The tourists aboard the bus had entered and taken allocated seating before the lights dimmed and an individual screen lit up on the seat back in front of them. Six faces appeared on the screen, faces known to all but which had all died a hundred years ago due to a transport accident over the oceans of Belphus.

The view switched to a logo of a sunflower and the smiling face of an androgynous person with bright green eyes.

The outside windows had began to darken leaving a narrow view of before the screens had activated. Access to the site in question was a heavily restricted affair and there were two choices available to all despite wealth or status. You either took a direct route if you had a high enough level of authority and permission from the inheritors of the original Park Founders.

Such access was denied even to financial and political elites of Belphus. The original founders had given highly specific instructions to be followed upon their deaths. Those individuals who were able to access through the eternal storm above were far and few between despite official protests. The second choice was transport of choice to the security barrier to enter an unmanned bus which would cross empty grass plains devoid of animal life and enter a main entrance.

All other forms of illegal entry failed and those who broke through the exterior metal walls would find all sense of direction lost. All electronics ceased to work and simply powered down. No guards, vehicles or other forms of security patrolled the area but all intruders across the pure green plains of grass would vanish in minutes and reappear at one of the security gates an hour or so later with total amnesia of their lost time.

Presently an electric bus powered entirely by a mixture of solar panels and biomass was carrying one of the thousands of daily visitors to a site which had formerly been one of the largest hidden nuclear testing ground on the planet. There were three sites in total, two others were also located in other environmentally hostile regions on the planet and had made all other forms of life uninhabitable to live after decades of nuclear testing.

All three original sites had been transformed after the original founders had visited, entered the site as massive impossible dust storms and cloud cover encroached on each site and revealed a transformation into a paradise of eternal greenery after all access by foot, vehicle, plane or even observation by satellite or other means of detection had failed.

Inside the electric bus a young woman with mid-length hair, light skin and dark brown eyes was trying to peer out of the blackout windows of the vehicle. Inside there was fresh plants and flowers giving a large variety of smells and the scent of lemons and oranges but to her surprise not a single one of her allergies were acting up. There was a thin layer of dust which covered every single inch of the vehicle, the seats, the above head storage areas and it even floated in the illuminated lights above each seat and along the aisles.

She had suffered from hay fever for most of her life and despite repeated attempts at medication, all it had done was made her feel physically worse until she had decided to grab her long-term boyfriend Nishi, make him understand her feelings and then book a holiday to the Park of Gaia. Next to her seat with his head resting on her shoulder was a young man with scruffy hair wearing an outfit more suited to a board room than sitting on a tourist bus heading to one of the miracles which had sprouted on the planet Belphus over seventy years ago.

He was gently sleeping but murmured a little as he shifted and his folded arms opened and he woke up with a large yawn and a quick stretch before his eyes fell onto his long-term girlfriend Cosette. His hair was coated in a layer of the dust and he brushed it off much without much consideration as he saw the look on her face as she was gazing out of the window.

‘Did I miss much? The advance guard giving the usual tourist speech on the Greenest Place on the planet? I mean, I read it all before I booked the tickets and got our place on the transport but they must be joking. Basically, we’re going to a giant botanical garden. I’m missing out on the annual shareholder meeting for this? Uh, I’m still sleeping. Yeah, I’m talking in my sleep about how much of an idiot I am for talking about work and not how...beautiful you look right now Cosette. Ah...I got dust on your hair, uh..’ said Nishi.

Cosette continued to try and look out of the blacked out window as she breathed in though her nose and mouth and her lungs and immune system showed absolutely no signs of allergic rhinitis. She knew the taste of pollen, she had been in fields of the stuff back home before she had finally grown up and made it to a major city and began her adult life. The dust in the air was clearly pollen markets but it did nothing to her. Not a single reaction, in fact, her body was increasingly refreshed the more that she breathed in the stuff.

Stolen story; please report.

‘Smooth. Really smooth Nishi. I beg you to take a break from your work and take a trip with me to the closest thing we have to a miracle since Carissa Acqua and her husband Liam Acqua became major celebrities and two of the richest people on Belphus for fixing our ocean pollution problems. And you dream about work? On a vacation with me? Really? I mean, really?’ said Cosette.

For some reason she didn’t feel anxious or stressed about the fact that they were in an entirely self-driving bus with blacked out windows where it had been entirely impossible to make everything outside. The ride had been smooth with several times the vehicle had slowed down or made minor turns but she had felt relaxed the entire journey. Even her long-term boyfriend Nishi talking about his day job when he just woke up wasn’t even annoying her.

‘Not your fault. You’re a career man, you want the money to marry, buy a big house by the coast or close to the ocean now the waters are being cleaned up and then find yourself a dozen cute ladies to share it all with. Answer a single one of those and your beautiful girlfriend who you truly do not deserve will make this bus turn around and we end our trip. Sorry Nishi, I’m not annoyed at you, it’s just strange. The entire process to enter the Park of Gaia is strange. Why can’t we look out of the windows? Why is the bus filled with plants and fauna which are growing without water, sunlight or even soil? I’m pretty sure none of it is fake. Not to mention the pollen in the air,’ said Cosette.

She turned her gaze from the blacked out window to the rows of seats, each person was either excited, listening to the ongoing commentary coming from the speakers on the ceiling or asleep as Nishi had just been. She saw that not a single person was using any form of electronics. Not because it was banned, she doubted that any of them would have forgotten their phones or tablets but the fact that they were just sitting there chatting to the people next to them.

Nishi gave a sigh as he loosened the deep purple tie hanging around his neck and loosened his expensive black collared shirt. He had made the decision to allow himself to relax a little after his own mishap.

‘Cosette. Happiness from within, happiness from..come on. Say it with me. Please. Say it with me and one day we can make it come true. I’m sorry for having tunnel vision, not for being handsome but yeah...you get it.’ said Nishi.

The young man took the hands of his long-term girlfriend and gazed into her eyes. Pollen dust which had spread on their seat sifted down as he took both of her hands in his and gave her a light squeeze. Cosette smiled as she turned to face him and gave Nishi a quick peck on his cheek before she squeezed the hands holding hers.

‘Happiness from without. Happiness from within. I am happy, this is just...odd. Everything about this is odd. We’re on a bus filled with plants which are thriving without growing in soil, sunlight or any source of water and basically everyone is covered in feel good pollen which is either a drug or a genetically altered form. Do you feel normal or is it just me?’

Nishi smiled and squeezed the hands of Cosette once more.

‘I love your inquisitive nature. You are an amazing person with an amazing mind but not everybody has to be the ultimate power couple like Carissa Acqua and Liam Acqua. Tell you what, you invent something to fix the problems with the oceans and I’ll retire from the firm and spend my days buying fish. I mean fishing. Fishing.’ said Nishi.

As though in perfect timing the various plants on the bus began to bloom as flowers emerged from them and the lighting above and on the aisles began to dim. The entirety of the people aboard the bus fell entirely silent as a light show began and the walls of the bus flourished as the lights began to emit ultra violet light and the flowers produced fluorescent patterns in orders sequences.

The bus began to slow down and came to a complete halt as the blacked out windows began to fade and a massive tree which reached above the eternal cloud cover which encompassed the entirety of the land on which the Park of Gaia appeared shining in the difference.

A greenery larger than any forest or jungle and composed of multiple biomes had appeared before them as had a carpet of pure green short grass stretched out in every single direction as far as the eye could see.

Nishi looked at the site of the enormous tree which dominated the landscape and towered over the various biomes which comprised the site. The sight of it reaching up into the cloud cover above which never shifted was enough to make him jealous of Cosette for coming up with the idea of coming her and only made him love her more.

A nudge at his shoulder made him realise that he had been staring with my mouth stuck open and he was close to drooling as he wiped his face with a suit jacket sleeve. He pulled off his tie and stuck it into a pocket as he turned to Cosette and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

‘This is going to be amazing. I mean, you obviously didn’t only invite me because you love this handsome and talented face of mine. You have leads don’t you? But I’m thinking whomever can make a tree that large grow must have the power of the gods at their disposal. That is is we still have gods, religion is a little unclear on that and I’m not to get into a discussion about it. Myths and rumours make it just that little bit more exciting you know?’ said Nishi.

Cosette just smiled as the electric bus drove over the endless plains of grass not leaving a single mark behind or causing any damage to the green grounds which made up the outskirts of the Park of Gaia.

A sign came on to buckle on their seatbelts and the passengers did so as the light show from the plants was largely ignored as their colours began to fade and the ultraviolet lights from the roof and aisles of the bus returned to normal.

Finally, she had arrived as her next big project. An investigation into the truth and creation of one of the so-called miracles of the planet of Belphus. And she got to do it all with her long-term boyfriend and previous teenage crush Nishi as well.

‘I think we need to actually enter the place itself before we can make any decisions. Let’s both put work on hold for a little bit and just enjoy ourselves a little, and you heard the announcement. Free food and drinks all home-grown.’

The bus began to slow down and parked alongside a dozen others as the passengers disembarked and grabbed their belongings and possessions. Herself and Nishi had packed rather plainly and it had close to a last minute decision but she had brought along her laptop, recording tools, writing stationary, emergency battery chargers and plenty of notepads.