Short Story - The Human Condition - What Lies Ahead

Volume I, Book I, Chapter 1

This is a series of short stories to be collected into a future book. It is a Sci-Fi epic novel evolving around what happened after the World War III. In a post-apocalyptic world, Jimmy Li, a former Chinese soldier, made his lifetime mission to collect the last remains of humankind by traveling everywhere he can on a bicycle. Read the adventures of Jimmy as he turns what was left into a thriving society that is about to take humans into space.

"It’s not rainy at all." A repeating thought of Jimmy, he could not get it out of his head. “It’s not rainy at all. Yet, that is not how I remember Hong Kong before the war, especially during this season.” It is June 2061. The People’s Republic of China did not exist anymore. Hong Kong did not exist anymore. In fact the world as people had known it in the early 21st century did not exist anymore. There were no more borders, no more visa to be applied for when people travel. There were no more statesmen announcing the plan for their next four-years campaign. It was not due to the development of humanity’s kindness, gratitude or a more morally elevated society which decided to abolish all of these rather backward necessities of nations. No. It was rather due to the fact that there were not enough left who can run those things. People died. Too many of them. Innocent people who worked 40 hours per week in the usual rat race of life. Did they think for a second that the wheel they were turning would end up here, in this?

What Jimmy saw in front of him was horrific. Skyscrapers lifting their heads up into the sky only to lose half of its face, as though a giant had bitten off a great portion of it thinking it was an apple of some sort. The iron bars would stick out into all directions, some lights still flickering out of the smashed windows. “This building must still have some emergency power left. Or there must be people up there. Nah, too dangerous to go. Besides, I need to get the important things done first.” The important things. What were still important in this world when half of a city was flat as the Earth itself, the remains of bombshell being more than the leaves of the trees lost in autumn? “I need to get to Dr Chan's house. He must still have kept his touring bike in his garage. A former Bitcoin miner. How does that go together with biking, I wonder? Perhaps both activities require the same brain area." Jimmy studied Neuroscience at university.

Wan Chai, once a vibrant area where people would bump into each other due to lack of space, was desolate. Half of it's area was just plain field with the remains of the bricks and mortar of skyscrapers. It was here that Jimmy wanted to change his way of moving from walking to cycling. He thought it would be more efficient and yet slow enough to capture what is left, to meet more people who are likeminded. Who still believed. Who still cared. But it was quite a distance from there to Dr Chan's home. It was situated close to Prince Edward MTR station. It was important to notice that Dr Chan's flat was just two blocks away where Bruce Lee once lived, just before he died. Jimmy was a Bruce Lee fan. Maybe he thought of himself even as a talented Kung Fu artist. He always thought of himself of something, something greater, more interesting, more important. But before the war, he merely thought about it, thought about it with more energy than anything else in his life and perhaps because of that, did nothing, accomplished nothing. Thinking was a cheap commodity. Everyone could think but only few could do things, set things in motion for the wheel of the world to turn. And it turned and turned, and it ended up in this. Perhaps, thinking and not acting was better after all, would have saved some energy at least.

But now, Jimmy must think. He had to know how he could get to Prince Edward station on the mainland. Wan Chai was located on the Hong Kong island and was just a few minutes away by ferry. But after the war, there was no ferry anymore, only a few animals and birds trying to hunt for some fish in the water. "Would it be dangerous to swim?" Jimmy thought. "How about my luggage. It's only one backpack but it is not like the Messenger bag, cannot float on water. I have to build something."

What on Earth, and especially in Wan Chai could you use to build a boat of some sort to carry one person and his luggage? But the mind of a human in desolation is very inventive. When nothing is left, everything is to be thought of. "I need a bath tub. Those that are cheap and made out of plastic. Why did people pay so much for the ceramic ones anyways. Useless after the war. I call that lack of prudence." He remembered that there was an area down Hennessey Road where lots of people lived in highrise flats. There must be something still left over. When he arrived, it took him longer than expected to find a less damaged bath tub. He also found some rubber to put it inside the plug so the water wouldn't come inside the tub. In another area at Causeway Bay, Jimmy went to what remained from Decathlon. He found a half broken surf board that was cracked vertically from the top to the bottom making it suitable for a peddle. Once everything he needed was found, he dragged each item to the shore, close to Wan Chai Ferry Pier and put his luggage inside the tub first to test it's buoyancy. It worked. Only about 10% of the tub sank into the water. Now he was confident it would work. It was sunny but rather late, perhaps late afternoon so he must cross soon to find somewhere suitable for sleep.

He sat inside, began to peddle. Slowly first then faster. He quickly crossed half of the sea. He could see what was the remains of Tsim Shah Shui. It laid there in absolute ruins. Ruthlessly, wind would blow up and away household items that people fought for to get during Black Friday. It was close to the Star Ferry Pier where Jimmy landed and went up the stairs to the mainland. It was Tsim Shah Shui once. Now all the streets were full of bomb blasted remains of buildings. It was a horrible state indeed. How should he ever reach Dr Chan's house if there were no more signs left? Everything was so different and Google Maps was gone too. Without phone, without Internet, how could Jimmy survive? Yet, he must, he had a mission. Or so he thought he had. Sometimes it was very comforting for him to think out something important as a grand mission to comfort himself as being someone important or relevant in a world where not even humans in general were relevant anymore.

It was at this perplexing moment of confusion and reflection that Jimmy heard a terrific cracking noise.