2009-09-25 - The Opening of the Communities

Submitted by saloob on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 08:44

 

"Jacob, we have completed the Community tunnels for the Americas, Europe, Africa and most of Asia - which will be completed after the final fiberplast layers have been applied. All work and leisure stations fully operational, all monitors active and droid capsules appear to function effectively," Tanaka reported over video link.

"Excellent, Tanaka-san. If there was ever an experiment on social interaction - this will surely prove to be an unbeatable sample population - 6 billion subjects. I will be making the global announcement in 5 minutes. Be on the ball - this is going to be extremely hairy.."

"Roger that, Jacob. See you later this evening," Tanaka-san said and disappeared from the Wireless-Viewer in front of Jacob.

"Cleo, prepare for a global announcement from me - all language interpretations on," Jacob ordered to Cleo.

"Announcement ready. Shall we time-delay announcements for mornings?" Cleo asked.

"Yes, make it for 9am. Provide a 5-second visual count-down in 5 minutes time."

The only way to make the global bunker network feasible was to keep the underground time in synch with the actual above-ground time - plus or minus an hour here or there for greater daylight saving. Thus, solar and steam power would be the key sources during the day and for charging the battery farms that would be minimally used during the evenings. Also, using the abundance of natural light fed via the fiber networks directly into the tunnels and slightly buffered with generated light when the levels dropped too low, the complete tunnel network was keeping to the rhythm of the "usual" day. So it was that when it was day in Australia and Japan, it was morning in Germany and night in America and to keep the population better controlled and in the most natural conditions possible, their days and nights could continue, however different their living environment may be.

Cleo had each time zone, language and dialect mapped into "her" wire-serve virtual circuits and would deliver the announcement in the appropriate language at the appropriate time.

"Countdown to begin," Cleo announced after the determined 5-minutes. 5..4..3..2..1...

"Good morning ladies, gentlemen and children. My name is Jacob Edisson, the Chief Executive of a company called Wire-Serve - which some of you may have heard of. You have all seen the introduction videos and FAQ in your living room monitors, and by now fully understand the extreme circumstances that brought you to living here. It has been a mammoth undertaking by us to prepare the living environment for you and the many other survivors of the "Great Accident" - and we appreciate your ability to stay calm and hopeful in these dire times.

I would now like to make a number of important announcements;

Firstly, one of our most important projects was to prepare some communal areas so you could socialise and become productive once again. I am sure it has been tremendously difficult to stay in such close quarters for so long, but it has been unnavoidable. You will receive individual notifications on your monitors over the next few days with more information about this, so for now what I can say is that you will be able to enjoy social interaction for the most part.

Secondly, starting from tomorrow, I and some of my key personnel will begin visiting with some of you to hear your concerns and ideas. We are all in this together and hearing how we can help more is vital for our co-existence or even for our continued existence while we can not return to the above-ground world.

Finally, we have prepared broadcasts for your heads of state so they can continue to guide you and assure you and keep our process of living going.

I urge you all to remain calm and respectful and refrain from acting rashly when you are exposed to the open community. We have had to put in place certain security measures and controls - but we surely do not want to use them and wish for as harmonious society as possible.

Thank you and best wishes until next time."

With that Jacob remained silent for a moment, then said, "Cut".

And so, with each nations' early morning with the rise of the daylight, and the recorded bird-songs, the global community were alerted to the coming announcement and sat quietly listening to Jacob's message. The dawning of the meaning of this announcement and the growing thrill and excitement of the thought of seeing "others" was being felt around the globe. Jacob could almost hear the rumble of life and the excitement of hope reverberating from all the monitor systems he was viewing.

Combining the social structures, profiles, histories, biometric monitor streams and many, many other factors, Cleo selected the communal groups and delivered the instructions and "rules";

* A door in the wall would open allowing each individual to enter and be transported to the communal area.
* Families would be sent to the same communal area.
* Each individual had a choice to go or stay and parents had the right to decide for their children.
* Violent, anti-social, racial, sexual or any form of harassment or deviance would be monitored and the culprits detained immediately and sent to isolated cabins.
* Returning to their own cabins was a requirement - transport tubes to be ridden by 10pm.
* Leisure areas and work stations were available to provide an outlet as much as possible.
* One desired goal is for all citizens to come together to build a new society and come up with ideas and ways to survive into the future.

With this, the first communities' citizens tentatively entered the tubes and were transported to large areas with green "grass", sky-coloured ceilings, sports settings, swimming pools, park benches, trees and many other elements one would expect to find in any active park. The stepped out of the tubes slowly, eyes scanning the sky, then out in front, then left to right as they watched others just like them walking into a world they thought didn't exist. Children scrambled for the balls and pools once they understood what it was in front of their eyes. Some youths sprinted and jumped, howling with joy.

There was a sense felt by all that some form of humanity had returned and a glowing stream of hope that was once but a flicker now began to stream into their lives. All was not lost, it seemed, and for the most part, their worries had silently crept behind their consciousness as they re-entered their new civilisation.