The rails vibrated as the eggplant-colored bus approached the platform. Its engine was quiet - a remnant of the old land-based technology boom, but its wheels made a racket.

Everything outside of the lab made a racket. Jareth had made a few trips outside of the city, and the noise level ever changed - just different sources of sound.

As the bus screeched to a stop, all three sets of doors opened to let the exchange of passengers begin. Night shift janitors and security filed out, and a handful of employees clambered on and spread themselves out among the available seats.

It wasn’t until the bus started moving again that Jareth realized he had ended up in an empty row. He didn’t usually get the extra leg and elbow room, and half of the time, it was someone wanting to talk or ask questions.

More noise. More chatter.

The few moments of conversation being background noise instead of someone in his personal space was a treat. Even though his thoughts simply wandered off to other people’s conversations.

He listened to a man and a woman talk about the water that was visible outside their tinted window. The woman’s nasally voice was carrying through the aisles as she explained why the water would eventually drain.

“Someday,” she said, “Ice will form in the oceans. There used to be some at each pole. They were called glaciers.”

“Then what happens?” the man sitting next to her asked.

“Then we get to live down there again.” Her voice rose with excitement, and Jareth imagined wild hand motions happening. “We get to walk around. On dirt.”

Jareth scoffed and forced himself to move his attention away from the conversation. Glaciers may as well be a myth. They existed — before humans washed everything away. After a moment, however, he couldn’t get thoughts of the water out of his mind. The urge to peer downward before they arrived at the next platform grew stronger as every second passed until it took. And before he could stop himself, he was raising up the thin curtain that held cover over his window.

Below the bus, the rails plunged into the deep blue water. They swayed back and forth as the vehicle chugged along, absorbing the energy of the wheels. Down there were continents, mountains, and entire cities.

A few special spots on the globe you could see the old skyscrapers. That’s as close as most people got to old earth.

Jareth smiled as he watched the water below him, thankful that he wasn’t most people. He didn’t have to wonder about what was below them or trust the news or internet. He got to live it, see it, help it.

A few more rotations of the loud wheels that moved the bus along, and the vehicle slowed down. It seemed like the blink of an eye between platforms, but he couldn’t argue with the doors opening around him. With a mental kick in the butt, he stood up and forced his legs to move so he could exit the train and be out of the way for anyone needing to board. He pushed through a light crowd of folks going in both directions as he moved over the platform, into the bus station, and out the other side.

The complex that housed his apartment was two blocks east, and most days, autopilot took over before he even thought about which way to turn. One train of thought about the conversation he had heard on the ride home, and he was punching in the code to the building.

He walked up two flights of stairs and took two sharp turns down a hallway to the left, and he was home. He unlocked the door and immediately placed his briefcase on his small two-person table. His phone, keys, and badge were piled on top.

It should be dinner time, he thought as he looked at the skinny kitchen and then shrugged. Instead of spending the energy to make or eat whatever food he had sitting in his pantry, he walked across the small apartment and into his bedroom. Hanging on the wall by his bed was a calendar showing two months at a time.

Rows of colored cells displayed the lab schedule.

Green. Dark Purple. Hot Pink. Light blue — the week that rotated Jareth into the water. Three rotations until his name was called, and he got to collect samples and think about Vance touching the water for a few days a year. He chuckled, feeling a bit sheepish that that man, in particular, was occupying so much space inside his mind.

He shook his head, unable to entirely get rid of his faint smile. Instead of giving it more attention, he changed out of his work clothes, brushed his teeth, and crawled into his full-sized bed.

Regulation for a single man in the citizen’s district, he thought as he flung one arm over the edge.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jareth Asket fell asleep halfway through his next thought without having dinner.

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Jareth slapped at his vibrating watch that told him it was time to wake up. It made the skin of his wrist feel fuzzy - it itched and yanked him from his dreams that he was keen to stay in as long as possible.

The watch didn’t agree with that goal, and it didn’t listen to his swats until he sat up and pressed the correct button. Then it went quiet.

If he fell back asleep now, it might let him, however, there would be hell to pay. He let out an annoyed, sleepy sigh, blinking at the off-white wall in front of him. Vague figments of his dreams flitted around behind his eyes, bringing back fuzzy memories of the night’s restless sleep.

Ocean trenches, iridescent fish, and piles of metal bridges melded together, fading the more he tried to think about it.

He let the dreams fade further away while he looked at his watch to check the time. He’d only zoned out for about a minute and a half, which meant if he got a move on, he would have time to shower and grab breakfast to appease his growling stomach.

Jareth slid off his bed and plodded out of his bedroom.

He didn’t feel like he was actually waking up until he had found his way outside his apartment building and the morning air smacked his face. A warm breeze that would heat up throughout the day but luckily cool back down by the time he was on his way home.

Perks of work, he thought to himself. Then shrugged. As if anyone got any perk from the weather.

The air on the bus, once he sat down, was stale - as usual. The seat underneath him vibrated, and he was sitting next to someone who couldn’t help but ask him where he worked before they got to the laboratory platform. Jareth laughed, feeling like some small prophecy about his life had come true, and considered not answering at all. But being rude to those around him wouldn't exactly help his career, so he smiled and made small talk for the remainder of the ride.

Inside the lab, the only task set aside for the day was more transcribing. He had been down to his couple of tapes before Vance gleefully added to his workload - which meant he would have to buckle down and focus better than he had the day before.

I'll have to actually work, he thought and frowned. His thoughts were still cloudy, but he hit the button and decided that nothing wasn't an option. So, he would fake it until he made progress - or at least it until lunchtime.

A job was a job, after all. Once the calendar rotated, he would move tasks, and in a few weeks, he would get his turn in the suit.

His favorite part of the lab — the reason he had gone through the tests and applied at all. The clerical and sterilization work was worth it for the chance to go underwater and explore. Worth it to touch, and feel, and see the old world. Most people didn't get the chance to get so close and learn so much.

He scolded himself for the runaway thoughts before rewinding the tape and forcing his hand to write down what he heard.

It wasn't long before the inner door opened, and Vance Hohen walked in. The current diver on the schedule.

"Jare!"

"Jareth."

"Good Morning."

Jareth rolled his eyes and bit his tongue. A wave of sarcastic responses built in his chest, not quite big enough to force their way out of his mouth. "Diving?"

"Yeah, few more days on the rotation," Vance said as he opened and closed the cupboards by the changing area. The sectors quiet, though."

"Is it ever loud?" Jareth paused the audio, so he didn't miss anything important. He didn't want to muck up someone's work and wasn't keen on careless mistakes being on his permanent record. "That's arguably one of the best parts about being down there."

Vance let out a hardy laugh. "Yeah, but I was hoping for wildlife. You not get to my tapes yet?"

"No." Jareth turned away from the table to face the man — hoping he was fully dressed. "You're looking for fish?"

"Yep!"

"Huh. Is that the new procedure?"

Vance shrugged as he pulled off his shirt and folded it. He set it on a nearby counter, and then his hands reached for his belt buckle.

Jareth turned back around, trying to avoid the show he never asked for.

"It's what I'm hoping for." Vance finished, changing in silence. A few more minutes of shuffling, and then a locker clanking shut—the airlock.

Then nothing. Once again, it was just Jareth and the tape, with even less concentration than he had before.

He got his cogs moving again, somehow. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so distracted and anxious.

He had just barely managed to get through the tape that he had started two days prior when his stomach started yelling a home again — reminding him that he needed to eventually eat lunch.

He put his supplies in his locker, just like protocol told him he should, and made his way to the cafeteria. Unlike the room he spent most of the day in, this area was perpetually buzzing with sound. Conversations, and trays, and noises coming from the kitchen.

Really, it was a mirror to the rest of the city. He usually didn't mind, except he was frazzled from not really taking care of himself the last 24 hours. He had been stuck too far into his own thoughts, and even though he ate breakfast, he was still reeling a little from skipping dinner the night before.

As he made his way towards the food, he tried to think about what he ate for lunch before that and couldn't really recall. He assumed it was… something. Surely he had eaten, but he couldn't say what it was to save his life.

He looked at the workers behind the plastic barriers and wondered if it was worth it to ask what had been on the menu yesterday afternoon but decided better of it.

Like ignoring folks on the bus wasn't considered polite, asking weird questions at work wouldn't exactly help him any, so he chose not to.

He had to have eaten lunch. Just like he ate lunch every day - he came to work, he filled his stomach, he played his part in making sure humanity didn’t burn up or drown. Everyone born and living played their part, and maintaining nutrients was part of that.

Surely, he ate lunch, even though he hadn’t eaten dinner.

After getting food and sitting down, he forcefully shifted his thoughts to what was left of the tapes on his plates. He would close his inbox between task changes so he didn't leave the next person rotating in with notes to catch up on.

Mostly, Jareth vowed to make himself focus on work again, instead of things like Vance Hohen and his search for fish.