by Eliza Taye
Returning to the side with the listed cultures and languages, I couldn’t help but feel moisture rising up in my eyes. “How can everyone here think we’re all dead?”
This time, Dylan kneeled and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know, Allie, but this is something everyone believes, not just me. We’re taught in school of The Great Plague. We’re reminded that humanity is not invincible and we have a greater impact on our environment than any other species that’s ever lived before. I guess in a way, it’s a cautionary tale.”
“Why did you want to show me this first?” I stood up and paid attention to the detail covering every inch of the monument.
“Because I think it’ll help you understand how my city works. Even though I’m not certain of it, I think we’re still very different from your world.”
“Well, we won’t know if we simply stand here gazing at a statue.” I smiled, blinking away the last remaining moisture in my eyes. “Where to next?”
A hop on a train and a few minutes later, we were walking around downtown. This was clearly the epicenter of the radically tall buildings I’d seen from the ocean when arriving to Oceania. It was difficult to tell, but most of the structures appeared to barely fit below the pinnacle of the dome. Instead of the typical rows of buildings in downtown cities on land, this one appeared to be laid out in concentric circles. In order to drop off the passengers in the center, the train wound through tight corners to get to the stop where Dylan and I now stood.
“Welcome to the Central District, Allie.” Dylan spread his arms out wide in a dramatic gesture.
“Isn’t this your downtown?”
Dylan started sauntering around the small, circular courtyard with artificial plants scattered around the area. “We call ours Central because everything we need is here.”
Stepping closer to the center, I glanced down when I heard the sound of gravel, but realized I’d been mistaken. I bent down to pick one up and found the floor was comprised of white smooth, oblong-shaped pebbles made of a material I didn’t quite recognize.
Dropping the pebble, I looked towards where Dylan stood in the exact center of the city in front of a long tube disappearing into the ground. He leaned against the railing of it and I joined him. “What is this?”
“This is how we obtain the sunlight needed to grow our crops we use for food down in the second sublevel—the greenhouse floor,” explained Dylan.
I leaned forward over the rail as far as I could, trying to get a better view of the tube. Most of the light in the courtyard was generated from the sun simulation on the domed ceiling and not from these tubes. Catching the light just beyond the glare, I saw what resembled big solar panel sheets, but they were all wrong. “How?”
“Can you see the sheets?” Dylan wondered, and when I nodded, he continued. “Those are called SPLRS, which stands for Solar Panel Light Reflecting Sheets. They serve two functions for our city. The primary function is to direct the beams of the sun’s rays through a successive series of reflecting sheets all the way down to the greenhouse. Part of the light is also directed to the botanical gardens towards the edge of Central. The sheets were designed to eliminate any loss of sunshine by beaming the rays down from within the tube at nearly one hundred percent. They also tilt to follow the sun as it moves throughout the day.”
“So this tube goes all the way to the surface of the ocean?”
“Yes, it’s roughly 10,500 feet from the top of the city dome to the surface. The secondary function is purely for emergency purposes. The actual SPLRS can be reversed and use photovoltaics to convert the sunlight into direct current electricity. Part of that energy is then converted into alternating current electricity, which is then used to charge a gigantic battery used for emergency situations, which will give us enough power to run the essential functions of the city in the event of a main power systems failure.”
I leaned back from the railing, my mind blown. “They really teach you all of this in school?”
“Yes, it’s basic knowledge that we have to learn in elementary school. Every citizen of Oceania has to know how their city works. It’s essential that we understand how life under the sea is sustained.” Dylan jumped back from the railing and started heading towards the skyscrapers across from us. “Come on; let me give you a tour of Central.”
I followed, still marveled by the SPLRS and how they worked. The pebbled courtyard turned into a solid surfacing glistening like obsidian rock with swirls of gray embedded in the design. Dylan continued to lead me through narrow, short side streets that connected between each concentric circle. The other people around us walked hurriedly, eager to get to where they needed to go. Here I saw no space suits, but regular business suits—a normalcy in downtown Chicago.
“To your left is the tallest building in our city. It’s the business center and is comprised of 121 stories. Every single business in Oceania has headquarters in that one building, including the Bank of Oceania. The first few levels are the respective shops that correspond with the business, even though they might have other shops throughout the city.”
I turned to my left to look at the building. Architecturally, it had to be the oddest in the entire city. The outside was black, but the building itself appeared to twist as it rose into the sky, making the center the narrowest part. Windows covered more space than solid wall, or so it appeared.
“And this one on the right just across from it is the media building—the second tallest one in Oceania. Just like the business center, it’s the headquarters for all of the media in the city. Every type of media is located here: news, music, movies, video games, books, and magazines. The headquarters of OVRR are in there too.”
“OVRR?” I glanced from the ornate white building to Dylan. “What’s that?”
“It’s in the Entertainment District. I’ll show you later.” Dylan moved on to another building adjacent to the media one. “And this one is the—”
“What about that one?” I wondered, pointing to one on my left several circles behind the business one. Shorter than the others, it still appeared to be at least seventy stories high. It stood out to me, not just because of the height, but also the fact that an entire section consisting of around ten floors—about one-third of the way up to the top—was a windowless band.
“Oh, that’s the government building. It houses City Hall, the courthouse, the jail, police and firefighter headquarters, security, and such.”
“Is that why there’s a windowless portion?”
“Yeah, it’s the security floors. They don’t want any external observation and I’ve heard that they have no windows because every wall is covered in monitors. I don’t really know. There isn’t a lot of information available to the public on it.”
My eyes lingered down the rows at it, but I continued to allow Dylan to take me through to the rest of Central. Winding around through circle after circle, I had no idea how Dylan didn’t get lost. I felt like I was stuck in an everlasting maze with no way to get out. I started to lose track of which building was which and whether I’d seen it before or not.
Eventually, Dylan merely stood in front of the last four buildings and described them to me. “The brownish beige one is the archive building, which includes both a digital and physical replication of everything salvaged from the ocean or land. It also includes a museum. The white building to the right of that one is the cultural center, where people who specialize in extinct languages and cultures work to try to keep them alive. So they work closely with the archive building next door. The gray one to the left of that is the technology building, where you can buy any sort of tech you can imagine. Only part of the tech is built there though. Most of the research and development goes on in the Robotics and Engineering District. And the very last one on the corner that’s nearly twice the width of most of the other buildings here is the shopping center. Anything and everything that you might need to buy in Oceania is there; specialty retail shops and the like…everything.”
Blinking my eyes to stave off the headache pounding in my head, I pleaded, “Okay, Dylan, this tour was amazing, but I am getting a little bit overwhelmed.”
“Oh,” Dylan’s excited face fell and he turned to me with concern. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’ll be fine. It’s just a lot to take in at once. I—”
“Oh, conch shell,” said Dylan, pulling me close to the side of the building. “We need to go, now.”
Chapter 7
“Wait, what’s going on?” I inquired as Dylan dragged me into the archive building.
“Just be quiet a second.”
I barely had enough time to take in the marble floors and ornate columns lining the front entryway before I was rushed into the stairwell and up five flights of stairs. Bursting out through the door at the top, I found myself in a short hall with a circulation desk behind two double-plated glass doors. Dylan flung open the doors and we entered the room. Inside, the circulation desk stood in front of us with all white counters and walls. Tiny blue lights illuminated the overhang of the counter, giving the room a faint bluish glow. Two expansive archways to both the left and right opened into cavernous rooms.
“Okay, we should be fine here.” Dylan bent over, breathless for a couple seconds.
“What happened? Why did we run?”
Dylan breathed out harshly once and stood to his full height. “It was my mom. She can always spot me in a lie. If I’d tried to lie to her about how I knew you, we’d be found out in a second. Not to mention she’d recognize you are wearing her clothes.”
“I thought your mom worked in the Ocean District?”
“She does, it’s just that she must be in the Central District for some reason. I don’t know.”
“Where are we?” I peered over into one of the rooms and my eyes began to widen.
Ignoring Dylan, I found myself drawn to the room on the right. Walking inside, I felt like I’d entered a portal into the past. Thin blue carpet covered the floors, but on every inch of the walls were bookcases filled to the brim with physical books. My eyes trailed up six floors of bookcases and walkways. Lifts placed in every corner of the room took readers up to the next level where a walkway wrapped around the perimeter. On each level, people walked around collecting books and using the lifts to bring them down to the collage of desks scattered on the first floor.
“Welcome to the Archive Relic Books Collection,” whispered Dylan from behind me.
“I’ve never seen a physical book before.” Mentally, I tried to count how many books there were, but I quickly lost count.
“Really? These books are classic volumes in all different categories of literature and science.”
“Still…this is amazing.” Finding the nearest bookshelf, I made a beeline over to it and at random pulled a volume off the shelf. Carefully opening the large volume, resting it across both my hands and arms, I attempted to read the title, but it was in French.
“Oh, this is unbelievable! In a city of four million people, she had to be the one to follow me.” Dylan sighed in frustration. “Allie, put the book back on the shelf.”
I turned the page, reading the English within the book. I wasn’t ready to let go of the first physical book I’d ever held in my entire life.
“Allie,” urgently pressed Dylan.
When I ignored him yet again, he somehow gently snatched the book from my hands and put it back on the shelf. “My mom is here. She’s at the circulation desk.”
I glanced over at Dylan’s now crouched form to see a tall woman in the aqua blue suits that dominated the Ocean District.
“We have to get out of here. Luckily, this side is the literature section, so she should be going in the other direction.”
A loud thud echoed through the room, causing both Dylan and me to whip our heads over to see what had happened. Someone had tripped and dropped a load of books on the ground two levels up. Everyone at the circulation desk had glanced over too. Not knowing what else to do, I simply averted my eyes.
“Dylan, is there any way out of this room besides the archway?” I whispered.
“No, we have to pass the circulation desk.” Dylan still hunched over in a crouched position as if he were tying his shoes. “We’ll have to hope someone else makes a distraction and we can go. Tell me, is she still gazing this way?”
I glanced over at the front room. Both Dylan’s mom and the two women at the front desk had already started talking to one another again. Dylan’s mom turned her head towards the archway opposite ours as the woman at the front desk pointed to it. “She’s not looking this away at all.”
“Good.” Dylan took my hand and we rushed past the front door and into the stairwell.
“Don’t you guys have elevators here?” I wondered.
“Yes, but most people take the elevators and since I’m trying to keep you from being noticed by anyone who also knows me, the stairs are the best way to get around.” We reached the lobby and swiftly exited the building. “I need to get you out of Central. Lunchtime is over and everyone is returning to their jobs. It’s a bad time to be here.”
Reducing our pace to a casual walk, we went straight to the nearest train stop and boarded a train with an orange stripe. Basically empty, compared to the crowded one we had taken to get to Central, the only other occupants were an elderly couple sitting at the far end away from us.
I sat quietly most of the way, taking in the sights as the buildings thinned out as we left Central behind. Dylan pointed out any places of interest on the way there. We crossed the main residential district that boasted a park full of what I assumed to be more artificial trees and turf grass, but there was a playground for kids and also a pool.
Perplexed, I asked Dylan. “Where do you get your clean drinking water?”
“It’s relatively simple, actually.” Dylan shifted in his seat to face me better. “Seawater is distilled through a distillation apparatus specifically designed for Oceania. Hydrogen gas is used to heat the seawater into vapor to separate the water from the salts. Once the salt is removed, the vapor is cooled in order to return it to its aqueous form. That’s done by running the water through external tubes with minimal insulation lying on the ocean floor right outside the city. Due to the cold water of the ocean, the vapor is cooled into near freezing water. But we also obtain water in other ways.”
“What kind of other ways?”
“Well, water is generated by everyone in the city by the natural processes of living. Every time we breathe, moisture from inside our bodies accompanies each exhalation. We also perspire when we exercise or get overheated and everyone urinates. Just like in the above world where water naturally evaporates and is returned to the earth via precipitation, we have dehumidifiers here that can do that. They collect every molecule of H2O, use filters to clean it, and then afterward, the cleanest water is used for drinking, cooking, and bathing. Anything else is used for the botanical garden and crops. Our systems are analogous to those once used in space.”
I felt lightheaded when he stated urine was recycled to be used, so I decided not to ask anymore about water. Instead, I focused on the things passing outside the window. We started passing through a large gap, filled with nothing but medium to tall-sized white buildings encompassing an area the size of several blocks. “What is that area?”
“That’s the Medical District. The best hospitals, medical research centers, and the like are there. We have various clinics and minor hospitals scattered throughout the city, but that’s where the main trauma center and specialty doctors are located.”
“Wow…the city is really compartmentalized.”
“Yes…it was designed for everything to have its place. Unlike cities on land at the time, the whole place was designed and built all at once. Each industry and function could be placed wherever the designers wanted it to be. Nothing was an afterthought; everything was laid out according to a meticulous plan.”
“I can see.” The Medical District disappeared and I wa
s shocked as we entered an area so colorful that after the chromatic tones of Central, I felt like I was seeing color for the first time.
We disembarked at the next stop and took the main pathway down a long line of creatively designed shops.
“This is the Entertainment District, Allie. You’ll find the OVRR here.”
As I took in the sights, Dylan’s voice blurred into obscurity. Oranges, reds, yellows, blues, greens, and purples in energetic, vibrant hues covered all the buildings and structures inside the Entertainment District. Funky shaped roofs curved on one side and spiked on the other dominated the low skyline. Stripes, polka dots, and other kinds of crazy decorations adorned each building. Statues of people, animals, and abstract ideas were in front of nearly every structure, giving each one its own particular identity.
“Hey, Allie…remember when I said that walking or using the train are the only modes of transportation in Oceania?”
I twisted my head to look over my shoulder just as Dylan kicked something over to me.
“Here, we can use hoverboards to get around.” Dylan jumped onto one and hovered about two feet into the air.
Peering down at my feet, I saw a rectangular shaped board with rounded edges at each corner. Wider than the typical skateboard, but smaller than a snowboard, it easily fit both feet when placed one in front of the other. The one Dylan had shoved over to me was sapphire blue with a sunshine yellow rim around the edges. Tentatively, I placed one foot and then the other onto the smooth surface. When I caught my balance, it began hovering in the air just as Dylan’s had.
“Have you ever used one of these before?” wondered Dylan.
“We have them on land, but I haven’t used one much. They hover about this high, I think.”
Dylan began shaking his head. “This is simply the starting height…it can go much higher.”