Simon breathed evenly and slow, standing in one of the many corridors of rusting metal.
Once all the passages of the hive would be tubes of metal, but rust and time have caused a few of the lower levels to degrade. Now, just maintaining the passages is possible, as they put up sturdy supports for the rock the passages are built into, while the recoverable metals of the passages are stripped away to repair the higher levels.
Luckily the levels had layers of solid bedrock between them. Solid earth made a better floor and sturdier ceiling than a thin bit of metal when it has to last for centuries. Or at least, a more cost-effective floor and ceiling.
Simon was currently in a section half-cannibalized by the Hive's ever present need for metal to repair vital parts and machinery.
Patches of the metal walls and ceiling were missing, sections of paneling torn out with only the structured bracing the panels once fit into left to support the ceiling and prevent any cave-ins.
Simon could actually see a few bars of even the support had been cut out strategically, taken away as well.
His breath plumed out before him as he shivered. The lack of paneling meant no heat preservation systems, and deep underground in the dark surrounded by rock...
Simon tried to keep moving, rubbing his biceps with his hands in an attempt to stay warm.
'I wonder if we're going to need to start manufacturing some sort of second layer of clothing? If this keeps up and more and more passages are exposed to the cold...'
Simon grinned as his imagination went to work, imagining all kinds of crazy ideas for how to use fabric to stay warm.
He'd seen coats and sweaters in some vids of the Old World, but not in reality, so he did keep in mind it would probably look similar if the Board was forced to make their own for the employs.
But hey, why can't he have some fun with the idea, right?
He entered a doorway with no door, yet another removed decades ago, and made his way across the level to the elevator, taking a few side passages to avoid the known cameras.
'Course I have no guarantee there aren't hidden ones, but hey, can only do so much...'
Simon faltered a bit in his steps as his mind began to really consider what he was doing.
'What would happen if I was caught even? Would the board punish me somehow, tell me off, do nothing? I don't even know what THEY know, what they want! They keep us here and alive, make sure things run and are kept in order and everyone does work to make sure humanity survives.'
Simon took another step, still having thoughts rage within his head. 'For all I know, the Extinction didn't even happen, and the board is keeping us all here for some fucking reason! Or maybe Emily is right about fucking colors being sentient, who the fuck knows anymore.'
Simon shook his head, more confused than ever before. 'Why am I doing this?'
That one made him stop.
Why WAS he doing this?
So things didn't line up. Why hadn't he reported it to the board?
So maybe a secret way to the surface existed, or maybe it was all just a crazy person's mind messing up the details. Why should he go check it out, investigate?
Wasn't life already simple and good?
Who cares how ruined the surface is, we're safe here.
'The Hive is safe, and I could just live here forever, happy in ignorance...'
'...ignoring the rust, the patched rubber, the slowly rising cost of certain goods as they get rarer and rarer in how much is made.'
'Ignore the outside world, the truth, and whatever may be.'
'Ignore the extinction of mankind, and stay safe in my little metal hole.'
Why not?
Simon took a step forward.
'Why?'
He took another, and another.
'Why?!'
He began to pick up speed, jogging down the metal/stone passages, filled with signs of the Hive's decay.
'Why can't I just turn away?! Why can't I leave it be? It could be hell out there, absolute hell!'
He was running, full tilt, head down as his eyes geared up and his vision went blurry.
'So why the hell am I still going there anyways?!'
He suddenly realized the elevator was there, and he was still running right into it!
Simon came to a crashing halt, turning sideways to shoulder-check the wall to finally stop as he'd realized too late.
Simon stumbled back from the impact as his shoulder stung a bit from taking the hit.
"Hah... hah... hah... pheeeew..." he bent over, hands on his knees as he heaved for air.
As his breath slowly stabilized, he tiredly swung his arm at the elevator, only for nothing to happen.
He cracked open an eye and looked, only to realize it had actual buttons, and wasn't wirelessly openable by the comm.
'When did they make the elevators use buttons?'
The news from tonight spoke once more in his head, and his mind began to churn once again.
Simon felt the need to see the surface, strong and beating in his chest.
'I can't ignore it... I just can't.'
Simon hit the button, and as he went inside his face was reflected off the dull metal of the elevator.
He looked at the helpless, wry smile on his face.
"Hell of a time to find out what kind of person you are." He spoke to himself, his own reflection.
"Y'know, it could be hell up there."
Simon almost didn't even blink when his reflection spoke back, a strange unreal-ness to everything making him just accept it.
"Yeah, I know."
"You're crazy."
Simon laughed. "Probably. But you know what any good psychopath should say before the unknown?"
The reflective pursed his lips, refusing to ask as he already knew the answer. After all, he was Simon too.
Simon smiled, teeth bared. "Give me hell. At least it'll be real, cause whatever this is? Whatever is happening here, right now? It's not real. The peace of the hive, this conversation, our sustainability-"
Simon took a deep breath. "It's all just bullshit."
The reflection stayed silent.
"So yeah. Give me hell. Give me the truth, no matter how awful, cause when I die, I'd like to at least know why."
*Ding~*
The doors slid open, and Simon stepped out, leaving his reflection behind, and walked down the corridors.
He didn't hide from the cameras, he just walked.
He came to rooms of housing, and went past the clusters and cells as he continued walking under the dark earth above.
It took 6 minutes to get to the right sector, and Simon grabbed a wheel and quickly turned it, loose as it was(it wiggled a bit in his hands just from having his weight put on it)opening one of the less-used service passages.
Simon ducked under a bunch of hanging wires behind the opening, moving through a few pitch-black passages.
He used the flashlight he'd stuck through his belt to see the way.
Simon stepped over a pipe as the flashlight's warm yellow/orange light dimly lit everything.
He and Matt had to replace the bulb, he remembered. Simon had found one that fit by taking it from a scrapped lamp that had fried it's wire. The bulb didn't actually fit the flashlight, so they'd cut away the metal of the cone surrounding the broken bulb, trading it for paper and resin.
After some interesting work, they managed to use oil and resin to create their own cone around the new bulb that was fitted in.
Simon laughed at the memory, before cutting his reverie short as he looked at the map on his comm, slowly turning around.
"It should be..."
He lowered the beam of light, and the orange-yellow circle fell on a grate on the lower part of the wall.
'Well shit. It really exists.'