It was 1967 when we were put in here. A nuclear war had broken out. The bombs had wiped out most of the Earth. Luckily the American government had guessed that this would happen and built a dome. We have almost no contact with the rest of the world, if there’s even anything left of it. We grow our own food in these little gardening boxes attached by strings near the very top of the dome where the small bit of sunlight shines through. We raise animals on the ground where the little bit of light that we get is artificial.
   

I live on the ground. We live near the fans that keep the air circulating. My father works to make sure that they keep turning. My mother works on the farms that are around here raising cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens.
    

The dome is like a beehive. The dwellings of the people that live above us look like they’ve been carved into the glass, but part of the Hive is under the ground. That’s where I live. The top of my small home pokes out above the soil and is very cold in the winter. Our president lives at the very top where there is the most sunlight and and it is warmer. She is more of a Queen than a president though but no one would say that to her face. We get around the Hive by elevators. There is an elevator on one side of the Hive that takes you up and another on the other side that takes you down.
      

I tied my hair up in a tight ponytail at the back of my head and walk out the door of our little one room apartment. I step through the damp soil to the elevator that takes us up so that I can get to my job, I take care of the plants at the top of the Hive. Everyone has certain jobs to take care of. The further up the Hive that you live the better your job is and the more choices you have (and the richer you are).
      

The people that live at the bottom are the farmers occasionally you’ll find a shop owner. The middle of the Hive would be more shop owners and people that repair things that are broken in homes. At the top there are engineers, doctors, lawyers, and our politicians. At the very top is our president. She has been in office for twenty years or so my father says all I know is that she’s a tyrant and she’s very cruel and unjust. She favors the people at the top and let’s them do whatever they want, she loathes the people at the bottom.
       

As I arrive at the square boxes where the plants grow under heat lamps and small bits of sunlight I see something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like something flew past the dome blocking out the sun for a few seconds before disappearing. That’s odd, there shouldn’t be anything out there to fly by the sun. What could it have been. A bird? Probably. Now i’m curious as to what could be out there. Is it still too dangerous to be out there? I don’t know but I intend to find out.