Migration Day

Prologue

In the late 2020s the United Nations finally took action to understand climate change. The Earth wasn’t just warmer every year, but the rate of change was accelerating as well. Most experts predicted that Earth would warm 2ºC by 2050. It happened 20 years early, in 2030. When the Earth warmed to 3ºC, nine years later in 2039, many places were simply too hot to live in the Summer. The climate shifted in a way unseen in recorded history. Five years later, the Earth passed 4ºC, aka the “Point of No Return”.

At this level, sea levels rose to unprecedented heights and hundreds of millions were displaced. Governments instituted strict carbon laws, limiting economic growth, and international travel was severely limited. Income inequality grew while social mobility decreased to a level not seen in two hundred years.

Temperatures swung violently from 150ºF in the Summer to -50ºF in the winter. The rich chased moderate climates, living at the bottom of the Southern Hemisphere from November until April, and Northern Hemisphere from May through October. May 1st and November 1st became known as “Migration Day”, a new global holiday, celebrated twice a year, when the rich traveled between the two hemispheres.

Part 1: Move It

Anchorage, Alaska — Migration Day, May 1st, 2044

Current Temperature: 82º

“Happy Migration Day to me”, Nate said as he toasted himself in the mirror as he slung back a shot of Clean Spirits. Nate grabbed his backpack and opened the camper door. He put on his face mask just as a gust of hot air forced him to tuck his face into his shirt, like opening a hot oven to check on the Thanksgiving turkey.

Nate still hadn’t been able to find an alarm that would wake him from his drunken slumbers, and now he would be late yet again. He considered splurging on a heloDrone but decided to request a shared AV (autonomous vehicle) instead. Even when Nate is late, he is too cheap to request his own ride, and for the first five minutes of the shared ride he sat with his face pressed against the glass, too hungover to engage in conversation, reeking of booze. As the other passenger got out she gave him a huff in disgust. The AV pulled away and showed an ETA of 18 minutes to the Seattle Homestays, a high end community of villas.

As he pulled up, he saw Mr. Mir Dalus, his client for the day, who waited inside. Nate knew he was pissed just from the way he was glaring from the window.

“Come on buddy, you know how stressed out Becca gets on days like today,” Mir said.

“First off, how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me buddy? Second, you always worry. It’ll be done in time, don’t worry. Also, I don’t have the credits to pay for this.” Nate said nodding to the taxi as he walked towards the house.

Mir rolled his eyes, paid the car using the window’s interface and mumbled, “Of all the people to hire on a day like today, why do I keep hiring this one?”

Nate walked into the house, large wooden crates were everywhere, each with the same large black and white QR code painted on the side. Nate marveled at the fact that these boxes went from Mir’s house in Punta Arenas, Chile to here in Anchorage, Alaska without the touch of a human hand.

Nate imagined the automated lifters that picked up the boxes and put them into trucks, which drove themselves to the airport. From there the cargo was loaded with autonomous lifters onto the plane whose Captain was thousands of miles away, monitoring a fleet of more than a hundred planes, all safely navigating their northern routes. After the plane landed, another crew of autonomous lifters unloaded Mir’s packages to a large truck, which then autonomously drove to Nate’s current location. Amazing.

Suzanne walked in, snapping Nate out of his logistics daydream. “O god, here we go”, Nate thought.

“Seriously, Nate. I don’t know why Mir keeps hiring you. An hour late. A whole fucking hour. I have done my part to get this place livable, but you need get unpacking. Now. The welcoming party starts in less than 4 hours.” Suzanne was never the easiest to work with. Her job was to bring in local delicatessens and stock the fridge. Nate had to do all the real work.

Nate looked away, tapped his ear and music started playing. He noticed Suzanne talking again, but he ignored her. Nate took out his crowbar from his backpack and proceeded to open each crate. He focused on the bedroom first and used an old 20th century dolly to get three crates to the bedroom. He closed the door, pulled the blinds down and, after checking the bathroom to make sure he was alone, took out four small packages from his backpack. He carefully set up four small lifters that Nate had hand made. They aren’t pretty, with wires sticking out and various colors and textures, clearly made from scraps.

No one had made lifters this small, let alone with such control and precision. Nate also wired them with small microphones to obey voice commands.

Most of what Mir and Rebecca travel with every year consisted of their favorite art, latest fashion, toiletries, makeup, perfume, and other accessories. But one thing Rebecca would not be without for more than a week, was her custom made, one of a kind bed and matching furniture.

Normally, putting together a custom, extra wide king bed by yourself would be impossible. Nate orchestrated his lifters like a conductor getting his orchestra ready. Just as each had their side in place, and Nate was about to instruct them to move together, Mir ran into the room, tripping over one of the lifters, causing the bed to crash to the floor. Nate rushed to his fallen lifter.

“God damnit, Nate! More of your stupid toys?!”, Mir yelled.

“For fucks sake, Mir. I swear to god if you broke him I’m going to kill you,” Nate replied.

“Listen, this is the last job, OK? You have one hour to get as much done as you can and then I have a new crew who are taking over. I’ll pay you out for the full move, but please leave before they arrive.” Mir said as he turned and walked away.

Nate didn’t respond, got his tools out and was focused on fixing his lifter. After a few minutes the lifter turned back on and moved himself to his previous location.

“Fuck him,” Nate whispered as he slid his finger around his earlobe, music now at max volume.

He closed the door and with the orchestra of lifters uninterrupted this time, the bed snapped perfectly into place. He then gave more advanced commands to each lifter, while he began to organize the contents of the crates.

“Lift1, sheets. Lift2, pillows, Lift3, pillow covers. Lift4, duvet, work with Lift 2 when he is done with the pillows. 1 and 3, next assemble the side tables.”

Within 5 minutes the entire bedroom was furnished and three giant crates were empty.

Nate paused his music and walked out of the room, feeling the glaring eyes of Suzanne upon him.

“I’m assuming you heard the news? I’m done eh?”, Nate said with his best embarrassed face he could muster.

“About time…” Suzanne replied, barely audible.

Nates approached Suzanne, “Listen, how about you do me a favor for old times sake. You’ll never see me again, I promise. I know you’re super busy, but how about you give me 30 minutes in the house by myself for half of my wages?”

“Only if it comes from Mir directly.”

“Deal.”

As Suzanne left the house laughing, Nate turned, tapped his ear to resume his music and whistled for his lifters. The next 25 minutes were a tornado of activity with Nate opening crates faster than he had ever before. Nate deployed four more lifters, with eight running around the house at full speed, sorting and putting away laundry, organizing the bathroom, setting up toiletries, installing art and tidying up the rest of the house. The kitchen, living room and family room were now ordained with fine pillows and new souvenirs from Chile.

Nate glanced at his watch, two minutes left, whistled for his lifters and just as the last one jumped into his backpack, Mir opens the door. Although all twelve crates were emptied and arranged throughout the house, Mir didn’t even notice. “What the fuck Nate. You are giving Suzanne half your pay? How are you going to get by?”

“I can do what I want with my own credits.”

Mir sat on the couch beginning to notice his wife’s favorite throw pillows from Chile perfectly organized. Mir looked around the house, amazed, “how…how did you…”. He turned and Nate was already gone. He opened the door just as Nate got in a heloDrone from the driveway.

Part 2: For The Family

Seattle, Washington — November 2030

Current Temperature: 66º

The Dalus Family did not have much in terms of money, but they made up for it in love and happiness. They owned a small home on the outskirts of Seattle and the company Earl worked for had AV buses that made it easy enough for him to get to work. Earl was a packer at one of the largest distribution centers in the world, celebrating his 24th work anniversary, but was never quite able to make the jump to manager.

“You’re the best lineman I have, I need you working not managing”, he was told half a dozen times. Automation continued to put more and more folks he knew out of a job. If you were lazy, late or made too many mistakes you wouldn’t last long. Earl found a home in the fragile department. He never had a broken shipment and came up with new creative ways to wrap the high end packages, like chandeliers, art and furniture. Job security wasn’t something he thought of, he took pride in his work, got things done and then went home. He never took his work home with him and his meaning in life came from his family and raising his two boys.

When Earl lost his wife to cancer five years ago, the company gave him two months off, equal to about three years worth of sick leave, since after all, he hadn’t taken a single sick day in over a decade. Losing his wife was hard on him and he was back at work after a week.

His eldest son, Mir, was 17 and the financial stress of his upcoming college tuition was weighing heavily on the family. Mir was a good kid, did well in school and had a few options at Washington State schools, including a full ride to Earl’s alma mater Western, but Mir had his heart set on Boston. Earl forbade it.

His youngest son, Nate, was a precocious 13 year old, who always seemed to be getting into some kind of trouble. Last year, Earl got called into his manager’s office with Nate in handcuffs, surrounded by security guards. He had made a copy of Earl’s badge and snuck into the warehouse to upload “an improvement” to the sorting algorithm. The company was not pleased when it caused a malfunction. The two didn’t speak the whole way home, but Nate knew his Dad was impressed by the half smile he got as they left the car.

And then it happened.

It’s not like working in a distribution center is necessarily dangerous, but accidents do occur. Someone in Willamette Valley ordered a piano, and spent a fortune to have it express delivered. Earl said the packaging alone would take most of the day, but was promised a bonus if he could get it out by lunch time. While the crane was lifting the piano into the crate, Earl noticed a small tear in the protective fabric. He leaned under to sew it together when the chain snapped, killing him instantly.

After losing their mother only a few years back, Mir and Nate took it as well as one would hope. Uncles and Aunts flew in from out of town to sort out the logistics. A few days became a few weeks and no one seemed to notice that it was Mir’s 18th birthday. Nate will always remember being in the kitchen that morning and seeing a new side of Mir as he came down the stairs: Defiant, brash and determined.

Mir entered the kitchen and loudly stated to his uncle and two aunts, “I have something to say and please do not speak until I am finished.”

“I know you all have the best intentions and I appreciate you staying with us for these past 3 weeks, but you have never once asked what Nate or I want.” His tone more forceful as he spoke.

“Today is my 18th birthday and now I get to decide what is best for our family.” Mir threw down the company’s workman compensation contract on the small kitchen table. “Page 18, section 5, Any and all recipients of the trust will be granted fully as of their 18th birthday,” Mir said defiantly.

Mir turned to Nate, “We can talk about this more tonight, but I’d rather just get this done with. I am going to Boston in August. You can choose what boarding school you want to go to, anywhere in the country, up to you.”

“What? I’m not going anywhere! What about the house? What about my friends?” Nate was pissed.

“I already listed the house last week, it will be sold within the month. We can travel this Summer in Dad’s camper.”

“Fuck no and fuck you”, Nate got up and left the house, further cursing under his breath.

Aunt Suzanne tried to get a word in. “Mir, I don’t think th…”

“Susan, have you ever won an argument with me? Ever? Just stop. And Uncle Bob, don’t try either. I have made up my mind. You’re welcome to stay until the house sells, but after that I ask that you go home.”

And just like that, Mir went back up stairs and starting packing his things.

Mir believed that if he could get him and his younger brother out of the house they could both move forward with their lives. Unfortunately, they couldn’t escape the pain of losing their father by simply selling the house and leaving town.

Mir thought the AV-RV camper would be a great road trip vehicle, allowing them to talk for hours while it drove them wherever they wanted to go, connecting as brothers to get through such a difficult time.

Mir realized quickly this was a terrible place for two teenage children to be trapped for hours at a time. They got as far as Arizona, ending the road trip after only 8 days. They agreed that as long as Nate was getting an education and taking care of himself he could live on his own in the camper. He would have to reach out to Mir once a day and give him access to all online accounts, including social networks, emails and his online tutoring program. Mir hopped on a flight to Boston the next day leaving Nate with the camper.

Boston was just what Mir needed. Given a fresh start at life, Mir immersed himself in a new city, new friends, and the freedom of having his own place. By the time school started, Mir was well on his way to becoming one of the most active members of the school community. He splurged a bit on a nicer apartment than he should have, which painted a picture of Mir being from a wealthy family, something he never corrected by talking about his actual family history. This tended to attract friends from actually wealthy families and as graduation approached Mir got a job in finance, working for his girlfriend’s family firm. He hated it, but the pay allowed him to live the life he had expected of himself.

Nate did not do as well on his own as Mir did. The daily video calls became weekly prerecorded messages, and by the time Mir was finishing college, they talked once a month at best. Mir was disappointed that Nate didn’t attend his college graduation and after the ceremony he tried to log into Nate’s accounts to see how he was doing. He discovered that Nate had changed all his passwords, canceled his internet and phone number, and hadn’t registered for a single class for his final semester of online High School.

Instead of enjoying his college graduation, Mir spent the entire weekend tracking down Nate to a small town in Alaska. Nate was about to turn 18 and Mir knew how headstrong his little brother was. Mir was able to get Nate on the phone one last time. All Mir asked for was his bank account information so that he could transfer him credits once a quarter. In exchange, Nate gave Mir a secret online alias and promised he could always get in touch with him in case of emergencies.

Part 3: Life Finds A Way

The Great Swamp — August, 2048

Current Temperature: 155º

Mir was true to his word and didn’t hire Nate the follow Migration Day. Or the one after that. Nate kept busy, finding new ways to get by in Anchorage, but decided the migrates had ruined the city he loved, so he headed back out on the road with his trusty, beat up, 2025 AV-RV camper. His goal: find the craziest, hardest places to live. After years living year-round in Alaska the cold was something he’d perfected to an art form, but the heat was something new entirely. He became an reverse-migrate, chasing the hottest heats. From Mexico to Central and South America, back to Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas.

He had one question each place he went: “How do people not just get by here, but thrive?” For instance, he learned about how the Navajo’s teepee would cool naturally by living over cold streams in the mountains. Shelter was one thing he was good at. His camper had tricked out solar panels, improved window seals, let alone the energy absorption pack he modded to get 10x the storage.

“Ok, fine, it blows up every now and then, but it works!” he always explained to others looking to buy one. “I cover it in industrial grade armor to maintain the blast, what’s the big deal?”

He thought he had seen it all over the the past few years, but then he visited The Great Swamp.

After the 3ºC barrier was crossed, levees were no match for the rising tides and continual hurricanes, each season worse than the one before. After Luisiana was lost in 2040, the swamp continued to spread. Arkansas, Tennessee and even as far north as Kentucky were under 3 feet of water most of the year.

Many people think the 160ºF heat of Death Valley is the hardest place to live. What Nate learned in the swamp was that humans are reliant on their sweat evaporating to survive in hot conditions, and that’s only possible if the combination of temperature and humidity — known as the wet-bulb temperature — stays below 100ºF. The body relies on the air around your body to evaporate your sweat, causing your body to cool. If the air already has too much water in it, it can’t absorb your sweat and you just stay hot, unable to cool yourself. Above 120ºF in the swamp’s humidity, you’re toast.

The people who were able to leave the growing swamp did, but millions didn’t have a place to go. They did their best to live off the swamp throughout the Winter and boarded themselves up in the Summer. Government assistance was the primary means of food distribution, which was delivered via the weekly drone drops. Getting to the drop points was not always possible for the disabled and the elderly resulting in thousands dying of exhaustion every year.

Seeing people so unhealthy and without the means to care for themselves shocked Nate. After moving between campgrounds throughout the Great Swap, he found a home of misfits, too stubborn to find a new place to live. He met Bill, a retired truck driver, “more glorified truck secretary if you ask me”, he would always say. “Driving aint what it used to be.” He met Liz and Diz, twin sisters who had seen it all. And finally, his new best friend, 98 year old Hector. Hector would tell stories of crossing the Mexican border in 1998 in 120ºF heat “with notin’ but a backpack”. They lived in a raised shack in a large communal area. The more that Nate got to know Hector, the more he couldn’t understand why society had let people like him wither away. Hector had not been outside in months and couldn’t withstand the 45 minute walk in the heat to the closest drop point. Bill had been taking care of him for a few years, but even Bill was having a hard time making the journey.

Nate’s grand invention didn’t exactly start as an idea, as much as a bet.

“What’s the highest wet-bulb temp you’ve seen?”, Nate asked Bill.

“Me? Probably 130º two Summers back. What’bout you Hector?”

“135º, June of 2041 in Louisiana. Couldn’t be outside for more than 5 minutes. Many died…”, he responded as he looked out the window as he often did.

“I bet I could do it for a whole afternoon…”, Nate said out loud, immediately regretting it.

“O ya? How?”, Liz and Diz said at the same time.

“I…um…hrm…I dunno…”, and just like that, Nate’s next 3 days were spent trying to figure out how to keep himself alive in the hottest heat in the world.

First he had to simulate that kind of heat, so he built a sauna of sorts out back by using an old A/C wall unit and inverting the heat exhaust to flow into a small shed.

His first idea was to use air cooled jets with four lifters carrying a battery pack, coolant and fan. Then he tried eight lifters, then all sixteen he owned. Even with sixteen, the hot air would pierce through the cold air stream, and combined with the high humidity, it was just too much, and overpowered the cooler air.

So he reversed his bottom up idea and made a giant, extremely heavy hat of sorts holding all 16 battery packs, coolants and fans. It looked like one of the 1990s computer nerds making “mobile” computers, with power packs, keyboards, computer tower and a monitor all strapped together with duct tape.

Then he did something so dumb he knew if any of his friends saw him they would laugh him right out of the room. He grabbed a plastic shower curtain and attached it to his clunky hat. Added a dehumidifier pump at the bottom to reduce the humidity inside the curtain and then taped the curtain to the floor. The goal was to control the humidity, prevent any gusts of hot air to hit the skin, while also reducing the temperature.

The initial test worked…enough. When the sauna hit 130ºF, the temperature inside the curtain maintained a nice 85ºF. At 135ºF he started sweating as the inside the curtain passed 95ºF. When the sauna hit 140ºF, the pump broke and although he was still getting cool air from his “hat”, it didn’t matter and he struggled to get the curtain open as the curtain temperature and with high humidity shot up past 150ºF. He crawled out of the sauna and vowed to have a spotter next time he was going to test his next stupid idea.

He learned a few things though. The weight was unbearable and he had to figure out a way to make it lighter. Secondly, he needed a dehumidifier at the intake and coolant at the exhaust to maintain a natural breeze.

First, the weight and dehumidifier. His mind immediately went to solar…the point is to use this contraption when you’re out in the sun right? Using a specially designed transistor that would work directly with the fan he could get the air to flow, but the humidifier needed more electricity than a solar array the size of your head could make in real time. He opened an old box of electronics and found a silica gel packet. This could work! As usual, instead of thinking through the details, Nate immediately went to the drop point garbage dump and salvaged thousands of silica gel packets. He covered the shower curtain in layers upon layers of the packets. Not a permanent solution as it would lose its ability to absorb water over time and he wouldn’t know when it was done absorbing. He could add cobalt, but that was banned 50 years ago because the EU found it to cause cancer. Instead he used methyl violet which was “less toxic”, but would work for a prototype as it slowly changed from orange to green as it absorbed more of the humidity.

He also knew you needed to be able to walk while wearing it, so keeping a tight seal at the ground by taping the curtain to the floor wasn’t going to work. He added low grade proximity sensors to his eight lifters to carry the curtain while keeping a pseudo-seal with the ground using light air jets. Remembering that although the bet was for him to survive in the heat, he really just wanted Hector to be able to get outside. He wanted to make it easy enough for Hector to use so he also added voice commands so the the lifters would open and close upon be asked to, nice touch he thought.

Nate still had the problem of power for the coolant and turned to his trusty lifters to do the leg work. Instead of trying to power one large a/c unit he miniaturized his camper’s battery to rest on each lifter with a mini coolant system that kept cool air in and pumped hot air out.

No way was he going to try this alone in his test sauna again, so it was time to show someone else. He was too embarrassed to show Liz and Diz, and Bill would have trouble understanding it, but he knew Hector would get it. Hector wouldn’t be able to even make the 5 minute walk to the sauna in the heat so he waited until nightfall as Hector was getting ready for bed.

“Hector, any chance you could you help me with something real quick?”

“Sure Nate, whatever you need.”

Nate was glad he waited until nightfall. Even in the cooler 90º air and thick humidity, it took Hector 15 minutes to make the short walk and needed to rest after arriving. He could see how big of a deal it was for him to leave the house at all, let alone during the day.

“OK Hector, I’m going to show you something, but you have to promise me two things.”

“OK…”, Hector said, wheezing and struggling to catch his breath.

“First, you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone in the house, or anyone, anywhere about this. And secondly, be honest with me if this is the stupidest shit you have ever seen.”

“Sure. Can we get this over with so I can get back inside please?”

“Ok, give me two minutes. Open these blinds when I say so.”

“Huh huh…”

Nate headed into the shed and after getting the helmet on with a bright array of lights on the ceiling to mimic the sun, he strapped the silica gel curtain around the helmet and told the lifters to close it up. “Ok Hector, ready!”, Nate screamed over the whirl or fans while hitting the switch to turn on the sauna.

One of the lifter’s coolant immediately failed, but even with only three lifters it started to work! The fans were moving and the silica gel was slowly turning green. As the temperature in the sauna went up from 90º to 100º and past 130º, the temperature in Nate’s curtain contraption went down to 85º and settled at 80º. “It’s working! It’s working!!!” Nate exclaimed.

“What in holy hell is that thing, Nate?!”, Hector replied.

After 5 minutes Nate knew he was onto something, turned off the sauna and and opened the curtain.

“This will be how you will not only live, but enjoy being outside for at least a few hours in the hottest wet-bulb on Earth”, Nate replied, with the largest grin on his face he’d had in years.

While Nate was enjoying himself, meeting new people and figuring out how to make the hottest conditions livable, Mir’s life was falling apart. He hated his job and despised his father in law. Eventually people learned about his backstory and he knew he would always be considered an outcast. What’s worse, his relationship with his wife was imploding. Maybe it was Mir’s paternal instincts and wanting to help raise Nate, but he always wanted to have a child of his own. Becca couldn’t understand why anyone would bring a child into a world that was becoming more and more unlivable. Mir needed a break, any kind of break, and then he got a video call from Nate.

“Hey Nate, great to hear from you. How are you doing?”

“Ya, hey Mir. Listen…I need some…” Nate struggled to say the words.

“O.” Mir slouched and raised his hand to cover his face from the impeding disappointment. “What did you do this time? What jail are you in now?”

“No no, it’s not like that. I promise. I figured something out that will help people. But I need some…”, he couldn’t get himself to ask for help, “Some…capital for an idea I came up with.”

“Where are you?”

“Who cares where I am? Can you wire me some credits or not?” Nate was starting to get annoyed.

“What’s that in the background, where are you? Did I hear someone say alligators?”

“Ugh, I knew you wouldn’t care. Never mind, I’ll figure it out on my own.” Nate hung up.

Mir looked at his phone, perplexed. He opened his heloDrone app, wrote a note to his wife and was off to the Great Swamp without packing a thing.

Mir couldn’t use the family’s plane for this and had to wait on two connecting flights and an evening landing, since landing during the day wasn’t allowed in these temperatures. Two days later, he was in Baton Rouge without any idea where to find Nate, who rejected his calls on their private alias. He drove North away from the coast and asked if anyone had seen an antique 2022 AV-RV camper. He found an RV hookup station with a large bar.

Amazing what you can learn when you buy people a few rounds of drinks. Nate had been there a few weeks back with some guy named Bill who lived up state. A few more stops along the way and a few more favors and Nate found him.

As Mir walked up to the large shack, he realized he had no plan or any idea what to say. He decided the best thing he could do was just knock and listen. “No judgement, no judgement, no judgment” he continued to whisper to himself.

“Hey Nate! Somebody here to see you!”, Bill screamed after answering the door.

As Nate came into the room he froze, staring at the open door. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Listen Nate, I’m just here to help.”

“I don’t need your help. You must be dying out there, best get home to your climate of choice.”

“All I ask is that you tell me your idea, then I’ll leave. And I brought Clean Spirits.” Mir took out a big handle of the premium alcohol from a shopping bag.

“Ooo, hell ya”, Liz said as she jumped off the couch.

“Here ya go. We don’t have ice, think you can handle it straight?” Diz followed, handing Mir a glass.

“Ugh…sure…”, Diz grabbed the the bottle, opened it and poured three finger glasses for everyone. Mir gulped it down and then mumbled something incoherently to himself.

“Assuming this is him, eh?” Hector said, inquisitive as ever, staring right at Nate. “Take him out back or I will”.

“Jesus Christ, fine, let’s get this over with so you can go home.” Nate left the room and out the back entrance.

Mir quickly followed Nate outside and was struck by the combination of heat and humidity. “How on earth do people live like this?” Mir said out loud.

“They don’t, that’s the problem…” Nate held the door to the sauna-converted shed. “There it is…” Nate said pointing to something in the corner that looked like a 1980s sci-fi costume prop.

Since the test run with Hector, Nate had made some improvements, making it lighter, increasing conversion rate for the silica gel and a better seal with the lifters, but it was still ugly as hell.

“Is it a shower? What for?” Mir questioned.

“Listen, you rich fucks have no idea what it is like to live down here. You can drive around in your climate controlled AV all day, but us down here can’t. We barely have the means to keep our house cool enough to not die. Getting out of the house can be lethal for some people, just to get to the nearest drop point. People are cooped up and need to get outside more, but they can’t.”

“Ok...” Mir replied, sounding intrigued.

“So, here’s what I came up with.” Nate instructed his lifters to open and started explaining the contraption.

“Starts with a small solar panel, even a used one with 40% efficiency still does the job, I made this adapter that holds it on your head. Light enough a ten year old or ninety year old could wear it. Solar powers the fans and can even charge the lifters in best conditions. The prototype here is a shower curtain with silica gel packets, but I am fabricating a new material for the curtain that makes does the dehumidifying and should be dirt cheap, while increasing efficiency by 20%.” Nate is now showing his natural enthusiasm everyone in his life besides his brother has seen the past several years.

“Each lifter has a battery for up to two hours of cooling. Now, here’s the best part. I came up with a way for four of my lifters to act in coordination while keeping a 90% seal with any surface: wood, grass, dirt, doesn’t matter. Lifters act on voice command to open and close and automatically move around you as you walk with proximity sensors. Check this out…” Nate nudges Mir out of the sauna, opens the blinds, closes the door and sets the humidity to 90% and temp to 140ºF.

“Lifters, close” Nate instructed as he stood still and was wrapped tightly with the curtain.

Nate began pointing to Mir to look at the temperature gauges in the sauna as they shot past 130ºF and inside the curtain, dropping to just under 80º while holding steady. Nate was impressed.

“I KNOW RIGHT?!”, Nate yelled back over the noise of his fans.

Nate shut it down and carefully hung up the prototype.

“Come on, let’s get inside, it’s hot as fuck out here.”

As they walked, Nate continued, his excitement infectious. “I think I can get the material to be something you could wear and whisk away directly from the skin, increasing efficiency by at least 80%. Think of it kind of like a cheap spacesuit. Working on getting an order to the factory a few towns over once it opens again in the Winter to make a few hundred as a first run.” Nate continues as he opened the door for Mir.

“…and once my loan comes through…”

Mir cut in, “Wait, what loan?”

“My friend, Jimmy. He’s going to spot me the cost for materials and factory run.”

From the corner of the room, Hector interjected, “He’s not your friend Nate…he’s Liz and Diz’s dealer.”

“He believes in the vision!”, Nate exclaimed, getting defensive.

“Wait a second, please tell you did not agree to take money from some shady drug…”, Mir tried to speak, but was interrupted again.

“Stay out of this or so help me god…” Nate fired back.

“Or what? Or else you’ll what?!” Mir suddenly became so enraged his face turned red and his fist clenched.

“You had one job, one fucking job. Dad died and you had one job: take care of the family. Instead you decided to galavant off to rich-ville. How’d that work out for you? Things good with Rebecca and your shitty job?” Nate was proud of himself, smiling and leaning back with his retort.

“Fuck you Nate. For 18 years I have thought about you every single day. Did I want to go to Boston? Yes. But that’s because I knew it was our ticket, as a family, to get out of being poor. If I did well I knew I wouldn’t have to be a packer, you wouldn’t have to be a packer and our kids wouldn’t have to be fucking packers. I got swept up in it and when you called I felt the first breath of fresh air in years.” Mir started to calm down, leaning against the wall as he exhaled, exhausted.

“No. You don’t get off that easy. We weren’t poor and we had a great life. I knew kids growing up who were way more fucked up than we were who were rich as hell. Mom gave us everything we needed and Dad did his best, which is more than I could say about you.”

“You’re right, I could have been a better big brother, but you know how you get, Nate. Did you want me to tell you what to do? Dad died and I would never be his substitute. I tried to the straddle the line of brother and parent, and I know I failed. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? You’re sorry? For what? Now I need to know. What exactly are you sorry for?” Nate became enraged.

“I’m sorry I was selfish with our payout and took care of myself before taking care of you. I’m sorry I assumed you wanted to be alone at 13 years old in the camper without ever asking you what you wanted. I’m sorry that…I’m just…I’m sorry ok? What else do you want me to say? I’m…I’m fucking sorry ok!?” Mir exclaimed.

Mir sat on the couch, hands on his face, crying. He had lost his little brother for good this time. He’d normally pack his things and head home, but he realized he’d been in the same clothes for 3 days, didn’t have anything to pack or a home he wanted to return to.

Nate approached his big brother, put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Listen…I…I just…it’s just that I don’t need you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” Mir stood up and held his little brother for the first time in a decade as they both wept.

To be outside in the Louisiana Summer heat at 1am and have a fire going was pretty unheard of, but the Dalus boys didn’t care. Not like they were going to start a wildfire in a swamp in 90% humidity. Plus they had on some strange contraption that allowed them to be outside for hours at a time.

Nate looked over to Mir, “Remember what Dad used to say about the only reason someone changes anything in their life?”

“Pain of the present, or the promise of the future.”

“Which of the two do you think we’re at?”

“The future, little brother…the future,” Mir responded. “We’ll get this crazy thing off the ground and then what?” Mir pondered.

“I have a few ideas…”, Nate replied, sitting back in chair gazing at the stars.