by Isa Marks
“We’ve been working on stabilizing the drug Doctor Miller has been giving you. It should eliminate the mood swings, anxiety and depression you’ve been experiencing. We’re still trying to find a way to eliminate the hallucinations. I’ll be helping to synthesize . . . ehm, create a version that is more convenient for everyone and make the effects last longer.”
“What’s it for?” Murphy tried, hoping to understand the reason for his suffering.
“Isolation underground seems to influence the mood and behavior of the people in the Bunker,” he said with a slight hesitation in his voice. Teagan started to doubt if he was even supposed to tell him this. Doc hadn’t really given him any instructions on this matter. He continued, keeping his voice low. “There have been some issues with workers displaying unwanted behavior, we need to control . . .”
He stopped mid sentence when he heard footsteps approaching, making him take a step back to the place he had stood before.
“I’ve made some alterations to the previous strand,” Doc said as cheerily as he had when he had entered the room the first time. “This should lift your mood boy.”
Murphy had been gentle with the new guy. Doc on the other hand started to get on his nerves with his overly positive attitude today.
“Your guinea pig is ready,” Murphy snapped, closing his eyes to let the drugs take over.
◆◆◆
“They’re here, they have come for us,” Faye said.
She hadn’t been this happy in months. She squeezed her eyes in pain as she tried to sit down in the circle they always sat in during dinner. The bruises made sitting hard. Her face looked tattered, her arms were covered in red streaks. She could feel it burning, the result of the severe beating from the supervisors back on the Field for dropping that crate. But still she smiled. Cathy was still out there, her and Daryl and who knows who else.
“They’ll come back for us, they’ll save us,” she said. “We can escape with them tomorrow!”
“And go where?” one of the guys next to her said less enthusiastically. He had given up escaping a long time ago. Last time someone tried to run off the guards had taken him. He had heard them say, “So you want to leave, well leave,” before they threw him over the edge of the Field. The splash had caused a silence among the workers. “Does anyone else want to leave?” the guard had said, making everyone return to work without opposition.
“They must have a safe spot, right? Otherwise they wouldn’t be out there!” she said with her mouth full of the gooey mash they called food.
The guy looked puzzled at Faye’s enthusiastic behavior. Everyone around them was feeling down after the long day of hard work. Even after finally putting food in their system they would usually not experience an energy peak. Why was her response so different? Why was she reacting so overly enthusiastic today, while everyone else looked even more depressed than before . . .
“Spit it out !” he said to Faye. “Oh my god this can’t be real,” he exclaimed, trying not to alarm the guards. He had finally put the pieces together.
“The food’s drugged,” he whispered. “It must be a mood enhancer or suppressant or whatever, most likely a combination of the two, I don’t know.”
Everyone in the circle dropped their spoons in shock.
Faye just sat there smiling, stuffing another spoonful in her mouth. Nothing was going to get her out of her good mood today.
CHAPTER 11
The Mall
“Who was that guy in Doc’s office,” Cecilia thought.
She took her place behind the desk in front of the office. The past months she had done all kinds work for the doctor. She had done this type of work before at the offices near the dam, before everything collapsed. She had blocked it all away, the running from the water and everything else. Like it had never happened, like it had been another life. Another person’s life even. Here she had a new start, a new chance.
She was used to it, cleaning up after men in their offices. But this doctor had been different. His office was such mess, piles and piles of papers covered his desk. How could he work in there, how could anyone work in there? But she wasn’t allowed to clean or touch anything.
He’d call her in for the strangest reasons, usually to find his glasses, which were always in his coat pocket. One time he had her go all the way to the top level to get him a sample of water, another day he sent here to the Mushroom Farm for just one mushroom. His requests were so odd at times, she wondered if he was just making things up for her to do, or that he was trying to get rid of her.
She stood up to take a closer look at the guy, when she saw a piece of paper on the floor. The edges were torn and big blue blobs of ink seemed to form words scribbled diagonally over the preprinted lines. ‘New guy starts soon, do everything he asks for.’ Or at least that’s what she thought it said, trying to decipher Doc’s handwriting.
When she looked up she saw him coming towards her.
“Hi,” he said. “I don’t believe we’ve met, my name is Teagan.”
“That’s an unusual name.” Her cheeks flushed.
He started to smile, he had expected her to say her name.
“So you are new here?”
“Yeah, second day. I’m still trying to find my way through this chaos.” He pointed to the desk and then the rest of the room, which was just as big of a mess.
“So am I,” Cecilia laughed.
“Doctor Miller said I could ask you to get me something if I needed anything, ehm, is that correct?”
“Yes, he left me a memo.” She waved the piece of paper she held in her hand. “What can I do for you?” She looked him straight in his eyes, as if he would disappear if she blinked.
“Ehm, Doctor Miller said he’d be here in about thirty minutes, but I kind of need some things from the lab right now? I’ve made a list, could you get these for me?”
She knew she wasn’t allowed to go into his office, or the lab on the other side of the hall without supervision. She knew she should tell him no, but she didn’t want to disappoint him, especially on the first day they met.
“Sure,” she said and took the list. It’s just a quick in and out, she thought. Doc would never know. She passed her desk and walked towards the center segment of the level. A huge lighted nameplate above the door spelled ‘LAB’. They could have just used a wooden plate instead, she thought, still finding it hard to wrap her mind around the amount of energy they wasted here.
She opened the door and found a room similar to Doc’s office, only four times the size and a lot less messy. The same strange equations covered the room written on glass plates. A giant table filled the middle of the room, with straps hanging from the sides. The walls were covered in frames, lots of them. She studied the pictures, all of which showed Doc with various other people. He sure is popular, she thought, his work must be important. The tables on the sides were filled with microscopes and petri dishes. Quickly she collected the ones with the labels that matched Teagan’s list, making it out before Doc would arrive.
“I’ve got what you asked for,” she said when she arrived back at the office. She found Teagan sitting at the desk against the wall, examining something under a microscope.
“That’s perfect, thank you very much,” he said, giving her a friendly smile.
She could get used to that smile. She walked to the door, where out of the blue the silhouette of the old man appeared.
“What are you doing in my office, get out!” he barked at her. Teagan looked up from the microscope, somewhat amazed by the strict tone he had used.
“I . . . ehm . . . I asked her to come here,” he interrupted before Cecilia could say anything. Doc turned his head toward him.
“Yes, yes, good, okay,” he grumbled. He had completely forgotten about the new guy. He looked around the office unsatisfied and scratched his head.
“I need you to run an errand for me,” he said distractedly, while looking at neither one of them in particular. He took out an antique s
tyle fountain pen. Then took a piece of paper from one of the piles and tore a piece off to jot down his list of desired items.
Shoving the piece of paper into Cecilia’s hands, he said, “Go now, both of you.”
They exchanged looks and walked out of the office as fast as possible.
“Oh and bring me an extra pair of glasses,” he shouted after them. “Wait make that two.”
Cecilia and Teagan left the center ring of the bottom level, past the brewery to the kitchen area. It was the easiest way to get up one level. Doc’s Lab was quicker, but they were not supposed to use that route because it was connected to the office section above. They had to take the workers route, leading up from the kitchen, to the supply rooms in what she had heard people call ‘the Mall’. It was considered the entertainment area of the Bunker. There were lots of bright lights and sounds. The first weeks she thought it to be very overwhelming. But she had gotten used to it, and walking here with Teagan now, she even started to like it.
They had left the supply room, picking up the first things from the list. From there roads led to the stores ahead. The air was filled with delicious smells from the food stalls. People were yelling trying to get their attention. Cecilia kept her head down, avoiding eye contact. Teagan took her by her arm, her heart started racing.
“Don’t worry, I suppose it takes some getting used to,” he said. “Oh, Doc told me you’re not originally from here. That’s also what I figured since we weren’t in school together,” he added somewhat clumsy.
“Do you know everyone here?”
“Pretty much everyone my age, I guess. Most of us used to hang out together at the Mall, but now we’re all too busy studying and working. I mean, nothing comes for free after you turn eighteen. You’ll have to contribute like everyone else.”
She was not quite sure she understood what that meant exactly. “What do you do at the Mall?”
“Well the usual,” he said. “In there we used to have burgers at lunch break for example. They have the best vegan sausages, made out of mushrooms, but don’t tell anyone I told you that,” he smiled. “Only old people order it, it’s not considered ‘cool’ enough for people our age. But they’re the best, my granddad used to say it’s the closest to real beef he has ever tasted.
“And over there is where we would play video games every weekend,” he pointed to an illuminated Arcade sign flashing above their head. “They have these really old games like pinball machines, air hockey tables, video game consoles, claw machines. But my friends always wanted to play laser tag.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you see those kids over there? The ones with the black vests over their clothes and the plastic guns. You can play it all over the Mall, through the streets and stores. Your goal is to be the last one standing, while shooting the other players in the vest with your laser gun.” One of the kids bumped into them, while running away. A laser beam hit him in the back and his vest started to burn a bright red color.
“That doesn’t count, they were in my way,” he yelled while pointing his finger at the two of them.
“And that is exactly why my parents hated that game.” Teagan continued. “Ah well, it was never my kind of game anyway, way too violent for my taste. We still hang around here once in a while you know, me and some old friends from school. You should join us sometime. Not for the laser game of course,” he added quickly after seeing the questioning look on her face. She didn’t seem the type for that either.
“We usually hang out at the Ocean Lounge, it’s a bar which, as you probably expect, looks out over the ocean. We sometimes go there to have a drink and try not to talk about work. At night it turns into a club. You should definitely come.” As with most of his sentences it ended with an inviting smile.
“Ehm, yes of course,” she answered.
She looked at him in amazement. He must be kidding right. Those were the kind of things she had read in books and magazines. The closest thing to a club she had known were the birthday parties at the Hospital, with the same people, the same music and the same decoration every time. But she had seen the illuminated ‘Arcade’ signs herself, and she had heard the music coming out of the buildings, these things really did exist.
It was weird, she thought, these buildings inside a mountain. Once this Mall must have been a big empty cave, now it was divided into all these small separate compartments. All with their own distinct shabby hammered fore fronts. They walked through the narrow streets in between them. The buildings were stacked on top of each other. Artificial stairs lead to walkways, made of scaffolding pipes with a variety of plastic and metal plates. They led to a second tier of shops and made a constant clanging background noise. The sound was partly disguised by the music playing from the surrounding shops, eateries and entertainment businesses.
“Where do you live?” It was quite a strange question to ask and it came quite out of the blue, but she was curious. All these people here, they had to live somewhere, right?
“It’s not too far from here actually, I can show you? We can pick up some things from the list along the way. Besides, I got the idea Doctor Miller was trying to get rid of us. I have a strong feeling he doesn’t mind us staying away a bit longer.”
‘Doctor Miller’, she chuckled, he was the only one she had ever heard call him anything other than Doc. They moved across the city, all the way to the east side. She had never been this far east before. It must be that yellow area on the map, she thought. She still carried the map that they had given to her on her first workday. She brought it with her wherever she went. She still couldn’t get a hang of the layout, even after living here for months. Her room was on the bottom level, it had been one of the old guard rooms, connecting directly to the hallway leading to Doc’s office. It was an easy route to remember. If she had had to come from up here every day, she would have been lost and late for work daily, especially those first few weeks.
The house was beautiful, it had a neoclassical facade with two white columns supporting the roof of the porch. It seemed a bit useless though, having a roof over your porch inside a mountain. It was not likely to ever rain here.
His room was not at all what she expected. In her mind she had pictured a neat version of Doc’s office. But it was just a boys room, much like her friends’ rooms had been. Except for the posters of once popular men and scarcely dressed women covering their walls. Instead there were plants and biology plates all over, giving the room a somewhat bohemian botanical feel. Above his desk were charts of water levels and other chemistry related pictures she didn’t understand.
Music started to play from across the room. She liked it, it had a completely different feel than the music in the Mall. Teagan stood beside a machine she didn’t recognize. Probably another thing connected to the electricity network.
“Where do you get all this stuff?” she exclaimed. It was a rhetorical question since she felt like she was asking too many questions already. He answered anyway.
“We have groups that go to the cities sometimes for supplies, they bring back the craziest things, like this record player. They used to be exclusively for the entertainment area in the Mall, but they found so many that they are available in the stores now. That’s how the entire Mall was built really, by things collected in the cities and traded with others. All those things were brought in by the boat and glider crews.”
Boat and glider crews? She realized she still knew so little about this world.
“How can you, ehm . . . ” she started but was not sure if she should bring it up. “ehm, no I shouldn’t . . .”
“What is it?” Teagan said. “Did I do something wrong?” He sat on his bed and motioned for her to sit beside him.
“Well, I have noticed your people use an awful lot of energy here. I mean in the Mall, and the lights everywhere, all those machines you have. It’s just that . . . back where I am from we were not supposed to waste any, you know. Meaning no lights after dark, except for beeswax candles. N
o electrical sound machines and video games. We had solar cells and batteries, but nothing that could power a place like this. I mean, how? How is this possible? It just made me wonder if you still use fossil fuels?”
He seemed shocked by that word, like she had just accused him of a terrible sin.
“I shouldn’t have said anything, she said quickly.” She stood up, got her things and wanted to leave. I ruined it, she thought, why did I say that, he’s never going to like me now.
“It’s okay,” he recovered. “You just startled me, I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized how this whole thing must seem to outsiders.” He pushed the off button and the record started to spin slower. The music grew darker and slowly turned into an almost demonic sound until it finally stopped.
“I ehm . . . how do I explain this.” he scratched his head. “This place, the Bunker, it’s powered by green energy. We took solar panels from the cities, which cover the mountain surface above us. We are connected to the wind turbines in the ocean. And of course our main energy source, biofuel from the Sea Farm. That was actually one of the projects I’ve been working on.” He pointed to the charts on his desk.
She recognized the shape of the seaweed, which was roughly the same as one of the posters on the wall.
“We have harvested seaweed out there for food consumption, but did you know seaweed can also convert sunlight into chemical energy. We now use it to make biofuel, which powers the generators and boats, cars, everything really. I’m trying to make the seaweed grow throughout the entire year, so we have a constant energy source. Right now we are only able to harvest summer and winter kelp, leaving us to rely on solar and wind for the rest of the year. But we need to find a way to fix that soon, because the solar panels are breaking down and the wind turbines have become almost beyond repair.”
