Elimination
Douglas was in good health, he made sure he exercised every day to maintain his strength. The year was 5555. The new regime of a representative from each Government of their country ruled the world, there were no wars and anyone found to be plotting was eliminated. Every person’s thought process living on Planet Earth was banked in a vast computer. It was a sort of Utopian state where the regime held all the strings.
Douglas had heard someone speaking about families and he had wondered what they were, but never thought about it again and it was the right thing to do as the person who had placed a question regarding this subject had been penalised by losing two years life expectancy. Life was short, the cut off point was fifty and Douglas had reached his forty fifth birthday and he wanted every year to be something he could relate to when he reached fifty and went in front of the committee who normally gave the sign of thumbs down to end life. No one escaped from this process, not even the elimination committee. As each approached their day, they were replaced with a person of twenty five. It was a huge responsibility and it was a difficult situation to be in if your partner was much older and when their time came, you had to go with the majority.
It was a dark existence and it took Douglas some time to realise that everyone lived underground. Life above ground had been wiped out by wars. The last war was in the year 3911 where a few hundred people had survived. No-one was given permission to visit above ground. Part of the regime sent a delegation to the earth’s surface dressed in protective clothing. Not all of them came back.
Douglas was hoping he was going to be picked by the regime to be one of the new people to be part of the delegation as it was reported that radiation had dropped below the safety level. He got his wish and was picked. He had to attend special classes, take all sorts of tablets and wasn’t allowed to go back to his living quarters. He learnt how to breath properly in the special suits which were inflated with liquid. Douglas panicked as his suit filled up but he was assured he would not drown.
He turned out to be the role model, showing his strength of character and was appointed leader of the delegation. It meant he would be the first person to step out on to the surface of the earth. If he survived, he would beckon his number two to follow. Whether the role of “Guinea Pig” was counted as bravery or just plain foolishness, he wasn’t sure. He had made up his mind a long time ago if the opportunity arose he would take the easy way out by being burnt to a cinder in less than a millisecond, rather than being placed in a box and sent into space waiting for the air to run out.
Some of the chosen delegation had to travel long distances to get to the starting point which had been allocated this time from London, England. It took a long time for the final party of people to arrive as they only had old cars that had been saved from the holocaust and were the right sort of transport as the roads were rough hewn dug, when the tunnels were built.
There were thirty of them walking along the tunnel and ahead of them were lights. They came across steps that went further down and as they walked down they heard a rush of noise and air blowing all around them and eventually they reached the bottom and turned left onto a vast concrete platform and in front of them was a very long vehicle of sorts. The doors slid open and each of the delegation got in and sat down.
The delegation felt uneasy, wondering whether this was a trap to get rid of them. They hadn’t seen this kind of transport before although Douglas had noticed a sign just above the entrance of the tunnel; The London Underground. He had only heard whispers of this place, but hadn’t thought about it in case he was penalised.
Two more people who were not dressed as them came aboard. They stood in an open space between the seating and the vehicles lights came on. The delegation was informed by the two people that shortly they were going to be transported along to the end of this line and would be near the surface. They were informed they were on a train and as soon as it stopped they were to put their suits on. A team of people would be waiting for them. The two men got off the train. It started to move and the lights went out.
The train ran smoothly but had that whining noise as the it picked up speed. Douglas got up and walked up the open space where the two men had stood and tried to peer through the windows as the train sped on its way, but it was no use, he could see nothing. it was like being in a closed shell for both sides were solid walls and there was the odd moment when they came across an open space with a platform and the walls had writing and pictures on them. Douglas had not seen the like before, although some distant memory in him stirred where he had heard of what the earth had been like before the holocaust. Douglas finding no solace looking at blank walls walked to the window where the driver should have been. There was no-one in the cabin. The door was unlocked and he entered. There was a robot at the controls. The robot’s head was jerking round in his direction and Douglas made a hasty retreat.
Robots were not a threat to the human race, but they had censors that could detect major problems and photograph anyone who might be a threat and send the photograph down the line to a computer and if the operator thought there was any danger to the system, he would press a button and fry your brain.
Douglas walked quickly back to his seat as the robot opened the communicating door and surveyed the seated committee. A whirring sound as the robot surveyed the people seated. Douglas guessed the robot was counting the people making sure no-one was missing and he wondered what would be the consequences had someone had been. Thought processors had been lifted from the thirty volunteers to test the outside world as there would be no need for them to worry about any comeback as the committee were far away from the City centre and some were not likely to return. It was one way to flush people away inwhich the authorities thought was humane and they were never short of volunteers who thought it was a way out of a dark existence.
Douglas and the rest of his team donned their white suits. They were heavy and cumbersome and somehow they felt safe and not vulnerable to anything that the outside would be able to harm them. They carried their helmets under their arms and would be told when to put them on and from that certain point the team who had greeted them would go no further.
The train began to slow down and eventually stopped and the doors slid open. Douglas, being the leader of the committee went first. It was makeshift platform with a very crude gangway of wooden slats to the foot of some concrete steps. A party of people were waiting for the group and they beckoned the committee to walk up the steps. It was a long arduous trek. Douglas tried very hard to count how many steps, although it didn’t seem important enough to do so. He was beginning to feel the strain as the suit was insulated. Douglas had read the instructions about the suit and by pressing a certain button, areas within the suit would fill with cool air. He began to feel better. He stopped to take stock and rest and make adjustments to the valve and he gave instructions to his team to do the same.
Eventually they reached another concrete platform and assembled in an orderly fashion and their escort helped them secure their helmets. Prayers were said and the escort waved them goodbye.
Douglas eyed the long passage before him and moved quickly, he wasn’t prepared to hang around. If it was going to be a sure death with no feeling he was ready. He stopped and looking round at the rest of his volunteers and visibly nodded his head. They were ready.
It was cool in the passageway which had surprised them all and they felt a gradual incline of the concrete path below their feet. The noise of some machinery was heard in the distance and Douglas had a flash memory strike his mind that the noise was associated with the coolness and not to be afraid by what they heard. He assured them that all was well.
Douglas saw a door in the passageway and he decided to stop and rest before facing the nemesis that might be beyond the door that looked heavy.
After a brief rest, Douglas with the help of four other men opened the door. It was hot, very hot, they even felt the heat through their suits and they all adjusted the valves within their suits to acclimatise themselves against the harshness of whatever it was that was beyond the open space they could all see.
It was a simple trick, but something that had not been researched enough by those who had deemed to be in charge. The heat was generated from one of the most powerful telescopes that had been launched into space but had been brought down when the world had gone mad and bombed itself out of existence. The sun’s rays had shone upon the mirror which had covered the jagged entrance to the passage. It must have fallen and crashed on that part of the underground railway system. Anyone within a certain distance from the entrance with the sun at its zenith would be fried.
The committee had forgotten to close the lead-lined door. All the committee returned which amazed their escorts and Douglas made his report back to City centre.
Another way out would have to be planned.