Chapter 14: Meaningless Dreams

Moira leaned back on the picnic blanket and stared up at the clouds. Lunch had been delicious and she felt so… content.

A pleasant murmur escaped her lips. “I like the oxygen farm.”

“It’s beautiful,” Jason agreed. Hearing he felt the same way brought a smile to her lips. She closed her eyes for a moment and forgot about Andrew and Skye.

It was just the two of them now. Just her and Jason, lying on their backs, feeling the warmth of the artificial sunlight, smelling the crisp scent of the trees, just… enjoying each other’s company. It sounded so pleasant.

“Is the sky on Earth really that blue?” Andrew wondered.

Skye answered the question like usual. “Of course it was.”

Moira’s eyes opened. The fantasy was nice while it lasted. She propped herself up on her elbows and turned to Skye.

“How do you know?”

Skye blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, how do you know the sky is blue?” Moira asked, shrugging. “Have you ever seen it yourself?”

“No, of course not, but-“

“Then you don’t know for sure,” she interrupted, cracking a grin. “Maybe the sky was really orange!” She shook her hair for emphasis.

“Ridiculous,” Skye rolled her eyes. “If you paid attention in science class, then you would know that.”

“She’s right,” Jason added. “Teacher Bradley said it himself.”

“…Has he ever see the sky?”

Skye and Jason glanced at each other. “No, but… there’s a reason that it’s blue, you know, science says so,” Jason said. “…Right?”

“Of course,” Skye said. “It’s a phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering. Light from the sun bounces off molecules in the air and spreads out. Different colors of light have different wavelengths, and blue light has the shortest wavelength. That means blue light is more strongly scattered than other colors, so when sunlight is scattered through the air, it becomes blue.”

Yeesh. Moira was sorry she asked.

“Okay but the sun is yellow.”

“Come on, guys, we learn enough in school,” Andrew laughed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to drawing.”

Moira leaned back over and stared up at the clouds again. Another thought crossed her mind. “Hey, Skye, what about now?”

“Hmm?” Skye glanced up from her book.

“Well, I mean, the sky on Earth was blue, right, because of… um… light-particle wavy things, right?”

Skye’s eye twitched. “…Yeah. Right. Something like that.”

“So like, what if all the radiation and stuff in the air means that now the sky is, like, orange now?! Or green, or purple! It could be a whole buncha colors, don’t you think?” Moira pictured a big rainbow-colored mess and giggled.

“I mean, she’s right,” Jason admitted. “Without any equipment to monitor conditions outside the Bunker, we can only guess what the sky looks like now. Maybe it IS orange.”

“That’s true,” Skye admitted. “But even if it is, it’s not like any of us will be alive to see it.”

Everyone got quiet. It would be many, many Generations before the Earth became habitable again and humanity could leave the Bunker.

Moira would never see the real sky. She’d never have the chance to feel real sunlight on her face.

“…What do you think a real forest is like?” She quietly asked.

The question hung in the air as they thought about it.

“It would be like this, right?” Skye said, waving at the trees around them. “Trees, grass, the Creators made this place exactly like a forest.”

“…Yeah, I guess so…”

“But it’s not enough,” Jason agreed. “I mean, yeah, I get it, the oxygen farm, it’s amazing, right? But I’m with Moira on this one, just once, I’d like to really see what a forest was like, you know? Not just in a picture or a movie, but actually see it with my own eyes.”

Moira beamed at him. He really got it! Then, a brilliant idea popped into her head.

“Guys, I just thought of something!” She sat up, reinvigorated. “Okay, so, imagine that Ai told everyone that Earth was habitable, and we could all leave tomorrow.”

Skye rolled her eyes. “Ridiculous.”

“Yeah, I know, but come on, just picture it, will you?” Moira begged. “Sure, we’ll never see it, but imagine if we could! If you could go to Earth, what’s something you’d want to do? Anything! Jason? What about you?”

Jason thought about it. “I guess… huh. I don’t know. If I could go anywhere and do anything? Maybe… go to a beach, I guess? Watch the ocean?”

“We have a beach,” Skye replied.

“Yeah but it’s an artificial one, it’s not… it’s not real, you know? Just a replica. I’d like to see a real beach, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Moira nodded eagerly. “Me… I’d like to go to a forest. But not like this one, like one from a picture book! You know, with vines and bushes and big flowers, and also the animals! Don’t forget those!”

“Good point,” Jason nodded. “Remember what the teacher said? Forests had all sorts of animals like snakes, monkeys, deer, birds, we don’t have anything like that in here.”

It was true. While talking animals made up the vast majority of media they’d consumed as children, no one in the Bunker had seen a real, live animal before.

“We have the DNA of the animals preserved in gene storage,” Skye reminded everyone. “So it’s not like they’re gone for good. When we rise out into the sun, we’ll be able to clone the animal species again.”

Nobody had a response to that. It just wasn’t the same thing.

“I want to see a volcano,” Andrew said suddenly, shocking everyone.

“Really?! But that’s so dangerous!” Moira gasped.

“Don’t even joke about that!” Skye snapped. “Remember what Ai always says? Dangerous things must be avoided!”

“How dangerous could they really be, though?” Andrew asked weakly. “You remember those videos we watched in our science classes, right? On old Earth, little kids used to make volcanoes.”

Even as he said that, a collective shiver went down all their backs.

“It amazes me the sheer recklessness of teachers on old Earth,” Skye said, shaking her head. “Lava can reach over 1000 degrees Celsius, and yet children were encouraged to use such a dangerous material for experiments.”

“Yeah, I know it’s dangerous, but come on, you remember the video of the eruption? Wasn’t that just the coolest thing ever?”

“It was pretty cool,” Moira agreed. “But dude, you’d die if you saw it! Don’t do that!”

“I know, I know…” Andrew sighed.

Moira gave him a reassuring smile. “I still like your idea though.” She turned to Skye. “Well? What about you?”

She shook her head. “It’s a pointless hypothetical. It would never happen.”

“Still, there must be something you’d want to do, right?” Moira asked hopefully.

Skye sighed, rubbing her temples. Finally, she met Moira’s gaze.

“…A river.”

Moira blinked. It was a word she was unfamiliar with. “What’s that?”

“It’s a body of water that flows from one place to another,” she explained. “It makes a rushing sound, like ‘fwsh fwsh fwsh’.”

“So do you swim in it, like the ocean?”

“You certainly can, but that’s not why I’d like to see one someday,” Skye said, shaking her head. “My parents told me that before I entered Primary Education, I had some health problems that made it difficult for me to fall asleep. So every night, Ai would play a bunch of sound recordings from old Earth. The wind rustling through the trees, gentle rainfall, and the sound of a rushing river. I’d fall asleep every time.”

Her voice was distant and warm, and a small smile touched her lips. “So I guess… I’d like to go see a real river, someday, and see if it really sounds like that. …If I could, I mean. But I can’t, so…”

She shrugged.

“Aww! Skye, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard!” The picture of little Skye nestled up in bed with nature sounds echoing through the room was just precious!

“It-It’s nothing,” Skye said, her cheeks turning pink. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Still, it’s a pity,” Jason sighed, leaning back on the blanket and staring up at the fake sky. “There’s so much cool stuff up there, but we have to spend the rest of our lives here.”

“Hey, it’s not so bad!” Moira said, flopping down beside him. “We have each other, right? …I mean, all four of us, we have each other,” she quickly clarified. Andrew and Skye had slipped her mind again, and she’d only been focusing on Jason.

“Hm? Yeah, I guess,” he agreed, turning towards her.

Moira smiled at the light in his eyes, and felt her face begin to heat up. She quickly turned over, a wave of embarrassment hitting her. “Um, anyway, th-thanks! For inviting me out today. Me and Andrew. Both of us. I really had a good time.”

“It was our pleasure,” Skye assured her. “I know we don’t always get off on the right foot, but I still find your company enjoyable.”

“Really?” Moira sat up in shock. She couldn’t believe her ears.

“Of course. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t have invited you in the first place. That’s all there is to it.” Moira swore that she saw pink on Skye’s pale cheeks.

“That’s her way of saying she wants to be friends,” Jason chipped in. Skye glared at him.

Moira grinned. “Aww, thanks, Skye! I’m glad! I want to be friends too!”

Sure, Skye always reminded her about the rules and stuff, but she was really nice sometimes, too, and smart! Plus, Jason liked her, and if a great guy like him liked something, then that was good enough for Moira!