Sleeper City

This work is not meant to evoke a certain political or ideological viewpoint, but instead a morality tale speaking to how humans might respond to a disaster, and the concept of limits being imposed upon a populace versus accepted via acquiescence. Human nature is one that resists authority.  Defiance can be glorious and true, or it can be the angry acts of a child who doesn't understand the reasons behind the authority's decisions. 

Words copyright Alex Ness © 2020 
All artwork either constructed from Pixabay public domain images, or public domain works.

The scene opens, a city constructed over the bones of a fallen civilization, cycles of sleep are now controlled. By using forced hibernation the government copes with the limited resources, and faces rebellion, and distrust.

Domes cover the city's green resources, protecting them from the still potent acid rains and nuclear radiation in the wind.  Other notable sites include the sleeper centers, and the militia of the city.  Life happens, but it would be more appropriate to say it was being pushed through rather than flowing.

THEY CALL IT SLEEPER CITY

Final Death Scene, The Beginning
For decades we've been getting deeper in trouble
Our efforts required greater energy and focus
But we know, every time there is a great bubble
It will eventually burst
And we live in that post bubble age
We endure smog that never relents
Our eyes burn, tear up, visibility low
Heat that swelters in winter
A sun that burns but can't be seen
We live in a world of our own creation
A world that gave no consent
As we unleashed hell within
Open the curtains nuclear death scene
A beginning of our own cremation
In that place Sleeper City remains alive
Due to the heroic efforts of those who live
For many it is nearly impossible to survive
A world once destroyed, never forgives

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Confucius

THE WATCH

After years of environmental degradation
We were faced with a reality, one we could not avoid
For years faced with disaster we danced, and ignored
But there was a 600 lb beast in our room
Some resist efforts to change, others demand castration
There are groups who rail against change fighting the flood
Human activities must change, even stop, change to the core
By our hand we have fallen, and by our delay we will face doom
We must protect the few opportunities to survive this threat
It is the only chance we have, to avoid extinction, certain death

“People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.”  Cormac McCarthy

THIS DISASTER

Journal Entry, Historian of the New Baltimore City State

2038 AD, New Baltimore Sleeper City to some
Aware of the fatalism and the cynicism
A devotion to failure that'd surely come
The formerly idealistic and newly religious
In unison Crying out Come oh oblivion
Fertility dropped precipitously
While casualties from plague
From famine and drought
From wars of no end
And rebellious acts of citizenry
United States sank without a wake
Few knew what the crisis was about
Ignorance and resistance
There will be no savior
This world has its way
We won't kill the earth
We will be the slain
Come oblivion
Come now
Come oblivion
The end has long ago
At last begun
We are the final line
That must never be crossed
We reject the abyss
Or human civilization
Will forever be lost

“Much as oblivion is the death of sorrow

So death is life's forgetfulness”  Mihai Eminescu

THE GOVERNOR SPEAKS BEFORE THE PEOPLE

Welcome Sandman, Sweet Morpheus make us sleep

We are tired in this waking land

We have only nightmares and we never dream
Every step forward has had enemies
Changes lead some to despair, there is no other way out
Survival for some, or all we are ridden with doubt
Every step we've taken, is with trepidation
There is less freedom, but safety, hope for survival
Every six months we enter the sleeper chambers
Allowing everyone to exist, with limited nutrition
With limited resources, we have chosen a path forward
Without food or water, or power, there invites starvation
Harvesting the sun, wind, harnessing oceans and tides
We refuse despair, damnation, we cannot afford failure
Every change is met with hatred, anger and sedition
So we have had to abandon democracy, and give orders
We are in a crisis state
Without hope unless we change
There are those who prefer death
We are those who prefer living instead of regret

“What hath night to do with sleep?”  John Milton

“Yea, all things live forever, though at times they sleep and are forgotten.”  H. Rider Haggard

SPRAY PAINT

The day we allow the government to control our time
If we let it force us into hibernation, unconsciousness
We allow it to control everything there is to control
We exist outside of their permission, acceptance or decline
We've gathered their information, lies, secrets, documents
They use a fake crisis to force into chains our very soul
We will never allow this
We will never relent
WE WILL RESIST
The government does not have our permission
Nor will we participate
We will not pretend
We will not become obedient animals
Nor slaves
Who are forced into acquiescence
True acceptance is impossible
Loyalty will never happen if forced to exist
You cannot steal our humanity
Even if you end our existence
We will wake you from your sleep
And we will shake you from your ignorance

"It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”  Leonardo da Vinci

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

With a choice before us, of going forth as ever
Knowing our past has destroyed the future
We choose to make the only responsible decision
This city is our last hope, it is a life saving endeavor
This is being explained to avoid confusion and rumors
There is no way to survive the crisis, without precision
We have food that we can produce that covers 70% of the needs
We have a populace that can no longer reproduce, but by miracle
We have the barest minimums, and have chosen to limit the use of food
By building sleep centers, where citizens enter, then 6 months of sleep
We've collected reports from scientists, the data is entirely empirical
We know this information has led to anti government attitudes
We face rebellion, despite doing entirely what survival needs
There is no choice, our hands are tied, there is nothing left to do
The time is come to dream

Arabian proverb "The dogs bark but the caravan passes on"

Bombing at the West Sector Sleep Chamber 2

Isaiah 1:19-20 If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat. But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the Lord, have spoken!

RESIST

We will resist, if they think for a single second
They won't pay for their lies, they've become mad
The choice given is perfect order or the abyss
So now everyone with a speck of honor
Fights with all they have inside
We've become the new Mossad
They add us to a list, making criminals for freedom
They'll be committing our suicide
We are but comrades disappearing into the mist
Our way is pure, never giving away our lives
For the comfort of security
We are
Patriots versus the Red Coats
Petrograd Sailors versus the Czar's Junkers
Breaking down the doors of the Bastille
And we are honest,
We know with every true movement
Blood is the only cost that can redeem
Every screen of every tv
Shows a scene of what we've done
The task we've chosen
Will never end
Until the system is broken and every being is free

"The first duty of society is to give each of its members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny. When it becomes incapable of performing this duty it must be transformed."  Alexis Carrel

SECRET TRANSMISSION

Imagine knowing that any variance from the populace
Would make the goal nearly impossible to achieve
They use words like resist, government lies, and freedom
To create a fiction, that their anti-conformist mind's believe
That somehow this effort, which demands complete adherence
Is a government plot to take away independence and to deceive
But the truth is far more nuanced, survival is our only goal
We know that our survival demands incredible perseverance
To rebel is to take away the means, destroy the ability to survive
Their opposition isn't about them, it will leave no one else alive
We want everyone of every stripe to be here at the end
We will be the weed rising through the surface
Of the pavement, of the steel, of the concrete
Or we will all die

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”  Lucius Annaeus Seneca

ROCKETS RED GLARE: How We Got To This Terrible Place

Matthew 24:6-7

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Chernobyl and Fukushima were the beginning
The oceans were polluted, the crop lands barren
The changing climate caused a collapse
As ocean's fisheries were exhausted
We kept moving forward, never admitting
There at the head of the boat was Charon
We pushed to be first, with the environment last
Meanwhile corporations and warlords plotted
War became easy, violence never stopped
Our sorrows were caused by our own hand
We thought that the land could never die
But we were wrong, and the gravity hits
Summers became killer, and winter saw only frost
The people became slave to their land
As governments accused one another of lies
The war over resources sent us all into Hell
We had no way out, nor could we settle scores
Endless competition for resources like oil, food, metals
Meant that the wealth of nations became spoils of war
The wealthiest nations became wealthy ever more
The nuclear strikes, terrorist acts all led to Hell's door
And the fires of perdition burn
Ever lasting, ever more, with our acts the fuel
Oblivion would be merciful
But it lingers off out of reach
As the super powers militarily duel
Leaving the rest of the world to watch
As missiles and explosions become commonplace
And our children became seen as tools
For the corporate state and endless conflicts
We watched and did not see
How we've become fools
We've done all of this
None of us are innocent
Sleeper City is the last chance to survive
Or we shall all fall into the abyss

Zechariah 14:12

And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

I AM ONE OF THE FEW ELDERS

Yes, I am old, I bear the scars
I've lived through two nuclear wars
The collapse of the ocean fisheries
Drought, storms that destroyed cities
All before I turned 10 years old
I saw as my country fought wars for gold
I watched as my nation turned into Babylon
They debate the efficacy of science, babble on, babble on
We have no choice but change or die
Fear cannot stop us, nor make us ask why
We must change, we must change our ways
Death of humanity will make the last statement
Humanity had many chances to change
But chose instead greed and death
We are the killers of humanity
We bear the wages of our sin
But we will fight to draw that last breath

“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.” Herbert Hoover

TERRORISTS SLAIN

The New Baltimore City Council leader
Has come forward to explain
Recent actions by the city defense
It is our privilege to announce
That the main cell of terrorists are slain
With every member of their unit killed
Found with one half ton of explosives
If they had not been wiped out
The terror bombing threat
Against the government
And the city residents would remain
There can be no doubt
They'd have acted once again
If we had not killed them
Terror over the citizenry would reign
Thank you to the elite police units involved
More information will be shared
As developments occur

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” Horace Mann

ELEGY

The death of everything living
The life of everything now dead
Breathes still in our lungs
The toxins, pollutants, and spores
Are proof that humans are unforgiving
We take a measure of hate instead
And elegies are bitterly sung
How dare we keep living
We've slaughtered our mother
She kept us from dying in the cold
Taking food from the mouths of those
Who sought only to share our space
We are the guilty, there are no others
We are the greedy, envy and lust for gold
We are the naked, mistaken vanity for clothes
And we hate our lives, greedily embraced
We are the children who hate their parents
We are the inheritors of the greatest regret
Come oh Oblivion, Come now, Come oh Oblivion
We should be gone you know
We could have fixed everything long ago
But instead we just stared
At the newspapers and television
When they said
Famine in Africa
Earthquake in Indonesia
Drought kills crops in Europe
And life goes on
Oblivion comes
Now we should go

“There he died; and as thou seest me, saw
I the three fall one by one, between the fifth
day and the sixth: whence I betook me,
already blind, to groping over each, and for
three days called them, after they were dead;
then fasting had more power than grief.”   Dante Alighieri

JUST A THOUGHT, HE SAID TO HIMSELF

“Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable. The obstacles preventing the realization of both these extreme states are of the same nature: they derive from our human condition which is opposed to everything infinite.”  Primo Levi

I'm all for making things work best
My parents gave up smoking
Wore seat belts
Chose to drink less
And what did it get them?
Some safety, some control over their own bodies
But in the present?  This existence feels futile
We are told unless we make the drastic changes
Humanity is without a future
But I wonder
If humanity is down to the final members
Of the final generation
How the hell did it take this long
To actually decide
Make a change in how to live
Or straight out humanity dies
Extinction
Permanent, never to return
Perhaps we are subjects of experimentation
They've been preparing us for our vivisection
Ending up as skulls in a box
For exhibit
Either humans are stupid to have come to this
Or someone is performing tests
Testing our will
How far we'll go to surrender our personal agency
In return for a small portion of safety
While facing the world killing crisis.
I'd rather be an individual
Collective security doesn't appeal to me
But what if it is that bad
Do I want to leave humanity dead?
So that I can make my own choices
So that I can be my own being?
I don't know and worse
I don't know if they know either

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”  Carl Sagan

WE, THE COMMON PEOPLE

I watched my television news
The news people tell me
We are all that is left
From a population
That once reached 10 Billion humans
We are the last 23,000 souls
We can't be the final human population
We've been cursed
I don't believe in the bombings
Even if I don't want to sleep for 6 months at a time
I wanted to have grandchildren
I wanted to see the next generation succeed in fixing the world
How could we have lost the earth
What could we have done different
I guess nothing
Maybe we were destined to die

“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.”  Mahatma Gandhi

THE REBELLION

We blew out the power conductors
Knocked out the sleep modulator
Knocked out and chained the guards
Turned off the false entry sensors
Set the sleep system to cycle ended
Lastly we cut the wires to the alarms
Then no government eyes to watch us
We placed the bombs in the guts of the machinery
And in areas without humans traffic
When they exploded
It'd be with a small charge
Yeah, all weapons might be banned
But we've had Civil war and nuclear wars
And the wars against the war lords
We have access to the weapons of the past
And no one in any government knows
The amount we have nor of the kind
We now must end this forced sleep
And thereby stop the new warlords
And if we do not stop them
We'll be committing suicide

“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.”  Martin Luther King Jr.

MIXED MESSAGE

A Prophet spoke with a rare clarity
To the people, and they listened
Human kind had rule over a perfect world
For three million years, and they failed
They've been reduced in numbers
And cannot reproduce as before
Nor should they be allowed to do so
We have been to this earth an unholy curse
The book of life closes, the Apocalypse unveiled
We are not against efforts of manufactured slumber
If we are not able to continue as ever, failure is sure
I suggest that all comply, but do so without hope
No longer having Hope does not mean we don't care
For the future has never been written nor is it fair
Our lives are small, and unimportant if one compares
The ultimate dream of human kind
To ascend in their spirit and mind
Which may never be realized
With the lustful desires, the need for violence
That accompanies the lives of human hearts and minds
So in the absence of hope
And fight against fear
Let us live for now
With a desire to know forever

“We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial—I believe we are lost.”  Erich Maria Remarque

COLD TRUTH

The Bombing campaign had an effect
By making the Sleep program unable to accomplish its goals
By killing the innocent among their targets
They've not only had a collateral casualty toll
They prevented our decision
Hibernation to conserve resources from succeeding, the truth is cold

New Baltimore City Council authorizes

The execution of any rebels involved, and maximizing patrols
The terror against the citizens must end, even if we cannot go forward
We can still retain control

“Somewhere in the world there is a defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean by victory. Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory.” John Steinbeck

IN THE RUINS OF OLD BALTIMORE

In times of extreme upheaval
We are commanded by the exigency of the moment
We will take hold of the situation, and accomplish our task
By the light of the explosions of the only refinery left working
In great celebration that the government will no longer function
We don't just say we resist
We do it
This is not random
We do not do it without knowing our act
We caused massive destruction
And expect to be executed for the acts of our hand

“I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul.”  Bram Stoker

Kanji for "I am my own demon"

LAST ACTS OF DESPERATE MEN

Today the city of New Baltimore Council headquarters was destroyed.
Major casualties within, emergency rescue measures were employed.
Terrorists and bombers had dressed in fashions to hide their explosive belts.
Once within, terrorists and bombers were positioned for the greatest effect.
According to the few survivors, the terrorists timed and coordinated attacks inside.
The building, the contents of the building, every member of the council died
We are confident that the end of the rebellion has come, but with enormous loss.

The city will try to recover, but the mood is subdued, and we remain wounded by the cost.

“After all, if you do not resist the apparently inevitable, you will never know how inevitable the inevitable was.” Terry Eagleton

FINI

“Extraordinary people survive under the most
terrible circumstances and they become more
extraordinary because of it.”  Robertson Davies

My only advice is for you and all of humanity is to become the weed that refuses to die.  It is our only hope.