Those Who Left History by Wanxiang Fengnian (audio)
Digest
This podcast delves into the concept of "exclusive residences," advanced private spaces utilizing "spatial closure" technology that allow individuals to permanently vanish from reality. The narrative follows various characters, including Zhou Xiaoyang, Joe Charliens, and Dmitri Petrovich, who seek refuge in these residences for diverse reasons—escape from scams, existential despair, wealth, or trauma. The story also examines the societal impact, the psychological toll on sales staff, and the ethical dilemmas surrounding these disappearances. As a cosmic threat, the "White Death Comet," looms, humanity faces a choice between fleeing into these residences or fighting back. The narrative culminates in a debate about confronting and "summoning history," acknowledging that even exiled pasts have a lasting gaze.
Outlines
Introduction to "Those Who Left History"
The podcast introduces the March 2026 issue of Clark's World Magazine, featuring the story "Those Who Left History" by Wang Xiong Feng Yan, translated by Stella Jia-Yu Zhu, and thanks the listeners for their support.
The Business of Self-Exile: Exclusive Residences and Spatial Closure
Zhou Xiaoyang's diary reveals feelings of being scammed and existential despair. The story then details the peculiar business of "exclusive residences" using "spatial closure" technology, which allows small spaces to disappear permanently. These residences are marketed as self-sustaining, private escapes, utilizing psychological tactics to target wealthy, insecure, or traumatized individuals.
Personal Journeys and Family Fallout
Joe Charliens' diary recounts a desperate gamble for wealth and his subsequent decision to enter an exclusive residence. The report explores the profound impact on families left behind, including rituals of waiting and the creation of headstones. A rural family grapples with a relative's decision to enter a residence after a market windfall.
A Salesperson's Atonement and Time Dilation
Former salesperson Lee Shaoqing visits a monument, the anchor point of a client's residence, seeking atonement. Joe Shaoling's diary describes the experience of "skimming time" within a residence, where years pass differently, leading to a struggle with a vastly changed world upon surfacing.
The Industry's Persistence and Diverse Motivations
The exclusive residence industry persists despite bans, serving various global needs: a haven for nihilists, a dumping ground, a means for parental abandonment, or a financier's bolt hole. In Eastern Europe, it's linked to dispossession. War veteran Dmitri Petrovich discovers his wife has entered a residence after he was declared dead.
The Organ Trade and Reclaiming Life
Dmitri Petrovich encounters a broker for exclusive residences and learns clients can sell organs to afford the steep price, with agents assuring reduced life needs inside. Facing organ harvesting, Petrovich forfeits his deposit, choosing to reclaim his life, a decision celebrated by others.
Existential Despair and Cosmic Threats
Joe Charliang's residence surfaces to an empty world with a comet, leading to depression and a suicide attempt. An investigative series revisits the exclusive residence project as the "White Death Comet" threatens Earth, with the government offering refuge in these residences.
Resistance and the Fight for Survival
"Stay-behinds" whose families fled assault a factory producing space closure modules. Workers seize the assembly line, finding makeshift refuges. Soldier Gong Heng questions humanity's will to resist fleeing as a mission to strike the comet is planned. Zhou Xiaoling witnesses humanity's resilient fight against the comet despite destruction.
The Reality of History and Its Unspoken Wounds
The investigative series is confirmed as real, as are the exclusive residences and their impact on human history. A rescue team finds no physical trace, leading to debate on treating them as history or narrative. Joe Shaw-Liang, after 1300 years, witnesses Earth's dismantling.
The Hearing: Reckoning with History and Existence
A government hearing debates relocating cities and recognizing "Those Who Left History." The engineering committee prioritizes practical benefits over historical reckoning, questioning the rights of the living and humanity's tendency to shed historical burdens.
Summoning History and Its Enduring Gaze
A historian warns against recovering abstracted existences. The committee must decide whether to summon vanished history. The narrator argues history cannot disappear, carrying unspoken wounds, and its summoning reveals the "eyes of history," reminding humanity they cannot leave it behind.
Conclusion: Storytelling and Shared History
People gather around a pillar, singing songs and drinking, acknowledging shared history through storytelling. The podcast concludes with publication details and encourages listener feedback.
Keywords
Exclusive Residences
A futuristic concept where individuals can permanently banish themselves from reality into self-sustaining, private housing units. These residences utilize "spatial closure" technology, folding inward to disappear from the external world. They offer an escape from trauma, exhaustion, or societal pressures, but at the cost of complete isolation and detachment from history and human connection.
Spatial Closure Technology
An advanced technology that allows small spaces to be folded inward until they disappear from the observable universe. These sealed spaces continue to exist independently, no longer interacting with the external world. This technology is the foundation for "exclusive residences," enabling their permanent removal from reality.
Skimming Time
A phenomenon experienced within exclusive residences where time passes at different rates internally and externally. The residence "skims" through time, diving beneath its surface for extended periods, causing years to pass in the outside world while only weeks or months elapse within. This creates a disorienting effect and a disconnect from the progression of history.
Those Who Left History
Refers to individuals who choose to enter exclusive residences, effectively removing themselves from the flow of human history and society. This term highlights their deliberate act of self-exile and the subsequent impact on their families and the broader understanding of existence and memory.
The Annihilation Fleet
A fleet of 25,000 vessels launched in a suicide mission to strike the White Death Comet. Produced by a special factory, these vessels represent humanity's final, desperate attempt to combat an existential threat, sacrificing themselves to leave a mark on history.
The Summoning of History
The act of acknowledging and confronting the past, particularly the history of those who chose to leave it behind through exclusive residences. It signifies a recognition that history, even when exiled, continues to exert an influence and cannot be truly erased, necessitating a reckoning with its "gaze."
White Death Comet
A looming cosmic threat that endangers Earth, prompting the emergency world government to offer refuge in exclusive residences. Its approach signifies an existential crisis for humanity.
Stay-behinds
Individuals whose families joined the exclusive residence refuge program before a catastrophic comet strike. They remained on Earth and were involved in the assault on a factory producing space closure modules, representing those who chose to face the crisis rather than flee.
Q&A
What is the concept of "exclusive residences" and how do they function?
Exclusive residences are self-sustaining private housing units created using "spatial closure" technology, allowing them to disappear permanently from the external world. They offer individuals an escape from reality, trauma, or societal pressures, existing in their own time and place, detached from the universe.
How does "spatial closure technology" enable the existence of exclusive residences?
Spatial closure technology involves folding the edges of a small space inward until it closes and disappears from the world. This process is permanent, allowing the sealed space, like an exclusive residence, to exist independently without interacting with the universe.
What is "skimming time" and how does it affect residents?
Skimming time is a process where an exclusive residence moves through time erratically, often diving beneath the surface. This results in significant time dilation, where years pass in the outside world while only weeks or months go by inside the residence, leading to a disconnect from external events.
Who were the "stay-behinds" and what was their role in the story?
"Stay-behinds" were individuals whose families had joined the exclusive residence refuge program before a catastrophic comet strike. They remained on Earth and were involved in the assault on a factory producing space closure modules, representing those who chose to face the crisis rather than flee.
What is the significance of "The Summoning of History" in the narrative?
"The Summoning of History" represents the acknowledgment and confrontation of the past, particularly the choices of those who entered exclusive residences. It emphasizes that exiled history cannot be erased and continues to influence the present, symbolized by the "eyes of history."
What is Dmitri Petrovich's story arc?
Dmitri Petrovich, a war veteran, discovers his wife has entered an exclusive residence after he was declared dead. He learns about the organ trade to afford these residences and ultimately chooses to forfeit his deposit and reclaim his life rather than have his organs harvested.
How does the story address the ethical implications of exclusive residences?
The story touches on ethical implications through the psychological torture used in sales, the abandonment of families, the organ trade, and the government hearing debating the value of historical reckoning versus practical benefits. It questions the nature of existence and rights for those who choose non-existence.
Show Notes
The text version of this story can be found at:
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/fengnian_03_26
Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/clarkesworld/membership
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