175

“The countries will fight you,” Lord Inen threatens. “You’ll never be able to hold the entire system together.”

“We shall see,” you tell him.

You assemble a team of diplomats to supplement the work of all the rest. Working diligently, you manage to get all the world’s major governments to agree to your Happy Earth Project. Vayellia and certain other holdouts are strong-armed or cajoled into going along with it—mainly from assurances that there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The big day comes. You throw the switches simultaneously in dozens of cities worldwide. The earth begins to hum. The meditators stationed everywhere report that they are experiencing states of utter bliss. First the sky clears, and then clouds start to form symmetrical, beautiful patterns. The tides level out and the waters stop swirling in their normal eddies.

Then, gradually, things return to normal.

But from now on, all plants grow in much greater profusion. Trees grow almost twice as tall, bushes thrive, and flowers bloom in double their normal numbers, and much brighter. Vines creep over houses everywhere. Fruit is available in amazing bounty.

All in all, while it’s a bit of a problem for a lot of people, it’s much more of a boon. Starvation is ended worldwide—until the governments of corrupt places mishandle their new bounty badly enough that it returns. But that’s just the way of the world.

Children now page through picture books and stare at how drab things used to be. They look at your picture on the last page. Then their teachers take them outside through the school gardens and they laugh.

Is that what you wanted?

If you want a place to live, you will need a planet.
But it cannot have a say in how you treat it, can it?
If you care about it still, leave a little room.
Even giant balls of rock need a place to bloom.

-End-

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