To Those in the Future, Part 3

One year had passed since the Ackertons' shelter went into operation, and John Malcolm was cleaning windows, as he always was this time of day. The gray murky water was the same as it had always been, and it made him wonder exactly what was happening up on the surface. He doubted the radiation would have dissipated so quickly, and once again, he wondered just how long he'd have to stay inside this shelter.

It wasn't necessarily that things had changed, per se, more so that people had become too accustomed to the shelter. At first, people were awed by the fact that they were in an underwater shelter. Then, they were distracted by the novelty of living and working in the shelter. By this point, though, that had worn off, and frankly, people had begun to grow bored.

It wasn't surprising, of course. Meals were cloyingly similar, the shelter's environments were a constant pale white, and while the manufacturers did their best to create new products for the shelter's inhabitants to play with, ultimately people had become bored of what little they could do to pass the time. The real surprise was how the shelter had gone a year before this had become a problem, and that was likely due to the bizarre nature of the shelter itself.

The first real problematic incident happened a few days ago. Out of nowhere, one of the window washers had a psychotic break and fell out of his harness. Thankfully, he was on a lower window and managed to survive, but his incident ended up sticking in the minds of the general populace. After all, it was the first interesting thing that had happened in the shelter since people first started living here, so people began spreading gossip and rumors about it all over.

To be honest, it all rubbed John the wrong way. He wasn't particularly close with the other window washers, but he did see a sort of kinship with them, and seeing the public entertain themselves with loose talk about a co-worker irked him. There wasn't much he could do to stop them, though, other than confronting them, and that would simply give them more to gossip about.

So here he was, continuing to wash windows while trying to forget about what had happened to his fellow washer. His work was almost done for the day, and as soon as it was, he couldn't wait to head right over to the Ackerton bar. He normally wouldn't go to the bar so quickly, but the less time he spent about gossiping rubberneckers, which seemed to be everywhere these days, the better.

When he opened the doors to the Ackerton bar, Julio was behind the bar as he always was. There were a few patrons around this time of day, but thankfully they were the type to keep to themselves. John sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. Julio handed him a bottle with a sympathetic look.

“I heard what happened. Was he someone you knew?”

“Not really. Even so, it's a little rough hearing everyone blabber on what might have happened. You don't mind me hanging here for a bit, do you?”

“Not at all.” Julio grinned. “Just make sure not to drink too much, understand?”

“Don't I always?”

Julio chuckled as he went back to his work. John leaned back in his seat and sipped lightly at his beer. The atmosphere of the bar was quiet and moody, which made it the best place for him to relax without having to deal with the hubbub of the public. It would be some time before the bar started to fill up, so for the time being he could at least relax here for a bit.

About an hour later, Martina stumbled into the bar, looking a little disheveled. She only had some light makeup on, and her eyes betrayed how exhausted she was.

“You just wake up?” John asked with a smirk. Martina shot him back an annoyed grumble.

“Only got five hours of sleep last night. Those self-centered Ackertons kept me singing 'til morning, the bastards.”

“Aren't they getting a bit too audacious? Even if we owe them for letting us live in this shelter, that doesn't mean they can just do whatever they want with us.”

“Yeah, well if you looked in a dictionary, you'd see a picture of Michael Ackerton next to the word shameless. I doubt he even cares about what we think of him.”

“Why didn't you say anything? You were willing to give him a hearty slap last time.”

Martina scowled. “The coward's been bringing his muscle with him recently. He's been less handsy at least, but he's still pushing his luck in other ways.”

“Other ways? What do you mean?”

Martina's scowl shifted to an uncomfortable frown. “The Proliferation Directive. You've heard them mention it, right?”

John nodded soberly. The Ackertons didn't throw a lot of laws at the shelter's residents, but they did insist on a few guidelines. Many of them were common sense guidelines, such as insisting that the residents avoid fighting or stealing from each other. But occasionally, they would implement rather bizarre rulings, one of them being the Proliferation Directive.

In the words of Paul Ackerton himself, one of the most important goals of the shelter was to protect humanity until they could return to the surface. Since there was no way to tell exactly how long it would take for the radiation to dissipate, there was a need to make sure that humanity would survive within the shelter long enough to actually do so. Because of that, a Proliferation Directive was to be enacted, insisting that all women bear children at least once every ten years. It was a bizarre ruling, but since it wouldn't be a worry for some time, most residents didn't make much of a fuss about it.

John scrunched his face in disgust. “So he's putting the moves on you, huh? Well, I wouldn't have put it past him.”

“He's so annoying,” Martina groaned. “Those damn pigs. I bet they neglected to bring in-vitro equipment just so that they could abuse their power like this.”

“If he's trying to get you by using the Proliferation Directive, don't you think that's a little meek?” Julio pondered. “I mean, it's not like you're pressed for time or anything like that.”

“Well, I told you that he was an idiot,” Martina replied with a sigh. “I'm a fairly popular singer, and I've got plenty of men trying to get my attention. I'm sure he's way too anxious to wait until the deadline comes around to try and pressure me.”

Julio chuckled as he slid a drink towards Martina. “Well, let me know if you need a rest day. You don't have to come here to sing every day, you know.”

“If you take singing away from me, what else do I have?” she replied as she sipped her drink. “In any case, it's not like I can go anywhere else without men leering at me anyhow.”

John couldn't really disagree. Martina was extremely beautiful, to the point that it wouldn't be out of the question to believe that she'd been taken to the shelter almost entirely because of it. People in the shelter usually tried to mind their own business, but everyone talked about Martina. Many of them were surprised that she wasn't a bigger celebrity, while others treated her as the shelter's sole angel.

Time passed, and the bar began to fill up as the day went on. With more people around, John decided it was a good time to head back to his room. After saying goodbye to Julio and Martina, Jon began walking through the shelter's various segments. The lights that usually illuminated the shelter in the day were slightly dimmed, giving off the illusion of night. It was a completely useless gesture, but it did let the residents feel a sense of night and day.

The shelter itself had emptied out quite a bit, as most of the residents were either enjoying themselves in the entertainment plaza or resting in their rooms. John decided to take the chance to enjoy a stroll. He hadn't had much time to himself for thinking, and in any case, he need whatever counted as a breath of fresh air in this underwater structure. He knew just the place, too, though he needed to be careful to avoid being seen by any guards.

John headed to an empty part of the shelter and began climbing up the wall. Usually, the shelter walls were usually unmarked and smooth, but some areas had divots that were clearly meant to be used as ladders. John assumed they were meant to be used by maintenance, but in the course of his work, John had discovered a little alcove that could only be accessed by one of these ladders.

Once he was at least several feet off the ground, John grabbed onto a ledge and used it to pull himself out of view of anyone walking in the shelter below. There, he crawled through a tight tunnel until he reached a little area supposedly sitting above some area in the shelter. It was a flat empty area of no note, except for the massive window that separated it from the ocean.

John laid down on the floor and looked up out through the window. With nothing but water in his view, it was like he was drifting in a vast ocean. Up here, he could feel his everything melting away, and all his worries seemed to vanish into thin air. It had been his haven ever since he discovered it, and he came here whenever he felt like living in the shelter was getting to be too much.

After some time, John felt himself feeling drowsy. He shook it off as quickly as he could and got up. He didn't want to get caught sleeping up here, and he needed to make sure to avoid being outside after curfew. It was a short reprieve, but it gave him the boost he needed to go another day. That was all he really needed.