Intake 22E7b
Technician Thomas Hardy had been ankles deep in his third tube of the day, his jump suit completely soaked through from being baked in this metal hell hole when the inevitable happened. A bead of sweat stung his eye and he dropped the cover plate that he had been trying to attach. He heard it fall, and fall, and fall, bouncing off the sides of the tube, through the many fans that hadn't been turned on yet and finally coming to rest some four stories below. Tech Tom pondered the piece of plastic for a moment, it was just decorative, something to cover up a minor relay and it's tiny wires. No one could see it, and the wires couldn't get wet in here...
The Bunker had been built 27 years ago to protect government officials, surgeons, people who had the means to line the right pockets, etc. from a nuclear attack. It was hoped that it would never be used of course, but it had been empty and maintained ever since. As a maintenance employee, Tech Tom had a golden ticket, he and his family were inside within minutes of the detection of warheads being launched. There were no sirens, nothing on television or radio, just a message on the selected fews' phones. No need to tell the general populace, they'd just clog the roads and then no one would live.
The long dining hall sat 1,000, or one third of the people inside so they were divided into groups of three and ate in shifts and it was time for group three.
It was surreal to hear laughter at a grim time like this, but laugh they did, Tech Tom figured they laughed for the same reason people have sex after a funeral, a reaffirmation of life, thankful to still be here instead of being among the millions dead and dying on the outside. Then Tom coughed, a little cough really, but then he noticed many quiet stifled coughs around him almost drowned out by the sounds of laughter and forks on plates. Tech Tom looked up at the shiny ventilation system...
Years ago a spider had made her home inside of Intake 22E7b, more specifically the open relay box, a nice quiet place to lay her eggs in their cocoon. This eventually caused a break in the two dollar circuit that was responsible for closing the vents on Intake 22E7b....
Intake 22E7b
Technician Thomas Hardy had been ankles deep in his third tube of the day, his jump suit completely soaked through from being baked in this metal hell hole when the inevitable happened. A bead of sweat stung his eye and he dropped the cover plate that he had been trying to attach. He heard it fall, and fall, and fall, bouncing off the sides of the tube, through the many fans that hadn't been turned on yet and finally coming to rest some four stories below. Tech Tom pondered the piece of plastic for a moment, it was just decorative, something to cover up a minor relay and it's tiny wires. No one could see it, and the wires couldn't get wet in here...
The Bunker had been built 27 years ago to protect government officials, surgeons, people who had the means to line the right pockets, etc. from a nuclear attack. It was hoped that it would never be used of course, but it had been empty and maintained ever since. As a maintenance employee, Tech Tom had a golden ticket, he and his family were inside within minutes of the detection of warheads being launched. There were no sirens, nothing on television or radio, just a message on the selected fews' phones. No need to tell the general populace, they'd just clog the roads and then no one would live.
The long dining hall sat 1,000, or one third of the people inside so they were divided into groups of three and ate in shifts and it was time for group three.
It was surreal to hear laughter at a grim time like this, but laugh they did, Tech Tom figured they laughed for the same reason people have sex after a funeral, a reaffirmation of life, thankful to still be here instead of being among the millions dead and dying on the outside. Then Tom coughed, a little cough really, but then he noticed many quiet stifled coughs around him almost drowned out by the sounds of laughter and forks on plates. Tech Tom looked up at the shiny ventilation system...
Years ago a spider had made her home inside of Intake 22E7b, more specifically the open relay box, a nice quiet place to lay her eggs in their cocoon. This eventually caused a break in the two dollar circuit that was responsible for closing the vents on Intake 22E7b....