Oxygénia

discovered, but many knew of its existence. From somewhere, water
and oxygen got there, and if one laid down still, it was bearable for
some time without a breather. The refugees added to this low
oxygen share with their artifically grown bushes and plants.
Usually, the town inhabitants never came here, they didn't dare
down here. This cave was also called Devil's Breath or Ravine of
Sin, if it was acutally even talked about. But for what reason should
they even talk about it? After doing their work, they went to the
restaurants and clubs, ate, drank, played cards, made love to each
other and thanked the eternal power, the Lord of the sky, the
Creator of Oxygénia for His goodness and mercy.
It wasn't quite forbidden for the town inhabitants to discover
caves in the surrounding area or to leave the city. Travelling itself
wasn't forbidden – it was impossible. Neither in the concrete cities
of the Trunk Bearers nor in the City of the Rememberers there were
any means of traffic as would have been on Earth. There were no
cars, no trains, no trams, no buses, no helicopters, only the moving
sidewalks in the City of the Rememberers bore some resemblance to
Earth-like means of transport. But they were few, and they only
brought the inhabitants from the Central Square to the working
places and back.
The town inhabitants didn't move much because it just wasn't
possible to them. The oxygen ration only lasted for the time that
was necessary to get from one spot in the city to another one.
Between the cities was a dark, left, empty void. They had no idea
how big it was. The future engineers, architects, constructors and
scholars of other sciences learned a lot in the City of the
Rememberers, but amongst their lessons was neither geography nor
astronomy nor history. For instance, no one knew how many people
lived on Oxygénia, not even which ones of the seventeen continents
were inhabited, or how many Cities of the Rememberers actually
existed, and they had only a vague idea that somewhere, there was
a Central Control. Even if they thought about it – which only very
few did – they only saw computers, NFC chips and cameras, but
who was behind all that, who and which beings might have been in
charge of all these devices, they didn't think this far.
The first inhabitants of the cave had been women who had
experienced the same as Sunshine, who had become pregnant
despite of the sterilization and wanted to save their children. Later,
others had come, ones whose brains occupied themselves in
forbidden ways not just with the assigned tasks, ones who asked
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