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Wednesday Afternoon–New Arcadia
Rick steps out of the elevator. Painted on the floor is a green square. Well, at least it’s still green. The elevator opened on to a small subway platform. As Rick exits the elevator, a subway car arrives, and its doors open. Rick feels his ear tickle.
“Welcome, Dr. Munday. Please have a seat. It’s a short ride.”
The sound in his ear is strange. It isn’t like hearing sounds from a headset or speaker. The sound is inside his head. Rick hesitates.
“Have a seat Dr. Munday.” Wincing pain accompanies the sound in his head.
The elevator doors close behind him. The subway is the only option. Rick steps into the car and sits. The door closes, and the car moves out of the station into a dark tunnel.
A series of back lit images are mounted on the tunnel wall. As the car leaves the station, it passes the panels at a faster and faster pace. The images flicker, becoming a blur. Soon the blur becomes animated. As the car passes, the images play out like a video stream. A speaker in the car plays upbeat music and a female voice-over is synced with the images.
“Welcome to New Arcadia. A development under the auspices of Operation Hard Shell. We’ve created an optimized, self-sustaining environment with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, business growth, and cultural development that allows for personal freedom, and the attainment of your full human potential.”
The panels display artist concepts of a futuristic city filled with hard-working, happy people. Rick thinks it looks like Disneyland’s old Tomorrowland. Rick feels cheerful, but sleepy. He yawns then slumps to a deep sleep.
When the subway car comes to a stop, medical staff move Rick to a waiting gurney. Zsoldos watches the scene while on a video link with the doctor. “The normal course of Rehabilitation for this one, sir?” the doctor asks.
“I don’t want him thinking he’s been under for twenty years. I need him functional and ready for orientation within four hours,” Zsoldos replies.
“In that case, I recommend a moderate dose. When the subject wakes, he will feel disoriented and have no memory of the life he left behind. He may think he has lost several days, while he’s slept for only three hours. The effects of Rehabilitation will dissipate over time, but city atmosphere will help maintain compliance,” the doctor explains.
Rick wakes as if startled. He’s lying on a narrow bed in a white room. The floor is unpainted cement. He looks at his arms and body and finds himself dressed in a silver tunic, gray slacks, and black canvas deck shoes. He sits up on the bed, admiring the uniform. Rick tries to think, but his brain won’t let him. He tries to remember how he got where he is, but his mind is blank. He doesn’t notice his Smart-Band is missing.
A door opens at the far end of the room. Two young men, led by a young woman, walk briskly into the large room, stopping smartly at Rick’s bedside.
“Hello,” they say in unison with big smiles, and such a friendly tone, it’s almost unsettling.
“Welcome to you, Richard Munday,” says the young woman in a sing-songy voice and a bright smile.
They are young, sharp, and fit. The young woman is very attractive. The two young men wear VUE lens, but the young woman does not. They wear uniforms of black slacks and sky-blue tunics, with gray piping around the neck and the shoulder seams but with no insignia or rank. They each wear a kepi—small caps like the ones worn during the US Civil War. The caps have an ‘A’ embroidered on the top in silver braid.
“Who are you? What is this place?” Rick asks.
One of the men answers, “We are City Guard,” he says proudly. The woman touches the young man’s arm as a sign to quiet him.
“We will guide you to your department orientation. Please come with us,” the beautiful, young City Guard instructs.
The three guard’s turn and march toward the door. Rick follows. A door opens and Rick steps into a bright, enormous space, giving him a view of a magnificent city. It’s bright, clean, and fresh, filled with large buildings, gardens, and trees. Several artfully designed buildings rise several stories, each one ringed with gardens of colorful flowers. The city bustles with activity.
An orange tiled floor stretches across the city. Small raised bumps cover the six-inch by four-inch tiles. Driverless electric carts, trucks and trolleys move over the tiles without wheels, levitating a few inches off the floor, zipping across the orange road. Walking on the floor feels like cold cobblestones.
The air feels cool and smells sweet. Rick draws in a deep breath as he looks around in amazement. He’s never seen a place like this. The sky is blue, but when he looks more intently, he notices it’s not the sky but a curved ceiling. High above, the roof is a smooth dome painted and lit to replicate daylight.
The area under the dome looks like the main street of a small American town from the 1950s, designed to be futuristic. At the base of one building is a restaurant with sidewalk seating ringed by flower boxes. Another building has a convenience store and clothing shop. Levitating carts and trucks move past the shops. At one end of the cavernous space, the carts, and trucks drive into a brightly lit tunnel.
People sit, relaxing, at the café’s sidewalk tables, while others check the shops and walk from place to place. People smile, chat with one another, and wave at passersby. The city is active and friendly.
Rick hears cheerful music. He can’t place the song, but it's something playful like, I’ve been working on the railroad or whistle while you work.
Encouraging images with slogans such as, “We work for the greater good,” “You can reach your full potential,” and “We are the few and the fortunate” adorn the walls of the dome on electronic billboards.
Rick stands in awe, trying to absorb the magnificence of the city. He turns to the young woman and asks, “What is this place? It looks fantastic! Are we underground?”
“We are in the experimental underground city of New Arcadia. You are among the few and the fortunate,” she says cheerfully.
“Welcome to New Arcadia,” says one of the young men. The other young man stands, nodding his welcome.
The young woman’s eyes appear to flash around the edges of her irises. She touches a spot in the air. Rick stares into her beautiful eyes, watching the small flashes.
The woman smiles again. “VUE contact lens, made here in New Arcadia.” She then turns to her male companions. “We must go. We will give Dr. Munday a short city tour before delivering him to his department for orientation.”
The young trio walks a few steps to contraptions that look like floating platforms. The City Guard climb onto the devices, placing their feet into footholds, causing the platforms to wobble briefly before becoming stable.
“We are standing on robotic, self-balancing, Mag-Lev panels. We call them Maggies. The orange tiles are a unique ceramic material, allowing room temperature superconductivity. The tiles create a high-powered magnetic field across the entire city floor. Our maglev’s have an opposite magnetic polarity, creating magnetic levitation. It’s fun,” explains the young female. The two male City Guard hover, rocking this way and that. They balance with their feet in the footholds without hanging on to anything.
The female guard’s maglev is larger with a second row of footholds and handlebar for a passenger. The female City Guard signals to Rick. “You’ll ride with me. Step up.”
Rick hesitates, examining the maglev floating inches above the tiled floor. The woman motions to Rick. “Step up. It’s easy. You have the city tour, now.” She holds her hand out to him. Rick reluctantly takes the young woman’s hand and steps onto the platform. The panel wobbles as it compensates for the additional weight and Rick’s uneven step, but quickly steadies.
The woman commands. “Maggie, city tour, central section. Go.”
The Maggie moves off so fast, Rick nearly falls off. He wraps his arms around the young woman’s waist as the Maggie transports them across the cavernous room. The men stand straight with arms at their sides leaning forward, looking as if they are gliding on ice; their firm bodies lean into each curve and turn. The group weaves in and out of traffic, crossing lanes of a road painted on the tiled floor.
Rick hangs on as they fly rapidly across the central room. The young woman speaks. Rick pulls closer to hear what she’s saying. His chest touches her back. His hips press against her buttocks; only the metal handlebar handle separates them.
“This is the city’s central room, the center of New Arcadia. This city, working together with our other cities, is self-sufficient. Each city produces unique products and trades with other cities. If there were ever an emergency, we can survive in our underground facilities for several years, with no outside help.”
Rick hears a rumbling sound in the distance. As they come around a building, he spots three massive parallel tubes, each fifteen feet in diameter running from the top of the dome all the way down and into the floor. The lower fifty-foot sections of the tubes are glass. Water rushes down the huge pipes like a giant contained waterfall. It’s an impressive structure. The top section of glass is wider and open, allowing a light watery mist to drift down to a park covered with green grass, tall trees, and flowers. The City Guard hovers in front of the glass tubes in a hypnotic gaze.
Rick shouts. “What is it?”
The talkative male guard hears Rick’s question over the roaring sound of the water and is eager to answer. “It’s part of our power system. Hydroelectricity. We can generate more than a thousand megawatts of electricity. That’s equal to the output of a nuclear plant.”
The female guard smiles. “We have two power stations like this in New Arcadia. They provide unlimited, safe, clean power. All our cities generate power using clean, self-sustainable methods. Isn’t it wonderful?”
Rick is awestruck. “It’s brilliant.”
“We’ve also equipped the city with small modular reactors. We use nuclear power plants to supplement our power requirements. These specially sealed modules can never go haywire or meltdown, so they’re much safer than nuclear power plants of the past,” explains the second male guard.
The three City Guard speak in unison. “We have more to show you.” With a slight forward lean, they are once again flying across the tiled floor. The young woman continues her tour guide speech. The edges around the pupils of her eyes glow. It looks as if she’s staring into space instead of guiding the Maggie. Rick thinks she’s reading a script.
“We have housing facilities for up to one hundred-seventy thousand here in New Arcadia. Everyone has free living quarters, a base salary, and free access to the cafeterias. We have barber shops, restaurants, and clothing shops.”
The Maggie makes a sharp turn around a corner. The young woman leans into the curve. Rick leans with her as the maglev glides into a long, wide cavern glowing with a soft purple light. This cavern is tall, but narrower than the central room. There are rows and rows of multi-level gardens stacked one hundred feet high. Workers sit on trapeze seats that raise and lower to work on different levels of the garden.
“Is it a farm?” Rick asks.
“Yes, we grow all our plants and vegetables aeroponically. Everything is organic. The plants grow fifty percent faster with no fertilizer or pesticides. Just add water mixed with nutrients and voila, you’ve got broccoli.” At the end of a long row of vegetables, the Maggie takes a sharp turn down a corridor and through a tunnel. After a short distance, they zip into another large cavern.
“This is the print and assembly room where we use 3-D printing, rapid liquid printing, and automated assembly systems to manufacture products needed for the city. In the medical department, we can actualize a new liver, kidney, or skin tissue,” the young City Guard explains. The group speeds along on the Maggies. “Next stop is the Electro-Rail Station.”
“Electro-Rail?” Rick asks.
“It is our high-speed rail system connecting New Arcadia with the other cities allowing us to travel and trade goods.”
They ride down a corridor until it opens onto an enormous cavern. They stop and hover next to a railing overlooking a vast rail station. Rows of clear tubes come out of a rock wall in the distance, ending at the rail platforms. There are twenty rail tubes running across the floor of the station, but only the first twelve tubes appear to be active.
The rail cars are very sleek and glisten with a silky white finish. Blue and red swooshing stripes complete look of fast rail cars. Rick notices that there are cargo cars and passenger cars. He watches as people step into a passenger car from a loading platform. Once the door closes, the car advances to a transparent airlock. Pumps suck air from the airlock, creating a vacuum. Seconds later, the rail car launches, zooming down the tube, disappearing into the rock wall.
“Wow, it’s amazing. All this built underground. Why are they only using half of the tubes?” Rick asks.
“The other tubes are for cities planned but not completed.”
“Whoever built this has ambitious plans,” Rick comments.
The group speeds away from the train station. As they scoot along a corridor, Rick notices a large room marked surface integration storage.
“What’s that area?” Rick asks.
“It’s storage for products and equipment we would use when moving back to living on the surface, after a nuclear disaster. They’ve thought of everything for this nuclear war experiment,” his guide explains.
“Nuclear war experiment? What do you mean?” Rick asks.
The Maggies begin their return to the city center as the young guard explains. "Operation Hard Shelter, New Arcadia and the other cities are an experiment to learn if humans can survive a full-scale nuclear war. With the Four Wars escalating, we must prepare to survive the worst-case scenario. We are all volunteers selected for this duty. We are the few and the fortunate. You’ll understand after orientation.”
Rick hears a loud tone broadcast across the city.
“That is the hour tone. It’s easy to lose track of time in an underground city. We must get you to orientation.” The trio of Maggies accelerate to full speed.
The underground complex fascinates Rick. He now feels like an expert riding the maglev. It’s an exhilarating experience, riding body to body with his young guide, absorbing her warmth. Their bodies move in perfect sync as they lean into curves and around corners, zigging and weaving, between vehicles along the tiled roadway.
They stop in front of a building marked Department 17. The girl motions for Rick to step down. The male guards stay on their Maggies, swaying back and forth.
“You will work in this building, and across the street is your residence.” She points to a three-story building with shops on the first floor and two levels of residences. A sign, Residence 240 marks the building.
The young guide hands Rick a plastic card. “This card has your building number, floor, and compartment number. Keep it handy in case you get lost. If you haven’t noticed, everything looks the same. It’s easy to get lost until you learn your way around.”
“That’s handy. Not much of a commute. Do I go to the office, now?” Rick asks.
“Orientation first, through those doors.” She points to double glass doors. Letters over the door spell out Auditorium.
The male guard’s wave. The talkative one calls out, “Goodbye, Dr. Munday. Hope you enjoyed the tour. We will see you around the city.”
His young guide opens the glass door and enters the lobby, directing Rick to the auditorium. “You will now view an orientation video before meeting your department team. Your department manager will complete your orientation. It has been my pleasure, Dr. Munday,” she says, with her never-ending smile and glowing eyes.
Rick hates to see her go. He doesn’t want the tour to end. Riding on the Maggie pressed against her fit body was thrilling. He acts on impulse and gives the young girl a hug. “Thank you, so much. I don’t even know your name.” Rick looks past the glowing edges of her pupils to peer into her sharp hazel eyes. The young woman breaks away from Rick’s grasp. She straightens her tunic and stands erect. “I am City Guard,” she scolds. She looks over her shoulder. The male guards are chatting as they sway on their Maggies.
“City Guard don’t get hugged and I’m not supposed to share my name.”
“I enjoyed riding with you. I hope to see you again.” Rick walks across the lobby. As he opens the auditorium door, he looks back at the young beauty. When she sees Rick sneak a goodbye look, the young guard calls out softly, “Joanna. My name is Joanna.”
Rick feels a tug at his heart as he steps through the auditorium door.
