by Eliza Taye
Suddenly, I felt a jerk as the seamobile made a sharp turn.
“Whoa, I have to take it off autopilot.” Dylan jerked the handlebars to the right. The seamobile now floated parallel to the edge of the continental slope.
“Why, what is it?” But as I asked the question, a shadow from the right encircled us. The enormity of it encompassed my entire field of view, leaving only a sliver of the edge of the continental shelf visible beneath my feet. The animal was dark in coloration, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the dim light or its natural color. “What is that?” I wondered.
“Nothing to worry about. It’s just a blue whale.” Dylan turned around to face me. “Consider yourself lucky. I’ve lived under the sea my entire life and this is only the second one I’ve ever seen.”
I had heard blue whales were the largest single organism on the planet that had ever lived, but being so close to one was unbelievable. It was so surreal, almost magical. An eye larger than our heads came up right beside the seamobile and examined us. Through the serene gaze of the whale, tranquility flooded through my veins down into my soul. I felt a connection that I found hard to put into words, but it gave me a peace that I’d never felt before. It had to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
As it gracefully continued to glide through the water past us, Dylan directed our little pod away from it to ensure its tail wouldn’t accidently swipe the seamobile on its way past.
“I think that whale is larger than average. I bet you it’s over one hundred feet long.”
I barely heard Dylan’s comment as I continued to watch the blue whale slowly swimming away into the blue beyond.
Dylan re-engaged autopilot and we continued. The seamobile began to dive, descending off the edge of the continental slope and into the darkness. The light began to fade from a vivid blue to an ever-increasing navy as the depth gauge on the corner of the touchscreen plummeted toward 1,200 feet.
Once more, I gazed out into the sea, hoping to see some more animals before the light faded altogether. Before I could catch my eye on anything, the whining sound returned as the floor, seats, and the front console flickered into visibility. However, the viewing area from the sides and front remained the same.
Powerful lights illuminated the dark sea surrounding us. I started to witness fish I’d only ever seen on immersion television specials or a school program. I never dreamed I would actually see these things in real life. Many of the creatures appeared to be frightened by our lights, staying just beyond their reach. Of the ones that didn’t seem to mind, I had a fantastic time watching them. Fluid-filled eyes ballooned out so far they appeared as if they were going to pop out at any second. A scarlet-scaled fish startled me as it swam by with needle pointed fangs. As I paid more attention, I began to notice most of the fish were some sort of red or brown color. The others tended to be see-through. Out of all the fish, some of them had big mouths, while others were simply small and eel-like.
“Hungry?”
The sudden question jolted me back into the pod and away from the undersea world. “A bit, not too much.”
“Well, if you want, I have an energy bar and some water stashed here in the storage box.” Dylan opened up a compartment between his knees and took out two canteens along with two healthy-looking bars wrapped in what resembled cling-wrap.
“Thank you.” I took what he offered me and opened up the energy bar to take a bite. Its taste was hard to place, but not bad.
“You’re welcome. We’ll be at the city in about thirty minutes.”
“Okay.” I swallowed my food then asked, “Can I ask you some questions about Oceania? I’m kinda curious about it now.”
“Sure, go ahead, although, I might not know everything.” Dylan let out a short laugh as he pulled off the cap to his canteen to take a sip.
“How many people live there?”
Dylan re-capped his canteen and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “I’m not sure what the exact number is, but I think it’s somewhere around four million.”
“Four million?” I exclaimed, my mind thoroughly blown. “How can that many people live underwater?”
“Actually, we have enough room for ten million, I’m told. Is four million large for a city on land?”
Taken aback, I shook my head slightly to clear my boggled mind and replied, “Well, no, but it is around an average city on land.” Trying to get Dylan back to answering my questions, I asked, “How does that work? I mean, isn’t it super crowded?”
“No, there’s actually a lot of space. Oceania is pretty big. Everyone lives in high-rise apartments. No one family has a house of their own. Do people still live in houses on land? Do you live in a house?”
“Yes, people still live in houses, even though I don’t. I live in a big city on land called Chicago, so my mom and I live in an apartment there, but my grandmother has her own house out here in California.”
“I’ve heard of Chicago before. It’s one of the largest cities in the United States, right?”
“Well, it used to be…I guess it was when Oceania was made, but now it’s only one of the top twenty largest. It has about eleven million people living there now.”
“Wow! Do they not have houses there?”
“Not inside the city anymore. They were bulldozed to make high rises decades ago. Besides, to own a single house in the city would cost a quadrillion dollars. As it is, most people that live in the city proper are multi-trillionaires.”
“Whoa, I guess a whole lot has changed. Can I ask you some more questions about land?”
“Okay.”
“How many people are there in the land world?” Dylan twisted around in his seat so he could see me better.
“Uh…” I tried to remember the number I’d heard sometime earlier this year. “I think it's somewhere near fourteen billion.”
Dylan’s eyes bulged like the fishes’ outside. “Wow, that’s extreme. If the land world grew that fast, either The Great Plague wasn’t as bad as I was told or you must still not have limits on families.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, in Oceania, each family is only allowed to have one or two children.”
“What happens if people have more?”
“They’re severely fined. There are a few families with three or more kids, but it’s extremely rare.”
“So, are you an only child then?”
“Yeah, what about you?”
“Same here. Sometimes, I wish I had a sibling.”
“I have a friend who’s like a sister. She’s pretty cool. Both our parents work in the same lab, so we grew up together from a young age.” Dylan took a break to finish his water.
“Are seamobiles the only way to get from the beach to Oceania and back?”
“Yes, they are. Are you having regrets about coming?”
“Oh, no, definitely not! This trip itself is absolutely amazing,” I quickly replied, afraid of him turning around and me not getting a chance to see the city. “I just have to return before dark or Gran will worry about me again.”
“No problem. I won’t forget to take you back. In fact…” Dylan opened a pouch on his wet suit and pulled out a small communicator. “I’ll make a note on my c-com two hours before sunset to remind us to return.”
“Thank you.” Two hours would give me plenty of time to bike home before nightfall.
I continued to peer around for the next few minutes until the fish and invertebrates decreased in numbers, as a muted light had begun to shine in the distance. The light emanated from a gigantic dome that sat upon what looked like a rocky seafloor. As we floated closer, tall buildings started to emerge like a mirage, bunched together so tightly it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.
Even though it seemed obvious, I couldn’t help asking, “Is that what I think it is?”
Dylan nodded without looking back. “Yep, that’s Oceania.”
Chapter 5
My eyes widen
ed as the large domed structure housing the city of Oceania drew closer. The dome itself appeared to be about half a mile high and made of a translucent material, allowing me to see everything inside. Towering high and centered above the dome seemed to be a series of what looked like solar panels reaching farther than I could see. Looking inside, skyscrapers rose up in random intervals throughout the city, with many other behemoth buildings surrounding them. For all it was worth, it truly appeared to be a city that had been plucked from land and placed underwater.
As the distance between the city and us diminished, I noticed our trajectory declined towards the rocky base it sat on.
“I’ll have to use my identification to get us in. Once inside the city, you’ll have to be careful. Although no one thinks there’s an above human world, your clothes and speech are different from ours. You’ll stick out like a brightly colored angelfish in an eagle ray migration colony.”
“Okay,” I muttered. I was rendered speechless by the enormity of this underwater structure. Nothing I had ever seen about undersea exploration on the Discovery Channel prepared me for this. The entire city seemed to be straight out of a sci-fi novel. I could hardly believe it was real.
Arriving at the rocky base of the city, Dylan steered the seamobile towards the center of what appeared to be a large, solid gate. Two horizontal sliding doors slowly separated, water rushing inside and sucking us in along with it. In seconds, we were surrounded by darkness. A couple seconds later, blue lights illuminated the underwater room we were in. Surveying the massive docking bay, I could see it was easily wide enough to fit ten 747 jet engines wingtip to wingtip and long enough to fit six of them nose to tail. The place reminded me of the aircraft hangar museum my mom once took me to in California.
The lights in the bay turned red and I heard a whooshing sound as the water began to drain back out into the sea. The water retreated slowly, giving me time to examine the area further. Sea crafts of different types were parked in rows on each side of the hangar. Rising to our right was a huge vessel so tall that the top barely grazed the ceiling. At least four to five stories high, it reminded me more of a small cruise ship than an underwater vehicle. One continuous window adorned the center of the front curvature of the vessel. On both the port and starboard sides were circular windows large enough to fit a typical car through. The ship rested in a deep groove with heavy-looking chains anchoring it to the floor. To my left, there were several other vessels about half the size of the one to my right. Mostly identical, their largest windows were located at the bow but had various designs. Past those vessels, a line of seamobiles stretched farther than I could see. Every vehicle was anchored down by chains and rested in grooves on the floor.
Finally, all of the water receded and the lights changed to white, lighting up the entire hangar in a nearly blinding light.
“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” asked Dylan, smiling at me as he pressed the button that removed the outer waterproof shell of the seamobile.
“Yes, it is. How exactly does it work?” I asked as I got off the seamobile and stepped onto the steel-gray floor impervious to water.
“A hydraulic system is used to expel the water in the hangar through a series of drains attached all along the walls. Pressure to run the hydraulic system comes from the 12,000 feet of water above us. Through a series of processes that I don’t fully understand, the water is de-ionized, distilled, and then used as hydraulic fluid to make this place void of water. The water collected through the tubes is then sent back into the ocean through several drainage tubes able to withstand the pressure exerted by the ocean at this depth.”
“How do you know all of this?” His words were gibberish to me, so I decided to ask a question instead.
“They teach it to us in school. Many of our elementary school years are spent learning everything about Oceania and life here.” Dylan set the seamobile to hover and started guiding it towards the line of seamobiles.
Following him, I peered over to view the opposite side of the ginormous vessel almost the height of the ceiling. Lined in a row like the seamobiles, were perfectly cylindrical-shaped pods that appeared large enough for only four to six people. Beyond those were torpedo-shaped vessels so hydrodynamic that they made me wonder if they were the underwater equivalent of speedboats. Farther down the row, other types of vessels of varying shapes and sizes spread on into the distance. Those vessels broke the silver-covered norm of the larger vessels and had colors of bright yellows, greens, oranges, purples, and reds.
“Come on, we have to get out of this room before someone else needs to come in, then this place will flash warning lights. If we don’t exit within a few minutes after the lights start flashing, security will be alerted and I’ll have to explain why you don’t have an identification code.” Dylan stretched the last securing chain onto the rungs I’d failed to notice on the seamobile. Checking to ensure they were all connected and secured, he started jogging away.
As I joined him, I couldn’t help but keep examining the other watercraft in the docking bay. There was simply so much to see, and I wished we could have stayed longer to observe it all.
When we reached the far wall directly from the gate, we stopped in front of a small panel next to a wide double door. Blue lights backlit the black keypad in which Dylan punched in a series of numbers. About a second after he typed in the code, a voice emitted from the panel, saying, “Dylan Baker, age 15, Class 5A, Delta clearance, you may proceed.”
“Class 5A? Delta clearance? What do those things mean?” I asked, staring at Dylan instead of the silver doors parting in front of me.
“The class is simply my school age group. I’m class five because I’m at the fifth level of my education. The numbering starts at pre-school. Since I’m in high school, I belong to class 5. The letter A signifies which school district I’m in. Clearance levels allow you access to specific places in Oceania. It also dictates which allowances you have. Sometimes, you have to take tests to achieve certain levels. Sometimes, you only need to be a particular age to obtain the clearance level.”
Oceania sounded like a very structured and complex place. Everything sounded like it was extremely regulated and I wasn’t so sure I’d like living in a place like this. “What’s the highest clearance level?”
“The highest clearance level is Zeta clearance. It’s only given to the leader of the city—the mayor. Only they are allowed to have access to all areas of Oceania. Not even the executive assistant to the mayor is given the same clearance.”
The double doors led us into a long sterile-white hall. White covered every surface—the walls, ceiling, and floor. Tube lights illuminated the path down the hallway at the end of which appeared to be an elevator. I felt like I was gazing into a tunnel that would lead us to an alien laboratory.
Dylan entered the hallway without a care and I did the same. The double doors behind us swiftly slid back into place and sealed with a booming thud. The sound startled me and I whipped my head around.
“Come on,” urged Dylan, already halfway to the elevator.
I kicked up my pace to a run and caught up to him. Together, we walked to the elevator and Dylan pressed the only button on the left. It lit up with yet another white light and we waited in silence.
At first, nothing seemed to be happening, until I heard a series of deafening bangs that sounded like a giant’s hammers colliding. Every ten seconds or so the clamor increased until it reached a crescendo. Before I could cover my ears in preparation for the next one, the doors to the elevator opened.
Lowering my hands from my head, I dropped them to my sides and entered the thankfully not white but gray elevator. Simple in design, it could have been any elevator on land except for its size. One hundred or so people could have easily fit inside it. I had no clue if such an enormous elevator existed on land, but I definitely didn’t expect one under the sea.
My eyes trailed Dylan’s hand to the right-side panel next to the door. Five different floors could be c
hosen. Dylan selected the fifth floor and we began moving up. For such a futuristic elevator, it moved slowly. Before ascending past each level, the thunderous sound I had heard at the arrival of the elevator resounded inside, although at a much more muted level.
“What is that noise?”
“Oh, that?” Dylan folded his arms as he answered. “It’s the sound of the locks. Each level is sealed off by a large titanium slab designed to keep out the water in the event of a leak at any of the lower levels. At this pressure down here, any leak would cause an explosion that would flood the entire city if it weren’t for those locks.”
“Boy, they sure are loud.”
“Yes, but you only hear the noise from the tunnel. The walls of the elevator are designed to muffle it.”
At long last, the elevator arrived at the fifth floor and a voice stated, “Main level, welcome home to Oceania.”
My bulging eyes stretched wide as the horizon when the elevator doors slid to the side and I was transfixed by the alien world that materialized in front of me. The towering skyscrapers I’d seen from outside the city rose ahead of me in shades of white, blue, silver, gray, and black. Each surface was sleek and as architecturally marvelous as those on land were. Craning my neck back to follow the tip of the largest building guided my eyes to the apex of the dome.
A mass of people wearing blue suits that closely resembled those of astronauts, headed for the elevators, brushing me aside on their way. Hardly caring, I continued to examine this new world I’d been exposed to. Returning my gaze to the ceiling, I saw the projection of a bright, yellow sun surrounded by a blue sky and wisps of clouds encompassing the domed roof. Sweeping my gaze down and around, more structures filled my view.
Spread out across the ground was what looked like white linoleum, but felt as sturdy as kryotyte. Walkways cut through the various sections of the city like veins on a tree trunk. Countless numbers of people hurried past me, focused on their daily goings. Dressed in all sorts of colors, many of them sported blue all-in-one suits similar to the one Dylan wore the day I first met him.