Ch.3 The Hub of Harmony

Of course, it is an invisible wall. The future is kind of predictable.

I say that as I take a step towards nothing and a huge white wall appears before me.
There is a gate in the distance, but besides that all I can see is just this wall. It stretches both ways all the way to the horizon.
From what I can see, it even goes above the sea.

"This is unexpected"

Guard: "Tell me about it, when I first got out of the Hub, I had the same reaction.

"Got out? You were born in there?"

Guard: "Yes, not all of us came here the way you did. In so many years, it would have been a problem if nobody had kids, am I right?

"Haha, yeah, that does make sense"

So everyone mostly lives here? I can't even imagine how that is like. A paradise within, but an untamed dangerous world outside.
The one thing I can't shake off is, is it really a paradise if you have to live confined within this area?

I guess Hiro also came from here.

I felt my legs get weak just remembering that moment

Let's think about what happened once we finally get some time to lay down.

"So, can you tell me more about this Hub? Are there more places like this? Like huge cities all over the world or something?"

Guard: "Nope, Nothing of the sorts. haha, Where do I even start..."

...

It seems this place is not just a city. 
The Hub connects every city that held out and was deemed important when the first people were transported back.
It was pretty clear already, but I understand that there are more people who got here, all of us at different times. It seems like the first ones were mostly engineers and scientists. Let's say people with way higher studies than my lame major.

I didn't yet find out how we all got transported. I mean, was there an apocalyptic event or something?
I guess I should ask about that. But let's not rush it. I feel like my head can't take much more information.

The people who got here first found a way to rebuild pretty quick. You would say it was almost planned that the smartest ones have a go at it.

The Hub is the result of those people. A huge line connecting every city. Inside there is no war, famine, not even any major cases of inequality. Truly a paradise I see. I guess that is what they mean by "Harmony"

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Intuitively, the name of this whole line is called "The Hub of Harmony". Pretty cool to be honest.

The guards are pretty nice, unlike what Hiro said.

I was fed, taken to the showers, and given a nice bed in a camp right outside the wall. All that talk about "finding some time to think about it all" was just that, some internal dialogue.
I was already dreaming the second my body touched the bed.
My head was just lucky to land on the pillow.

Luck, hmmmm...

When I woke up I was taken inside the city. It was like nothing I have ever seen before.

The inside of the walls had buildings growing out of it. Everything had this marble like feeling to the touch.

The biggest shock I felt was when I saw the very city move and change the scenery to accommodate the citizens. It feels like the whole city is alive. Is this really something we as humans were able to do?

I don't know if I can ever get used to this.

The whole way I wasn't really able to take in my surroundings. I couldn't get my mind off of how I reacted to everything.

Screaming, running, losing my mind over a girl instead of thinking about myself first, screaming, getting scared to death and throwing up.

Not the cool and detached guy I thought I am huh.

Ok, keep your head up, king! time to get back to how I should be. I didn't spend all my life pretending to be something just to get scared now.
If anything, this is my chance to make the best first impression. It didn't work when I moved half the globe away, but hey, we learn from mistakes, right?

...

The next places I was taken to were different weird-looking institutions to complete a whole lot of seemingly useless procedures. I guess some things just never change.

The signature here consists of simply putting a part of your body on a designed space. This weird marble world just reads it like that.

The good part, I didn't have to give a name this time.

After that failure, I have to think long and hard before deciding on another name.

Needless to say, writing is probably just a formality at this point, but it is done on a stand that just appears out of nowhere, the same one you have to touch to sign.

The way of treating people around here is what some people may be used to. Always with a smile. But the way of speaking is way more casual.

To be honest, this is way more efficient, but I can’t shake the feeling that there is a hint of disgust behind that smile.

After waiting for a bit, a nicely dressed lady comes to me. The clothes people wear here don’t stand out, but what she was wearing still seemed a bit more office-style than the usual garments around.

Pretty, tall, slender waist. To be honest, she is gorgeous. Beauty standards must be way different here if she is not part of the beauty industry.

That pink hair doesn't really fit her, but I see hair color got really varied in those 20000 years. I've seen almost every color I can think of already.

Romance died 20000 years ago, and I wasn't an exception, but she is the kind of girl I would have fallen for on the spot if the situation we are in was a bit different.

As the man I am, the first thing I did was I took a good look at her, years of training made me pretty subtle with it. At least I thought so, but her smile did twist downwards a little while I was doing my thing.

“Nice curves!” I thought. Still ignorant of the fact she may have noticed.

?: "A pleasure to meet you, I am Aoki Mori, please just call me Mori. I will be your guide through The Hub of Harmony until you get used to life here. Feel free to let me know if you need anything."

I never knew a name could match a person that well. Those green-brownish eyes can only be described by the word "forest". It's like she got them based on her name, not through genetics.

That is also the first sincere smile I am seeing today. If this means she is really good at hiding what she thinks, then I am screwed.
But I want to believe she truly is as kind as she looks so let's go with that. Worst case she can do is kill me or something. I can think of worse ways of going out than by those hands.