“I will start our descent,'' said Roask as he tapped a few buttons on the floating metal table. The whole mass began descending towards Earth and in a matter of moments reached district 34, a loud beep signalling the end of their adventure. Sigun and Fauni’s eyes returned to life after disengaging their internal computers.

Roask, tired of faking interest and entirely unstimulated by Sigun, made an excuse to return home. After passing under the watergate he entered a pod and before long was relaxing on a hoverchair. A drone entered and changed him into comfortable clothing as he focused on his internal display.

Tired of his own existence, he decided to stream the visual and auditory data of a subterranean. He could see and hear their world, even feel their physical sensations. It was a true experience, a step beyond mere simulation and virtual reality. Everything short of becoming one of the creatures was possible. Data received from their optic nerves and inner ears, all apart of a sort of technological nervous system implanted at birth, constantly relayed a stream of visual and auditory data. Internally, an array of sensors and nanodevices interpreted and sent neural and sensory data as waves easily received replicated by the consumer’s own cyborg anatomy.

However, only network administrators and drones had access to the raw, unfiltered subterranean data. Roask had been granted an override code by Sigun for the purposes of “entertainment”. His request has been so vague as not to merit much consideration by Sigun, who gave him the codes without hesitation.

Of course, observing their world from such an intimate perspective was not for the faint of heart. The pools of blood and shrill screams of pain during a ritual sacrifice. A fall into a pit of boiling lava. Consumers enjoyed only being praised by the brainwashed beings, treated like gods and fully indulging in their egos and superficial existence. But, Roask desired a more personal view, a picture of life as it really existed for the creatures. It was a feeling unspeakable among his contemporaries, who looked down upon the beings as mere animals.

He selected the Sitma region and began viewing the video streams. The first was from the eyes of a diseased, around him a few weak and malnourished bodies were strewn on a barren floor, their skin covering what seemed like only a skeleton, devoid of any fat or muscle. The pain and dreariness from the man’s experience was unbearable and Roask hurriedly switched to another individual. A man with a boy were seated across from one another on the floor, eating some vile nutrient.

Before long a grey gas began pouring into the dimly lit space. It curled around the corners and walls like the ink of an octopus startled by a predator. It smelled horribly, the man ran to grab some rags and covered his face. Soon enough, the smoke had made its way around the whole abode. The small boy began crying and coughing as the man rushed to softly cover his mouth with a towel. In the corner of the room there was a small baby, its wailing becoming louder and louder as the gas became more dense.

Roask exited the program and closed his eyes slowly, reclining his head. He felt pain in his stomach coupled with a feeling of total emptiness. An unnatural, unreasonable sense of pity for the vile creatures entered his heart. They are mere subterraneans, pests, a disease worthy of nothing more than an ugly short existence.

For the first time in weeks Han Giru felt a sense of freedom knowing the boy would be without his usual agony. With PCY6, Abbad could resume his mandatory information accrual sessions. He would lay down for hours, quietly focusing on his internal display as each lesson imprinted on his brain like the shell of some ancient crustacean buried in a sedimentary deposit.

Always unsure of how the day would unfold yet never curious or excited, Han Giru dreaded each minute and hour passed in the labor sector. His only motivation and solace from the daily toil was the hope that his labor would in some way please or satisfy the consumers. He stood surrounded by a rectangular matrix of workers awaiting orders for the day, the hundred or so men housed in a gymnasium like structure whose spotless metal floor stretched for hundreds of meters in every direction.

A shrill voice blasted through his internal audio, piercing his ear. “Today, we will enact a hunting scene for the consumers. Drones will prepare the cosmetics, outfits, and accessories.” Suddenly a fleet of machines came down from vents in the structure’s ceiling, shining like the colorful, bright sparks of a firework. Each targeted a single subterranean, painting in fine detail their bodies and faces with one set of mechanical limbs while dressing them in epic tribal attire with another. Some were painted black with white, needle like lines around their eyes and mouths. Others wore feather crowns and some ported necklaces filled with the small skulls of rabbits and other petite vertebrates. A long garb caressed Han Giru, fine detail meticulously etched into the leather, its tone gracefully matching a pair of light brown moccasins. They were given long, slender spears, arched wooden bows with taut strings and quivers of arrows. Some held small axes, the sharp, blunt stone heads a light granite color.

“Please note the following scene. You will reenact this hunt.” A video of some barbaric beings chasing down a beast was displayed on each internal computer. The hunter’s tact and skill was evident as they worked together to surround the monster, taking turns stabbing and jabbing at it turned its back. The video ended and the workers stood idle, awaiting their orders. “We will now have a short training session to allow you to properly utilize the implements.” A group of drones mimicking the human form and wielding the various archaic weapons appeared and began instructing the subterraneans before flying away through vents in the ceiling.

Suddenly a large, brown bear appeared from an opening in the wall. The animal’s back was slightly arched, its white claws like small daggers extending from great paws. The subterraneans began charging towards the animal, now standing erect on its hind legs. A man swung his axe at the beast before the animal grasped him with its sturdy forearms, sinking large teeth into his neck. A shrill scream and the popping sound of vertebrae and bones shattering echoed throughout the auditorium as the animal shook the man violently in its jaws, a pile of blood staining and spreading across the floor. Han Giru approached the beast and with a passionate fury thrust his spear into the gut of the beast.

The bear quickly released the subterranean from its muscular jaws and forearms, the body contorting unnaturally before going limp like a ragdoll tossed carelessly from a child’s bed. The bear clawed and overpowered Han Giru after he pushed the spear deep into the beast’s gut, a great roar echoing throughout the auditorium and momentarily placing all of the workers into a frozen stupor. Before it was able to severely maul Han Giru, the workers overwhelmed the animal and it hastily retreated.

The workers mimicked the hunters in the video, screaming loudly and whistling as they chased down the grand beast. Some fired arrows while others violently stabbed and battered the animal from a close range. It eventually collapsed and, after a final roar, went limp. A drone then hurried in and took the dead subterranean through a vent in the ceiling, his skin already extremely pale. The body appeared as a phantom as it glided through the air, the falling droplets of blood formed curved lines and spirals on the steel like splashes of ink from an artist’s brush. A drone then hurried over to Han Giru and dressed his wounds, quickly patching up and cleaning the deep gashes in his chest. The workers were changed back into their black, one piece suits and dispersed.

Han Giru took a lift back home and entered to see the boy laying down, concentrating on his lessons. He paused and looked up to Han Giru. “Welcome home.” Han Giru filled a bowl of nutrient, his chest aching with every step. He sat down on the mattress next to the boy and placed a hand on his head. “What did you learn today, Abbad?”. “We are learning about the surface. The dangers associated with overexposure to sunlight.” The boys words brought back the days when Han Giru was in his stage of information accrual. Focusing on his internal display, day in and day out. “After one hour of exposure to sunlight, the cells of the skin atrophy, and, like clockwork, an infection occurs, eventually spreading to the internal organs and killing the subterranean. Beyond some visits for solar, inhabiting the surface is an impossibility for our race.”

Han Giru nodded and stroked the boy’s head. Abbad coughed, his symptoms beginning to reappear. “Here Abbad, take your medicine.” Han Giru handed the boy another dose with a glass of fluid. Abbad swallowed the pill and hugged his father. Han Giru’s heart sank as he looked into the empty bottle.

Hoping to get his mind away from the termite like creatures tunneling below him, Roask began searching for something to occupy his mind. He scrolled through a list of immersion titles. One titled The Birth of The Civilized Consumer caught his eye. Roask selected the immersion file with a few twitches of the eye and a white light near the center of his field of vision appeared and expanded, slowly occupying Roask’s surroundings and fully submerging him into his internal display’s virtual reality.

Hundreds of men in an amphitheater appeared, all wearing white, skin tight suits. They were bald, with black ink covering the top of their heads. One man addressed the group, standing alone in front of a glass podium, his suit completely yellow, a patch of blue ink on top of his light brown head.

As you all know, we are convened here today to discuss the fate of the enlightened man. The men here today represent the brightest scientific minds in the world. After the introduction of modern drone software, disease and morbidity had become a thing of the past. Gan, or, as some called it, “Cancer” was conquered. The drone and its ultimate intelligence had shifted the upper limit of a lifespan to heights that we, the first generation, have yet to encounter. Man had effectively, for the first time in human history, conquered mortality.

In the economic realm, drone software solved our wildest dreams. Manual labor was a thing of the past. Science, engineering, construction, and academia saw a complete revolution, the work of the human being displaced by the superior quality and efficiency of the drone. Even artistic pursuits had been mastered by the drone...

Some began to question if we were even human… It turned out, this great leap forward forced man to confront the question of death. Our population skyrocketed, and the harvest of the Earth could no longer support the bounty of humanity. The pie had been so thinly sliced that virtually no being could enjoy its sweet, intoxicating splendor. Every morsel of sustenance and each drop of water was the object of enmity and a source of bitter conflict. The shade of trees, the sound of the ocean and the cooing of a baby became a luxury only few could afford. Space became limited, and thus began construction of the underground networks. Like trees in the rainforests, fighting and climbing for light we spread in every direction, upwards, downards, and outwards.

The great famine began. What was to follow were the great wars and a fall back into the age of savagery. Our kind, the enlightened, were victors of the Great War, and were, by the hand of God, placed here to reign forever, today and tomorrow.

“HAY, HAY, HAY, HAH” the men in the white suits shouted in unison.

Who should have offspring? Who should lay silently on a peaceful shore, surrounded by the peaceful humming of birds? Who should eat their fill, never worried about their next meal? Who should inherit the Earth?

“US AND US ALONE, US AND US ALONE, US AND US ALONE….”, shouted the men.

We, the enlightened ones, the first generation, the higher class, the consumers, will rule. The drone fleets and poor underlings and inferior beings will bend to our wishes and our will alone. Our people alone will live in plenty and in peace, but the rest of men, the subterraneans, will feel our power and crumble under us, as fate has determined. Drone software regulations, put in place to ensure that a drone would never harm or indoctrinate a human, will be altered, for, it is necessary for drones to recognize only the enlightened as human beings, the rest, the subterraneans in their underground ghettos, will be seen as poor, destitute animals.

As the historical immersion continued Roask fell into a drowsy, dreamy state and his eyelids slowly shut.