AN IMPERFECT WORLD
The year was 2113. The Earth had changed in the past century, but not for the better. Thirty years earlier, in 2083, the catastrophic war that the world was expecting had finally come. Russia, turning back to Communism, had been feuding with the United States for years. The buttons were pushed, and a nuclear war was launched. Not only had the United States and Russia been bombed, but all of the two countries’ allies throughout the globe had been taken out also.
The Earth was left in ruins. Whole cities had been turned to rubble, uninhabitable and impossible to traverse. Skyscrapers were turned over on their heads, streets sinking into the ground, and giant craters with dark, empty bottoms. What used to be plains were turned to red, faceless desert, constantly being stirred up by burning, toxic wind. Forests and jungles transformed to giant piles of dead lumber. An ugly pile of wreckage and an empty, emotionless world was all that remained.
Adaptation is human nature, and this time was no different. A few humans had taken refuge in small “pods” designed by the most capable scientists. These pods were the size of small cities, and had the ability to deflect any radiation from the outside and filter fresh air with a thin blue shield surrounding the pod. The most capable of these scientists, Dr. Nate Thompson, had designed his pod around the outskirts of Washington D.C., the United States Capitol. D.C. had been the capital in the past, but no government existed in this horrible, new world. The only laws that existed were those established by the leaders of the pod. There was no doubt that Dr. Thompson had established the most acceptable living environment out of all of the other scientists. His pod was several times larger than many of the other pods, had the best ventilation systems, and had the most access to necessary resources.
Although Dr. Thompson had made the best living conditions possible for his people, they were not happy. Dr. Thompson considered himself the ruler of his pod, and his people accepted that, the only problem was Dr. Thompson was not a fair leader. He tried his hardest to make his people a spitting image of himself. He forced them all to partake in his favorite activities which included video games, riding bike, and listening to rock music. No one ever considered telling Thompson his errors after he took them in and saved them from a sure death, until one fall day.
Thompson was sitting in his office one night, writing in his journal he kept. He wasn't a small man, but not quite average sized. Thompson always dressed to impress, and his manners never failed him. His speeches won the minds of all who heard him, and he had gained the respect of the pod. He was, for the most part, well loved by his people. But his one flaw was about to become apparent to him.
"Mr. Thompson, I have a letter for you," Thompson's assistant, Dr. Gordon said, as he entered the room.
"Thank you. Leave it on my desk," Thompson said. He picked it up and started reading to himself. It was a complaint from the people of the pod. The letter noted Thompson’s controlling ways, and said if he did not change them, the people would try to take over.
“I can’t believe this,” Thompson exclaimed, “I had never thought of myself this way. As you know, Gordon, I am going to visit the nearby pods tomorrow and see how they are doing. I will be gone a few days. I need to think about this note. It disturbs me very much to think my people are this unhappy with me.”
“Do what you need to, sir.” Gordon stated.

Morning came soon and Thompson prepared his things and got ready to leave. He had developed a special hovercraft for journeys outside the pod. It was similar to a Recreational Vehicle, but had a light blue shield generated around it to keep out radiation, along with thrusters on the bottom to hover across the rough outdoor terrain. The vehicle had a small living area, only big enough for one. It could autopilot to any set point on its programmed GPS. Dr. Thompson designed the craft specifically for travelling to other pods, in his hopes to someday unite all the pods and form a uniform government, similar to the one the United States had in the past.
Thompson’s first stop was the Pittsburgh pod. He had attended university with the scientist who developed the Pittsburgh pod, and he was curious to see how they were doing in the rough times. It did not take him more than a few hours to get to Pittsburgh with the increased speeds of the craft. The shield for the pod was built inside the city limits of Pittsburgh, and it could not be viewed from the city limits due to all the wreckage. Luckily, Thompson’s hovercraft had been designed to fly quite a ways up in the air, or the pod could not have even been reached. Thompson flew up to take a look at the pod from a distance.
“Oh my!” Thompson gasped, as he looked down at the Pittsburgh pod, or what remained of it. It did not look much different from the rest of the city, besides the thin remnants of the shield around the pod. Thompson hovered down closer and discovered that the pod was void of any life. It appeared that the shield failed to reflect the radiation from the nuclear war.
Highly disturbed, Dr. Thompson moved to another pod he planned on visiting, as there was nothing else he could do. His next stop was the pod located in New York City. He didn’t know much about the New York pod, except that it rivaled his own. He had heard it was just as big, and it held just as many people. The scientist who had developed it, Dr. Walt Morgan, was a very intelligent and well-known man. Thompson was interested in sitting down and talking to him.
Thompson was admitted entrance at the gate of the pod. What he had heard was right. The pod was very large, containing tall building and skyscrapers, even a sports dome. Most of New York City was inside of the pod. Places of the past such as Times Square and the Empire State Building were preserved. From the edge of the pod one could see the ruins of the Statue of Liberty, a broken piece of metal that once symbolized a whole country.
Something was wrong, though. The people of the pod looked weak, almost sick. They all had long, slim, sad faces and they were skinnier than anyone Thompson had ever seen. They were very pale, and seemed to have trouble moving. Thompson walked to the capitol building, and entered the office of Dr. Morgan.
“Hello sir, who might you be?” Morgan questioned.
“My name is Doctor Nate Thompson. I am visiting from my pod located in Washington D.C. “
“Ah, yes, Thompson. I have heard of you. Nice to meet you, sir!” Morgan exclaimed.
“You too, Dr. Morgan. I hope you don’t mind me asking, sir, but why do all of your people look so sick?”
“Ah, yes, that. You see, we are running out of resources. The large food supply we had is running out. We have had to ration out what is left. I don’t mean to be rude in asking a guest such as yourself this question, but do you think there is any way you could help us?”
Just then an idea came to Dr. Thompson. He had discovered a way to make a powdered food for his people. He had established a factory in D.C. that produced the food in mass amounts. It wasn’t as good as the food they had before the war, but it kept them all alive and well.
“Would you be willing to come back to my pod with me?” Dr. Thompson questioned Morgan. “I know how I can help you. We will chat about it on the way.”
Together Thompson and Morgan travelled back to the Washington D.C. pod. Thompson scheduled a pod meeting, and they all gathered the next day at the park in the middle of town. The park was packed, the whole town had showed up to listen to Dr. Thompson. A stage and a podium had been set up, and Thompson stepped up to speak.
“Ahem,” Thompson cleared his throat, “I want to let everyone know that I have received the letter that was sent to me the other day, and I wanted to say that I am truly sorry. I had been assuming that everyone would like to do the things that I enjoyed, and that I was creating the perfect place for my people to live. In reality, I was only making a perfect world for myself. I have seen what is outside this pod, and how the others around us are suffering. Not everyone is as lucky as we are here, and I should not have been forcing you to do things you did not want to when our lives are so good. With me today I have Doctor Walt Morgan of the New York City pod. His people are in trouble right now, dying of starvation. I would like to announce the beginning of work on a new project, a railroad line connecting us to the New York pod to transport goods back and forth. So let’s hear it for our newfound friends in New York!”
All of the people of the Washington D.C. pod were cheering and screaming in joy. Dr. Morgan had tears in his eyes, and could not stop hugging and thanking Thompson. Dr. Thompson knew, then, that he had won his people back.