I watched as Bryan and his team slammed into the white marble wall, each leveraging every ounce of power they muster in their attempts to cause the massive structure to budge even slightly. For a moment, I considered joining in the effort, but I quickly dismissed the idea outright. I could understand there need to exit the dome. After all, the goal and responsibility of every resident of Seaside to find a way outside of the dome.
That also meant that previous generations had tried almost every way imaginable. A group of teens most definitely would not take it down with the power of hormones and concussions. I, of course, wasn’t much better than my peers. Three generations had tried everything they could, and that didn’t really leave room for innovation.
This didn’t mean that I wasn’t doing anything to leave the dome. Dusting myself off, I began circling the wall, my break was over, and I didn’t want Devon to give me shit for being late again. Thankfully Seaside placed each worksite only a short distance from one another. That way, when one actually made a breakthrough and needed a large amount of manpower on short notice, they would have easy access to it.
Crossing over another hill, the worksite I spent the majority of my days at came into view. The worksite ran right up to the wall and consisted of a large artificial hill next to a massive hole where the dirt making up the hill originated. Dozens of rope bridges crossed the gaping hole at various heights, and knotted ropes fell from large wooden posts to give the workers access to the excavation below.
The site was abuzz with activity, which didn’t align with what I knew of an average workday. The usually methodical and slow pace of carrying buckets to and from the worksite was replaced with dozens of people frantically running across bridges and pulling up buckets of dirt 3 at a time. The moment my brain processed what I was seeing, I began sprinting to the site. Something big was happening, and I’d be damned if I was going to miss it.
After passing a few people running the opposite way, no doubt going off to recruit help from the nearby worksites, I arrived at the hole. Not taking a moment to slow down, I jumped over the edge and began sliding down the wooden supports keeping the excavation from caving in on itself. Arriving at the bottom of the hole, I barely caught myself as I nearly bowled over a dozen figures.
Using a couple of people as support, I managed to stop my momentum and come to a standstill. They glanced back at me with faces full of annoyance, but when they saw who it was that almost bowled them over, their faces smoothed over, and they returned to their work clearing away the bottommost layer of dirt.
Looking at what had caused all the excitement, I felt my heart skip a beat. In the center of all the workers, a smooth metallic plate disappeared under the surrounding dirt. They’d found the bottom. They had finally, after years of backbreaking work and soul-crushing setbacks, had discovered something—a new path of discovery for the fourth generation, and maybe even a way out.
I didn’t dally as I grabbed a brush, broom, and pair of buckets. I was on my hands and knees soon after as I frantically began clearing the dirt. The work was as hard as usual, but we worked with a vigor never before seen inside the worksite with a new motivation burning inside us.
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I noticed others heading down the hole, no doubt called by the messengers I had previously passed, but I paid them no mind. I was wholly focused on my work and nothing else. As minutes blended into hours, I heard a call of surprise and joy. Someone had found something. I did not pause in my work, even as those around me stood and ran to the call. Whatever had been discovered, there would be more, and the dirt would have to be cleared if we were going to get the complete picture. My work was soon rewarded as an etching began to reveal itself in the metal. Full of excitement, I abandoned my tools and started using my hands to unearth the finer details of the symbol. The symbol began to blink a startling red the moment flesh met metal. I barely had time to process the shout of fear and panic around me as a beam of white light consumed me, and consciousness fled my body.
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Emergency exit E-013 activated. Ejecting survivor 957 from preservation capsule P-156034.
WARNING: Current environmental condition of the planet designated: Earth has been designated: Inhospitable.
WARNING: Current environmental condition of the universe designated: 021 has been designated: Unstable.
Transporting survivor 957 to nearest hospitable reintegration zone.
WARNING: Survivor 957 is currently not connected to the System Of Infested Realities. Beginning direct interfacing with SIR.
Congratulations! SIR has been fully integrated by survivor 957. Welcome to SIR Alexander Cohen.
Further instructions can be found within your reception room.
When I finally woke up, I was bombarded with the messages as they spoke directly into my mind. They seemed to vibrate with a need to be seen, heard, and acknowledged. The feeling wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it sure as hell was strange. It was unlike anything I had ever heard or been told about.
After giving the messages the proper amount of attention, they vanished without a trace. The warnings about inhospitality were concerning, but I put those concerns on the back burner for now. There wasn’t anything I would change about the situation, so it was better to think of other things. Focusing on my surroundings, I found something both familiar and foreign.
I found myself in the center of a room made of the same white marble as the dome. The room was only a few meters wide and square in shape though the corners did curve slightly. What perplexed me about the room was its one feature, on one of the walls, lines of text had been carved into the marble. Seaside had tried everything in there, I'll admit limited, power to take down that marble wall, and they hadn't even made a scratch in the unnaturally tough material.
With no visible exits, I turned to the wall of text for some answers. What I found there was strange, to say the least. The words were definitely not in English. Even though I couldn’t really see or describe what they looked like, that much was obvious. Despite this, I could read and understand them as if they were. The content of the messages was also unique. The lines read like a user manual, but instead of teaching you how to use a push mower or set up a gaming console, they were for my own brain.
Each line contained a set of “commands” that I was instructed to follow. The last one promising the exit would open after going through each command. Figuring there would be no harm in trying, I followed the first line of instructions. Immediately after finishing the last set of instructions, I felt that same strange vibrating need to be observed building inside of me as words were spoken directly into my mind.
Name: Alexander Cohen
SIR Rank: 0
Approximate Tier:0
HP:0/0
MP:0/0
SP:0/0
Physicality:0
Mental Capacity:0
Spirituality:0
Free Points:0
Coins:0
For a long while, I just blank-faced stared at the wall. The past hour had been a series of crazy shit, one after another leading me on a rollercoaster of feelings. This was the final straw. I had an actual, good to god character sheet, and all I could think to say was, “ What the actual fuck.”.