The Alpha Centauri Expedition

2. The New City of Atlantis

"The order is complete...." After approximately ten minutes had passed, the AI's voice was heard once again from the replicator. The door of the compartment opened, revealing two plates of food with a gentle waft of smoke rising from them. The distinctive aroma of rawon filled the air.

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Atlantis, Monday, June 17, 2458, 4:30 AM. The call to dawn prayer echoed from thousands of mosques across the city, including the Ulul Albab mosque located in the complex of the Space Technology Agency, STA. Dozens of worshippers were already inside the mosque. Among them was Professor Handoyo Seto, a 60-year-old renowned scientist at STA. He was a space technology expert involved in the design and construction of several spacecraft, including Bimasakti, the spacecraft which would embark on a maiden expedition mission to the Alpha Centauri star system.

After performing the dawn prayer, as usual, Professor Handoyo walked back to his home, about a kilometer away from Ulul Albab mosque. He took advantage of this opportunity every day to enjoy the cool and fresh morning air of Atlantis. He strolled through the parks that separated his house from the mosque. The early morning sun rays pierced through the lush trees, illuminating the beautiful flowers and green grass on both sides of the path. Professor Handoyo truly savored all the beauty around him. The morning walk in the parks was for him a soothing and refreshing experience, something he greatly needed as a thinker.

In Atlantis, beautiful parks and trees were scattered throughout the city, among skyscrapers and artificial lakes. At that time, humans had become highly conscious of environmental preservation, so cities were designed as open spaces filled with trees, parks, and lakes. People lived and worked in vertical spaces within skyscrapers. Ground-level roadways, as seen in the 21st century, no longer existed, except for a few in city centers. They had been replaced by virtual roads in the air for anti-G cars. The spaces that had once been occupied by the roadways had been transformed into city parks.

Like most people in Atlantis, Professor Handoyo lived in an apartment building. It was located just outside the STA complex. The building was a 66-story skyscraper where the apartment he lived in was on the 40th floor. After ending the short walk through the beautiful parks, he felt a freshness rising within him and excitedly entered the main door of the building which opened automatically. The transparent doors used a bioscanner that can accurately identify people by scanning the unique body chemical structure of each individual. Professor Handoyo walked through the doors made of metglass, a transparent composite material as clear as glass but as strong as iron. He rushed to the elevator that had opened and took him in five seconds to the 40th floor where his apartment was. All lifts were equipped with an anti-G engine which made them as light as cotton and lifted super fast.

His apartment door automatically opened when the bioscanner detected his presence.

"Assalamualaikum...," he said when his feet stepped inside.

"Waalaikumussalam...," his wife, Aini, answered from inside while closing the Quran she was holding and placing it on the table. She had just finished reciting the Quran that morning. Aini Handoyo is an ustazah and also a lecturer at Atlantis Islamic University, the largest theological university in Indonesia which was established not long after the capital city of Atlantis was inaugurated more than 150 years ago.

"Papa, what do you want for breakfast?" Aini asked when her husband had sat beside her. In their old days, they lived alone. Their children had grown up and lived independently.

"I think I want rawon rice. But please be quick, ma, soon we have to leave," he answered.

"Okay, there is already a rawon rice program in the replicator. All you have to do is ask," Aini replied as she headed towards the replicator located in the kitchen. Almost all household devices were controlled by AI, including replicators.