Prologue
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. Nothing stirred the hot dust which was once the world. And on the seventh day, Man finished the work they had done. And they said. ‘Let us rest. Let us rest from this work we have done.’
So Man rested.
And Man lay still, and he did not rise.”
- an excerpt from the Book of Alabaster
In the end, we destroyed the planet. We rocked with death throes. Poisoned rain would fall upon us at any moment. We were given the gift of our world, but we wrung it through a war one time too many. This was the end. A few more years and the planet would not be habitable.
As is usually the case when the end is nigh, humans decided they were having none of that.
They looked to the stars and found nothing but the cold.
So instead, they looked down.
Cedric Alabaster rose up from a small city known as Salem (Alab 12:3) and declared salvation. He was the one we were waiting for, he said. He had a plan that would succeed if we all worked together; if we all swore righteous allegiance. To him.
And since the other option was certain death, they, one by one, agreed. For the first time, war-torn countries came together. One nation.
The plan was Underfoot.
Underfoot was in the back of the mind of many government officials for years, but now they constructed it earnestly. A series of tunnels, perfectly built to accommodate nearly all of the Earth’s population in various Sectors across the globe, powered by volcanic steam engines, could be finished just in time. Until the Earth recovered, everyone would stay downstairs and wait. Live, love, laugh, and die.
It has been one-hundred and fifty years.
We’re still waiting.
How long will they keep us down here?
