In a land … Away: Excerpts from an uncovered,undated diary from the
distant future, as shared by Kaitlyn Imbiss (age 18)
Isabel Margot-Cattin, PhD,University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), School of Social Work and Health – Lausanne (HETSL), Switzerland
Sophie Gaber, PhD, Jönköping University, Department of Rehabilitation School of Health and Welfare, Sweden
Lana van Niekerk, PhD, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Division Occupational Therapy, South Africa
Brenda Vrkljan, PhD, McMaster University, Occupational Therapy Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Canada
Patrick Gyger, Plateforme 10, the Lausanne Museal Pole, Switzerland
Diary excerpt #1, Location, Home Unit, Dome INCEPT.
It is a beautiful day in the Dome. The artificial sunlight shines through the leaves of the trees. An artificial breeze generated by the wind turbines can be felt on my skin. Of course, I know it is not real wind, but it feels nice and fresh today. The temperature within the Dome is modulated by an air unit that is constantly refreshed using filtering technologies. Within the Dome, there are sky bridges between units that allow for easier transitions from one unit to another. As I sit under one of these bridges, I can see the magnetic trains transporting goods and people, as they swoosh by in their pneumatic tubes. Although its a beautiful day, why do I find myself both sad and tense? Ok, I am taking a big step in my life. It will be my first time … Away. But when better to go Away than to study? I want to earn a travel pass. Being confined to one Dome is not the life for me. I must have inherited the travel itch from my grandmother. She is 78 years old. Since I was little, she has shared stories about her travels both within our country and in the world when there were no Domes. The life she describes seems so foreign to me. She has felt the ‘real’ wind and dipped her toe in a ‘real’ ocean. While such elements are not possible now, we can earn the right to travel to Nature Outside by doing time … Away. I am lucky that Liza, who has been my best friend since kindergarten, wants to go Away too. Liza and I will visit the Away facility later this week to learn about the next steps. We will then decide together if we will go …Away for our studies. I hope Liza will come with me.
Diary excerpt #2, Location, Portal Preparation Unit for Away
When I arrived at the Away facility, Liza was there waiting for me in front of the facility. The clerk who greeted us was nice enough. She smiled and addressed us formally. The clerk asked us so many questions. I don’t know why they had not checked our answers already through the portal. Liza and I told them that we wanted to take our courses Away. I pointed at the words hovering in the air between us to confirm we had already provided our respective medical records and that we had the necessary approvals to continue our undergraduate studies in geography Away. Using our medical information, they adjusted the drugs we would be taking to ensure we had a smooth transition into Away. The clerk indicated that the next step was for us was to meet with the Occupational Therapist who would assess our readiness for going Away. I was fine with this, as Occupational Therapists are located in each unit of the Dome. They are always there to make sure everyone can do what they want and need to do. My grandmother shared that when humans were ordered to evacuate the Outside, the occupational therapists assigned to each Home unit within each Dome were critical. They helped set-up the units for living and supported people as they transitioned to Dome life. Now that people are allowed to go Away, Occupational Therapists are even more important. I remember my grandmother saying how she felt that life in the Dome had flipped things over compared to Nature Outside. I don’t know what my grandmother means by being flipped over, as I’ve only known Dome life. The clerk informed Liza and I that we needed to wait for confirmation of our appointment at the portal preparation unit, as the Occupational Therapist assigned to our file had to review all of our information. I hate all this waiting; I want to go Away now.
Diary excerpt #3, Location, Follow-up visit, Portal Preparation Unit for Away
Our visit with the Occupational Therapist was short since they had access to our medical file. They needed to ensure that we have enough of a physical presence within our bodies so that being … Away for a long time will not have adverse consequences on our health. After they deemed us sufficiently robust to withstand the procedure, we are ready to be sent … Away. The Occupational Therapist pointed us in the direction of the avatar that awaits us at the crossroads. It points us to the huge sliding doors at the end of the hallway. Through those doors is our next destination … Away!
Diary excerpt #4, Location, Away
I am now running on the grass, trying not to be late for my geography course in the Bourdon Ette Building. Sorry, grass, for trampling on you, but it’s ok because you are virtual, like me. I can navigate the spaces around the campus, get inside the buildings, sit down in a classroom, and go to the library to study. I am not even out of breath. I never feel crowded because when I enter the room, it creates a chair for me to sit and a table on which to take notes. Everything is virtual just as they said that the Away world would be, even the professors… I can never tell if I am being taught by a real person or virtually. Does it even matter?
When I think of the Dome in which Liza and I were born and have been all our lives, it was one of the small ones; it is home to less than a million people. The biggest Domes hold hundreds of millions of individuals, like the ones in Asia and North America. The creation of the Domes was the solution of earlier generations as the Earth needed to rest and resources needed to be shared due to the human impact on the bio capital of the world. With time running out and focus on saving the population, it was the first time in the Earth’s history that there was a global vote where people chose to contain themselves in Domes, thereby cutting themselves from moving around Nature Outside. My grandmother told me they built the Domes to preserve nature and ensure our survival. The Domes feature a vast, multi-tiered structure that divides urban life into levels or districts, each dedicated to specific purposes like residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational areas. For instance, lower levels housed agricultural or production areas, and middle tiers mixed shopping, restaurants, and entertainment zones, with some residential areas. The upper layers of the Domes were chosen to be residential, with spaces for viewing the sky and included viewing towers that looked like periscopes for looking at Nature Outside.
The Domes were constructed to be energy self-sufficient. Incorporating renewable energy sources, like solar panels on the Dome’s surface, geothermal heating underneath, and wind turbines integrated into the permeable skin of the Dome, which power the entire ecosystem. A rainwater collection and recycling system was built alongside the wind turbines to contribute to its sustainability with direct chutes toward the lower level and the agricultural district.
Now, population birth rates are controlled, and everyday occupations are limited to inside the Dome. However, there is a strong sense of community through shared spaces, like communal dining areas, rooftop parks, gyms, libraries, and performance venues. The sense of living in a village within a Dome fosters a communal lifestyle but with privacy. There are plenty of opportunities for social interaction. Liza and I are neighbours; we live in a residential unit with multi-size family structures. The most exciting time is when one of the units welcomes a new baby or a new family joins the unit. Our living units are like a Lego structure they can flip and adapt, and walls can move and adjust depending on the size of the space needed. We also can expand or shrink our communal space for the community-level occupations we do together, like eating, cooking, cleaning or gardening. We need to care for our shared indoor parks; we have a green space in the unit with a small artificial lake to enhance air quality and mental well-being by providing recreation areas. We have small animals in our unit as well as pets and mixed wildlife; I am not sure we could call them wildlife anymore. We are very much integrated, embedded and emplaced in our unit.
Making the decision to go Away was difficult for me as I had to leave my family and my unit behind. Although I can communicate with them, it is not the same as sharing my everyday occupations with them. Many occupations have been moved to virtual, and having the opportunity to travel Away virtually has been proposed as another way of reducing the burden of humans on Nature Outside. We are captives of our Dome so that Nature has a chance to be restored. However, we can spend time Away in virtual space to conduct specific periods of our lives. Studying is a very popular time to be Away, and all universities’ curricula are constructed to host Away students. So that is what Liza and I have done. Oh, and of course, one can win travel passes after completing one’s undergraduate training to go study further afield. Ultimately, I want to go Away to Africa and get a master’s degree from OUTCEPT, a Dome in Windhoek, where you can see elephants through their Dome’s window. I have never seen anything bigger than a rabbit in my unit. Travel passes to go even further Away are a precious commodity because they provide access to another Dome that have a very specific purpose. Liza is also applying for a travel pass, as the intention of her studies in geography is not to travel, rather to help with the renewal of Nature Outside.
Diary excerpt #5, Location, Away
I know it’s been 10 months since I shared anything here. Things have been so busy since I’ve been Away. For example, I added a weekly course on gardening to my studies of Geography. I love it because I can enter the virtual gardening space and still feel the earth on my hands, as I plant seeds, and then watch them grow at an advanced speed. I now understand what my grandmother meant by being flipped over because that is how I feel being in this virtual space. Time seems to standstill when Away, but it does not when I was in our Dome. Everything feels so real here, that sometimes I forget that it’s all virtual. I need to talk to that Occupational Therapist again. They said I should if I’m feeling mixed up. There are so many possibilities in this virtual land Away; it is both limitless in what we can do, see, and hear; it is breathtaking.
It is easy to interact with my fellow students because they all live in the same Away space as me. We go to the same study groups and have access to all the entertainment that we want. I am meeting so many new people from many different Domes. I am so glad I went Away. I met a student from OUTCEPT, the Dome in Windhoek; he has a very cute avatar. I think I am falling in love… I really hope I get that travel pass and can join him there.
But Liza is not here anymore. She missed our Dome and her family too much. I miss her. We talk sometimes, but it is not the same. She has taken on the role of vice-nanny, looking after the youngest of the Home unit while their parents work. She says she likes it, but I can’t imagine why. Isn’t it boring to play with blocks and other toys with two-year-olds? Running after them, trying to keep them safe? She says she got tired of being virtual and needed to feel the physical touch from children and their warmth even if this means a limited scope and routine. She feels she is contributing to the unit’s health and well-being. But to me, it feels like she checked out of our dreams. I hope she is happy.
I just received an answer regarding my travel pass to the Dome in Windhoek. It was declined for this year, but I can re-apply next year. So, I will continue to be … Away where I can explore and grasp, as many experiences as I can virtually. I am sure my application will be accepted next year. The world Away is contingent, has no boundaries or limits, and everything is possible. I may even explore a love relationship with that cute avatar…
31.10.2024 / Story inspired by Robert Silverberg’s The World Inside (1971).