Scandianov: A Feminist Utopia

By Lizelle Gutierrez and Kimber Mclaughlin

After being frozen for two centuries, Polaris wakes up to a new world. Unlike her Dystopian planet of origin, the new planet Eartha: a Utopian society ran by a female ruler provides a new type of lifestyle which offers a newly found freedom for its citizens - with different ideologies, political views, customs, and rules. The new system can irritate and even too good to be true for Polaris. Will Polaris be able to embrace her freedom on Eartha, or will she discover a dark side to this Utopian paradise?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716446023

Book preview

Islandi

1

Not My Planet of Origin

The war was finally over. I woke up after being frozen for two centuries. Everything was blurry. I had no energy and felt like I just came out of a mother’s womb: nude, shaking, and cold. A man covered me with a heavy brown blanket. He was tall, handsome, and had two large tattoos; one of black and white stars in the shape of Orion that seemed to scintillate and another of Pegasus, in a watercolor palette I had never seen before. The Pegasus was spread so wide across his skin that it disappeared under his short-sleeve brown cloak, the hood of which draped down to his waist. His arms were wrapped with handwoven bracelets in blacks, reds, oranges, greens, and purples. He was somehow modern and medieval at the same time. He was respectful and did not glance at my nude body. I was surprised by his behavior. He took my temperature. As this was going on, a middle-aged woman with white hair that came down to her shoulders was brushing my hair gently.

Excuse me, I asked, Where am I?

The man said, You are no longer on your native planet.

I was confused, scared and disoriented. I was slowly regaining my memory. I knew I was frozen during the war and transported somewhere. I was no longer home.

The woman brushing my hair said, Our lady Melia discovered a habitable planet far off in an undiscovered galaxy, where we are now – the galaxy name is Tendria IV. Our lady Melia named this planet Eartha. Then our lady Adelisa took over, followed by our lady Aika, Feha, and now our lady Zia is our Madame ruler. All five leaders have made significant contributions and to our planet along with their supporting rulers. It took us a long time to get here and we have been unfreezing people for the past two centuries. The war on your planet has finally ended, Polaris. Those inhabiting on your native planet are still struggling with famine and rebuilding the planet, but we are far from the chaos. We have a different political system and different customs. Our technology is more advanced. We have trains that travel at the speed of light, advanced communication signals, and saucers that fly from one place to another. Right now, you are currently in the region of Atlantius where our lady Zia resides. You will be guided through a program as a newcomer. She slowly stopped brushing my hair. She handed me a drink. Here, drink this, it will give you energy and help you feel better. Goodbye Madame. My ten hours are over.

Ten hours? I thought. I decided to drink what she gave me because I was feeling very weak. As I drank it, I instantly felt an energy boost. The drink tasted like it had a mix of fruits – banana, apple, orange, and some vegetables like carrots and cucumber. I tasted some ginger and something else I had never had before.

A young man came in to bring me clothes and stepped out. He was also respectful. The clothes were strange but trendy.  They gave me tight black pants, a long blue coat, and a red shirt that was layered. Black boots. Sweet. After I was done changing, I was given time to recover and put myself together. There was water provided to me. I remembered being frozen without a guarantee that we would be woken up again. We were not given a timeline. After the war, some of us were lucky enough to be offered to be frozen to transition to a possible new planet – a planet that was not guaranteed to be inhabitable. It was my only hope to survive after the chaos I experienced from my birth planet. There were multiple planets we could be sent to.

The same man returned. Hi, my name is Cedric and I will be your guide. He was awkward looking and tall.

I brushed my hand against my hair and send him a flirtatious glance. There was a sense of assertive resilience. He stood tall, not facing directly at me, and his eyes did not show a hint of flirtation. His voice was relaxed and confident, with a hint of firmness.

Madame, I am here to guide you from your transition from your planet of origin to planet Eartha.

Back home, it was typical for a man to start a flirtatious conversation. What was it about this place? Both men I encountered so far had a respectful air to them, almost as if they were trained to be respectful in a certain type of way – there was an assertiveness to this type of respect.

Cedric continued, Madame if you can follow me, that would be great.

We walked out the door. It was like something from a science fiction novel. The building had massive, clear, glass walls. The glass seemed to change from aqua to amber depending on how the light reflected. We were on the top of the building with an amazing view; skyscrapers unlike any I have seen in my life. These skyscrapers were immense pyramids, wing-shaped buildings, and twirling towers up to the sky. It seemed like glass bubbles were blowing from the twirling skyscrapers. They glimmered in gold, silver, purple, and navy blue. It was out of this world. They all had what appeared to be a solar power device spinning on top. The air was clear and clean. Birds of familiar and unfamiliar species soared through the sky. There were approximately ten train lanes from my view; some being operated right near the building. Some of these trains seemed to be operating at full force and looked like quick flashes. Other trains appeared to be going at normal speed. I pinched myself.

Cedric looked startled, Madame, are you okay?

Yes, but please call me Polaris or Poly. This whole Madame thing was throwing me off.

Madame, we are not supposed to address our ladies by their first names.

Then should I call you Monsieur?

That is not necessary.

Call me Polaris. What is going to happen if you address me by my first name?

I...

Out of nowhere, a regal woman approached me. Her hair was as long as her knee-length brown coat. One side of her hair was white and the other was black. She had on black gloves and black leather pants.

Cedric gave a slight bow, Your highness.

Feeling out of place, I gave a slight bow too.

The woman approached me and said, My name is Zia, Polaris. I am the head ruler of this planet. My supporting rulers are Xochil and Everest. All men are highly encouraged to address us as Madame.

A female ruler with two supporting rulers? This seemed out of the ordinary.

Let's go for a walk. Zia led me through a pathway inside the building. The marble floor looked like a peaceful ocean. It almost felt as if I was walking on water. Through that path, right and left, I began to see more people gradually walking around. For being a ruler, she seemed casual. There was only one woman beside her. No guards were surrounding her. Everyone in the building bowed to her quickly as we walked by and then continued with their affairs. People had content expressions on their faces.

Where are your guards?

She looked at me with a half-smile. Your tone is common for newcomers who are not used to this kind of lifestyle.

Behind ‘perfect societies’, there is usually an ego-maniac dictator or tyrant.

Zia laughed at my comment. A short, slender woman with long blonde hair on only one half of her head and the other half bald walked towards us, her long, white chiffon dress flowing about her. The woman appeared annoyed with what I said and told me, She has been working hard since our last predecessor Madame ruler Feha, trying to make this planet a safe and peaceful place. Individuals are socialized from birth to treat others with respect and learn that every person; regardless of gender, sex, age, appearance, health status, or race; is equal. Freedom of religion, freedom of sexual orientation, amongst other rights are sacred on this planet. We do not live in your type of world. This is a one-world order.

With a calm and reassuring smile, Zia raised her hand slightly, Everest, I'll take it from here. Was that one of the supporting rulers? She seemed annoying and too pompous for my taste.

Everest said, Yes, Madame. I will attend to my duties, and walked away.

At this point, I was visibly confused.

Polaris, whenever I am not able to attend to my duties, Everest fills in for me. She means well. She is an inventor who has contributed greatly to our one-world system. She invented a special shield that protects everyone from weaponry, though luckily, we seldom have use for it. Her workforce invented the advanced solar panel system, including solar-friendly transportation and the trains that travel at the speed of light. She led a team that invented the flying saucer, which is more practical and energy-efficient than a plane with an engine. We can travel wherever and whenever easily from region to region. As she was talking to me, we walked into an elevator moved in the blink of an eye- and it traveled different directions, not only vertically. The elevator had transparent glass on all sides. The glass changed faded colors from blue to light orange to purple.

As the elevator doors opened to let us out, we walked into a garden. There was a beautiful aroma coming from