The Future

The choice to send three billionaires from the technology industry to an uninhabited island is incidental, the narrator explains. Many other wealthy and powerful individuals could have been targeted. These CEOs are simply the people to whom Martha “had access.”

The narrator also notes that murdering the executives would have been simpler than convincing them of an apocalypse and sending them away. However, Martha, Selah, Badger, and Albert realized that murder would weigh too heavily on their consciences. They therefore decided to invent the story of an apocalypse caused by their own companies’ technological advances and interferences from the CEOs’ own companies. If the CEOs believed their own companies’ technological advances had been responsible for the apocalypse, they would easily believe the story and stay away willingly.

The four just had to ensure that all the information the CEOs received was filtered by them. This was Selah’s primary job. Badger took inspiration from the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, as well as the movie 28 Days Later. Albert contributed the “survival suits,” repurposed from a defunct video game project. Martha set up the bunker on the island. They also had to sell the CEOs on the AUGR software, which allowed them to communicate false information about the apocalyptic events. Martha showed them the videos of Zhen escaping from her assailant, and they believed absolutely in AUGR’s abilities. Finally, they had to protect their future assets and positions. With the CEOs gone, there would be a vacuum of power.

A journalist interviews Martha at the Seasons Time Mall in Singapore. The mall’s roof has been converted, with the help of Fantail, into a green space for wildlife. This is only one example of how the world has changed in the years since the disappearance of the three CEOs. Selah had Zimri declared dead, legally, and she allowed Anvil to be broken up. One offshoot became dedicated to charity, while its grocery service turned into a non-profit, and more wildlife sanctuaries were established from the profits. Martha, in turn, became CEO of Fantail, investing in electric cars and “car-sharing systems.” Badger became the largest shareholder in Medlar and uses their power to force the board to initiate a recyclable technology program, to be run by Albert.

Martha reflects as the journalist asks her about how Lenk would respond to the changes she has made in his company. She replies that she doesn’t believe Lenk is actually gone, that everyone lives on, and that Lenk would only ask her about the next big project. She thinks to herself that Lenk never bothered to ask whether the apocalypse was real.

Martha decides to check in on Lenk. She can view him via the technologies that keep an eye on the survivors on Admiral Huntsy Island. She believes him to be happy, living the kind of subsistence life he always craved, but then she notices that something is wrong: The feed she is viewing is not live; some glitches indicate a loop. She calls Badger immediately and asks them for the truth.

Just after the plane vanished, Albert received a notification that AUGR had been activated by someone else. He and Badger discovered that Martha had given Zhen the software and that Zhen reactivated it using Zimri’s bunker. They consulted with Selah, since Martha was busy with media in the aftermath of the disappearances. The three decided to send Zhen to the island, to make the apocalypse look real to the CEOs.

Badger finishes telling Martha the truth about Zhen’s whereabouts, promising that they have watched over her and that she is safe. Martha confronts Selah and Albert about their deception. Selah claims they were trying to think of a way to extricate her from the island without raising suspicion in the others. Albert insists that Zhen had to go; her knowledge could derail the entire plan, and she is “just one person” (390). Martha is upset—her whole philosophy rests on saving even just one person from Sodom—and asks to see Zhen.

Martha watches Zhen from afar. She seems healthy, if lonely. Martha wonders if Zhen’s ordeal has been worth the implementation of their plan.

Zhen has been living alone on the island for the past three years. She has plenty of resources and believes that she could probably live there for the rest of her life—though she misses human contact. She has learned to live in the present, letting go of the future.

Martha takes a boat out to Admiral Huntsy Island. She has to take a risk and tell Zhen the truth.

Zhen is shocked to see Martha and seems even more shocked by what Martha tells her. Martha assures her that their plan worked and that the world is becoming a better place. Zhen responds that she “knew the world hadn’t ended” and shoves Martha into the sea (399). Martha makes her way back to shore, now in shock herself. She wonders how Zhen could have known.

The person waiting to extract Zhen all those years ago was Albert. He told her the entirety of the plan, saying that she could be an instrumental part of it. If she consented to go to the island, then she could convince the others that the apocalypse was real. She could also destroy any communications equipment, keeping them in the dark. Albert used both blackmail—she and Marius had destroyed Zimri’s bunker, after all—and appeals to her humanity to convince her. She had built her reputation on being a survival expert; now she could do her part in helping to save the world.

Zhen asks Martha about the incident with the Enochite assailant, and if the paramagnetic salts were Martha’s way of referencing the story of Lot. Martha says it was not, but that she felt somewhat responsible for the attack. She admits that AUGR wasn’t a predictive software program, just her and the others watching what was happening. Like all AI, AUGR can offer potential solutions but never predict the future. Zhen starts to laugh uncontrollably.

Martha says that her motivation was to intervene quickly, because the world could not withstand much more from these companies. She claims that their plan was to bypass years of misery by getting rid of the major impediments, Lenk and his cohort. Martha admits that maybe there is nothing more to do. She tells Zhen she is free to go and to say whatever she wants to whomever.

Much later, Martha asks why Zhen stayed on the island. Zhen replies that she hoped that Martha would come for her. They touch and laugh.

The author positions her Acknowledgements section in between the final chapter and the last interlude, tricking her audience into reading a section most people skip. She thanks the author Margaret Atwood, who convinced her to travel to the Arctic, which helped inspire the book. She also thanks teachers and mentors from Native, Indigenous, and First Nations groups. She thanks many individuals who assisted her in research, writing, and editing.

One hundred years after the disappearance of the CEOs, all the details are known. Forty-one years after the alleged plane crash, people were sent to Admiral Huntsy Island. Lenk Sketlish was the only one still alive, but by then, he was old and confused; he died three years later. It took another 38 years for researchers to discover everything that had happened on the island. Ellen Bywater died by suicide two years after the crash. Zimri Nommik died even earlier than Ellen but he was the last to be found, perfectly preserved in his survival suit. Badger Bywater was the only descendent left alive at the 41-year point, and they refused to talk about their mother’s disappearance, preferring to focus on the future.

The narrator suggests that nothing is ever truly solved. Somebody is always the victim of the best plans. Someone is always kept out of a preplanned paradise. Humankind will always fail, but they will always keep trying.

A fugitive runs from the authorities. She flees America and its United Autonomous Regions to convey a message to other rebels in Haida Gwaii. The new president, an Enochite, has vowed to unite the entire world under one harmonious order, embarking on mass genocide in the Godless Regions if necessary. The fugitive travels onward, knowing the battle must continue.