Behind the Green Door

…

Michael believes that management is an insidious organisation, run by faceless leaders.

No one knows much and no one it seems wants to dig too deep lest they get into trouble.

But …

Unlike the rest of the police/detectives who do as they are told, no one else seems to be as inquisitive. Perhaps Michael’s inquisitiveness stems from the bitter disappointment of losing his mother, ostensibly to the police/secret police who took her away and was never seen again.

it is a familiar theme, people disappearing, though those disappearances are covered by a missing persons report, where if people are missing it is generally considered the person committed suicide.

Michael doesn’t believe all of them have. Life wasn’t all that bad in their city.

No, an investigation has shown that something happened to precipitate the disappearance.

Some, once he discovered there was a pipeline to the outside world, have managed to escape. This too, could apply to those in their 60’s not wanting to obey Rule 71.

Miranda had been taken away and is now back, acting differently.

Before she was taken Michael was given an instruction to active subcode routines.

He uses the codeword and a change comes over her.

It is unsettling.

…

Word written today 1,865, making a total of 19,016 words

Behind the Green Door

…

Michael believes that management is an insidious organisation, run by faceless leaders.

No one knows much and no one it seems wants to dig too deep lest they get into trouble.

But …

Unlike the rest of the police/detectives who do as they are told, no one else seems to be as inquisitive. Perhaps Michael’s inquisitiveness stems from the bitter disappointment of losing his mother, ostensibly to the police/secret police who took her away and was never seen again.

it is a familiar theme, people disappearing, though those disappearances are covered by a missing persons report, where if people are missing it is generally considered the person committed suicide.

Michael doesn’t believe all of them have. Life wasn’t all that bad in their city.

No, an investigation has shown that something happened to precipitate the disappearance.

Some, once he discovered there was a pipeline to the outside world, have managed to escape. This too, could apply to those in their 60’s not wanting to obey Rule 71.

Miranda had been taken away and is now back, acting differently.

Before she was taken Michael was given an instruction to active subcode routines.

He uses the codeword and a change comes over her.

It is unsettling.

…

Word written today 1,865, making a total of 19,016 words

Behind the Green Door

…

So, just what is outside the underground city?

I was interested when watching shows like Silo, and Fallout, what their interpretation would be of what it was like on the outside. Fallout decided on a liveable planet after the nuclear bombs had fallen, and Silo, well, going outside meant a death sentence.

My own choice of world, suffering endless volcanic activity, ash blocking the sun and eventually killing just about everything on the planet, and then the time to come back from the catastrophe.

That might have taken less time than I’m giving it, but I guess that instability and changes in the plates, ocean streams, and climate change, could have made that unlivability last a lot longer.

But…

Whatever the consequences, like is returning to the outside world, and has been for quite a few years, and management has been keeping it to themselves.

There are enterprising people in the city who have discovered a doorway, checked it for themselves, and then set up a group that extends help to anyone who wants to go out.

This Michael discovers in an investigation into a missing woman. And two revelations, that outside is fine, he has seen it for himself, and he discovers Elsie has been going outside. He gets an offer to go, permanently, and avoid Rule 71, but he declines. If he did, he knew management would find the group and what they were doing.

He decides not to expose them.

But, there is something else going on, thefts, and this is another case with yet another investigation, one he also cannot write up in case management discovers the truth.

And two more he will have to doge and weave on when Miranda starts asking difficult questions.

…

Word written today 2,000, making a total of 17,151 words

Behind the Green Door

…

So, just what is outside the underground city?

I was interested when watching shows like Silo, and Fallout, what their interpretation would be of what it was like on the outside. Fallout decided on a liveable planet after the nuclear bombs had fallen, and Silo, well, going outside meant a death sentence.

My own choice of world, suffering endless volcanic activity, ash blocking the sun and eventually killing just about everything on the planet, and then the time to come back from the catastrophe.

That might have taken less time than I’m giving it, but I guess that instability and changes in the plates, ocean streams, and climate change, could have made that unlivability last a lot longer.

But…

Whatever the consequences, like is returning to the outside world, and has been for quite a few years, and management has been keeping it to themselves.

There are enterprising people in the city who have discovered a doorway, checked it for themselves, and then set up a group that extends help to anyone who wants to go out.

This Michael discovers in an investigation into a missing woman. And two revelations, that outside is fine, he has seen it for himself, and he discovers Elsie has been going outside. He gets an offer to go, permanently, and avoid Rule 71, but he declines. If he did, he knew management would find the group and what they were doing.

He decides not to expose them.

But, there is something else going on, thefts, and this is another case with yet another investigation, one he also cannot write up in case management discovers the truth.

And two more he will have to doge and weave on when Miranda starts asking difficult questions.

…

Word written today 2,000, making a total of 17,151 words

Behind the Green Door

…

Among the revelations Michael learned in the process of trying to find missing persons, was one that was astonishing.

People were not missing, they were going outside. That is, through a doorway out of the underground city, outside into what management was consistently telling the people was uninhabitable.

No, it was not common knowledge.

However, in his travels across the city looking for these missing people, Michael discovers there is a secret network of people who will assist anyone who wants to avoid Rule 71. He has known for some time such a network exists but was not going to formally report it, or investigate who is behind it.

Until he gets a case involving a missing person.

In fact, over the years there has been a significant number of people who seem to go missing and are never found. Not all though, because there is the odd accidental death, and very rarely, a murder.

While not familiar with the layout and structure of the underground city, and how the people originally got inside, there is always folklore and supposition about a grand archway and revolving doors, and a wall of windows where you could gaze out upon the landscape that once supported a much larger population.

And other exits dispersed around the perimeter of the structure. It was no surprise to Michael that people might have stumbled over them. He certainly believed management knew all about these entrances and exits, and had the ability to go outside to check on the status of the world.

As the investigation progresses, he finds one of the network, the fact there is an exit, and is taken outside. And, yes, the outside world is habitable, a place where those who want to leave the facility can, in a settlement some distance away.

What is more shocking is that Michael is shown photographs of another settlement, one where management go for so-called rest and relaxation, and worse still, one of those management people is Elsie, his wife.

He is offered the chance to leave and live in the settlement but he declines. Michael going missing would only rouse the suspicion of the other police and would lead to the discovery of those outside.

Nor does he want to avoid Rule 71.

But it does highlight the fact he knew very little about the woman he had married. Or more to the point, he had made a conscious decision to not want to know anything other than to be grateful she had chosen him.

Until she died.

…

Word written today 1,768, making a total of 15,151 words

Behind the Green Door

…

Among the revelations Michael learned in the process of trying to find missing persons, was one that was astonishing.

People were not missing, they were going outside. That is, through a doorway out of the underground city, outside into what management was consistently telling the people was uninhabitable.

No, it was not common knowledge.

However, in his travels across the city looking for these missing people, Michael discovers there is a secret network of people who will assist anyone who wants to avoid Rule 71. He has known for some time such a network exists but was not going to formally report it, or investigate who is behind it.

Until he gets a case involving a missing person.

In fact, over the years there has been a significant number of people who seem to go missing and are never found. Not all though, because there is the odd accidental death, and very rarely, a murder.

While not familiar with the layout and structure of the underground city, and how the people originally got inside, there is always folklore and supposition about a grand archway and revolving doors, and a wall of windows where you could gaze out upon the landscape that once supported a much larger population.

And other exits dispersed around the perimeter of the structure. It was no surprise to Michael that people might have stumbled over them. He certainly believed management knew all about these entrances and exits, and had the ability to go outside to check on the status of the world.

As the investigation progresses, he finds one of the network, the fact there is an exit, and is taken outside. And, yes, the outside world is habitable, a place where those who want to leave the facility can, in a settlement some distance away.

What is more shocking is that Michael is shown photographs of another settlement, one where management go for so-called rest and relaxation, and worse still, one of those management people is Elsie, his wife.

He is offered the chance to leave and live in the settlement but he declines. Michael going missing would only rouse the suspicion of the other police and would lead to the discovery of those outside.

Nor does he want to avoid Rule 71.

But it does highlight the fact he knew very little about the woman he had married. Or more to the point, he had made a conscious decision to not want to know anything other than to be grateful she had chosen him.

Until she died.

…

Word written today 1,768, making a total of 15,151 words

Behind the Green Door

…

I did say this story is an amalgam of many other stories, with my own slant on everything. Until you reach the point where there needs to be some clarification about how this facility, or underground city, has survived for nearly 200 years.

How many generations is that?

So, if we stagger the ages of the initial inductees from 1 through to 45, over 25,000 specially selected people across the whole spectrum of occupations, and consider these vocations are needed into the future, and for when they can finally emerge back outside, hoping there will be an equal number of males and females, that a pandemic doesn’t hit and decimate the population…

I’m glad this is a work of fiction, because trying to master all of those variables would be nigh on impossible. But it does pose an interesting question if we had to suddenly abandon the outside because of a nuclear war.

So having sidetracked myself it’s time to go back to the story.

Miranda has been reset, yes she is a robot, a very lifelike one at that, and Michael uses Elsie’s name, and it basically causes Miranda to sound like Elsie and reinstate all of her memories.

Michael knows that it wouldn’t be difficult to mimic her voice, nor would it be hard to know everything about her, but he does think it is in poor taste and an indication of how low management would go to get answers to questions relating to his cases.

Perhaps if he had been more forthcoming in the case reports this might not be an issue had the things he had learned were not so contentious.

…

Word written today 1,426, making a total of 13.383 words

Behind the Green Door

…

I did say this story is an amalgam of many other stories, with my own slant on everything. Until you reach the point where there needs to be some clarification about how this facility, or underground city, has survived for nearly 200 years.

How many generations is that?

So, if we stagger the ages of the initial inductees from 1 through to 45, over 25,000 specially selected people across the whole spectrum of occupations, and consider these vocations are needed into the future, and for when they can finally emerge back outside, hoping there will be an equal number of males and females, that a pandemic doesn’t hit and decimate the population…

I’m glad this is a work of fiction, because trying to master all of those variables would be nigh on impossible. But it does pose an interesting question if we had to suddenly abandon the outside because of a nuclear war.

So having sidetracked myself it’s time to go back to the story.

Miranda has been reset, yes she is a robot, a very lifelike one at that, and Michael uses Elsie’s name, and it basically causes Miranda to sound like Elsie and reinstate all of her memories.

Michael knows that it wouldn’t be difficult to mimic her voice, nor would it be hard to know everything about her, but he does think it is in poor taste and an indication of how low management would go to get answers to questions relating to his cases.

Perhaps if he had been more forthcoming in the case reports this might not be an issue had the things he had learned were not so contentious.

…

Word written today 1,426, making a total of 13.383 words

Behind the Green Door

…

In what seems to be a malfunction, Miranda takes Michael to what appears to be a spot where there is no surveillance and tells him that she has another program in her computer core that can only be activated by Michael using Elsie’s name.

Michael believes this is a trap set by management, but to what purpose?

Before he can, what appears to be secret police and a technician arrive, but Miranda has shut down. He is taken back to his bungalow where he is met by a man named Pendleton.

A man who is much older than the 65-year limit.

Michael knows this is one of the facility management team, and fully expects that he is there to take Michael to the interrogation centre where the answers he is sure management wants to know will be extracted.

He is not there for that reason. He is simply there to advise Michael to answer the questions put to him by Miranda. He admits she is a robot, and also there are shortcomings in her programming.

Another revelation, Pendleton is Elsie’s uncle. Of course, this is true, because Elsie’s mother married one of the Pendleton brothers, of which there are four. This much Elsie had told him, and that she had preferred not to stay with them, hence her seeking a husband outside the management sphere.

Did that mean that their meeting had not been a random occurrence?

Did she marry him in order to spy on his father, and him. After all, she had met him at a meeting of the Brainstrust.

Also, there is that visit by Elsie’s aunt after she died…

There are so many directions this story can go…

…

Word written today 1,831, making a total of 11,957 words

Behind the Green Door

…

In what seems to be a malfunction, Miranda takes Michael to what appears to be a spot where there is no surveillance and tells him that she has another program in her computer core that can only be activated by Michael using Elsie’s name.

Michael believes this is a trap set by management, but to what purpose?

Before he can, what appears to be secret police and a technician arrive, but Miranda has shut down. He is taken back to his bungalow where he is met by a man named Pendleton.

A man who is much older than the 65-year limit.

Michael knows this is one of the facility management team, and fully expects that he is there to take Michael to the interrogation centre where the answers he is sure management wants to know will be extracted.

He is not there for that reason. He is simply there to advise Michael to answer the questions put to him by Miranda. He admits she is a robot, and also there are shortcomings in her programming.

Another revelation, Pendleton is Elsie’s uncle. Of course, this is true, because Elsie’s mother married one of the Pendleton brothers, of which there are four. This much Elsie had told him, and that she had preferred not to stay with them, hence her seeking a husband outside the management sphere.

Did that mean that their meeting had not been a random occurrence?

Did she marry him in order to spy on his father, and him. After all, she had met him at a meeting of the Brainstrust.

Also, there is that visit by Elsie’s aunt after she died…

There are so many directions this story can go…

…

Word written today 1,831, making a total of 11,957 words