The Man Who Knows the Sun Never c1

Chapter 1
In the skies the fish swim.

The forest is on the other side of the gla.s.s.

The world is always shrouded in a faint darkness.

Today again, I sing about a world I’ve never seen…

***

“So, is the report out?”

“Yes, we received the written version yesterday.”

“And the results?”

“The worst possible. There has been an increase of 5 cm compared to last year.”

“5 centimeters in a year?! That’s twice as much as last time!”

“That’s correct. It’s because the amplitude of this year’s rise of temperature was particularly significant. We also have the list of the people newly afflicted with illnesses. These are the results. It’s bad enough to give you a headache, though.”

“The sea surface level has risen this much. It’s obvious that the number of sick people is going to increase.”

“Let me see…”

“As expected, the number of people now suffering skin diseases has increased dramatically. Then there are also ophthalmic diseases: In this field, there has been a tendency towards the decrease of the figures, thanks to the development of new types of protective lenses. However, once contracted a disease, the result in most cases is loss of eyesight.”

“The medicines for the treatment of the diseases of the skin aren’t complete yet?”

“I haven’t received any reports regarding that. All we know so far about these cutaneous conditions is that they are connected with ultraviolet rays. Since we haven’t fully understood the mechanism that drives the outset of the disease, we have to research that before anything else. In addition to skin cancer, new varieties of illnesses have arisen, after all. It’s going to take some time…”

“The number of sufferers isn’t decreasing, the research for new treatments isn’t advancing, it’s like we are being attacked from all sides…is extinction the only future for humanity?”

“There is one piece of good news in the report…”

“What?”

“It seems that the development of a new material that can withstand water pressure has been completed.”

“In that case, is possible for the Second Project to commence?”

“In terms of numerical values, it seems to fall within the range of possibility…”

“The only road we have left is into the seas then?”

“Then again, if we look at it from the perspective of the planet, it would be better if we became extinct.”

“You mean to say that we reap what we sow or something?”

“Am I wrong?”

“Again with this kind of talk…”

“Well, that’s about it.”

“Inform each country. We’ll hold a conference in a week.”

“Understood.”

***

It’s been about a thousand years since humanity vanished from the surface of the planet. To be more precise, that’s the time that has pa.s.sed since the continents disappeared.

Abrupt global warming: the rising temperatures caused land to sink under the sea level.

Are humans gone? The answer is No.

Before the continents completely became covered by water…Back when global warming had become a severe issue and each country had to take action, the governments that gave serious consideration to the issue held an emergency international conference. At that conference, the WEMC, a global environmental countermeasures committee was established. It was given the duty to calculate the rate of increase of the sea surface, measure temperature and the amount of ultraviolet rays, and to report those findings.

Additionally, it also became responsible of devising countermeasures for any foreseeable issues like the large-scale surge of refugees due to the sinking of the continents, the safety of people against natural disasters and how to survive global warming.

Due to the launch of the WEMC and the start of its research, a rigorous study of the effects of global warming on the body was launched, and that lead to the understanding that many people were being affected in some degree by ultraviolet rays.

The explosive increase of sufferers of skin and eye conditions was unending. People were unable to receive medical attention due to the chronic lack of sufficient medical facilities and personnel, accompanied with economic problems and widespread criminal acts, spurring an increase of the mortality rate.

The first to receive a great deal of damage were the people with light skin; they were also the first ones to develop new skin illnesses due to the ultraviolet rays. But as the problem gradually increased, races with darker skin, which have a higher tolerance against ultraviolet rays, became stricken with sickness. Moreover, since the spread of the illness started, the population of the world was abruptly reduced by half.

The government of each country thought that they could concentrate in the affairs of state, thanks to the establishment of the WEMC. But against the fury of nature that they didn’t know how to stop, they were no longer able to take things calmly.

And to begin with, the land where people could live kept on being subsided due to the rise of the sea level.

It wasn’t the time to speak of affairs of state, when the citizens and territory the governments should’ve been protecting were about to disappear, or for bargaining with other countries and furthering their own national interest. Nor it was the time to be thinking about questions of race or religion.  The world had fallen into chaos to such an extent.

However, there wasn’t any more time left to leisurely return the world in chaos to a state of normality. The issue of deciding on a new dwelling place for people in case the continents became completely submersed in water needed to be settled with urgency.

Despite saying that, it wasn’t like many possible places would pop up considering the situation. Perhaps the establishments of cities floating on the surface of the oceans, or at the bottom of the seas, or even the increased development of s.p.a.ce stations were pitied against each other. Those were the only kinds of choices left.

At the international conference, the first option to be proposed was the cities over giant flotation devices resting on the surface of the seas. It was discussed as perhaps the fastest and more certain alternative. However, ultimately the flotation devices had to be fixed into pillars or stakes. It was hard to estimate how much would the seas rise, and whether the cities could end up on submersed while still being held by the pillars. Besides, there was concern over the effect of solar storms.

Solar storms…in other words, a phenomenon where in the case of an unusually ma.s.sive flare, the solar winds are propelled outwards abruptly while carrying particle beams, electromagnetic waves and other harmful elements.

Normally, the harmful elements for the body, even among ultraviolet rays, were mostly blocked by the ozone layer, but it had been destroyed to a point where untold damage was feared in the case of solar storms.

Solar storms happen on a cycle of fifty years or so. n.o.body knew whether one would come soon or not but without polished countermeasures, if a solar storm came about, there would be a deadly crisis for humanity.

Even if the flotation devices were completely encased to temporarily cut off the ultraviolet rays, if electromagnetic waves brought upon by solar storms caused some damage, there would be no place to run. Although there was ongoing research in materials to isolate the cities from electromagnetic waves, there weren’t any breakthroughs on sight.

In the first place, there was no telling when they would happen or how ma.s.sive it would be. And there were no countermeasures. Due to those factors of anxiety, the plan for cities floating over the seas was abandoned.

The next proposal was the establishment of s.p.a.ce stations. The plan was to construct dwelling districts around the existing s.p.a.ce stations. In the s.p.a.ce stations that existed at the time there were already dwelling districts, but there wasn’t enough s.p.a.ce to house all the people of the world.

There was an attempt to discuss the way each country should get a grasp on its own population and construct dwelling s.p.a.ce on the basis of that estimate. However, due to the scattering of the population and the difficulties in making of the economies of the different countries stand on equal grounds, plus the distance to the s.p.a.ce stations, the cost of fuel and other issues, the idea was dropped, just as one would expect.

The last remaining idea was the construction of underwater cities. However, at that time, the idea to build cities under the sea was thought to be the most impossible of all. The first problem was water pressure. The further one descends into the ocean the more water pressure increases, so it became necessary to search for wall materials to encase the cities that could withstand the strong pressures at the bottom of the sea.

For the construction of the underwater cities, there was, just as in the case of the floating ones, the need to anchor them, and so there was the question of finding places for anchorage. If the underwater cities were built in comparatively shallow places, it was possible in turn to build them in a comparatively simple manner by using existing materials. But in a situation where it was unknown how ma.s.sive the rise of the sea level would be, there was a chance the walls protecting the cities from being flooded could crumble, if the cities were constructed using simple methods and the water level went beyond the estimates.

If that happened, people would die in an instant. If nothing else, that situation has to be avoided. The walls encasing the underwater cities had to be built with materials capable of withstanding any pressure, or it would be meaningless.

Under such conditions, the best thing they could hope for was the stop of the rise of oceans, considering that people needed to rack their brains to figure out countermeasures against the strengthened ultraviolet rays, and the ailments caused by them.

But, that was nothing but a helpless dream for mankind, and as the phenomenon of global warming advanced, the increase rate of the sea level grew every year.

At the regular conference of the WEMC, research teams were launched. They were placed in charge of developing new materials capable of withstanding twice as much pressure, as opposed to the existent materials.

Ten years went by since the research teams were established. Humanity, facing despair each day as the continents slowly sank into the water, finally had a light of hope within the reach of their hands, when at long last, the research on developing a new material capable of bearing high water pressure was been completed.

Taking the successful results of the research, WEMC set off constructing the cities at the bottom of the seas. In addition, it embarked on studies of the deeper zones of the oceans.

Fifteen years after, the cities at the bottom of the seas were completed. The relocation of the whole mankind was initiated. In addition to humans, a small number of mammals, birds and other animals were included. As for the animals that people couldn’t completely take care of, as there were problems with s.p.a.ce in the underwater cities, among other issues, they were stored at a cellular level using a comprehensive system of cryo-preservation and kept under strict custody.

Although humanity had been reduced in number to a frightening degree due to several factors, the complete relocation of mankind to the cities at the bottom of the seas took a long time and effort.

For a while after they relocated to the underwater cities, people were naively glad, thinking that from then on, they wouldn’t have to live in fear of the light of the sun. However, the ocean depths are a world without light…

At a depth of 200m, humans can no longer discern colors, and in the range of 400m, they are no longer able to see. Light couldn’t reach beyond those depths. And humans cannot live without light. The people that were naively glad too, after a while, began to perish due to some disease or another, or their spirits were perturbed and began to take their own lives. It wasn’t like there was no light at all in the underwater cities, though. Research was also conducted in order to find light sources for the usage of the population, and to keep the air pressure unchanged from the amount at surface level.

However, as one could expect, people needed the sunlight. Even though a small quant.i.ty of sunlight reached even to a depth of 1000 meters, the human eye is unable to perceive it. And so, as far as humans were concerned, something they couldn’t see was the same as something that wasn’t there. First, sunlight had been a thing to take for granted; then, before they knew it, it had turned into a menace, and finally it had been lost; only now they knew their preciousness…

People are perhaps the most foolish and sad beings in this world. Even so, after a long time pa.s.sed, little by little, they were starting to grow accustomed to their environment. There was no other road left for them but to get used to their life and move on.

It’s now been a thousand years since humanity relocated to the cities at the bottom of the seas.

The only world humans knew was the somber world at the bottom of the waters…

I have to admit, the first chapter is a bit tedious, being an info dump and all. But Gakupo & Luka show up in the next chapter, don't worry.