go home and go to sleep quickly, because

tomorrow morning at 8.30 a.m. classes will start

again. I’m sorry it has to be this way, guys. Sleep

well!’

‘What a freak show,’ Zack whispered in Joppe’s ear

as they struggled out through the crowds. ‘I don’t

know who I think is worse that Marcguy or that

socalled Triad

Shh Joppe whispered back The Crews guards

kindly waved everyone off but their smiles did not

reach their eyes Those were almost as dark as the

pine forests at night

Marloes Morshuis

Fragment from Borealis page 3235

Originally published 2016 by Lemniscaat

Netherlands

ISBN 9789047708667

All rights reserved