My Life (part 33) changes

Last two words removed (on Earth).

My Life (part 33)

The wall in the front of our engineering classroom became a screen and on the screen a direct feed from Earth.  The video showed a section of a city on Earth the first city on Earth to be completely emancipated from the harmful chemicals and radiations left behind after the attack by the Oaxioms.  The film panned streets filled with people walking without suits or respirators, people cheered as they passed the camera and kids ran by giggling at having been set free.   The camera panned to a huge tower, one of several that sucked in bad air and breathed out good air.  The commentators mentioned several other cities that would soon be free of domes and respirators.  As the video faded Henry Jasper himself walked through the side door of our third year college class.  He waited for everyone to quiet down before he spoke.

“This is a great day for Earth,” we all clapped and cheered until Jasper raised his hand to stop us.

“Jasper’s World has always been a friend to Earth.  I am a proud Earther and will always be no matter how great a place Jasper’s World has become my home will always be Earth.” Cheers came again, this time a bit louder from the residence of the off world dorms but the rest of us cheered too, we have never been in competition with Earth.

“I would like to end my days as a resident of Earth.  I long to see the blue skies and tall mountains, the oceans and mighty cities of my home.” Complete silence filled the room.  All eyes watched Jasper.  All ears waited for his next words.  No one wanted Jasper to leave us.  He has always been like a father to us.

“But there is work yet to be done and I want us to be a part of that work,” people started breathing again, Jasper wasn’t leaving just yet.  “Just like we have all kept the Earth fed for all these years I would like for us to be a part in Earth’s recovery.  The film you have just watched displays a level of technology far beyond any methods that have been used in the past to reclaim Earth’s atmosphere but  Earth has forgotten the farms and forests and grasslands of its past.  All of their efforts have gone into restoring cities and industry.  The task I put to you is to restore Earth’s soil.  In doing so we will not only restore Earth’s plant life but we will bring the Earth to a place where nature will clean the air making this new and remarkable technology completely unnecessary.  Today components, specifications and every bit of research available relating to this reclamation method has been transported from Earth to Jasper’s World.  The new building you have watched being built on the edge of our campus is designed to provide a state of the art facility with one goal, to develop a practical method of returning Earth’s soil to a productive state.  We will not be alone in this research.  There are universities on Earth that have programs of this type and we will share information back and forth with them but they are people of cities.  They do not have the attachment to the land that each of you have.  Will you help?”

Every hand in the room went up but I was the first to stand.  We never returned to whatever it was we were being taught that day.  We formed small groups and brain stormed.  Everyone had ideas, tests we needed to run, drawings of equipment were sketched on white boards.  With Jasper in front like the Pied Piper we walked as a single organism to the site of the new research facility.  Without being assigned tasks people found their places and we began filling our minds with every bit of information already stored there.  We worked until well after the last scheduled class on the day.  I think we believed we could solve the problem by night fall but it wasn’t quite that easy.  It was six months before we had a prototype ready for a test.