Descension
After the nuclear war, the surface of Earth is almost uninhabitable. The wealthy fled underground with the world’s remaining scientists and built a new city near the center of the Earth. With clean air, artificial sunlight, and more food and water than anyone could ever need, survival is no longer a concern. Humanity seems to have finally built itself a utopia. But they forgot one thing that makes us human: we need to be entertained. And what could be more entertaining than the desperate survivors still fighting to stay alive on the surface? Once a year, the underground city celebrates Descension, the biggest event on its calendar and the most watched broadcast in the city below. Casting directors send drones across the wasteland to carefully select seventy-seven surface survivors. The chosen are brought to the Spine, a colossal elevator leading toward the Earth’s core, where they must pass through seven brutal, highly theatrical trials. Seventy-seven people go down. Only one makes it all the way to Utopia. That survivor earns permanent citizenship underground and is celebrated as a hero. Ocean is a scavenger on the surface who spends his days hunting for supplies with his longtime partner and best friend, Eugene. Despite his name, Ocean has never actually seen the ocean. His childhood memories are fragmented. Sometimes he remembers living somewhere completely different — somewhere clean, warm, and almost impossible compared to the world he knows now. He remembers a family, too. Maybe a younger brother. Maybe a sister. But whenever he tries to hold onto those memories, a splitting headache forces them away. Eventually, the drone finds Ocean and his friends. When Ocean opens his eyes again, he is standing on the Descension platform. Eugene is there too, along with a few familiar faces — including Maeve from Fifth Avenue, but most are complete strangers. For the first time in his life, Ocean sees this many surface survivors gathered in one place. Far below them, the underground city is already celebrating. For the people of the core, Descension is their World Cup — a national obsession, a holiday, and the biggest reality show on Earth. This year is even more important: the 77th Descension. In private suites, wealthy sponsors drink, gamble, and laugh at the screens. In the streets, families gather beneath massive broadcasts, cheering as if they are watching a championship game. Then the doors to the first trial open. Ocean looks at Eugene. Neither of them needs to say anything. Whatever this place is, whatever waits below, none of it matters yet. For now, they have only one goal: Stay alive.
