Chương 1: Great Advice As Always
The year is 2080, earth. It's been almost sixty-eight years since the mandatory evacuation of earth's surface. Before, a deadly virus broke out and killed everyone on the planet. Well, almost everyone. People called the virus by many names, but the one most used was The Blood Plague.
No one knows how The Blood Plague started, but we only know what it ended up doing. By the time scientists had discovered the virus, it had already spread to seven billion people. The virus was dormant in ice for centuries. Until we dug it up and started playing with what if's with it.
It was already too late to study the virus or even search for a cure. No one was immune to it. No one knew how the virus got passed on to other non-infected humans. But, once a person got infected, you had one hour until your death. Governments, armies, continents, all wiped out in less than a week. Those that made it underground, only some had survived.
Once the virus broke out, our small farming community made it to an old abandoned mine in the mountain. We are living below the surface and have never physically taken a step on the earth's surface. We hear the stories of this world that was full of living things and beautiful places to visit. Warm sunshine, cold water, and wind that drives the waves of the sea. A place that our generation has never seen for ourselves. Faded pictures now show us how people used to live and how it looked.
What the world on the surface looks like now, no one will know. The only people that now are still alive are living underground. We have learned to adapt to our new surroundings. Life has learned to survive without the sun's life-giving powers. The surface kills you in an hour, and the underground kills you over time.
People have begun to die younger and do not get older than fifty anymore. Scientists believe that the lack of sun, nutrition, and oxygen is starting to take its toll on us down here. The scientists have become sort of our leaders down here. And they have been growing optimistic lately. They say that it is almost time to send a human outside to see if they could survive. So, we are waiting for the day to be declared. We call it, The Day Of The Chosen. It is a day that everyone has to draw rocks. Let me explain.
The scientists bring a big bag full of small rocks inside and pass it around so that everyone can choose one for themselves. Everyone gets a chance to choose. If you draw a white one, you get to stay in here and die underground slowly. If you pick a red rock, you will be sent outside as a genie pig to see if you can survive. Any day now, we will all gather at the underwater spring where we will get to take part in The Day Of The Chosen.
Today is 25 March 2080. My name is Michael Clarke, and I was born underground twenty years ago. I was different from all the other children. I kept myself busy with the few books that we have down here. I have kept reading until there were no more books left to read, and then I start all over again. I have read every book that I could get my hands on. I have learned from the scientists, and watched what they do. The scientists say that in the old world, my job title would have been a mechanical engineer. The young genius is what they are calling me. And currently, I am working on multiple projects to help make everyone's life a little better down here.
But there is one project in particular that I am putting in the most work. It is the air filtration and purification system that uses calcium carbonate. The system is an air filter that possesses a high affinity to potential pathogens in the air. If I can get this system online, it will remove the old air and replace it with fresh, cleaner air. Suddenly, I hear a voice behind me asking;
"Really? Why do you always talk to your reflection in the mirror? It is like you are hoping that one day it is going to talk back to you."
I turn and see it is my sister, Sarah Clarke. She is four years younger than me. She is what they used to refer to as the adventurous one in the family. Sarah likes to go where she is not allowed to go because she thinks that she is a scavenger of some sort. She is always trying to find stuff in these old mine shafts that we can use. Her snowy white strands of hair are showing from underneath her beany. I notice that she looks dirtier than usual. It must be from crawling around in this mine. I smile and tell her;
"Sis, you know that it helps me to think through ideas or when I am debating important decisions."
"Oh, whatever. You are a total nerd, and that is the beginning and the end of it. Did you fix the generator?"
"Well, you can see where you are walking, can't you? What are you doing here?"
"I will go if you want me to go, but I am taking the stuff with me that I have found."
I quickly stop her and say;
"No, no, no, no. I am sorry. Please show me what you found?"
She grins at me and says;
"I will show you. Only if you will charge my flashlight for me."
"Sarah, you know that I can get in trouble for doing that. Fine. Okay, I will find a way of charging the batteries for you."
As she turns and starts walking away, I say;
"Fine. Show me what you got."
"Sorry, brother. I am going to have to insist that you say the words this time."
"Really, sis. Don't you trust me?"
"Not after last time, no. I need to hear the words."
"Okay. I will charge your flashlight batteries for you. Now, show me what you found."
She takes off her backpack and puts it down on my desk. She looks through it and says;
"I found this."
She takes out an old single speaker radio. I take it from her and say;
"Wow. Do you know what this is? It is one of the devices that they used to listen to music. Does it work?"
She shakes her head and says;
"I don't know. I am not the genius around here."
"What else did you find?"
"That was it for today. But I have found a new section that I want to explore, and that is why I am going to need my flashlight charged."
As I want to reply to her, we hear a voice coming down the corridor. I quickly hide the radio behind my back and look who it is. He is still talking to someone else in the distance. As he finishes, he walks into the room and says;
"Ah, Sarah. What a nice surprise. Coming to say hello to your brother while he needs to work?"
Sarah laughs shyly and say;
"Yes, Dr. John. You know me, I love my brother so much."
"Don't you have to be at the school today?"
"Yes. I was not feeling like myself today, so I asked my friend to help me for today."
"You should always stay productive, young lady. That will help you mentally and physically and keep you in a good place."
"Thank you, Dr. John. Great advice as always."
She rolls her eyes while shaking her head. She looks at me and says;
"Okay, Michael. It was great seeing you, but I am going to go now and leave you to your work."
I still want to talk to her, but I can't with Dr. John in the room. She hands me her flashlight and walks out of the room. Dr. John is looking on the whiteboard and asks me;
"Michael, come here."
I look for a place to hide the radio and the flashlight, so I quickly put them in a box underneath a table and walk over to Dr. John. As I stand next to him, he asks me;
"You shouldn't let your sister distract you from your work. What you are working on could save a lot of people's lives."
I let my head hang and say;
"I know, Dr. John. I will tell her to leave me alone while I am at work."
Dr. John looks at the design sketches I made and ask;
"So, did you find a way around the problem?"
"Not yet, Dr. John. But I did find a way to make the system produce more oxygen."
"Oh. And how do you propose we do that?"
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