Lunatics

Lunatics · Chap 060 · Living on the ground

"BUT WHY not?!"

Maria felt all the hurt contained in his question.

"You have two minor sisters and a mother depending on your work here, Arturo."

Abraam looked at Maria and pursed his lips; he would not speak a word. He did not want to look responsible of burying Arturo's dream of living above. Maria almost hated him for that. She looked back at the young man standing in front of them. Maria knew he had made extra efforts to be useful to the community, never putting aside his fatherless family. Belmiro had died in one of the diggings, covered in rocks and sand.

Arturo had grown up and become a handsome, strong man. His chores related to the community's orchard have guaranteed his family's livelihood and quality harvests for years.

"The cause is more important..."

"Your family is part of Olum, but you must remember all our families already have many mouths to feed. It wouldn't be fair if I let you go and burden someone else with your mother and your siblings."

"My work in Alphaville will finance their lives here, Maria! I can live on little. Most of my earnings would be sent to the community."

Marcus's idea of infiltrated agents was good. The selection of the candidates was not easy, though.

"They would spend long without seeing you, Arturo. We might never know when a safe window would happen for you to contact us directly. Do you think Gemma and the girls would forgive me for your absence?"

Arturo's sentence felt like a stabbing.

"Your brother went out!"

The plumbing gurgled with the flow of the water collected above from the rains. Abraam kept silent. Gemma had reached them begging for Arturo's release not to happen.

"I don't want to be here, Maria!"

Maria stood up and Abraam looked at her surprised.

"Ok, Arturo, you come with me. Abrram, keep on with the interviews. I'll be right back."

Abraam shook his head and smiled lightly, calling for another candidate while Maria and Arturo left the cave they all generously called their meeting room. Maria was glad so many people were interested in being part of the integration cause. The outside world was fascinating for the younger dwellers of Olum. If they did not properly plan the infiltration, there might be serious problems with unwanted exodus in the future.

For Arturo, Maria seemed too anxious while they crossed the stone hallways of the underground community, turning into passageways he had never known existed. After some minutes of narrow alleys dimly lit, they reached a crossing. Arturo saw two endless hallways and an almost vertical slope furnished with a metallic ladder and two thick tubes possibly stuffed with wiring and water outlet plumbing. They took the ladder until reaching a rusted platform looking extremely fragile. They opened a small door with some difficulty; it had not been used for ages, it seemed.

"Impressive. Two years ago, it was brand new. I helped the crew fix it."

"I didn't know there was this exit here."

"That's good, I guess. I used to play around, crossing the tunnels during the construction of our base under São Miguel. Then I got this mania, this neurosis, of checking all possible entrances to all the nuclei we build to our communities."

Maria turned her personal communicator on to warn the control room she was about to use the Samara exit to get off with one aide. They walked through a muddy tunnel where the noises of the city above them were multiplied; they could hear the rain, the wind, the transporters, the ventilation machines, and the steps of people walking near the outer grid.