Borealis

Borealis is a children’s book about three

wealthy and powerful adults who regret they

didn’t stop climate change while they had the

chance. To clear their conscience they build

a camp in Alaska to keep hundred and eighty

children safe in a cold and remote place. In

this camp, Borealis, children from all over the

world await their fate. They’re well provided for

- but the rules are strict and the fences high.

When the children hear why they have been

torn away from their familiar surroundings

they realise that their fate is tied to the world

They were chosen for a special future However

not all the children are pleased And as the

long and cold winter approaches the tension in

Borealis reaches a boiling point

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

Joppes 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 didnt 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 Im a climate

scientist Sirius and Polaris brought me in

to build Borealis stormproof 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 its

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 its not good Not

good at all

Antares turned away from the screen and

looked into the hall Joppe could see the panic

in the mans eyes even from his seat at the

back of the hall

Ive been shouting about it going wrong for

years Years Everyone answered Youre

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 wont well at least a lot of them

wont 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 wasnt He

didnt 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 youre right Antares

That was the goahead 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 Thats

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 830 am classes will

start again Im sorry it has to be this way guys

Sleep well

What a freak show Zack whispered in Joppes

ear as they struggled out through the crowds I

dont 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

Marloes Morshuis writes exciting f iction about

current themes for children Stories that take

children to a different world and at the same

time make them look at their own world with

different eyes Themes include climate change

technology and overpopulation

Marloes

Morshuis