The World Beyond

Rajesh ran down the narrow causeway at full speed, the sound of his heavy footsteps clanging against the metal grating. He carefully spun past another traveller to avoid a head-on collision and continued without slowing down.

“Sorry Mrs Moskowitz!”

Heavy metal doors lined the walkway on his left, and only a simple handrail on the right separated him from the five-story drop down to the furnaces below. His mother hated it when he ran like this, but he just couldn’t contain his excitement. He finally came to their apartment door and threw it open.

“Is it true?!”

Rajesh’s father, Arun, looked up from the paper he was reading and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the loud outburst. He was a council member and still wore the long-tailed jacket that signified his position.

“Is what true?”

“The reports from the upper levels. Did they really see a bird outside the Dome?” The boy’s eyes sparkled with wonder at the mere thought of it.

“You shouldn’t spread such rumors.” His father retorted flatly, returning to his paper.

“But I heard it in school today. Thomas said his brother works on the Flats and they saw a real bird outside the dome!”

Nothing like this had ever happened in either his or his father’s lifetimes, and it shocked him that his father wasn’t more excited about it.

“The stories those boys have been spreading are going to do more harm than good. No one else saw the bird, and they have no way to prove it. They could have just as easily seen a wisp of smoke or a reflection on the glass.”

“So you’re not going to do anything about it??” Rajesh balked.

“What is there to do? Risk people’s lives based on hearsay? Upset the balance of the dome and everyone’s lives in it? It’s my job to protect our people, not get their hopes up for nothing.”

Arun’s discouraging words echoed through Rajesh’s mind all evening. After dinner he lay in his bunk and stared at the doodles on the ceiling of his sleep pod.

“It’s not for nothing.” He whispered to himself.

The next day his whole school was abuzz with excitement. All his classmates had their own ideas of what might be out there, and each one was more fantastic than the last. Rajesh shared in their excitement, but was also angered by his fathers apathy over the subject.

All Rajesh had ever known was the Dome. The vast bubble of glass sat above their subterranean colony, giving them light and warmth while protecting them from the outside world. It’d been constructed generations ago as a way to escape climate change and the violent storms that ravaged the surface, but since then no one had gone outside to see what was left.

“What kind of bird was it?” His friend Layla asked.

“They said it was big and black,” Thomas answered. “I think it's called a Raven.”

“Was it fast?”

“Very fast.” Thomas nodded. “My brother said it crossed multiple meters in a split second.”

“Wow!”

Thomas was definitely enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame. Since it was his brother who’d seen the bird, he’d now become the unofficial authority on the subject.

“Are they sure it was a bird?” Rajesh asked.

“Yeah of course, it landed nearby and they said it had wings with feathers. That’s got to be a bird.” Thomas declared with confidence.

Rajesh had to admit, the story sounded legitimate. He wanted it to be true, but he also wanted to be absolutely sure if he was going to disagree with his father on such a divisive issue.

“I would love to see a bird in real life.” Layla sighed dreamily. “I bet they’re so much more beautiful than the holograms.”

The boys nodded in agreement. Their school was on Level 2, which meant the Flats were only two levels up. Only the farm workers were permitted to access the Flats, but they all knew there were holes in the system they could exploit if they timed it right. The temptation to sneak up there and take a look for themselves was irresistible.

“The eastern stairway is usually empty around lunchtime…” Thomas watched his friends’ faces to gauge their reactions.

Layla’s eyes glimmered with gleeful rebellion and she turned her grin towards Rajesh.

“Let’s do it.” He grinned back.

The cafeteria was always packed during lunch, so slipping away from school without being noticed was easy. They passed a few people in the corridor, but played it cool and luckily weren’t stopped or questioned. Layla’s family lived on Level 1, so she was able to use her ID to get them up the first stairwell. They climbed the metal steps as quietly as they could and cautiously emerged on Level 1.

Not a soul in sight, just as they had hoped.

The door to the next stairwell was unlocked, and they scrambled up the steps towards the Flats. It was such a rush to climb the stairs knowing something so amazing and forbidden lay just up ahead. Rajesh usually wasn’t much of a rule breaker, but this was an exception. This was a question that demanded to be answered. A mystery that deserved to be solved.

They emerged from the stairwell with baited breath and stared in awe at the fields suspended all around them. The Flats were large hydroponic platforms built out at ground level. They got the bulk of the sunshine and produced food for the entire colony.

The three teenagers edged their way along the edge of the platform and made their way towards the imposing glass wall. It was so much bigger than Rajesh had ever imagined. The Dome towered above them and amplified the light that filtered through. It must have been at least ten degrees warmer on the Flats than it ever was on the lower levels.

The closer they got to the Dome’s surface, the more impressively it loomed. The panes of glass must have been at least a foot thick. They approached the glossy surface and peered through to see the mysterious world beyond.

Rajesh was shocked by what he saw. It was a wide open space far greener than he’d ever imagined, stretching out as far as the eye could see. The pictures of the surface they’d studied in school were always dry and barren or filled with toxic waste. This landscape was covered in grass and filled with all sorts of trees, bushes, and flowers. It took his breath away.

“It’s beautiful.” Layla whispered.

“I’ve never seen so much green in my whole life.” Rajesh gawked.

“It’s amazing.” Thomas agreed.

They lingered for as long as they dared, and then scurried back down before they were missed at school. There would be hell to pay if they were caught ditching school, and Rajesh could only imagine how much worse it would be if they were caught on an unauthorized level. But no matter how bad the consequences were, he knew deep in his gut that it was worth it.

Thankfully there were no consequences. No one noticed their absence, and they were able to slip back into school just in time for their next classes. But what they had seen up above wasn’t going to leave their minds any time soon.

Rajesh daydreamed his way through the rest of the day, imagining what other wonders must lay just beyond the limits of the Dome. Suddenly every slide and every hologram he’d ever seen in school became an actual possibility. Life inside the Dome couldn’t possibly compare to the adventures that waited outside. He had to go see it for himself, but he knew there was no way his father would ever allow it.

“I want to go up again.” He conspired with Thomas and Layla the next day.

Thomas nodded. “We need another look. There’s got to be so much more out there.”

“I don’t just want to look at it again,” Rajesh clarified. “I want to see it for myself.”

Thomas and Layla paused and stared at him as they processed what that would mean.

“I want to go outside.”

Just saying it outloud gave Rajesh a rush. That made it real. It might be crazy and get him into a world of trouble, but he meant it. He’d spent his entire life confined underground, and that was all the Dome would ever allow him to do. Now that he knew what else there was, he knew he would never be satisfied by staying put. He needed to take the chance to go outside even if it was the last thing he ever did.

“I’ll come with you.” Thomas’s normal goofy smile had been replaced by a serious intensity.

“It’ll probably be dangerous.” Rajesh warned.

“I know, but you’re right. We need to go see for ourselves. If you’re going, I’m going with you.”

They both looked over at Layla, who had fallen silent and was deep in thought.

“You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to.” Rajesh assured her.

“Don’t be silly, of course I’m coming!” She snapped. “I’m just trying to think of the best way to do it.”

Layla’s grandfather had been one of the engineers who worked on the original Dome design. Her father was on the council with Rajesh’s and she knew just as much about the system as he did, if not more. If anyone could come up with a viable plan, she could.

“All the access ports are sealed and locked, and only the council has the power to open them.” She explained.

“Well that’s a problem.” Thomas scowled pensively. “How do we get the codes?”

“I think I might have a solution.” She smiled sneakily. “Meet me at the Level 1 stairwell first thing in the morning.”

The morning could not come soon enough. Rajesh got up early and put on his thickest jacket and sturdiest boots. He didn’t know what he would find out there, but he wanted to be at least as prepared as he could be.

The morning was quiet and still as he crept out of the apartment and down the long corridor. The stairwell up ahead was unguarded except by two other teenagers sculling in the shadows.

They silently made their way up one stairway and then up the next. The dark corridors looked long and haunting in the faint morning light, and Rajesh wondered if he would ever see them again. For better or for worse, this was the only world he’s ever known and it was the world he was now leaving behind.

They made their way stealthily up to the Flats and inched over to one of the large metal access ports. The keypad glowed ominously, demanding a code they didn’t have. This could be the end of their grand adventure before it even begins.

“Ok Layla, what next?” Thomas asked.

Layla scooted forward and gingerly pulled at a delicate chain around her neck. At the end of the chain hung a beautifully shaped crystal heart.

“My grandpa gave me this necklace before he died.” She explained, “He said it was a promise for the future. I never knew what that meant until we came up here the other day.”

She reverently held the necklace out and revealed that the unique edges of the pendant perfectly matched an indentation just below the electronic keypad. She carefully slid the gem into the heart-shaped slot. They gasped in unison as the stone glowed a pale blue and the door mechanisms began clicking and scraping behind the panel.

This was the moment. The seal hissed as it released, and they stared at the handle. Rajesh had started this, so it only felt right for him to open it. He reached out one shaking hand, took hold of the handle, and rotated it as far as it would go. The door stuck for a moment and then released, swinging outward into the cool morning air.