Situated just above the civilian zone, but below the support zone, is the command center of the city's great pillar. A single floor that makes up the brain of the maintenance division. Dozens of rooms are filled with people dedicated to maintaining the dome and the city itself. Within the belly of that floor sits a single room. The most important room in the city. The Processing Center.

  Twelve people line the edges of the circular metal chamber, a thirteenth sitting in the middle. Every single inch of the walls is covered in screens, and the desks of each member are filled with lights denoting various teams doing various tasks. Hundreds of updates, questions, and problems run through the team every hour, but despite this frantic and intense pace the room is silent, the clicking of buttons and tapping of screens the only sounds aside from the breathing. In the center sits the Grand Comador, a fit man of middling age, his hair completely gray and his blue eyes cold, a deep frown on his wrinkless face.

  He swivels his chair to a skinny blond man with round glasses, "Jerco, when is that storm making contact?"

  The man named Jerco swipes his hand across the holo screen in front of him, "ETA is thirty-seven hours, Sir."

  With a grunt, the man murmurs to himself, "Roughly two days. Any news from the scout team?"

  "None, Sir."

  He taps his armrest, leaning back, "Silva, make sure all submarines are grounded. Nothing goes in or out of the city until this is over." On his other side, a brown-haired woman responds in confirmation.

  "Sion, Sir. May I ask a question?" A dark-haired man asks, not turning away from his station.

  "Granted."

  "What are you doing with your lips?"

  "Hmm?" He touches his mouth, a large frown upon them before letting out a hearty laugh, "Ah, this was something I saw Roki May doing in one of his newest films. The producer called it a frown. I thought I would try it out for a little while. I must say it is rather hard to hold." He beams at no one inpatucular.

  A female with black hair oohs with enthusiasm, "Are you talking about the Abby Stalker?"

  "Indeed I am. Roki's acting was fantastic as always. How he manages to convey such strange emotions always bewilders me." The entire room bursts into murmurs as the group excitedly talks amongst each other. Sion smiles at his team. Despite the distraction, they continue to flawlessly communicate with the field teams and report staff. I am glad every day is bliss. We might have a few hiccups every now and then, but what is life without the occasional mishap?

  The room gets quiet when Jerco reports to their leader, "Sir, dome team seven just reported a member has been swept off the dome, shall I patch them through?"

  With a nod his earpiece dings, transferring lines. An interruption now? I suppose our conversation on Roki will have to wait. There's a crackle and heavy panting floods his ear.

  "This is Comador Sion. Report."

  "Sir, this is Captain Tes. Two of my teammates have just been blown off the dome. The currents have suddenly picked up."

  Sion rubs his chin, "You say the currents have picked up? Strange. Return to base. Have your Commander debrief you. I will discuss the missing members with my team."

  "Thank you, Sir." The relief is evident in the man's voice.

  "Camile, find the life signs for dome team seven, see if two members have had an accident. Go ahead and get a team prepped to deliver the reports to the missing member's families as well as a severance package."

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  The seat creaks slightly as he leans back in it, a flash of sadness passing through him, but is gone in an instant. "Anyone else wants to report any interruptions?"

  As if on cue the doors burst open, and a sharply dressed man in an overcoat swiftly walks in front of Sion. He thumps his heart, "I have an urgent report, Sir."

  "Urgent? That is rare. Speak."

  The man bows his head, a ponytail of black hair spilling over his shoulder, "We have lost all contact with the mining facilities."

  Sion scratches his head, "Did you say all facilities? As in all thirty-nine of them?"

  "Yessir. We first lost contact with the Garson Marnite Mine three hours ago. Since then each facility has stopped receiving our calls."

  "Dammit!" Sion slams his fist onto the armrest, standing in a fury. The entire room goes silent, all eyes on him. The Comador grins, "How was that? Just like Roki, yes?"

  A few clap at his performance, "You even had me jumping out of my seat," Camile responds.

  With a wave of his hand, the team goes back to work, a smile still lingering on his face as he turns to his reporter, "Is it possible the storm is the cause?"

  The wiry man shakes his head, "I'm afraid not. All the communication equipment is under the protection of a density shield, and even if that were the case, there is a mining facility no more than twenty miles away. By our estimates, the silt storm is at least eighty miles or so."

  "I see." Sion drums his fingers on the armrest, "If that is the case, send your fastest evac team to the nearest station. I want eyes on it as soon as possible."

  With a thump of his chest, the man sprints off, an air of uneasiness floating through the team, but it passes as soon as it comes.

  "Jarco, get me in contact with the records department."

  "Copy."

  Sion's earpiece dings and a woman's voice speaks, "Recoreds and accounting, how can I help you?"

  "This is Comador Sion. Tell me, do you have any record of all external communications not working in any capacity?"

  There's silence on the line as the man stares into nothing.

  "Yessir. I have two previous instances. The first took place roughly two thousand years ago. The command at the time had neglected maintenance on the communications array. It broke down so all incoming messages were rejected."

  Sion rubs his chin. No, that wouldn't be it. "And the other?"

  "It took place about three hundred years ago. There was an unknown EMP explosion several hundred miles away. It took out all electronics in the city and its surrounding facilities for several hours."

  The Comador grunts, "I see." He taps his earpiece, turning it off. I suppose we will just have to wait for the evac team.

  ********

  "This is evac team four, we are approaching the mine sight. Activating thermal vision."

  Sion sits with bated breath as a massive screen dominates the room, the entire team watching alongside him. A light blue filter covers the screen. Nothing. Not a single blip of orange or red.

  "Moving to the main camera, activating flood lights." The screen blips and darkness dominates everything. A few seconds later the entire seafloor is illuminated.

  "Holy Shit..." Sion murmurs. The entire mine is gone, metal machines crushed and littering the floor, plastics and the remains of clothes floating about. Nothing remains unscathed.

  "Their shield must have stopped working," Jarco says, eyes fixated on the carnage.

  The team looks at their Comador, "What do we do?" their gazes ask.

  Never has there been such a catastrophic accident before. Did this happen to all the mines?

  He shakes his head, "Evac return to port." Sion turns his attention to the people in the room, "It is unfortunate, but we must assume a similar fate befell the others." The room breaks out into murmurs that are quieted as their leader raises a hand. "Even so, there is no need to stop any activities. We have multiple years' worth of Marnite and Silicon. We will have more mining facilities up and running by the time we run out. Find out who was stationed at each facility and have severance packages prepped."

  Camile raises her hand, "What do you think was the cause?"

  Sion crosses his arms, leaning back in his chair, "If I had to guess, there must have been a defect among the generators. The mining companies used previous generation versions whose blueprints are hundreds of years old, so it is possible there was a catastrophic defect in all of them."

  The team nods in agreement, "Good thing we don't have those," One of them says.

  The Comador lets out a hearty laugh, "Indeed. We have no need to worry. Even if the generators were to fail, the dome was made to withstand the pressure. Back to work people. This is just another day at the office."

  "Sir!" They all reply as the room returns to the happy buzz it usually has, the beaming smile back on Sion's face.