《Journal at the End of Progress》


 Entry 1

    Of all the places I thought I would be at the end of the world, ¡°The Pyramids¡± had never made the list. Not even once. And yet, here I am, looking out of a carved hole in the wall of my sandy little brown room. I won¡¯t complain too much ¨C I have a rather nice view of the Nurem River, admittedly. It looks as beautiful as ever sometimes; in the mornings, the few rays of sunlight that make it through the red clouds reflect off the water, illuminating it jade green, and enter my room as a shifting mosaic on my ceiling. That¡¯s how I wake up on most days, even when the covers must be put up at the hole for sandstorms in the night before. When it rains, it pours, as they say¡­ Except this is sunlight, and few things can be the proverbial umbrella anymore. Thankfully, stone works well enough. Which is why we¡¯re here.


    Honestly, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any merit to making an audio journal ¨C or any kind of journal, for that matter ¨C at this point, but Lucien somehow thinks there will be a people to learn from our mistakes in the future. Optimistic, that man. I don¡¯t share the opinion, but he made me take this thing anyway. Said if I just talk into it, it¡¯ll help clear the mind, if nothing else.


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    *Sigh*


    Well, it¡¯s not like I have a whole lot to do. I can entertain the thought.


    So, whoever¡¯s listening, from God knows how far in the future? I hope your skies are blue, the waters are clear, and that neither are too lethal. I hope your children can play in parks and feel the breeze on their skin at the beaches. I really hope someone gets to listen to this, because it¡¯ll mean we somehow don¡¯t all die before we figure out where to go from here. Yeah, that would be nice.


    Anyway, this is Richard Adolfo, and I¡¯ll be talking about our life at the end of the world.

 Entry 2

    Looking at the Pyramids from the outside, you wouldn¡¯t think they had the facilities to house a few hundred people each. My education tells me that they were built as tombs for the old warlord-kings of the Jermas Empire at the height of their reign over most of this continent. Eventually, the rest of the world decided they had had enough, and the once-prosperous Jermas land was cut into a hundred pieces, just like it was before. Four Pyramids, for four kings. They didn¡¯t last very long, did they? But I suppose length of rule¡¯s a poor indicator of power, seeing how we got into this mess we¡¯re in.


    My morning routine is as such: I wake to my ceiling being brighter than a chandelier; I get changed ¨C though we don¡¯t have much options in the way of fashion here, the lab coats suffice for all our needs; and I go down the treacherously steep steps to the central area of the pyramid, where I work with the rest of the team to figure out a way to survive in the outdoors again.


    I think I¡¯d be putting it mildly if I said we haven¡¯t made much progress on that front. Realistically speaking, we¡¯ve made none. Ever since we locked ourselves in here, we¡¯ve worked day after day, sampling the sand, the air, even our stools when we¡¯re feeling especially despondent, and much more that I won¡¯t elaborate on ¨C and we still have no idea what¡¯s stopping us from going outside. ¡°Technically¡± ¨C Lucien said recently ¨C ¡°anyone¡¯s free to go out, if they don¡¯t mind going insane¡±¡­ Well, pedantry aside, I don¡¯t think the rest of the team appreciated his joke very much. One of them started sobbing ¨C she¡¯d lost her children to the sunlight, it seems ¨C and since stone reflects sound quite well, her crying carried throughout the room and down the corridors to the adjacent sections of our pyramid. Soon we had concerned members of the community coming in to check on us, and Lucien found himself repeatedly apologising to the young lady and everyone who came in.


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    As it turned out, this incident came at a rather opportune time. Though it wasn¡¯t obvious then, it was soon apparent over the coming days that many of us had not found the time or place to grieve over our losses from before we came into the Pyramids, which contributed to the insidiously dour atmosphere under the surface of our repeated failures. Exacerbated, I¡¯m sure, by the fact we can¡¯t get any direct sunlight in the building. Lucien¡¯s poor joke simply blew the lid off the pot, as they say. We had a few meetings with the administrators of the other Pyramids about this, and it was decided that we would organise a festival of sorts in the connecting halls underneath the four structures. I do hope it''ll alleviate some of the dread that has no doubt built up within all of us.

 Entry 3

    Preparations for the festival have been going well. In fact, I¡¯d say it¡¯s been going a little too well¡­ Just last year, the administrators of the Pyramid of Ralethet ¨C that¡¯s the northern one, with all the politicians of the now-empty surrounding countries ¨C were kicking up a storm over our proposals for cross-pyramid social gatherings, citing ¡®health concerns¡¯ about those in ours since we were engaging in so-called ¡®dangerous activities surrounding the disease¡¯. To be clear, we¡¯re not sure what¡¯s in the sunlight, but it¡¯s certainly not a disease¡­ Not that those at Ralethet care. Anyway, this time, they¡¯ve sent what looks to be a quarter of their population as support for the festival, which is odd, because we¡¯ve barely interacted outside of the daily trades after that whole kerfuffle. What could have changed their minds? Their average resident doesn¡¯t know, but at least they don¡¯t share the supposed fear their leaders expressed. We can probably thank the merchants for that.


    The additional manpower from Ralethet has proven to be a boon. While that might sound obvious, the extent of help they ended up providing is not. It seems that a great number of them used to work in the popular day-markets, and are more than glad to be putting their expertise to use for the festival. I have seen children carrying atop their heads bags of sand and grain, back and forth across the halls and corridors we will use, with not a single complaint escaping them. It makes me wonder if we got the short end of the stick somehow when it was decided that Dousemonn Pyramid would hold most of the researchers and sanitary facilities. It made sense at the time ¨C and still does, considering what we¡¯re doing ¨C but this is all making it quite clear we overlooked some simple factors in the early days of our stay here.


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    That aside, Lucien listened to my journal entries, and started lamenting the supposed lack of what he calls ¡®narrative artistry¡¯. I demanded he let me listen to his, and one would be shocked at the way he describes every detail and transcribes his conversations with others. I¡¯m also not sure he¡¯s aware of what Marianna would do if she finds out he¡¯s using the words ¡®domineering¡¯, ¡®sensual¡¯, and ¡®archaic¡¯ all to describe her. Then again, she is his wife, so perhaps she already knows. Regardless, I did find his journal entries quite entertaining, so I might just apply his advice.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find it right fun, Richard,¡± he¡¯d said as he slapped me on the back like an ape.


    Huh. This might actually be fun.

 Entry 4

    Today, I was on my way down to the Pyramid underground when I found Marianna standing in one of the large corridors leading to the outside. She was standing stock still, gazing out towards the light shining in from the exit, from just inside the safe boundary. I walked up beside her, behind the last of many lines etched deeply across the corridor as warnings.


    ¡°Awfully dangerous spot you¡¯re standing on,¡± I said. She must have been lost in thought, because she all but jumped.


    ¡°Oh, God- Richard!¡± Her wide-eyed expression of shock quickly turned into a glare. ¡°Don¡¯t be jumping at people when they¡¯re standing at the boundary!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but smirk. ¡°By ¡®people¡¯, you mean just you, yes? Because nobody goes within twenty steps of where we are, which is also why nobody else has told you to step away from the light.¡±


    She put on a sour expression. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not dying anytime soon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying you will, but coming this close to the sunlight certainly won¡¯t do you any favours,¡± I said. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go down.¡±


    While many signs have been set up over the past months to make navigating the paths within the Pyramids easier, it is no exaggeration to call the interior of this glorified tomb a maze. I suppose this would not be the case if one were able to read the Jermasem on the walls; but as far as I know, none of the few archaeologists who can are in this Pyramid, so we¡¯ve had to deal with our ignorance on our own. Thankfully, I¡¯ve been able to memorise the turns without much difficulty. About half of us ¨C including Marianna, who was following me without a word ¨C still resorted to calling for help no less than once a month.


    ¡®Why not just set up signs?¡¯, you ask? Well, we did, at first. They kept disappearing. Don¡¯t ask me how or why ¨C even the ones put in charge of finding out where they went couldn¡¯t give us an answer after the fifth incident under their watch. Whoever¡¯s responsible is a sly one, that¡¯s for sure.


    After stepping through the decontamination zone set up just for our pyramid, Marianna and I were greeted by a rather odd sight: in the distance, where the great halls under each pyramid met, was what seemed to be a small castle surrounded by a crowd. I glanced at Marianna; her jaw was hanging, a sight made more amusing by the lashing of her hair against her face thanks to the massive industrial fans behind us.


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    After she become functional again, we approached the structure to find that Lucien was in the middle of a rather heated discussion. I recognised his partner ¨C one of the administrators of Ralethet. The young politician was mostly nodding and speaking without much movement, unlike Lucien and his animated gestures.


    ¡°Having a good morning, Lucien?¡± I said.


    Lucien glanced over. ¡°We¡¯ll continue later,¡± he said to the other man, who smiled and walked off. ¡°Cheers, Rich. Some morning this is¡­ Those bureaucrats just do whatever they want.¡± He looked at Marianna. ¡°I see you managed to bring her down from ground level.¡±


    Marianna had returned to staring at the castle. Up close, I realised it was actually an inflatable castle ¨C a bouncy castle, as they were called. But something else had caught my attention. ¡°You knew she was at the entrance?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sure did. She stayed behind the line, didn¡¯t she?¡±


    ¡°She did.¡± I made sure Marianna was still preoccupied with the castle before leaning in and saying in a lowered voice, ¡°It sure seemed like she was thinking about crossing it, however.¡±


    Lucien looked over at his wife then, and I could tell from his distant gaze that he knew why. He caught me staring at him. ¡°I¡¯ll fill you in later. Seven, at your room?¡±


    ¡°Seven.¡± I nodded.


    We went over to Marianna, and she finally took her eyes off the castle to talk to us. ¡°What is this, Lucien? I mean¡­ How?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Beats me, honestly,¡± Lucien said with a short frown. ¡°That man just kept deflecting every question I asked. It¡¯s ridiculous.¡±


    As for why the castle¡¯s presence is odd: when the invaders came and the whole country went to hell, they disabled our vehicles, too. We had about an hour to evacuate into the Pyramids before the worst happened, so anyone that couldn¡¯t make the trip in an hour by foot was left outside. It was luck that gave us our current equipment ¨C an unrelated project had a logistical delay after the completion of their study here. So we have an explanation for ours¡­ but what about the bouncy castle? That¡¯s not the kind of thing people bring along on a whim.


    All that¡¯s to say, something smells.


    Suspicions aside, the children were already climbing into the structure and laughing all around it, so we left it. More importantly, we started bringing down all the refrigerators, and I think I injured my back. I was forced to return to my quarters by the wrinkled market-owners from Ralethet, where I am right now.


    It''s seven soon. Lucien will be here to talk about Marianna.