Oxygénia

food factories and chemical facilities in which the drops were
produced and bottled, as well as newspapers and traffic
corporations. Of course, their representatives also were in the
international committee for the preservation of Oxygénias
biosphere. The committee had its historical summit with several
thousand participants. Scientists had come there from all parts of
the planets, from each of the seventeen continents, telling how
oppressing it had been to fly over the stinking ocean which was
completely flooded with the all-devouring bacteria. Artists described
the suffocation dangers of the people in the cities covered in dense
smog. They reported of the horrors of hunger, problems of rapidly
multiplying tribes which had to fight against the shrinking of
agricultural land and drinking water shortages. At this point, the
observer of the Oxygénia Trust made a strange observation in his
report. To debate most excitedly were those coming from
comparatively healthy areas. The representatives from cities where
the lack of oxygen had already reached a certain degree spoke
slower, made a more tired impression, their data was less precisely,
as if they couldn't rely on their minds anymore. 'A huge
opportunity', the observer, a man aged forty back then, noted in his
diary. We don't know his real name. He became the first chairman
of the Oxygénia trust, an unyielding, tough, hard man. Our history
gave him the name Benefactor I. In his recordings he also states
that even in this time of dire crisis, disagreement and controversy
were characteristical for the debate, instead of quickly coming to
concordant resolutions. Cleaning of the oceans seemed almost
impossible. In the air, incredible amounts of fumes and exhausts
whirled around, and on the whole planet's surface, zones of hot air,
hurricanes and storms formed themselves. The agricultural land
was threatened, and the ever increasing population suffered of
hunger. The factories didn't want to employ expensive sewage
plants. Ranchers didn't care for replacement for the grazed plains.
In the cities shrouded in smog, people moved more sluggish and
tired, they layed down more often, became more lethargic and fed
themselves on cheap, bloating artifical food. The Trust's
representative had come to this summit originally with the order to
donate a giant sum for the noble action as the benevolent donator.
But this representative who found his way into the history of our
planet by the name Benefactor I., as I already said, suddenly and
unexpectedly declared that the Trust would provide four billions of
refreshment drops of his product for free for the support of the
urban population. Then he stated his report to the executives of the
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