...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 3-11: Vigilance

"I have told you how Tengri got people to accept the Sun Dome idea by using virtual reality. That was before I was born. Now that acceptance is no longer a problem. The idea of living in a Sun Dome is as common as the idea of living in London or Rome.

"But acceptance is not enough. Visiting a community, even living in that community, is not the same as keeping that community functioning. By now we have VR experiences available covering every aspect of Sun Dome operation. I was schooled in the operation through the use of VR myself. But that is not what taught me vigilance. That came from being raised by shamans.

"I have met children not much younger than myself who have lived in a Sun Dome all their lives. Of course they know that it works. They may even know pretty well how it works. But most have not yet learned how to keep it working. Instead they have learned to expect it to work, simply because in their experience it has always worked.

"They come from a culture, their parents come from cultures, in which that expectation was common. Life is easy, and the things that make life easy work so well, so invisibly, that there is almost no one alive who could rebuild it if it failed.

"In the broader world, things operate on the basis of what Ghandl pointed out more generally. People usually exert only a local awareness, within their range of ability to react. Environmental details that are remote or stable and represent little danger are given little attention.

"Even now, as a rule, food and shelter require little attention, they are both stably available to nearly everyone. If you need a home, you can buy or rent one. If you need food, there is a market or a restaurant nearby. Other details of life are almost as easy. If something breaks, you throw it out and buy a new one, or call a serviceman to repair it.

"Goods and services. Nearly everyone has a role to play in providing them to others, but almost no one occupies more than a small niche in the overall system.

"With the rising climate crisis, people began to be concerned about global ecology. This is local human ecology. When a vacancy occurs within some niche in the system, someone new is hired to fill that role. The system continues to function, without any overall guidance."

Bear paused, looking chagrined. "I'm sorry, that was a bit long-winded."

Xayna was the soul of attentiveness, saying nothing. She felt Bear's mind flooding with further thoughts. After a moment he continued.

"The Sun Domes can be seen as having filled a new niche in that system, the disaster relief niche. If a thousand people are displaced from their homes, simply put them in a Sun Dome and their basic needs are taken care of. Beyond that, they are free to create and exchange their own goods and services, both within their community and outside it. With the autonomous delivery systems we have today, goods can be transported anywhere there are roads by Sun Bottle powered driverless trucks, and where the road ends the truck can launch a drone to carry a package to its destination. So a Sun Dome anywhere has access to everywhere.

"Tengri was asked to solve a problem. His solution has proven to be almost too good. It works so well people tend to think it can't break. So they don't learn how to fix it when it does. Instead they tend to fall back into their old entitlement mindset, taking no responsibility, expecting to be taken care of, even getting angry when their demands are not met, willing to live as parasites on their fellows. 

"Now I can show Tengri how to make a new VR training system, one that will evoke the Haida model in a Sun Dome setting. One that will turn people who live in a Sun Dome from parasites into symbiotes. One that will fully integrate the Sun Domes into human ecology.

"The trick is that with VR we can do this exactly as Ghandl said, evoke a change in the reality of Sun Dome dwellers one by one, within their own Sun Dome and as their own private experience. Once they gain the Haida concept of a knife-edge physical existence within the broad spiritual realm, they can evolve their own explanations to fit this into their existing world view, and then share them with others as they choose, until an acceptable amalgam is generally adopted in the community."

Bear got quiet again, but this time it was in contemplation of a completed vision. After a while his eyes focused and he looked at Xayna. They were now both sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing each other. Her enthusiasm appeared to match his own. But after a moment her expression changed.

"Then you must go."

"Go?"

"Yes, go. The snow is already heavy in the mountains. Storms make the sea almost impassible to the ferry boats. Here all of us are prepared to hunker down, to live on our dried herring and smoked salmon while we wait for Spring and new shoals of herring to arrive. I cannot ask you to do that. Your dreams are too big, what you can bring to the larger world is too important. You must go, and I must let you."

"You will come with me, won't you?"

"There is nothing I would like better. But not this time. You must travel alone. Travelling with you, I would be too much of a hindrance, a distraction. Here, I can help see Ghandl and the rest of my family through the winter. You will come back for me. Then we will be together forever."

Bear saw her vision, and knew that it was true. The world had changed in unexpected ways. He could change with it, and fight his way through. She could not, not yet, and even if she could he shouldn't let her. Not this time. Her place, her duty, was here. He must go, and he must go alone.

And so it was.