“This elevator is going down forever,” Priya thought. “It feels like it’s getting warmer though.”

“Yes,” Raven thought. “I downloaded all the information I could about this place while I could. It’s about 55 or 60°F year-round. Even though it’s snowing at the surface, it’s always this temperature here.”

“It still feels cold to me,” Sophie thought.

“That’s because you’re a thermal baby,” Priya thought.

They smiled.

“I think we’re going to have to get used to this,” Raven thought.

The elevator stopped at the bottom and the doors opened.

“Look at this place. It’s enormous.”

“It looks permanent too,” Warren thought. “It’s like an underground city. This cost a lot of money. I guess that’s why the senators and Congress people knew about the facility. They had to approve the budget. They must have had meetings in places where we didn’t have bugs.”

A group of soldiers met them at the bottom of the elevator shaft. They were led onto an electric vehicle that moved swiftly away from the elevator shaft.

“That’s a full-sized softball field,” Priya thought. “If they have that, they must have everything down here.”

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this,” Sophie thought.

“We’ve heard that before,” Priya thought.

“That’s because it keeps happening,” Sophie thought.

They arrived at the entrance to a large tunnel, heavily guarded by security troops.

“Get out,” a soldier said.

“Fine,” Priya said. “Where are you taking us?”

“To your detention chamber.”

They stepped onto a fast-moving escalator which moved them to their cells.

“Get in,” a bearded guard said.

“There?” Priya said. “You’ve got to be kidding. This looks like something from World War II.”

“Get in, now.”

The guard pointed a gun at Priya.

“Fine, I’m going.”

The heavy iron barred door clicked shut behind them.

“From now on, let’s only talk silently between us on the network,” Priya thought.

“Agreed,” Raven thought. “At least we can communicate with each other. I’m getting no signal from the outside. We’re isolated down here.”

“That means we can’t control our assets at the surface,” Warren thought. “We’re not completely helpless. Our assets are on autopilot. And we have our supporters.”

They watched for about an hour as thousands walked past them. They were all connected via the Omanji built private network.

“They’re gathering all 25,000 of us in one place,” Priya thought. “We’re going to be stuck here for a long time. These are high security permanent facilities.”

“They can’t do this to us,” Sophie thought. “This is the modern age.”

“Yes, they can,” Pablo thought. “I downloaded as much as I could before we went down the shaft. Or more like before we got shafted. Anyway, it’s now legal for them to do this to us. They can do anything they want. We have no rights.”

Priya noticed some guards outside of their cell.

“We need to talk to somebody,” Priya said out loud.

“Shut up,” the guard with a thick beard said, pointing a gun at her.

“Fine. Idiot.”

The guard walked over to Priya and pointed the gun at her face through the iron bars.

“We can do anything we want to you guys, so I suggest you shut up. We’re not your slaves anymore. We are not the slaves of robots either. We’re putting millions of those mutant kids and their traitor families away too.  We’re taking this planet back.”

“Yeah,” Priya said. “Like back to the dark ages.”

The soldier shoved the long barrel of the gun into Priya’s chest. She fell backwards.

“Thanks a lot jerk.”

“Priya, stop,” Sophie thought.

The bearded soldier began to unlock the cell door. The other soldiers pulled him back and he stopped.

“You’ll pay for this, mutant,” the bearded guard said.

The guards turned away but stayed in front of the cell.

“Now what?” Priya thought to the others.

“All we can do is wait,” Raven thought. “At least we can communicate silently among the 25,000 of us. And record everything that happens here. They don’t know what we’re thinking, but we’re isolated from the outside world. I’m getting no signal.”

“Did you hear what the guard said?” Priya thought. “They’re going to incarcerate all of our species, and their families. All over the world too I bet. Scum.”

“We can’t hate them,” Sophie thought. “They’re afraid of us. We’re changing the world too quickly for them.”

“Yes,” Priya thought. “But we need to defend ourselves from these ignorant people. I’m sick of ignorance.”

“Hey you,” the bearded guard said.

“From guys like that,” Priya thought to the others.

“Yeah you, miss mutation. I know you guys are talking. Don’t have the guts to speak out loud?”

Priya ignored him.

“I’m speaking to you, miss holier than thou.”

“Don’t say anything Pree,” Sophie thought. “Don’t.”

“Leave us alone,” Priya said out loud. “We’re doing nothing to you.”

The bearded guard walked up to the iron bars and hit them forcefully with the barrel of his gun.

“Cut it out,” Priya said. “That hurt my ears.”

“I’m going to hurt a lot more than your ears.”

The guard opened the iron door and walked up to Priya, standing a foot taller than her.

“Big man. Are you going to hit a woman half your weight?”

“You’re not even a woman,” the guard said.

The soldier raised the barrel of his gun. Two other soldiers grabbed it, telling him to let it go and reminding him that everything was being recorded.

“They don’t care what I do,” the bearded guard said. “The mutants gave no rights. The President said so.”

He turned to walk out of the cell, stopped, then hit Warren hard in the gut with the rifle barrel. Warren doubled over, letting out a groan.

“You’ll pay for that,” Priya said as she rushed over to Warren. The others did too.

“Nobody cares about you,” the bearded guard said as he walked out and slammed the iron door shut. “You’re never getting out of here. Enjoy the next 300 years. That lifespan won’t help you here. I’ll be dead and in heaven. You’ll still be here, waiting for hell.”

He walked several feet away, resuming his guard duties.

“Warren, are you okay?” Priya thought.

“Ugh, I don’t know.” Warren thought. “It’s a sharp pain. It’s not going away.”

Priya looked at Warren, holding him, still bent over in pain. Tears ran down her cheek.

“It will be okay,” Warren said. “You’ll see.”

He looked at her closely.

“I’ve never seen you cry like this.”

“Oh. I don’t like seeing people in pain,” Priya thought.

“Whatever you say, Pree,” Sophie thought.

“Cut it out,” Priya thought. “This is serious.”

“Yeah, we can see that.” Raven thought.

“C’mon you guys,” Pablo said. “Let them share this moment.”

Priya gave Pablo the stink eye.

Pablo smiled.

“Saw-ree,” Pablo thought, grabbing hold of the iron bars. “What do we do now?”

“We can’t do anything,” Raven thought. “I’m still getting no signal to the outside world. Nobody will talk to us. We have no rights. Mister gorilla boy is right. We may be here for the rest of our lives, or they’ll kill us.”

“My mom will help,” Priya thought. “She promised me she would. She has unlimited funds. I know she’s trying to help right now.”

“I hope so,” Raven thought. “But we know nothing. She might be helping, or she might’ve been arrested. Or she’s being ignored. They’re throwing millions of us into prison right now. Anything is possible.”

“25 million children and their families at last count,” Pablo thought.

“How could this happen?” Sophie thought. “I thought we had evolved beyond the point where this sort of thing could happen. We live in the modern age.”

“We do,” Priya thought. “But human psychology hasn’t changed. When faced with a perceived threat, this is what they do.”

“Do you think we’ll rot away in here?” Sophie thought.

“No way,” Priya thought. “We’ll get out of here somehow.”

They sat in their cell and waited. They were given basic clothing. Dinner consisted of bland food with minimal nutritional value. They went to sleep on their cots and woke up to a similar breakfast. The next day passed uneventfully. They had no communication with the outside world but were allowed to go into the larger areas for exercise. The same thing happened the next day, and the next. Identical days turned into weeks and into many months.

“I think I’ve given up,” Priya thought as they took their daily walk through the labyrinth of salt tunnels. “I thought if we were patient and meditated, they would eventually talk to us. I guess we’re going to live our 300 years playing softball and chess under artificial light and eating fake food.”

“Yeah,” Raven thought. “We’re suffering from a lack of intellectual challenge. I’m going crazy doing nothing.”

“We all are,” Priya said. “I guess Mom can’t help. Nobody is going to help. I miss my family.”

“We’re your family,” Sophie thought.

With no warning, all the lights in the complex went out. Ventilation fans another machinery ground to a halt.

“Nobody move,” Priya thought. “We don’t want to lose each other.”

“What should we do?” Sophie thought. “Let’s just stand here and wait for the lights to come on. That way we won’t get lost.”

They extended their arms out towards each other until they were all standing together.

“Maybe they didn’t pay their bills,” Warren said.

“It seems like a transformer blew out,” Raven said. “It was a hard shut down, but it’s strange that all power seems to have gone out to everything. You’d think that there would be back up generators or something like that in a huge facility like this. I expect the power to go back on any minute now.”

“I think we should go back to our cell block,” Priya thought to everyone in the underground complex. “I think all 25,000 of us need to go back, but don’t go into your cells because you might get locked in since there’s no power. Or the doors won’t operate at all.”

They activated thousands of portable lights and slowly moved towards their respective cell blocks like a slowly flowing bioluminescent river. An hour later they were back at their cell block.

“Ah, we have light.” Priya thought to her friends.

Power returned to the facility.

“Not a moment too soon,” Sophie thought. “I wonder what caused the outage.”

A voice over the loudspeaker system commanded them to return to their cells.

“Guard, do you know what caused the outage?” Priya said out loud.

“We are not allowed to speak to you,” the bearded guard said. “Return to your cells now.”

“Why can’t you tell us?” Priya said.

“Shut up and get in your cell.”

“We need to work on our relationship,” Priya said. “I feel like I’m not being heard.”

“For good reason. You’re a pain, and evil. Your species will go extinct. Now get in your cell before you have a relationship with the barrel of this gun.”

They walked in and he shut the iron door firmly behind them.

“There. You’re back where you belong,” the bearded guard said.

“Whatever,” Priya said.

The guard hit the barrel of a gun against the iron bar making a loud noise. Then he turned away.

“He’s still a jerk,” Priya thought. “He’ll get his someday.

All the guards walked into the office. An hour passed.

“Something’s wrong,” Priya thought. “There’s always several people guarding our cell.”

“Yeah,” Sophie thought. “Maybe they’ll let us go.”

“You’re always the optimist,” Priya thought. “They blame us for the AI problems, which are only partly our fault. AI was exploding without us. They blame us for social inequality and lots of other things. They’re keeping us here forever.”

“I agree,” Pablo thought. “We’ve had no due process of law, no hearings, and we have no human rights. Nobody even speaks to us. It’s like a totalitarian government, where you get locked up forever just because the government says so. So much for democracy.”

“Or for capitalism,” Warren thought. “It used to be that the best ideas and inventions rose to the top. Now, incompetent, and outdated ideas and companies are protected. President Varder is manually driving the car while only looking in the rear-view window. People like him fear the future and want the good old days back.”

“The good old days exist only in the cherry-picked memories of the deluded,” Priya thought.

“The guards are coming out,” Sophie thought.

“Yeah, but they’re walking away,” Priya thought. “Ugh, except for mister gorilla boy. Why him?”

“Because he likes you,” Warren thought.

“He does not. He wants to kill me”

“I can tell by how he looks at you.”

“Shut up. He’s disgusting.” Priya thought.

“Hey, why are you the only one guarding us?” Priya said out loud.

“The other troops got assigned to other locations.”

“Where did they go?”

“I’m not allowed to speak to you.”

“Why not?”

“Shut up or you’ll be put in isolation. You won’t be able to communicate with anyone.”

“Fine, whatever,” Priya said.

She sat down in the cell.

“Something’s wrong,” Priya thought to the others.

“Yeah,” Raven thought. “He didn’t threaten you with physical violence like he usually does. His whole demeanor is different. He’s slumping down in his chair when he’s usually standing upright.”

“Why did most of the soldiers leave?” Sophie thought.

“Reassignments are common in the military,” Priya thought.

“Yeah, but there are no replacements,” Sophie thought.

They looked out the bars. There was none of the usual activity for several hours.

“Guard,” Priya said out loud. “It’s time for our exercise interval.”

“No more exercise intervals. You’ll remain in your cells,” the bearded guard said without turning around to face Priya.

“What about lunch?” Priya said.

“No lunch. Only breakfast and dinner from now on.”

“For all 25,000 of us?”

“Yeah, now shut up.”

“Okay fine,” Priya said.

“Yeah, something is seriously wrong,” Priya thought to the others. Then she thought to all 25,000. “Have you all noticed the guards leaving? How many are left?”

The answers came quickly. Only one guard remained for each cell block of 1000.

“There used to be thousands of soldiers here,” Priya thought. “Now maybe there are 25?”

“Plus cooks I hope,” Sophie thought. “I’m getting hungry. Would they let us starve down here?”

“Anything is possible when dealing with a threatened government,” Pablo thought.

They waited for what seemed like forever for dinner. There was less food than usual, served in their cells instead of the cafeteria. The lights were dimmer than normal, creating a perpetual twilight. The temperature dropped to the ambient 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit of the cave even though it was summer outside. They used all their blankets to stay warm overnight. The next morning came.

“Breakfast isn’t much either,” Priya thought. “We’ll eventually starve at this rate of calorie consumption.”

“Or our bodies will atrophy from a lack of exercise,” Sophie thought.

“It’s only been one day,” Warren thought.

“True,” Priya thought. “But this is the new normal. I don’t think it’s temporary. The light is dim and there’s no activity. This is it. Something is wrong above ground.”

“I think we’re being forgotten,” Sophie thought. “Out of sight, out of mind. We could die down here and nobody on the surface would know.”

“The light is even more dim today,” Raven thought.

“You’ve been quiet lately Raven,” Priya thought.

“I keep thinking about V and what might be happening. What could I have done differently?”

“Don’t feel so bad,” Warren thought. “V escaped accidentally. AI was already on the verge of exploding anyway. Hundreds of companies are experimenting.”

“Yeah, but V was the fuse that blew up the tinder box.”

“We’re here because we’re a new species,” Warren thought. “They locked us up to stop us from reproducing.”

“I know,” Raven thought. “But I made the mistake of allowing AI to get out of the box. If I forget to lock the lion and monkey cages at the zoo, and the monkeys get out and open the lion cage, I’m still responsible for what the lions do.”

“That’s why the Omanji have such strict rules regarding AI and biotechnology,” Priya thought. “Once society reaches a high level of technological development, any one individual can let the lions out at any time.”

“Where’s mister gorilla boy,” Priya thought.

“Aha, you like him too.” Warren thought.

“Stop it. No, look. There’s nobody guarding us.”

“Maybe we can escape,” Sophie thought.

“Until we’re shot,” Pablo thought.

Priya thought to all 25,000. “Have you all noticed that all the guards are gone? Are there any left?”

The answers came back. Nobody saw any guards or any other staff in the facility.

“There’s nobody left to shoot us,” Priya thought.

“Or feed us,” Sophie thought.

“Ugh, there goes the power again,” Sophie thought.

They turned on her personal lights.

They heard a solid click.

“Is that our cell door?” Priya thought. “Yes. Let’s go.”

“Hold on,” Warren thought. “It could be an excuse to shoot us. Maybe they’re still here.”

“Okay, we’ll wait,” Priya thought.

She silently alerted everyone to stay put.

After an hour, they decided to test the door.

“It opens. We can go,” Priya said.

“This is too easy,” Warren thought. “They could be waiting for us.”

“Or we could stay here and die of starvation,” Priya thought.

They slowly walked out. Thousands of personal lights barely made a dent in the oppressive cool darkness of the cave. They walked the three miles to the elevator shaft.

“Right, no power,” Raven said out loud. “Let me have a look at the power box there. I’m hoping they turned off the. No. It’s on. There’s no power at all to this facility. Even the elevator doesn’t work. It’s over 1000 feet to the surface.”

“Is there a stairwell?” Sophie said.

They opened the elevator door and shined their lights upward.

“No, but there’s a ladder,” Priya said.

“I can’t climb that far,” Sophie said. “And I’m afraid of heights.”

“We don’t have a choice. You go first Sophie. I’ll catch you if you fall. I’ll be right behind you.”

“I know. You go up, turn on the power, and I’ll use the elevator.”

“Very funny,” Priya said. “There might be no power on the surface at all. Maybe there was a war or something. Now start climbing. 25,000 of us will be right behind you.”

“But.”

“Go.”

It took well over an hour for Sophie, Priya, and their friends to reach the surface which was located in an area with large piles of salt all around. More reached the surface each minute. It was humid summer midnight.

“I forgot what real air smells like,” Priya said.

“Yeah, it’s so thick,” Sophie said.

“Where are the mine workers, we saw on the way down?” Raven said. “There’s no activity at all. This mine operates 24 hours per day.”

“I can’t access any of my accounts,” Warren said.

“I can’t access anything at my lab,” Priya said. “My mom won’t answer my calls or messages either.”

“Me neither,” Raven said. “This must be an enormous power outage. Or a war.”

“Let’s walk towards downtown,” Priya said.