" 1 - 0 - 1 "

Welcome to U.S.O Shelter 101 - a new home - a new tomorrow - underground!
34 Adult males.

28 Adult females.

14 children.

Welcome, friends and family, to U.S.O Shelter 101 - a new home - a new tomorrow - underground!

I always wondered about our overseer. He had no name - no real name - we had to call him ''Overseer 101 - or - O. 101. ''

I used to be Tony.

Now I'm T3.

I used to think the Overseer renames us so we won't remember the world of the past. The world before the quake.

Maybe that's true - the Overseer was odd. He wore a tight suit with a red tie - a tie that he always tugged. He didn't leave his office often. The office was found at the end of the floor six. There was a total of six floors in the shelter. Each floor goes deeper into the shelter - all connected by elevators.

Floor one is the entrance zone. Most of the guards camp up there. They call shelter dwellers up to floor one for weekly inventory check.

Floor two is where the cafeteria is found. The food tastes off - almost artificial.

Floor three is the electrical rooms. Some dwellers work in there in shifts, switching off every six hours.

Floor four is our water refinery area- we also work in shifts there.

Floor five is the resident area. It's a cozy little floor, walls lined with beds and televisions, little personal spaces assigned to each dweller - we also have a game room attached to the end of the resident rooms.

Floor six - I don't know what they do in there. It's the forbidden zone. The elevator that is the only entrance to floor six is backed by hard to crack security measures. First, you have to enter this code into the dial pad - then we have to hold our palm over the HoloScanner. Finally, it quickly takes a scan of your eyeball to see if you are assigned to enter. No dweller has ever gone in - and if the Overseer brings in a dweller to floor six- they never come back up.

Four years since floor one's entrance gate opened to allow dwellers in from the threat of the earthquake - four years since it never opened up since.

_____
"Good morning, Shelter- Dweller Tee. Three."

The monotone voice flooded into my quarters from hidden speakers in the corner of the room.

"Morning." I groaned, rubbing at my eyes.

"You are being expected for breakfast at - E. Leven. A. M. In the cafeteria on floor. Two."

The voice said.

"Uh-huh." I replied, slipping on my clothes.

"You are then to report to floor. Four. For your one hour shift for one. P. M. to... two. P. M."

The machine always paused when stating floors or time. We dwellers began to call her Pause, her female, monotone voice greeting every dweller when they wake up.

"You are then to report to Doctor Howard at... four. P. M. For your monthly checkup. Doctor Howard would like to ask you do not overwork yourself during your shift in the plant. He needs your heartbeat level checked, as well."

I yawned and fixed the bed. "Thanks, Pause." I said.

"You're welcome, Shelter- Dweller Tee. Three. Have a nice day, and remember, a better future is always underground."

I can hear the speakers click as Pause turns off.

Well, not turns off. Pause never turns off. She runs the entire Shelter. Our systems, checks our food, our dweller database, security systems, keeps nearly everything in check. She's always watching, along with the Overseer. When Pause needs to make big-boy (or big-girl) decisions, she needs to check in with O-101.

Pause has been known to glitch out. She once began to blare the whole 'REVOLT INVASION IMMINENT. PLEASE REMAIN CALM.' alarm, which is literally her screaming, "REVOLT INVASION IMMINENT. PLEASE REMAIN CALM.' along with the lights going red and when she locks down all the doors, allowing nobody to open them. The Overseer contacted U.S.O central, and the big dogs (the guys above O-101) said they didn't seem to pick up any Revolt invasion.

Turns out Pause just scanned an 'unidentifiable biological life forms' which Pause is programmed to identify all 'unidentifiable biological life forms' as Revolt invaders.

And that biological life form turned out to be a rat.

So, in conclusion, our Shelter was under invasion from a rat.

Scary.

In an actual event of a 'REVOLT INVASION', Pause will dispatch some of our security agents to areas where she scans said 'biological life forms' or Revolt soldiers and opens up a path for them to go through.

She also turns on a bigass sentry turret.

Yeah.

She gets to bring down a huge ceiling-mounted turret from a hidden hole in the ceiling that opens up and allows the turret to pass through. Every room has a hole, an the turret travels throughout the entire Shelter and goes down through holes in rooms where hostiles are located.

So, we found bits and chunks of rat in the bathroom a few hours later.

Yeah.

Scary.

I left my quarters, played checkers with Grandpa Mole Man, then waltzed over to the cafeteria at 11 A.M.

Seemed like a normal day.

I hoped.

Sunny was busy manning the food table, sticking a spoon into a box full of meat and plopping it onto a dweller's plate. "Have a nice day...!" She croaked.

Oh, did you think she was an old woman for a second?

No, she's a Machine, Version 3.2, shipped in 2 years ago, straight from ProtoGen facilities! Funny how some businesses are still around. Won't be for long.

To this day, the quakes are still coming. Minor ones, sometimes they get serious - but none as serious as the one that took us down here.

Sunny was a humanoid. Her skin was metal, yet felt warm and smooth - like skin. She wore human clothes, and her face could move like humans do, she can smile, and wink, and all that coolio stuff.

Some people say it's a real grandma in a robot costume.

Some people say it's an abomination and needs to be killed.

Other's call it 'Grandma'.

Others call it 'Pass the beans, please', but otherwise, she's a regular here in the Shelter.

The door to the diner slid open, and Alpha, the lead security officer, entered with an old pre-Quake laser pistol in his hand. He had it pointed to the ground, but he didn't look happy. "What's wrong officer?" Daisy asked, jumping out of her stool from the counter. Daisy ran the diner. She was the one who ordered for Sunny, to help her around the place.

"The Overseer has called for an emergency." Officer Hudson replied.

"What's happening?" A girl asked.

Suddenly, the lights went red, and the alarms began to ring.

"REVOLT INVASION IMMINENT. PLEASE REMAIN CALM."

I began to chuckle, until there was a loud explosion and the wailing of metal.

Gunfire.

'For freedom!'

Another explosion.

'For the people!'

Intense gunfire, then the sharp sounds of lasers flying through the air.

"For the future!" We can see the hallway glow a deathly orange and red from the diner.

"Down with the U.S.O!"

An explosion, but much larger. We can feel the heat. We couldn't see the outside, the doors were locked, tight, and the window shutters began to lock in place. All we could hear were screams, gunfire, and explosions.

"My god...." Daisy whispered.

Children began to scream as more gunfire rang out.

The adults stood and listened, in shock.

"REVOLT INVASION IMMINENT. PLEASE REMAIN CA-"

Pause's voice was cut off by the Overseer's.

"Attention all shelter dwellers."

His empowering voice filled the room through the PA system.

"We are under Revolt invasion. Please, please keep calm. Our officers are keeping the extremists at bay. You are to remain where you are. Please silence your children and yourselves, to avoid calling attention to you. The Revolt soldiers will stop at nothing to kill you all-"

Gasps.

"LIES!" A shout echoed in the corridor, and more gunfire.

"Quickly, men! Find the Overseer's office! Find the power generators! Shut it all off! We know what the Overseer will do to the dwellers-"

"Do not allow them to find you - "

Explosions.

"Do not make contact with them - "

A knock came from the PA, not from the outside.

"Who-"

The knocking became more vigorous.

"... I need security officers at floor six, at my office, now."

The lights began to flicker.

"We...we're losing pow-"

The Overseer's voice was cut off.

"Crap!" Daisy said.

Sunny glanced at Daisy. "Ma'am," she said. "What of the surveillance cameras? We can use them to keep watch on what is happening outside."

"Good idea, Sun." Daisy said. The screens in each corner of the room flickered to life as Sunny clicked a button a remote controller.

One of the screens displayed the Overseer's office. The Overseer was hiding under his desk, as the dwellers could hear knocking.

In the other screen, there was a corridor displaying security officers beating children, not Revolt soldiers- children, dweller children, who were outside the corridors.

"What the hell!?" One of the men yelled. Everyone gasped at the screen where the officer began to kick at the child.

"He-....He's beating that kid!"

"No, that's Officer Maxwell! He wouldn't do that!" A woman said.

Another screen displayed men in red armor holding guns, spraying bullets down the corridor at the blue-armored security officers.

The last screen showed a security guard raising a pistol to Grandpa Mole Man's head, who was found playing checkers after the lockdown.

I stared, as the security guard started to laugh. Suddenly, a Revolt soldier came from behind and tackled the guard away. The soldier threw the guard onto a wall and let go. The guard tried to stand and shoot, but the soldier took out a pistol and shot the guard in the chest. The guard fell, and the soldier untied Grandpa Mole Man's hands and helped him stand. The soldier shook Mole Man's hand, and ran off.

"These soldiers...They're not the bad guys..." Daisy whispered.

"They're - "

Her voice was cut off by a voice.

"ALL HOSTILITIES WILL BE TERMINATED."

Daisy looked up as a turret suddenly popped out of the ceiling.

"Wha-" The turret began to fire, a shower of bullets putting holes in Daisy's chest. She gasped for air, then fell, blood pouring from her chest.

Everyone screamed and backed away from her corpse. Sunny looked up.

The turret suddenly slid back into the ceiling, and the hole closed itself.

"My god....They....they killed her...." Someone whispered.

"Who did?!"

"THE OVERSEER, DAMNIT!" I yelled. Everyone turned their heads to me.

"Don't you see? He's not the hero we thought he was! These soldiers- they're trying to free us from his grasp! The Overseer, he's the monster! He's the extremist!" Someone said.

Suddenly, the turret popped back down again. And aimed at me.

Everyone ran from my position, and I stood there, staring in shock.

That was it. The savior I thought was a hero, would kill me.

Fascinating.

And the turret began to charge so it could put lasers right between my eyes.

Then it went dark, and the turret fell from the ceiling and crashed to the floor.

The lights went out.

The surveillance cameras went out.

Then, cheering on the outside.

"The lights are off! Quick! Open all the doors! Liberate the dwellers!"

Suddenly, more cheering. Our door opened, and two men in red clothing took us outside. Flashlight beams lightened the halls, uncovering corpses of soldiers and children.

"My god...."

"This is it? We're free?" Someone asked.

"This is it." A soldier said.

Only half of the inhabitants saw the elevator. The rest, dead.

The elevator took us up, slowly. Large enough to fit 30 people.

The soldiers began to answer the questions people had, until the elevator took us up to a large metal room. Where there should have been a gate was just scraps of metal. "Sorry about this." A soldier chuckled. And, they took us to the surface.

Where there was light.

And the Earth didn't seem to be dead.

It seemed alive.

I, seemed alive.

After all these years.

There was the light...

And the Earth was alive.

_______

The Overseer lied dead in his office.

The door keeping the soldiers from the outside was blown to bits. Half of the Overseer's body was ash, the effect of a laser weapon.

Only his head, half his body, and arms remained.

His face locked in a shock stare.

And in his cold dead hands was a device.

Beeping.

On the terminal on his desk, bold letters, a message from someone labelled  'The U.S.O'.

It read,

 'Nos veni.'

________

END