STORY

It is the year 2097 as the USP, the United Space Programme is seriously investigating the possibilities of extraterrestial life on the Moon, Mars and possibly beyond. Continuing on an centuries old concept of a spacedome, they initiate a project called SeaDome. On the bottom of the Earths oceans, dozens of domes are built, complete ecosystems with powerplants and oxygen, to simulate the isolated life in space. Hundreds of people are voluntarily recruited to populate the domes for large amounts of money. Constantly monitored and manipulated from the command center of the USP, these domes have been in use for over four years as the USP directors secretly decide to build an additional SeaDome.

One that is unmonitored, unchecked, completely independent of outside help and assistance. Checking the psychological effect of being unreachable. Checking the structures power, even at such pressure. A small team of experts is recruited to populate this final SeaDome: Diving specialists, ecologists, programmers, biologists, athletes - twentytwo of them. Fifteen years they'll be left in the dome, and then picked up by the USP again - without anyone knowing where they went, except for a small elite at the USP...

--- 12 Mar 2109 - Log by 'System' ---

Twelve years. Today it is twelve years since we saw the submarines of the USP, the spaceprogramme, leave into the darkness of the ocean surrounding this dome of ours. Almost fifteen years I've been living in darkness. Nothing mental, but factually. It all started back in 2097. Well, actually, a few years before that. I used to be a survival expert, you know. The space agency hired me for this test - they needed survival experts.

I never really understood the link, but the idea is they wanted to check out whether it was possible to have fully independent colonies on other planets. To check that out, they created domes on the bottom of the ocean. Monitored and checked, always. But the high guys thought that was not enough.

That's where I came in, because they secretly created another of these domes. This one. It's unmonitored and never checked. They just left us, and said that they would come back in 15 years. I've seriously been doubting that lately, y'know. But the promise was a small fortune, so here I am. I kinda needed the money. Here I am, a couple of K miles below the surface.

I gotta admit that life's been well here. Except for the lack of real sunlight it has been a pleasurable stay. Not that it's easy, no, sewing your own food, building and repairing your own buildings - it's all but easy. Thank God we've got the bots. They're really helpful, and I'm glad to have a programmer on the team that can teach them new things.

Well, I'm off to the greenhouse. It's my turn to get the vegs for today.

--- 12 Mar 2109 - End of log ---