Cerulean Blue

Cerulean Blue, Wray Miller, Miller Write Inc., 2003

This story is about a near-future Earth, totally changed by a new species of algae called Cerulean Blue (years are no longer denominated in AD - Anno Domini, but acb - after cerulean blue). Among its unique properties are the ability to slow the aging process for any animal, including humans, that ingests it. The algae also contains plenty of oxygen, so a person could live very easily in a vat of it, once they get over their drowning reflex. It also puts the person to sleep. Since Earth is on the verge of environmental collapse, a radical plan is hatched by Reginald Erlichmann, head of the United Nations Corporation.  Much of the Earth's population will be placed in storage for 30 years, in order to give the Earth a chance to cleanse itself. The politically correct are eager to take part. The reality is very different.

Those who end up in a Type I facility are the genetically pure elite (sound familiar?) who will be resurrected in the future. A Type II facility is for those who will never be resurrected; perhaps they will be used for cloning purposes in the future. The vast majority of the population of "the West" (Asia and Africa pulled out of the U.N. years before) end up in a Type III facility. Think of a Nazi concentration camp with computer-controlled lasers to do the killing, instead of gas.

There are some who want no part of this new world; among them are neighbors Harold Womack and Greg Baldwin, and their families. Womack's daughter, Lynn, a scientist for UniCorp, accidentally discovers the truth, and is able to warn her parents just before UniCorp police come for both families, and just before she disappears. They take off to the South American jungles, where they undertake an active rebellion, not knowing if their daughter is alive or dead.

This is an excellent piece of near-future society building. It's interesting and plausible, it's a good story and it will give the reader plenty to consider.