17 year old Ivan Hrushevskyi from Ukraine will soon be
launching his first novel, a science fiction thriller called Red
Sunrise. Ivan has a wide sphere of space related interests
and has given TED-Ed Club presentations with the Junior
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (JASU). He is enthusiastic
about science in general.
Red Sunrise depicts a future where advances in technology
are matched by environmental and social degradation as
observed through the eyes of a Ukrainian engineer from Lviv
named Edward Sokol.
This is an excerpt from the upcoming book:
Part One
The year 2077 had been a rough one. Much harder than previous
years. Humanity had caused itself a lot of trouble extracting all the
minerals to the very last one. People had used up most of Earth’s
natural resources. Several decades ago it became a real problem,
not just a stupid conspiracy theory. The economy was declining,
the climate crisis was getting worse and more catastrophic every
year with terrible weather. People all over the world were getting
poorer, sicker, and exhausted. It had gotten to the point where
many people had lost hope in the future and dreamed of leaving
the planet.
Looking out the kitchen window from his flat in suburban Lviv, the
rain pours down in buckets, decorating the candles of the gray
high-rise buildings. Taking another shot of his usual drink Edward
Sokol sighed, “Hmm, I am living in a kind of doomsday. I never
thought in my childhood that this would become my everyday life.
Anyway, it’s time to go to work or I will be late for the tram train.”
While riding the train everyone was absorbed in their AR glasses
as a mass, constantly consuming an endless flow of information,
oblivious to the people around them. Edward was lost in a
daydream, thinking about his coming workday responsibilities,
when suddenly a giant electronic billboard appeared on a screen
above him inside the train.
Its voice talked about a big project to colonize Mars, looking for
resources to help save humanity. They wanted amazing people to
join the cause!
Edward squinted. Another promise? Another way to distract
people from Earth’s problems? They’d used up everything here
and now wanted to take everything from another planet!? He felt
angry. He checked his broken communicator – bad news
everywhere as usual: no heat, no food, riots. The ad said “Red-
sunrise.org” – a hopeful image for people inhabiting a dying
world.
Edward needed to keep his boring job just to survive, not dreams
of space. But as he got off the train, a tiny idea sparked. Maybe
this Mars thing was real? Maybe it was a way out of this mess?
He opened the website on his old communicator. Maybe, just
maybe, there was more to it. He stepped off the train feeling a
little less gloomy and a little more curious about seeing a red
sunrise on another planet.
To be continued.
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Bruce Callow
