11 The Marionette - Part I

9th March

Lee Kuan Yew Spaceport, Singapore, Singapore

The seasons in Singapore are similar to those in Israel. A hot half and a cold half of the year, but the similarities in weather end there. March is a turning point in the seasons for both countries, a change from wet to hot. But whilst Israel is dry, Singapore is humid. After spending two years in Israel's dry and arid conditions, Singapore's air is stuffy, and makes me feel constantly exhausted. It's been almost four years since I was in Singapore. Back then, I was the head of DELOS' Singaporean offices. That feels like a lot longer than four years ago, to be honest. Since then, I've spent almost a year on the moon, sometime in America and Europe, followed by three years in Israel, and who knows how busy I've been this whole time. I suppose Frank does. After all, he's the one who's worked me to death these last few years. And I finally thought I was going to be joining him on the moon after I had finished my work in Israel, but now he's asked me to do yet another job for him. Whilst most of my work has consisted of working towards the dream Frank talks about, this isn't the first time I've done personal work for him. I was in charge of trying to find his wife, Aria James, and technically still am, but there hasn't been any news on her in years. Compared to that, this task is much more achievable. At least I know that Alexander Acland is still alive, for certain.

Frank put me in contact with the relatives of his that Alexander had been staying with until six months ago. According to them, he left unannounced, and none of his friends from school had heard a thing either. He started sending them messages on a phone number they didn't recognize a few months ago, and though they have asked, he hasn't told them where he is. But just a phone number is a good enough start for me. After all, I have a lot of experience trying to find missing people after searching for Aria for seven years.

I had always thought that if I came back to Singapore, I would stop by at the DELOS offices, my old work, but there isn't any time to waste. I make my way straight to the international airport from the spaceport. From there, I'll get a private jet that Frank had prepared for me. To get to the airport from the spaceport, I first have to take a ferry to the main island, followed by a taxi to the airport. The view of the city from the ferry is quite spectacular. A shining light in the middle of the black ocean. The sky gradually goes from light blue to indigo to purple as the ferry closes in on the shining lights of the city. The city of Singapore truly is lucky to exist in its' current state. It has benefited immeasurably from the economic growth that Artemis provides. All of the helium-3, yttrium, and gold, from the moon, passes through Singapore on its' way down. This has made Singapore the economic capital of the world, or rather, both worlds. And that has also helped the city-state to survive in its' current condition. In just the last forty years, sea levels have risen half a meter, but Singapore has not lost an inch of territory. In fact, the city-state has increased in size by almost another half through land reformation. All thanks to the work of Frank and the rest of them up there. I look out east, and see a half-crescent poking out, barely over the horizon. I wonder how many people can say they've been there twice. Within the week, I'll be going up for my fourth time.

I get a taxi from the ferry terminal, and instruct the driver to take me to the airport. The journey from the ferry terminal takes us along the southern coast of the island, and unfortunately, right through the middle of town. The traffic in the downtown area is horrible. I guess it'll probably take about an hour to get to the airport. I sigh loudly, and look out the window. There's a lot of protesters out on the streets. The signs are mostly in Malay and Mandarin, so I don't understand them, or what they're protesting. Even the ones in English don't seem to have any common theme, or ideal behind them.

"Do you know what these protests are about?" I ask the driver.

"We've had almost constant protests for months now," he replied, "if I remember, it started off as a protest demanding better regulation around overcrowding in residential buildings. But nowadays, anyone who has something to protest is out there. Sometimes I don't think they know what their protesting for."

I look back out of the window. No wonder there's so many of them. I might not know exactly what they're protesting, but it could be a great number of things in this day and age. Taxes, religious fundamentalism or freedom, nation-state or super-state, corporation or consumer. There are any number of things to protest at the moment throughout the world. Following the end of the oil-based economy, and the world order that had been built around it, the entire socio-economic structure of the liberal capitalist society it supported collapsed. Nations were forced to band together to avoid being taken over by corporations, radicals established a fundamentalist government in India, the Arab Fall began in the Middle East, the European Union became divided along religious and economic lines, as well as any number of smaller crisis that have occurred throughout the world in the last five years. The last death-throngs of a world order that has lived past its' time. Or at least, that's what Frank would say.