by Eliza Taye
“Allie is a Land Dweller…she lives on land.”
Dr. Wilcox swept his gaze over to me, looking me up and down as if I was an alien from outer space. “You’re a survivor?”
I laughed curtly. “Yeah, me and about fourteen billion other people.”
Dr. Wilcox’s head jerked forward in astonishment. “Fourteen billion people?”
“Yes, that’s about the current world population.”
Dr. Wilcox began rubbing circles into his temples. “Wait…wait…wait, you’re telling me that not only did the human race survive on land, but it is also thriving?”
I nodded.
Leaping up into the air so high his head bumped on the ceiling lamp, Dr. Wilcox yelled in happiness. “I can’t believe it! This is such great news!” He ran over and grasped both my hands in his. “I have to know everything! All the technological advances. All the cultural advances. What is the world like now?”
“Uh?” I simply stood there frozen in place, not sure what I should say.
Dylan rescued me when he asked, “Allie, you have a communication device, right? Does it link to the World Wide Web?”
“Huh? We just call it the Network now. It’s much more than the World Wide Web ever was.”
“Okay, but can you search things on it?”
I laughed. “Of course you can.”
“Good, give it to me.” Dylan held his hand out.
I pulled my hands away from Dr. Wilcox’s grasp, dug into the pockets of my pants and pulled my omniphone out, handing it over to Dylan.
“Perhaps there’s a way we can link your communicator device to your Network on land,” mused Dylan as he went over to Dr. Wilcox’s workstation. “Dr. Wilcox, are the old communication lines still up?”
“What communication lines?” I asked.
“Oceania wasn’t always isolated. Up until around one hundred years ago, we had constant contact with the above world. It wasn’t until the humans in the above world succumbed to the second insurgence of The Great Plague that we lost contact.”
Prying open my omniphone with a tiny screwdriver, Dylan opened the port to the motherboard. “So if we can simply find a way to connect with it, you should be able to do a search on the Network for anything you want to know, Dr. Wilcox.”
Pushing up on my tiptoes, I watched Dylan as he tinkered with my 20,000-dollar omniphone. The more nanotech he messed with, the more my heart started to sink. Just when I was about to cry out for them to stop dissecting my poor omniphone, Dylan reassembled it.
“Now, see if it works, Allie.” I cradled my abused, tampered with omniphone in my hands and swiped my fingers down the center. Thankfully, it came to life. “Well, it still works.”
“That’s always good,” chimed in Dr. Wilcox.
I opened up the Network and it showed up. “Oh, my gosh, it works!”
“Really?” Dr. Wilcox unceremoniously snatched it from me and started searching things right away, sitting down in his swivel stool and facing the workbench.
“Sorry, he gets really excited sometimes and behaves a little uncouth. I guess my spending time with him has made me a bit the same.”
I laughed. “Yeah, maybe just a bit.” Surveying the items in the workshop, I wondered, “What is all of this?”
“All of his inventions mostly. Some of them are works-in-progress, but others have already passed their testing phase and are just waiting to be placed on the market.”
Piled on every available inch of the table were all sorts of gadgets. Examining the pile carefully, I plucked one of them from the top, gently removing it as if it were a Jenga piece. In my hands was half a mask with two cylindrical tubes on either end. Behind the tubes were butterfly-wing-shaped pieces that were somewhat sticky. “Do you know what this is?”
“Yeah, it’s the next gen of masks for the Aquaball sports teams.” Dylan reached out for the object and I gave it to him. “The players were complaining about the face masks obscuring too much of their vision to play the game properly, so they wanted just an oxygen portion for their mouths, so they could both breathe and see well.”
“Allie,” shouted Dr. Wilcox, making me scream out in kind.
“What?” I spun around to see him standing behind me.
“There was a mass extinction event in the late 2100s and early 2200s?”
“Uh, yes.”
“But how? According to this Network of yours, the world went entirely green by 2150—no more fossil fuels, only hydropower, sun, wind, and the like. How?”
“Well, we had already caused too much damage. Oil was still used up until 2150; the oil crisis in 2096 only made using oil more difficult, not impossible. What that article failed to mention was before we went green, oil was drilled for in some of the most ecologically unstable places in the world. Rainforests were torn down. The polar ice caps are so reduced there’s basically nothing there and our coral reefs died out long ago too. The temperatures have risen too much and due to so much of the polar ice caps melting, the seas have risen too.”
“I know…I know…I read that it was a hundred feet or so in some places.” Dr. Wilcox ran his fingers through the three wispy pieces of hair still clinging to his scalp. “But between that and the number of people on the planet…astonishing!”
Dylan and I merely stared at him, waiting for him to finish.
“Sorry, continue what you were looking at.” Dr. Wilcox returned to his workbench.
Stuck underneath some scrap metal was a blank screen about ten inches across with handles on both sides. “What about this gadget?”
“Ah, it’s one of my personal favorites. Dr. Wilcox has been working on that one for probably twenty years or more. It’s a diagnostic device. You can scan any human being to determine which illness they have.”
“Wasn’t something like that developed long ago? I mean we even have stuff like that on land.”
“Ah, but does yours also map your genetic code, search for abnormalities in your chromosomes, and give you a map on how to re-grow nerves in a way that will eliminate any future phantom pain?” Dylan pointed to the device in my hands. “That will.”
“Wow.” I carefully returned the device to the table. “No, we don’t have that.”
“Allie, Allie…” Dr. Wilcox once again popped up next to me with my omniphone cradled in his hands. “Did you know that your world found cures for cancer, ALS, AIDS, Ebola, diabetes, and INFLUENZA?”
“Yes, I did, Dr. Wilcox. The only thing we still haven’t figured out is the common cold.”
“We did,” piped in Dylan.
I whipped my head around at Dylan. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, about fifty years ago.”
I was rendered speechless by that statement.
“And Allie, your world has figured out how to regrow internal organs by up to eighty percent?”
“If that’s what it says, I’m guessing it’s true.”
“I’m on the CDC’s website, so it must be,” mused Dr. Wilcox, stroking his clean-shaven chin. “And is it true everyone is scanned before they enter into any public place?”
I rolled my eyes and sighed in exasperation. “Yes, every time you enter the immersion movie theater, a mall, a school, bank, amusement park, you name it. It gets really annoying if you ask me.”
“Scan for what?” wondered Dylan.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Dr. Wilcox beat me to it. “I can explain this one, Allie. Apparently, after The Great Plague, the WHO in collaboration with many other organizations worked to find ways to keep it from ever happening again. So hidden in each public doorway to every building is a scanner that can scan for infectious diseases. If one is found, the person is immediately extracted by the PHP, or Public Health Police, and treated for their illness. They’re in charge of detaining sick people and taking them to where they can be healed before being allowed around other humans again. Am I right, Allie?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“What happens to the treated indi
vidual?”
“Nothing, Dylan, my boy, according to this website, worldwide healthcare is now free for all. Apparently, part of the issue of the widespread plague stemmed from too many people around the world not getting treatment because they couldn’t afford it, so the disease spread out of control.”
Hoping Dr. Wilcox would get the message, I returned to rummaging through the things in the pile. Thankfully, he did and went back to searching on my omniphone. Just as I reached to pull something off the top, another object started careening down the side. I caught it just before it hit the floor. “Is this a camera?”
“Not exactly. It’s a projection camera.” Dylan showed me how to hold it and told me to take a picture of him.
I did so, pressing the capture button at the top.
“Now press the button next to the viewfinder.”
When I did, an exact 3D projection of the image materialized in front of me. “This stuff is amazing.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve spent hours digging through all of it. I’ve found all sorts of treasures. Most items are early prototypes, but some are already being sold.” Dylan picked up a small device the size of a pebble. “For instance, this one has been on the market for a while. It’s a nanobot for dust cleaning. You simply place one of these in your room and it will crawl all over the place eating everything in sight. Once it’s full, it deposits its contents in the trash and goes back to what it was doing.”
“Oh, my goodness, Allie.”
My body tensed up as Dr. Wilcox came back over.
“Are natural disasters really as common as several hundred per year? Major floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, and tornados ripping up the earth every day?”
I let out a puff of air. “Dr. Wilcox, you can believe almost anything you find on the education section of the Network. Nothing is placed on there unless it’s by an expert. Any other section, you can question.”
“Uh, Dr. Wilcox, you can keep searching things on Allie’s communicator. I think I’m going to take her around Oceania some more.”
The happiness faded away from Dr. Wilcox’s face. “Oh, very well, then. I will be here when you’re ready to retrieve your device.”
Gratefully, Dylan and I escaped Dr. Wilcox’s workshop and made our way northeast to the adjoining district. On the train ride, Dylan told me we were heading to the Utility District, where the power stations and water and sewage treatment plants were located. Three enormous blue-gray box-shaped buildings took up the space of probably ten or so blocks. A large fence surrounded the area, with warnings posted on the outside of both the sewage and power stations.
“Dylan, it doesn’t look like we can get in.” I searched around for an entrance but found none that didn’t require an employee access code.
“I know. The only place where ordinary civilians can go is underneath the complex.”
Confused, I followed Dylan to what looked like a shed beyond the outside of the fence. The door opened easily to reveal a long set of stairs disappearing down into darkness. Dylan used his communicator device as a flashlight, illuminating at least twenty steps in front of us.
It felt like an eternity walking down those steps, but finally, we reached a catwalk. Standing at the railing, I peered out at an expansive area extending as far as the eye could see. Winding up, down, through, and coiled between others, were pipes of assorted thickness and color. They hung from the ceiling, and twisted and twined in a myriad of ways that had my head spinning.
“Where are we?”
“In the first sublevel of Oceania. Here is where all of the waste and used water is collected.”
Reaching inside my pocket, I dug around for my omniphone, and then remembered it wasn’t there. “Does your communicator have a magnification screen? I want to get a better look at those pipes on the ceiling.”
“Yeah,” Dylan pressed a button on his shirt and a pocket appeared. Pulling out his communicator, he handed it over to me. “And we call ours c-coms.”
“C-coms?” I smirked, holding back a laugh as Dylan handed it to me.
“Yeah, it’s short for ‘clam communicators.’ Since they’re the shape of orbs like a pearl, it reminds us of clams, so we call them clam communicators or c-coms for short.”
“Okay, thanks.” I swept through the many screens until I found one with the image of a magnifying glass. Touching it, a holoscreen came up in which I could use my hand to swipe over whatever I wanted to see. “This is really cool.”
“Our tech is highly advanced.” I glanced over at Dylan, a smug smile gracing both corners of his mouth.
Using the magnifying screen, I zoomed in on all the piping, finally able to discern where they came from and led to. The smallest ones were copper-colored pipes bunched in scattered regions throughout the area. The less numerous concrete-gray ones had girths the width of sequoia trees. Fire hydrant yellow pipes stuck out the most and seemed to be the rarest. “How does all of this work?”
“The pipes collect water and sewage from the city to transport them to the treatment towers, but the real marvel is below us.” Dylan leaned over the railing, pointing at the floor at least thirty feet beneath us. “Do you see those big chambers?”
“Yeah, what are they for?”
“They’re our trash disintegrators. All of our trash is collected and degraded by an organism discovered decades ago on the ocean floor. They are microbes that can literally biodegrade every substance man has created thus far. The microbe was given the scientific name Geobacter omnescomedenti. In nature, it can take decades to centuries for them to degrade substances down into particulate matter. But they were found to give off minute traces of energy when they degraded material. Thus, we have genetically modified the ones here in Oceania to rapidly increase the rate of consumption and energy output. The entire process of degradation is completed in twenty-four to ninety-six hours with enough energy for omnescomedenti and an excessive amount of energy to be used for humans. As a side effect of their genetic modification, their life spans have been shortened to only about a week. However, they reproduce very quickly, so we’re usually in slight excess,” Dylan explained thoroughly in such detail that I was surprised.
This enigmatic city fascinated me more and more. Oceania was far more than a self-sustaining city—it was an entirely green self-sustaining human oasis beneath the sea. How much better would the above world portion of the planet be if we had the technology used here? Why hadn’t any of this been implemented in my world?
Eager to hear more, I asked, “And how is the power from the pressure converted?”
“The pressure exerted by the force of the water at 12,000 feet is about 5,347psi. About a mile away from the city is an exterior chamber that allows the release of the pressure into it, which then creates such a force of energy strong enough to meet all of our electrical needs to light the city. The chamber is then allowed to equalize and the process starts again.”
“This is really incredible…how in the world did the designers of Oceania think all this up?”
“Well, some of the brightest minds at the time put this together. They collaborated to choose and develop different substances and materials to use in the construction of Oceania. If you count all the research, development, design, planning and construction it took to make Oceania a reality, it combined around ninety-six years’ worth of research; although technically the designing and construction itself only took forty. The outer structure was built first with of the systems for supporting life up and running. Before humans could live here, the city had to function as a city. Afterward, all the materials were transported through a series of steps that I don’t even understand, and everything was constructed from within the city itself. From what I understand, much of the outer structure was sunk and connected through the use of robots. Robotic systems built most of the inside with only a little of it being physical manpower.”
I grinned wide, grateful for the new knowledge. Although my time was almost up and I’d have to return another day, I dec
ided then and there that I would keep researching this city with Dylan. I would explore every inch of it and find out everything I could about living in an underwater city.
Chapter 9
The motor of the seamobile engine faded into the distance as I watched Dylan cruise over the waves after dropping me off on shore. For several moments, I watched him go, hardly believing that earlier today I’d walked the streets of Oceania. It had only been two days, but I’d already come to understand that Oceania was real—not merely a figment of my imagination.
Reminding myself that I needed to get home, I returned to the spot where I’d stashed my belongings and gathered them up. Luckily, I had chosen a location high above the high tide line and all of my things were dry and free of bird poop. I slid on my sandals quickly, grateful that I wouldn’t have to change clothes behind a rock yet again today to keep Gran from knowing I was at the beach.
Hurrying to the opening in the fence I’d decided to name “the rabbit hole,” I slid underneath it like a pro and went straight over to my bike. Tugging it from behind the bushes where I’d stashed it, I brushed off a few of the leaves still clinging to the handlebars and threw my leg over one side. Pressing down on the left pedal, the rickety bike began to roll.
Thoughts of Oceania filled my mind as I pedaled home. The city’s technological advances mirrored my own world, but still differed from them in so many ways. The lifestyles of the people were reminiscent of those on land, yet everyone in Oceania was obsessed with knowledge of every level. Their entire lives seemed to be infatuated with discovery. In fact, their whole society seemed so concerned with higher pursuits of knowledge that they weren’t plagued with violence, crime, and self-destruction like my world.
The persistent resounding questions inside my head awoke the sense of adventure I thought I’d lost when I had moved from San Antonio. Excitement ate at me to the point where tomorrow felt light years away…I just couldn’t wait to get back to Oceania.