The morning of December 31st was breaking over the city of Atlas, and Equator had barely begun to fall asleep when he heard his mother calling him from his room.
"Equator! Wake up, son! Today is the big day!"
The sound of guests' alarm clocks was already beginning to echo through the halls, and the workers of the guesthouse and the complex were preparing for the moment the guests would rise.
Equator had spent the night with a high fever and pounding headaches, and sleep had refused to come. When his head finally stopped hurting and he managed to drift off, his mother had already woken up and begun the preparations for New Year's Eve.
That night, his only companion had been his black cat, Hermes. Hermes was an unusually curious cat who had appeared in Equator's life when he was thirteen. Unlike other cats, he was not afraid of water or loud noises. In fact, very little ever frightened Hermes, and he followed Equator everywhere inside the house.
The cat had changed very little since reaching adulthood. He was playful and seemed to have boundless energy, whether it was day or night. He had been Equator's only friend since he left school. Hermes never left Equator's side, especially when he was sick.
What Equator liked least was when Hermes somehow discovered that he was ill and wouldn't stop following his mother around, meowing insistently until she realized that the cat was trying to warn her that something was wrong. After this happened several times, it became almost impossible to ignore the message or deny that perhaps the cat was asking for help, not attention.
To Equator, Hermes was companionship—especially after his grandfather died and the two of them began spending most of their time together.
Equator glanced at his phone. It was only six in the morning. Workdays began early at the Sol e Mar Complex, especially on the 31st, when tourists from all over the world came to the city in search of its beaches and the Amazon rainforest. At the Sol e Mar Guesthouse specifically, it was the busiest day of the year.
But beyond being New Year's Eve, it was also his sixteenth birthday. And he had been preparing for that day for a long time, because it was the day he would finally launch his online store.
For three hundred and sixty-five days, Equator had worked every single day at the Sol e Mar Guesthouse. He also took side jobs around the complex and signed up for every extra shift that existed.
Cleaning bathrooms, assisting tour guides, delivering packages, last-minute DJ, cleaning the hair salon, serving at the guesthouse snack bar. All of that on top of his regular duties at the guesthouse.
Equator filled every minute of his life to make his dream succeed. Because every single day, it was impossible not to feel a fire burning inside him, demanding change and improvement. And for Equator, it was easier to do everything he did than to silence the voice screaming inside him for more.
Equator was an ambitious boy—but more than that, he spared no effort to achieve what he wanted. Deep down, he believed he could become free and independent, no longer dependent on his mother or a burden to his family.
He got out of bed so quickly that the world spun around him. He dressed hurriedly in the Sol e Mar uniform and ran to the breakfast table, where a lemon pie awaited him. Not just any lemon pie, but the best lemon pie in the world, according to Equator.
Equator's mother was a woman of average height, with short, straight hair and pale white skin. That morning, she had woken up three hours earlier than usual and gone to bed an hour later than normal—all to speed up preparations for the special breakfast the guesthouse organized for staff and guests. And on top of that, she had prepared the famous lemon pie that Equator loved and considered his favorite.
Throughout the night, Equator had heard the clatter of kitchen utensils from his room, but the only thought in his mind was that he needed to sleep—and he had no idea how.
In the early hours of the morning, when he briefly managed to fall asleep, Equator had strange dreams in which he could not explain who he was or where he was. He dreamed he was in a city that looked as if it had been built in haste: houses stacked upon houses, bridges connecting buildings.
In that city, there were not only people, but animals from all over the world walking like humans—seeming far more human than in the normal world. In that place, people smiled at him, and when they looked into his eyes, for no apparent reason, their own eyes shone as if they had found answers within his gaze. He even saw a couple of giraffes approach him with their calf, asking for an autograph on a piece of parchment that bore a strange drawing of a creature and a star.
Everything there was on a grand scale: massive columns, enormous gates, buildings that seemed to rise from a forgotten era. The moon was huge, occupying much of the sky, which shimmered in many different colors—except for the familiar shades of blue of reality.
He saw spaceships and, if he was not mistaken, even dragons, which made him believe it was all just a fever-induced delirium—something that rarely happened. Normally, his delusions involved evil monsters and sinister shadows that never left him alone.
But something in particular caught his attention: the symbol of a star was everywhere in the city, especially atop a giant wishing fountain. At its summit stood a warrior holding a blue star in one hand and a sword in the other.
When Equator looked closely at the warrior's face, he realized it was himself. He felt shy, but understood why people looked at him differently—perhaps they mistook him for the warrior in the statue because of the resemblance. But it had to be a mistake, because the warrior was tall, strong, and very handsome—everything Equator believed he was not.
As he began to wonder why the warrior looked so much like him, someone touched his shoulder. When he turned around, he nearly jumped in fright: a polar bear was trying to communicate with him, saying,
"Welcome back to Oblivion!"
That was when Equator woke up, dizzy and drenched in sweat.
His mother quickly sang "Happy Birthday," and Equator smiled, trying to hide the terrible headache he was feeling. He did everything he could to make sure his mother would not suspect that he was unwell. Because he knew that, deep down, she needed him very much—and if she found out he was sick, he would be forced to stay in bed, something Equator hated, especially knowing she was working twice as hard because of his absence.
As the owner of the building and the person responsible for the Sol e Mar Complex, her presence was essential, and Equator played a crucial role in the productivity of the business. He knew how necessary he was and took pride in being able to help.
But all of that would change once his online store succeeded. His mother would no longer have to work so hard, and Equator could hire several employees and even expand the guesthouse throughout the city. Everything was possible in a world where one had the money to make it so.
The day passed quickly at the guesthouse as Equator imagined everything he would do when his store succeeded: the employees he would hire, how he would spend his free time, the places he would visit, and the people in the neighborhood he would help—like old Lourdes, who lived alone and had lost her only child long ago.
He would buy the computer he had always dreamed of and travel the world while working online. Dreams upon dreams. Hopes and ambitions burning inside him, from his soul to the tips of his fingers, bringing life and an energy that seemed endless.
When six o'clock in the evening finally arrived, his mother let him go early—above all because it was his birthday. And so Equator began organizing the preparations for the store launch.
He tidied his room, took a shower, and put on new clothes he had bought specifically to wear on his birthday. He cut himself a slice of his favorite pie, but decided to take the entire bowl to his room, just in case it took longer than expected.
He sat patiently at his small computer desk, his cat beside him. The website was counting down to launch the moment the year turned, and he waited for every second.
That dream would not leave his mind, but what he remembered most clearly was the drawing the baby giraffe had asked him to autograph. On impulse and out of curiosity, he decided to draw what appeared to be a strange mythical creature and a star. It looked like a child's drawing—which made sense—but why would that giraffe ask for his autograph if he had nothing to do with it and did not even know what those things were?
It was 11:59 p.m.
Five, four, three, two, one.
"Congratulations. Online store published. Good luck!"
Equator's heart raced, and the knot in his stomach that had consumed him for hours now burned with excitement. The day had finally arrived.
Outside, fireworks and firecrackers exploded frenetically, and from afar he could see the largest fireworks display rising from Atlas's Atlantic Beach. The neighborhood was loud and alive.
Strangely, his cat had never been afraid of fireworks or explosions. He always enjoyed watching fireworks, candles—anything that burned—and this curiosity always ignited something in Equator as well.
Equator took the debit card where he had placed all the money he had saved over the year and entered the details into the advertising platform responsible for delivering the site to people with real purchasing potential. Everything was automated. The pages were ready. The ads configured. All that remained was one final command.
When he clicked "OK," every light in the city went out.
The room plunged into darkness. The computer shut down along with everything else. For a few seconds, there was only the distant noise of the city and the sound of his own racing heart.
The power returned shortly afterward. Equator turned the computer back on with trembling hands and reopened the store dashboard. It was half past midnight when, finally, the first notification appeared:
"Potential customer purchasing."
Equator held his breath.
At that exact moment, the page went offline.
He panicked. Refreshed the screen. Opened another tab. Typed the domain address directly into the browser. Tried accessing it on his phone. Nothing loaded.
Then a message appeared:
"Website and domain lost due to a satellite failure caused by an unforeseen solar storm. We apologize for the inconvenience. The amount will be refunded starting January 2nd. Happy New Year. HappyNetBrasil Digital Marketing Company."
Equator stared at the screen without blinking.
What bad luck, he thought. The worst of all.
Equator was devastated.
Among a thousand possibilities, for this to happen on the very day he launched his store seemed impossible—and yet, it was happening.
"I really am the unluckiest…" he said aloud, shouting.
The pain of frustration was all he felt in his chest, and in an outburst of rage, Equator tore down all the posters and planners he had used during the creative and planning process of the online store—including the one with the goal of making ten thousand sales.
His headache returned, and he felt the fever rising again. Unlike other nights, when he fought the fever to avoid delusions and nightmares, he decided to simply lie down and finish the rest of the lemon pie until he fell asleep, hoping to perhaps find that magical place again in his delirium.
Equator turned on the TV to make time pass faster. But every channel was showing fireworks displays from different parts of the world. After searching for a long time, he found a documentary channel.
A documentary was airing about the tragedy of December 31st, 2003—curiously, the very day he had been born.
"Antônio Santos presents today a documentary that revisits a not-so-distant past, one that nearly changed the history of Brazil and the world.
After the end of the Cold War, as the nations of Earth sought a way out of a future of wars and environmental devastation, they found space mineral exploration to be the most viable alternative.
The union of all Earth's nations to create an infrastructure for space exploration. A collective effort for a greater purpose, with Brazil at the center of the map.
Brazil was chosen as the country where the largest space base on Earth would be built, connecting space to the world—specifically in the city of Alcântara.
The city of Alcântara holds many advantages, such as its extreme proximity to the Equator. The Earth rotates faster at the equator, and rockets launched from here receive a free push from the planet's rotation, gaining initial speed without burning extra fuel. Launches from this location could save up to 30% in fuel, depending on the orbit.
In addition, launching over the ocean is another major advantage: Alcântara faces the Atlantic Ocean, meaning discarded rocket stages would fall into the sea, posing no risk to civilians."
What shocked him most was discovering that the great tragedy that ended the international operation had occurred on the very day of his birth.
"The Alcântara Project mobilized 192 countries worldwide, consuming over one trillion dollars in resources, promises, and haste. The plan would not only benefit the city of Alcântara, but also our greatest Amazonian metropolis—the ancient and mysterious city of Atlas—which would distribute minerals to participating countries via the ocean.
After the proposal in 1992 at Eco 92 in Rio de Janeiro, the project began in 1993 and took exactly ten years to complete.
In 1993, when Brazil was still struggling to stabilize its own currency, the world was already beginning to see it as the physical foundation of the greatest human project ever conceived. Between 1993 and 2003, the Alcântara Project increased Brazil's GDP by nearly 40%, transforming the country into one of the six largest economies on the planet and the main technological hub of the Southern Hemisphere.
But in 2003, the year of the launch, everything began to unravel. With repeated delays in launching the first fleet of spacecraft, the creation of the largest space base on Earth began to show signs of bad luck.
The launch date, originally set for April 9th, 2003, was postponed to May 20th and then to July 22nd. By that point, the global population had grown pessimistic, unable to understand what continued to delay the launch of such a massive project that had taken so long to build.
It was then that the president of the Global Space Station, André Rígel, addressed the world, promising that the launch would take place in 2003 without exception.
The reasons for the delays varied: sometimes technical errors, other times unforeseen material shortages.
These failures continued until the final launch date—the fateful December 31st, 2003—when humanity's largest and most ambitious project died before it was even born.
Everyone remembers where they were when the Orion 2003, Beetlejuice 16, and Arie 14 spacecraft exploded at launch, freezing the deployment of the remaining twenty-four ships.
For a few years, Brazil ceased to be a developing country and became the center of humanity's future. When Alcântara fell, it wasn't just a space base that exploded—it was the idea that the country could finally occupy the skies.
After 2003, the project remained under maintenance. But in 2008, when the world faced one of the greatest economic crises since the Great Depression, sixty countries withdrew from the space exploration project, which has remained frozen ever since due to high maintenance costs and low returns.
This leads us to reflect: how great is humanity's ambition? What could we have done differently to make it succeed? Was it bad luck? Divine punishment for human greed? Or was it simply not meant to be?
Many mystics claim we were prevented from touching the heavens because we were not yet ready for such virtues. Others, more skeptical, say the same with a technical and scientific lens: it was all a matter of timing.
But one feeling lingers in the collective mind—a sense of obstruction, as if something or someone did not want this to happen.[
This was a report by Antônio Santos, from the Mundo Natural Brasil channel, presenting the most unlucky day in history, sixteen years ago, through the tunnel of time."
Equator was in disbelief. After years of bad luck, he had finally found a reason—or at least a sign—to explain the magnitude of his misfortune.
He had been born on the unluckiest day in history.
And as foolish as it sounded, he thought: maybe I'm the reason the space exploration project failed… because of my birth. Maybe I'm the bad omen that haunts the Earth. Maybe all my bad luck is simply my nature.
Equator began to feel hotter than ever, and his head hurt so badly it felt as though a small giant was trying to break open his skull and escape from his brain.
"At least it's night," he thought. "At least I won't let my mother down, because my body decided to stop working."
While the world celebrated outside, Equator burned with fever, hoping to find refuge in deliriums that might ease the pain of existing in a world that could not conceive his greatness.
Somewhere in Oblivion, three figures moved in favor of Equator and his pronoia, and were making their way toward the surface.