Since I met her, I was fascinated by her mind. She was a beauty too, with her shoulder length brunette hair, soft features, and her absolutely stunning eyes. They were heterochromatic, meaning her left eye was a rare and dazzling violet color, while the other had a beautiful emerald green hue.
Her name was Kaet. She graduated from the Academy early, when we were only 17, but she never left me behind. She was always learning more and more about the inner workings of our world, and always eager to help myself and others understand as well.
When I graduated two years later, she asked me to come work with her studying life on the Overworld.
-
For the past millennium, humanity has lived almost entirely underground…
In the year 1945, astronomers of the time detected that the Earth's rotation was slowing down dramatically. Over time, days and nights became longer and longer. Within 5 years, a full day had become 84 hours long. Consequentially, nights also lasted almost half a week.
Scientists theorized that if this trend continued, the Earth would end up tidally locked with the Sun. One half of the Earth would become a furnace, while the other half would become an arctic wasteland.
This caused mass panic across the globe. Crimes rates reached record highs, eventually leading most countries to mandate curfews with military intervention. The drastic changes in day to day temperature caused hurricanes, tornados, and thunderstorms to become more and more common, killing thousands each year. Scientists urged governments to fund construction of underground bunkers and transportation networks in order to preserve human life.
The United States government was the first to initiate these developments in 1951. Scientists theorized that by the year 2000 the Earth would be tidally locked to the Sun, the Altantic Ocean would begin to boil, and most of America would have become an uninhabitable desert. This hypothesis was confirmed as temperatures on the East coast of America were reaching ~120° Fahrenheit (~50° Celsius) during the 1970's.
In 1972 Canada ceded their territories via treaty to the USA, forming the Republic of Americanadia. The former people of Canada evacuated to the west coast to avoid the intense heat of the constant sunlight that a tidally locked Earth would bring.
By year 1998, the human population of Americanadian had plummeted to ~100 million. Around 80% had moved into Subterranea (the underground bunker system), while 20% remained on the Overworld as refugees. Humans on the Overworld had very little hope of survival with how frequent storms had become. Trade and communication between Americanadia and other countries ceased to be possible.
What became of the rest of humanity is currently unknown…
-
I was always more of a history buff, while Kaet excelled at science and mathematics. Her technological advancements saved many lives, and she was very well known, even though she didn't associate with a lot of people. (She was shy.)
At only 16 years old, while we were still at the Academy together, she had developed healthcare nano-robotics; machines so small they can interact with organic function on a cellular level.
She donated most of her tech to the Medic Unit in our Sector. Her nanobots were quickly reproduced, supplied, and implemented throughout the rest of Subterranea. They were able perform complex surgeries as well as fight off viruses and bacterial infections. It was life changing technology.
This was made possible largely due to the fact that her father was a part of the Counsel, the leaders of Subterranea: A group of 7 individuals who were elected based on their achievements and contributions to society. He often allowed Kaet to take time off from her schooling to work on her scientific projects, as she was already far more knowledgable than her peers.
Kaet always had a greater understanding of the fundamental forces and systems of our world, while I learned more about how things came to be through human interaction. She was more ambitious about the future, while I was always more interested in the past. Or maybe I just dwell on things too much…
I loved her.. but I don't know if she felt those feelings for me. I was too afraid to ask…
-
We met at the Academy when we were 15. I tried to approach her because I thought she was really pretty, and she was sitting alone at lunch every day. That was when I learned how feisty and focused she was…
"Hi, my name's Rayn." I said as I held out my hand.
"Don't care. Go away. I'm busy." Kaet said as she was writing out complex equations on her school tablet.
My heart sunk. "Oh.. Sorry.." I said, and walked back to sit with my friend, Coal.
"She rejected you, didn't she." Coal said with a smirk.
"Shut up." I replied, as I went back to slowly picking at my food.
"Hey, don't feel too bad. I've never seen her talk to anyone. She's basically royalty, you know." Coal said with his mouth halfway full. He always ate like he had been starving for weeks.
A few minutes later, a group of 3 jocks walked over to Kaet's table and surrounded her. Their "leader" and captain of the soccer team, Stian, was leaning over her and began trying to touch her hair. She slapped his hand away and stared at him angrily, but he just laughed and kept persisting.
I looked over at the Administrators table and saw they were being distracted by the rest of Stian's buddies. So I got up and started walking back over there.
"Yo, what are you doing Rayn? They'll kill you." Coal said. But I ignored him. I can't stand watching people be assholes.
"Leave her alone." I said, standing directly in Stian's face.
He was much bigger than me, but I wasn't weak. I had taken up boxing as my physical elective at the Academy. I knew I could probably take him in a 1v1 fight, but he had a lot more people backing him. His mother was a member of the Counsel, and he used that fact to his advantage often.
"Or what?" Stian said, unfazed. "Go sit down, orphan boy."
He shoved me to the ground as he said those words.
I quickly got up and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform with clenched fists, lifting him to where he was standing on his toes. In the corner of my eye, I saw Coal quickly stand up and start moving in our direction.
There was a sharp whistle that rang through the cafeteria causing people to cover their ears, and knowing what that meant, I let Stian go.
"Rayn, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your hands to yourself?!" Coach Kahn said angrily. He was the boxing coach, and he was somehow always there when I got into trouble.
"You're never going to make it into the Enforcement Squad if you get physical over every little thing!" Coach Kahn said.
"But sir, these guys-"
"Zip it!" Coach Kahn said, cutting me off. "I don't care what they did, come get one of the Admins. You know you're on your last strike, and I need you for the Tournament! You understand, son?"
"Yes sir." I said, reluctantly.
As I walked back to my seat, I glanced back at Kaet and caught her looking at me with a faint smile. When our eyes met she quickly shook the smile off her face and went back to looking at her calculations.
"At the end of the day…" was all I heard Stian whisper to his buddies as they walked past our lunch table. He had pointed back at Kaet with his thumb before the 3 of them looked at me with menacing smiles…