The Geodomes: Echo

Helena sat on the floor, staring at her hands on the tile. Her ears were ringing and she was breathing too heavily, her heart hammering in her chest.

She felt hands on her, lifting her, but she didn't care. She was carried out a door and set down on another walkway out in the dome exterior.

"Hey! HEY!" A male voice yelled.

He looked up at him and his dark eyes, dark face and full lips.

"Wake the fuck up! Didn't you hear it? You could have died!"

"Everyone is dead," she said numbly, her knees giving way again.

"Fuck this bitch," the boy said, walking away.

A girl came and lifted Helena's face to hers. "I will walk with you, ok?" she said with a fake smile. "Let's go." She pulled Helena off the ground and they started walking.

"You got her?" a young man asked, moving close, looking over the tall girl like he liked what he saw.

"Yeah, she's just shellshocked or something. PTSD maybe? I don't know. Something."

"I can help if you need me to," the boy offered her. "I'm Kyle."

"Dana."

"You don't look local, Dana?"

"I'm not, not really. Just moved here from Washington."

"Wow, like as far from Florida as you can get and still be mainland. What's her name?"

"Dunno. Hey? What's your name?" Dana asked Helena.

"Hell."

The boy laughed. "It's not that bad here."

"My name is Hell. Helena, but my friends call me Hell."

"Righteous. That's badass as fuck. You don't look local either, Hell," Kyle offered.

"I am. I just hate the sun and the beach."

"How do you hate the sun?" Dana asked, mostly talking to Kyle. "You think you can walk, Helena?"

"Just Hell. Yeah." Helena pulled away from the girl and stumbled and staggered after the two people flirting in front of her.

Another girl fell back and hooked arms with her. "Hey," she offered softly. "I'm Libby. Helena Chadwick, right?"

"Yeah?" Helena answered, confused. "Do I know you?"

"Oh, no! No, I watched all the interviews. Boned up. Most of us are all like, you know, online or social influencers of some sort. Not you though. I thought this was a whole media thing, so I couldn't figure out why you. I mean, you're super cute, but zero online presence, you know?" She left the comment lingering, but Helena stared ahead at Dana's back.

She was still seeing the scorched earth from the video they had been shown. Was everyone really dead?

"So, anyway, I kinda looked into you. Never met a child prodigy before. What was it like? Growing up like that? Graduating highschool at thirteen? You have a college degree! A masters. How do you even do that at our age?"

"So that's why you're so pale," Kyle said teasingly, looking back over his shoulder. Him and Dana were arm in arm now. "So how old are you?"

"She's 18, like all of us. Just really smart," Libby answered, looking down shyly as Kyle looked her over. Kyle turned away, disinterested. Libby was no more attractive than Helena was, at least in his eyes. His type was on his arm. Leggy blonde with a dark tan and smiling blue eyes.

Libby was only slightly taller than Helena and both were waify with minimal curves. Nothing like the girl on his arm.

Libby rolled her eyes and pushed her bleached orange hair out of her eyes before turning back to Helena. "Anyway, I'm a gamer mostly. I actually know a couple of these guys from online. Do you know anyone here?"

"No," Helena answered with a sigh as they entered another building.

The feminine electronic voice started in again and Helena immediately started to tune it out as she slumped into a couch next to Libby.

It couldn't be real, of course. None of it. It was some publicity stunt and they were all being recorded. The electronic voice snagged her attention.

"Welcome to your temporary home. Please, make yourselves comfortable. To the west are the dorms where you will each find a room specially designed for you and your needs. To the east are the rooms with your amenities. To the north is the kitchen and the door leading to the outer buildings. For now you will be staying here until you have chosen your partners, gotten a feel for your jobs and have elected a leader.

Let's go ahead and start. Mike Zimmer, please step to the front. This is Zim and he will be your medic. The medbay is located in the east wing, first door on the right. He will be working closely with Laurel, Denise and Michael.

Ryan Everett, please step to the front. This is Mount Never-rest and he will be in charge of raising the livestock. He will work closely with Michael, Lee, Chrissy and Dana. The barn is located to the north of the kitchen and will be open after this exercise has concluded.

Austin Tomlinson, please step to the front. This is Austin and he will be in charge of all woodworking. That includes felling trees, making furniture or other small wooden devices. Austin will be working closely with David and Jae. The woodshop is opposite the barn to the north.

Dominique Taylor, please step to the front. This is Que-tay and she will be in charge of pottery, including gathering clay and making bowls, mortar and other needed objects. Que-tay will be working closely with Detroit and David. The arts room is in the east wing, past the medbay.

Kyle Lewis, please step to the front. This is Klew-less and he will be working with electronics and general repairs to the facility as needed. The repair shop is in the east wing, first door on the left.

Laurel Elliott, please step to the front. This is Laura and she will be midwife to the many babies born in the dome. Laura will be working closely with Denise, Mike and Michael. Laura will be working in the medbay.

Detroit Jackson, please step to the front. This is Downtown Detroit and he will be working in masonry. Downtown Detroit will be working closely with Dominique, Helena and David. The masonry is located next to the woodshop and the blacksmithy.

Emma Kroenig, please step to the front. This is Emmaculatte and she will be the seamstress. Emmaculatte will work closely with Brooklyn and Chrissy. The design studio is in the east wing, the last room on the left after the swimming pool.

Jae Proulx, please step to the front. This is ProProulx and he is the blacksmith. ProProulx will be working closely with Detroit, Austin, David and Helena. The blacksmithy is located next to the woodshop, across from the barn.

Libby Maniford, please step to the front. This is Libertine813 and she is the beekeeper. Libertine813 will be working closely with Denise, Chrissy and Dana. The bees are kept to the south of the living complex, within sight of the barn.

David McGovern, please step to the front. This is TheGovernor and he is the carpenter. He will be building larger structures and additions as needed. TheGovernor will be working closely with Detroit, Austin, Jae and Helena. The woodshop is located next to the blacksmithy across from the barn.

Chrissy Stevenson, please step to the front. This is Stevie4Christ and she will be in charge of all of the crops, plants, trees and herbs. Stevie4Christ will be working closely with Ryan, Denise, Libby, and Dana. Stevie4Christ will be working from a plot map in her quarters.

Helena Chadwick, please step to the front. This is Hell and she is our site engineer. She will be drawing up plans for any structures needed within the dome, or large scale repairs needed. Hell will be working closely with Detroit and David. The drafting room adjoins the electronics room in the east wing.

Michael Cooper, please step to the front. This is Coop and he is the veterinarian. Coop will be working closely with Laurel, Ryan, Lee, Chrissy and Brooklyn. The Vet office is a wing within the barn.

Lee Richards, please step to the front. This is Blue and he is the butcher. Blue will be working closely with Ryan, and Dana. Blue will be working in the kitchen.

Dana Ferris, please step to the front. This is Ferris4Ever and she will be the chef. Ferris4Ever will work closely with Lee, Libby, Chrissy and Ryan. Ferris4Ever will be working in the kitchen.

Brooklyn Jester, please step to the front. This is JesterInCourt and she will be working with leathercrafting. JesterInCourt will be working closely with Michael, Emma, Ryan and Lee. JesterInCourt will be working in the design studio.

Denise Asmith, please step to the front. This is AsmithandWesson and she is an herbalist. AsmithandWesson will be working closely with Michael, Laurel, Mike, Libby, Chrissy and Dana. AsmithandWesson will be assigned to the medbay and the adjoining alchemy lab.

There are some jobs with ample idle times and they can be recruited and trained to help those who have a large workload. This includes, but is not limited to: Ryan, David, Chrissy and Detroit. All guests with idle time will be required to work when they are assigned a temporary duty. Only three guests may not be assigned temporary duty. Mike Zimmer must be available for the medbay at all times in case of emergency. Ryan will never have downtime. Chrissy will never have downtime.

Now that you have all been introduced and assigned your jobs, you may see your rooms. You were each given a number on your invitation and your room number corresponds to your assigned number. Girls on the left, boys on the right on the west bay."

They all looked at each other, still in shock, but some seemed more starstruck.

"YOU are Emmaculatte?"

"I can't believe I am stuck in here with THE Klew-less!"

"Wow, MountNever-rest, you look nothing like your TikToks!"

"Yeah," the boy answered, hunched in on himself and looking down. "Filters and shit."

"I really thought you would be taller!" the girl pressed, pulling him to stand up so that she could compare herself to him. She was taller and he looked away, turning red.

"I am going to find my room," he said quietly.

Helena watched him go. He wasn't the only one who wasn't enthusiastic about having their online ID outed.

"The whole point of playing under a name like that is so assholes don't know I'm a girl!" The girl threw herself down on the couch next to Libby.

"Don't they hear you when you talk?" Libby asked her.

"Yeah, but listen to me? You can't tell and I go a little deep, you know? I think I've played with you before on Overwatch, right? You're always D.Va, right?"

"Yeah! Sorry, I don't remember you, I play a lot of ranked."

"Me too, but I remember the name because it's my area code too. Was, I guess. Hey. Hell, huh? You play?"

"No," Helena answered softly.

"I'm Denise. I hope no one tries to actually call me AsmithandWesson, that would be stupid as fuck. When they asked about nicknames and screen names, I had no idea they would offer it up to everyone, I mean they were thorough as fuck with the questions, right? Anyway. You seriously an engineer or did you just get stuck with that? I mean, it's easy as fuck to be an herbalist, right? Just grow some ditch weed and boom. Not that my shit is ditch weed, you catch me?"

Helena stared at her, wondering why she was babbling. She ignored the comment and went straight to the important question. "Is all of this real?"

Libby and Denise both looked at her and they both looked a little concerned. "Of course not," Denise said, giving her a cajoling smile.

"We all know it's publicity," Libby agreed. "We are probably on a live feed right now, our whole families watching us."

"Hi mom! His dad!" Denise yelled, waving at the ceiling.

That spurred a lot more of the same, everyone laughing and yelling at the ceiling, saying hello to people watching. Some of them were giving out their snapchats and instagrams and telling everyone to watch later after they got their phones back. Everyone got louder and louder, laughing and joking and talking. Helena slipped away to her room, going down the dark hallway until she found hers. She went in quietly, looking around at the dark gray room with red trim. She looked around, found her bag in the closet and opened it up, looking for her phone. It wasn't in there. Not her phone, her laptop, anything. Just her clothes. She laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Is this all a prank?" she asked the ceiling and any cameras that were watching. "If it is, you people suck. All of you. Especially if you are out there watching us suffer." She turned to her side and pulled the blankets up, shivering with both emotion and cold.

She laid there for more than an hour, when the electronic voice spoke. "Everyone is asked to meet in the living room."

She sighed, debating. Finally, she got up, grabbing a sweater from her bag and then going back out there. She could hear yelling down the hall and someone was crying.

"...not ok! It's not! This is horrible!" the female voice wailed.

Helena was joined by the short boy from earlier as he came out of his room. He glanced down at her, but was also pulled down the hall by the yelling and crying.

A girl was on the floor, sobbing and her shirt was open down the back with a horrifying burn on it. A tall, skinny boy with glasses was putting something on the burn gently while two other boys yelled at each other about whose fault it was and another girl was in hysterics. Libby was trying to calm the girl. Laura? Laurel? She couldn't remember her name. The girl on the floor was Chrissy, she remembered her because she was the one in charge of all of the crops and she looked like a bumpkin. Now she looked like she was in shock.

"What happened?" Short boy asked.

"This place! It shot her with electricity!" Laurel yelled.

Helena looked around the room, wondering where the shot had come from.

"Aight alla ya'll, just shut it," a boy said, stepping up. She thought his name was Blue? He had no shirt on and he was covered in tattoos. His hair was shaved close to his head and his eyebrow was edged three times. He had piercings, but they weren't the cool kind. They looked like they had been done at home. His shorts were sagging hard and the hems touched the tops of his socks and he moved his hands a lot when he talked. "Listen up. This shit is whack, yo? But it aint no fuckin game, you feel me?This shit's real, yo. Homegirl got shut right the fuck up!"

"Man, do you know how stupid you sound?" Detroit said angrily, stepping up to Blue. "Sit your crackah ass down, man!"

"You don' know me! You best step off! I know you know what this shit means, home boy," he said, showing Detroit his hand.

"Oh, you got a cap for my ass up in here? Pshh. Sit yo ass down."

"Both of you shut up!" Kyle said, stepping up. "We don't need bullshit right now! Look, for those that weren't here, that's more than half of you, Chrissy said she was leaving. She tried to go out the door we came in and that panel moved and shot her. I... I don't think this is fake. None of us can find any cameras and all of our phones and electronics are gone. All we have are these PED's Dave found in his room. We all have one, it's in your desk drawer in your room. Look at this tech," he said, pulling up a pop up display screen.

Helena moved closer, looking at it and he turned so she could see it.

"You're the engineer, right?" he asked. "Like really or were you studying?"

"Both... this is... like nothing I have ever seen. This isn't... This isn't from the states. I don't even think it's human. I would need to reverse engineer one, but..."

"Any attempts to disassemble a PED will result in punishment," the computer voice said pleasantly.

"Great," Helena said, looking back at the PED on Kyle's wrist. "Well, I won't be doing that I guess, but maybe I can glean enough information to..." she trailed off, looking for the catch mechanism. "Does it come off?"

"Once the PED is equipped, it cannot be taken off," the voice answered.

Helena looked around the room. "Is this human teck or alien tech?" she asked the voice.

"I am not programmed to discuss my origins."

"Yeah, gonna go with alien," Helena said, stepping back and looking around some more. "Do you have a name or do we just say 'computer' when we have questions?"

"You may call me Echo."

"Echo. Geodome Echo. So, all the geodomes, they have people too? Like us? They all have 18 teenagers?"

"That is correct."

"To what end?"

"Repopulating earth with a sustainable future."

Helena nodded, turning to look back at everyone. They were all looking at her with wide eyes.

"Did that bitch just say aliens?" Dominique asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Helena looked down, but nodded. "It is the most obvious answer and Occam's razor suggests?"

"The most likely is usually the correct answer," a tall boy with very prominently full lips answered.

She gave him a nod. "Extinction level event so that we can start over. I am guessing we have everything we need in this dome to last us for decades."

"There are enough supplies within the dome for three generations and more," Echo replied.

Helena nodded again. As she thought. "By then, the outside will be regrown and habitable, but I am guessing the plan is to have us switch domes so there isn't too much mixing of the bloodlines?" she asked Echo.

"That is correct. One family line will stay, the rest will leave to another dome for three more generations. At that time, the domes will be open to begin work outside the domes."

Blue moved closer to Helena. "Hey baby girl," he said quietly, leaning in. "You think you could make this thing go eyes shut? Get us out of here?"

"Any attempts to enter my system with malicious intent will result in punishment," Echo said cheerfully.

"Whispering won't help," Helena said softly, pointing to the band on his wrist. "For all we know, we have a full time live audience watching and listening to everything, just not who we originally thought they would be."

"Yeah, aight. Coo. Ok baby girl, I'll hit you up lata, aight?"

"Umm. What?" she asked, confused.

"He's tryn'a say he will talk to you later," Detroit said loudly. "You about the dumbest smart person I ever seen."

"Dude, do you even know who you are talking to?" Libby asked. "She has a Masters degree! Do you have a Masters? I didn't think so. Sit down and stop being a dick."

"It's fine," Helena said softly. "He gets one pass because he did get me out of that first room when I shut down. Detroit, I am not dumb, but I do have a disacosiative disorder. Sometimes it's hard for me to make connections between reality and what my mind is thinking. Like, if I start thinking about how much I would love for it to rain, then start thinking about what would be needed in the atmosphere for it to start raining and I start building a rain system in my mind, then I look up... It takes a second to understand why it isn't raining. There is a disconnect sometimes. As far as not knowing what he said... that wasn't english. As I am not familiar with his particular vernacular and local dialect, it's not a far stretch that I would not understand what he was saying. Hit me up. How does that translate to talking to me later? Not to mention the extreme... accent? He has."

"Yeah, that aint his accent. That's some fake ass shit he's tryna spit. He's some bored suburban white boy tryna be hard and shit."

"Bitch, ima show you hard!" Blue said, going after Detroit.

The tall man with the huge, red lips stopped him. She thought his name was David and he was the carpenter? His cheekbones and lips... he looked like he was related to the TV show character Lurch, but not as creepy and somehow cuter, despite his cartoonish lips.

Mike was finally getting Chrissy up off the floor and Laurel was helping her. Dana came around the group to stand near Helena. "Hey," she said with another fake smile. "I was thinking I should go see about making food or something? You feeling any better than you were? You think you could eat something?"

Helena looked up at the girl, trying to read her. Maybe she was wrong about the fake smile, maybe it was just her nerves, she seemed genuinely nice, though she looked like the sort of girl who had always been mean to her.