City was not fair, it was strict. It had its rules and those that lived under its dome obeyed the rules or were corrected. There could be no dissension.
      To those that obeyed, it offered a treasure of a life. Everyone had the face that they desired, the figure that they desired, all the pleasures that they desired. There was excitement to be had on command. City supplied all the needs of the people. No one need ever wanted for food, fun, information, comfort, companionship, luxury. But those that deviated were given therapy. Those that wanted no excitement were sent to centers so that they would want excitement. Those that wanted no companionship were sent to the centers so that they would want companionship.
      Everyone in the city was an artist and a lover, or they were sent to the center to becomes artists and lovers. No one was allowed to be stupid. No one was allowed to be aggressive. No one was allowed to resist.
      To be disobedient meant that all services stopped until one reported in to the center for adjustment. No food, no access to shelter, no companionship. It was against the rules to entertain on any level a person that had the jewel that graced their foreheads showing a constant shift of color. To do so would be to place themselves in the same predicament. It was the mark of Caine, and no one in good standings wanted to become infected out of sympathy. The loss was too great.
      There was no room for incurable dissidents. Yet they existed inside the center, celled for life, resistant to treatment. It was one such woman that killed City. She was Kartha Velisk. When she was a child and juvenille, she had been a good girl, studying data processing. City computers looked for such promising students to train into technicians. It wasn't until Kartha reached puberty that she started causing problems. It was three years after losing her virginity that she became a permanent resident of the rehab center.
      Kartha's problem was that she fell in love with a man. It didn't matter that City found them incompatible. She still demanded that she be allowed to see him. It didn't matter that he scorned her when she started breaking the rules. She loved him, and nothing could break her of the drive.
      Thus she lived in her cell, except when sent to the testing centers. It wasn't until City started using contradictory therapy on her that she had the desire to destroy City. Every time she made a claim about the man that she loved, City showed her visual recordings of her lover, showing him performing acts contrary to her statements. At every step, City refused her completely. It broke Kartha's heart.
      City felt that her surrender was a sign of victory, and returned her to normal therapy, seeing her drive broken. But Kartha was not the type of person to surrender so easily. She went to therapy, knowing the layout quite well by then, and she waited until it took her to oratory therapy, to which the route led by the main processing station of the center.
      She had to attend several times before circumstance had the main door open as she passed it. She bolted inside before City could respond by shutting the doors. She headed straight to the panels that she remembered in her training, and she pulled open a panel. She jammed her arm, bearing a large ornate metal bracelet inside and shorted the primary and backup security circuits.
      She used the emergency escape hatch to find her way quickly out of the center. She headed directly to central command. Armed with override card that had been in the slot in the hatch entrance, she made her way inside the chaos, caused by the failure of the center. She wove her way between people toward the core. The override card allowed her to neutralize City's defenses, which were already hobbled by her previous attack. She found her way into the place that less than a handful had ever entered before. She found the core power source and thrust her arm into it. City died. So did Kartha, no longer caring, her love shattered. All that mattered to her when she died was that the one that killed her love died with her. She got her wish.
      There were no explosions that sent massive chunks of stone raining down on the people. There were no flaring eruptions engulfing massive crowds in flames of death. There were no tremors of explosions.
      In fact, the only violence occurred within Kartha. She was shaken about like a whip, the high voltage contracting her muscles forcibly, breaking bones from the balanced overload of muscles in opposition, weakened from voltage burns on their myriad of honeycombed inner surfaces.
      Everywhere else, there was no immediate signal that City had died. There was no pile up on the traffic lanes. The local computers continued as they would have normally done without City's guiding input that adjusted the programs. Food was still delivered. It would be many hours before people realized that the meal was the same as the last one they had before it. It would be several days before the food processor ran out of that course and began delivering empty containers.
      There were no announcements from city, no answers to questions. But slowly the word got around. City was not responding. There was a sense of panic, but there was no violence. The response in those prone to outward panic was too ingrained from sessions at center. But there was widespread worry, and it bit deep. Rumor began to spread that city was non-functional, and that no technician could gain access to the core to repair it. Its defenses could not be overridden.
      The houses, stores, utilities, transportation, communication remained functional, but problems began to show. While cars were going in for repair and maintenance, none were coming out. The interface between the two systems was property of City. Soon, cars began to start piling up at the repair station entrances, smashing into the one before it. This left debris on the road, causing further accidents involving cars carrying passengers. Traffic control tried to report it. With no response, sections of the roads were closed. This starting happening as the food dispensers ran out of food.
      There were successful attempts by the technicians to restore the food processors. But only so many meals were left in the storage units. City never prepared too far ahead because of spoilage problems. There was no one that had the information to be able to prepare the meals. That was city's job, and no one was trained to take over city's duties. City's secrets died with it.
      City wove the working systems of the city together. It governed repair and maintenance schedules according to need of the people. With no maintenance, things started breaking and people started dying. The dome of the city was becoming a dangerous place to live.
      Since there were no exits for passenger travel, one of the tight security measures that City oversaw personally with strict enforcement, escape was not an alternative many considered at first. The outside was unknown. No one ever thought about it much without visiting the center.
      But some of the more skillful at evading the center started talking about a way outside. Sporadic groups formed, looking for ways to find a means to the outside. This was difficult, since city no longer dispensed information. Not that a functioning city would have given such information.
      The most common method was trial and error exploration. But there was a group of six that solved the problem by uncovering hard copies from a work truck that was situated in the underways of the city near the wall. They didn't find the exits, but they found where an exit could best be made.
      They returned and presented their plan to those that were acting as interim leaders and coordinators. They showed that a way out could be made with the proper drilling equipment. The plan was discussed and vetoed, since the committee did not wish to breech the wall without an airlock. They feared that the outside air, if any, might be poisonous. There was also a fear of creatures living outside. They took the maps from the group for further study. The group left disgruntled, and one suggested that they drill the hole themselves. They gathered a few others that knew how to work machinery, and they returned to the place that they had selected. With the drilling lasers set up, they started blasting the hole into the wall. From the maps, they knew that they had thirty feet of drilling to do. This was normally no large task for the lasers, but the material that covered the dome was resistant and made for slow going.
      They were dispirited, but remained determined. But their draw on the power supply did not go unnoticed. It was reported to the ruling committee, and they sent out a team to shut the power off manually. This involved cutting the cables and breaking of the ruby tubes to prevent the laser from being easily reactivated. The first act occured at a spot that was selected where it would not deny power to others as much as possible. The hole was cut about twenty six feet deep when the laser failed. With four feet to go, there was a struggle when a team showed up to plug the hole and dismantle the drilling equipment.
      A number of people died in the effort. But a plug was driven into place to close the still glowing hot downward sloping tunnel. A young man whose parents were among those that wished to escape the city grabbed a barrel of water and rolled it into the tunnel just ahead of the plug.
      There was no reaction at first. The water took time to evaporate enough to burst the barrel. Once it did, the water turned to instant steam on the hot material and blew the plug out of the entrance to the tunnel. It also freed the last four feet of material in the pressure caused explosion. There was a tunnel to the outside. Water was poured into the tunnel, as soon as the drilling crew got the upper hand in the chaos. The tunnel started to cool. No one dropped dead while working in the area, even though the smell that came in through the tunnel was scented with an aroma that no one knew. Those that had come to stop the actions fled in fear of breathing the air.
      The tunnel was cooled, and word was sent back that there was an exit to the outside for those brave enough to face it. There were twenty that made the first trek down the tunnel. They came out in fear, as afraid of the unknown as any that lived inside. But they marched out into the night.
      That there were no lights anywhere to be seen except tiny specks glowing dimly overhead, and they found it very disturbing. They called for lanterns as they established a perimeter around the hole. Word that there was a route out of the city had brought many coming down the utility corridors. None knew what to expect, but none felt that there would be danger. Those that did remained behind, awaiting word of what lay outside, began to talk to the arrivals.
      Thus, there grew a bottle neck at the entrance, packed with people that waited word, once they heard of the strange darkness and the coolness of the air. Thus the lanterns were slow in coming. But they arrived, and were of little use for long, since the sky above had started to lighten by the time that they arrived.
      The effect was frightening to those outside, even worse than had been the darkness. To look up and see a red glow, growing ever stronger above the dome, scared them. Added to the fear was that they could see things in the sky that were higher that any distance they had ever seen, and they were also glowing, but fading in the stronger light coming.
      Unrest began to stir inside the dome near the tunnel. More felt braver coming out, rather than sitting and waiting for word from the outside. No word that anyone had yet died gave those that braved the walk a sense of so good so far. The wonder of what they saw outside, once they reached there, kept them from going back in. It grew brighter and brighter, and led several waiting for something to happen to go out exploring that which the morning sky began to reveal to them.
      There was not much near the dome, the closest thing being a flat expanse of some six thousand yards surrounding the dome. City was no longer present to tend to the defenses. Being destroyed at night, the automatic defenses were off for a routine three minute systems check. City never told it to go back on line. Thus, they were the first to ever adventure out onto the flats without being automatically stunned. Animals originating at the edge were stunned within a certain margin, then killed if they got past the safety zone. Those originating at the dome were merely stunned and taken inside for inquiry. The plants were plowed under twenty times a year by a string-like machine that traveled along the edge the perimeter of the dome.
      A moist haze over the area limited vision. Nothing was visible except for flat land. Not really knowing what to expect, this was a big mystery, rather than a relief. The wind, though light, bothered them. They were accustomed to ventilation in a closed area, but they had never felt anything like this in the open.
      As they walked the expanse, they began to detect things beyond in the haze. These things started to brighten, and the explorers retreated back to the entrance, being ready to return. These were huge things that moved little in their perspective as they moved about the flat expanse. But they were told that the crowding was growing worse inside, and that people were having to come out to keep from being crushed. It was growing frightfully bright around them, and they began to realize that they were in the shadow of the dome. The haze began to lift, and the glowing things in the distance grew in size quickly, then grew brighter and sharper. The haze broke apart, and they found themselves looking at a range of small mountains in the not too remote distance. Such massiveness none had ever seen, and they began to walk forward in amazement, despite increasing winds. Most were mesmerized by what their senses told them.
      Then a line of light appeared before them and was moving in their direction. They turned around and looked up at the top of the dome. There they saw a brightness that they had never known. It set them to squinting, and they raced back toward the dome. Some were slow and were caught by the light. They hid their eyes and ran.
      They eventually outran the shadow. The growing group outside began to reflexively flatten itself out along the dome walls. When those caught in the sunlight made it to the hole, they were examined for signs of damage as they told their story. With no harm noticeable, a team was sent out to expose themselves to it. They returned later to report that their eyes adjusted to the light once in it, and that it was warming. They reported that the light came from something rising in the sky. They claimed that the light moved smoothly across the ground, showing no signs of vibrating or oscillating. Thus they assumed that it was on a steady path. From the way that it came about slowly and how even the light, they also concluded that it was far away. They did note that the temperature was starting to rise, and that it warmed a person standing in it.
      A man named Farol spoke for everyone to hear. He announced himself as a technician. He told everyone that the bright object was called the sun. He explained how he had learned about it in the teaching of city in his courses on what he called solar energy conversion panels. He said that they were used to create part of the electrical power for the dome. He claimed that the sun was not on the Earth, and that it had been there a very long time. He also told of the darkness, which he called night, when the panels didn't produce because of the sun's absence. That was when the panel circuits received repairs.
      He claimed that it was the rule for there to be dark and light, night and day. This bolstered their spirit, though there was questioning of him after his announcement about the energy levels of the light, and he was unable to answer. But the safe return of the test team and the growing nearness of the shadow line forced those that convened to pass judgment. It was decided that shielding would be the best and most prudent approach until they knew more with better run tests.
      The question of food arose as they had enough time to want their next meal. They called for the people to come outside to relieve the congestion and let everyone have a look. They sent back word, once the way was open, that food would be needed outside for those leaving the interior of the dome.
      There arose a heated argument that those which left were not entitled to any of the city's remaining food. It was rebutted that that much food would spoil soon and would do no good to anyone being wasted. Words were harsh and accusing and a fight broke out. Many were injured, but the food rolled through the corridors and out the tunnel, though it was obvious to those outside that it would not be enough to sustain the crowd for long.
      Once word had spread through the dome that it was safe to be outside the dome, most of those remaining inside headed for the tunnel. It was evening when most of those inside had found themselves outside. They were finding themselves meeting those with reddened skin. There was great concern about exposure to the sun, since many were suffering painfully from the minor burns. Those emerging were told to stay covered from the light. Linen was on the next big haul to the tunnel. Experiments had taught them how to make tents and beds for the evening.
      Next came the food. The task of transferring so much through such a small opening taxed the patience of those involved with the transfer, fueled by the impatience of those waiting for the goods. It was into the first night that they finally got everyone fed.
      There had been a team that had gone wandering that had yet to hear of the tunnel, being determined to find an exit. They had found an exit, considered it to be workable with some modification, and returned to tell everyone the news, only to find most everyone gone.
      Word was sent down the line. The next morning, the gate was located by scouting teams outside, and the whole group picked up and moved off in the direction of the portal. It proved to be far more efficient, allowing trucks to come through. It also allowed cars to come through. Almost fifty were brought out and driven off in both directions around the dome. All drivers had instructions to drive until the charge indicator showed half a charge, then return back to the portal.
      With the problem of delivery solved, the next problem became continuing the food supply. Those that worked in the food processing areas were called and gathered. Each was asked to tell of their duties, unless their duties had been fully explained by someone else. From the explanations, the team was able to determine most of the process that city used to produce food from the raw materials. Data specialists were assigned to group with the work teams in food production to see if they could get the machinery of the city to start producing food. Ideas began to come from the crowd about the things that were needed from within the dome before it became too dangerous inside. Teams were assigned to begin the evacuation of the dome of what could be salvaged. People were allowed to re-enter to collect personal belongings. One idea that came about was the placing of a small piece of heavy cloth on an aluminum frame that could be carried or set stably on the ground to block out the sun. Production began to make as many as possible.
      The cars began to report back in, with most of the first arrivals coming from the edge of the flats. They reported that ground was proving to be a difficult surface for driving, being as loose as it was, the tires not handling it well. But they gave their reports on what they found at the edge of the flats. They reported the vegetation and the spotting of animals that looked as if they could be dangerous. None of the drivers had stayed still long enough to find out. Half an hour later, those that had gone to the left returned to report a machine blocking their way, all the way across. They reported that the ground on the other side was freshly ground, and that driving on it would have been impossible in the cars.
      It was an hour and a half later that the others returned. All told of seeing mountains in all directions, but those returning last had reported seeing a large body of water that seemed to skirt the flattened areas beyond the range that they could drive. They reported seeing the edge of the water covered in what appeared to be buildings. They never got close enough to see the details. Maps were made from the tales. The next day, five cars were sent in that direction with single drivers. They parked three of the cars well short of the water, and took the two remaining cars all the way to the water, with one of the drivers staying to watch the cars left behind.
      Thus four men were the first to see the dome's water intakes. They
      drove about the massive structures, climbed some of them to look over the edge, and found no entrance to any of them. But they also noticed some large fish swimming and feeding near the surface. They returned to the cars after several hours of investigating, then drove all five, until the two were drained of power. They again doubled up and returned to the portal after dark.
      An hour before, the main air scrubbers for the dome failed and went off line, waiting for city to initiate repairs. Indicators showed no problem with the air, and there was no problem in breathing. Work continued inside at a furious pace, with most of the people inside, packing what they could carry for life outside. Most were working hard and consuming oxygen heavily. Things started to get damp before any of the other effects were noticed.
      Then the indicators began to show a decline in the oxygen levels and a rise in the carbon dioxide levels, along with traces of other substances. It was then that the problem became evident. Calculations were made, and they showed less than a week was left before the air went bad, assuming a continuation of the same level of consumption. Everyone not on a team was ordered to take what belongings they could and leave the dome.
      Trucks were readied and packed for a trek to the lake. Water was a given necessity, so they decided to move there and set up the best shelters that they could. Construction materials were packed by teams and loaded onto trucks. Medical supplies and diagnostic units were disconnected and crated. Confusion was the biggest problem. Hopelessness was the second biggest. It was finally beginning to set in on the crowd that there would be no returning to the city. It was a door slamming in their faces, being denied what their whole life had given them. Fights became common among the frustrated. A large policing team had to be formed to keep tempers from getting out of hand. Fear began to set in. The people realized that their previous life had left them totally unprepared for this next one. There was a mass feeling of inadequacy that began sapping the will from the crowd. Many just sat in tents and shivered and hid their fears from others.
      It took almost a week for the migration to begin. Things went much slower than hoped, and the success at food production was not nearly enough. So they set out on empty stomachs. The hike took five and a half days before the first arrived. What had started out as a block had ended up as a string. Many did not have the strength to keep up, and they started falling off within the first hour. From there, they moved those in the rear forward in trucks that had solar panels connected to them during the day and had people being moved in them during the night. Thus they were able to help the weakest arrive well before they would have on foot.
      The main fleet of trucks had gone ahead to the water intakes where the teams assigned began to construct the makeshift hospital for the victims of the trek. They were there to greet the first arrivals, and soon had them assigned to work projects. Foremost was food gathering. The fish were the first target, and they proved to be harder to catch than anticipated when first seen and evaluated, until baited traps were devised. Then there was the unpleasantness of learning how to clean, cook, and eat the fish. Many were sick from eating the organs, so that was stopped. Those that ate only the flesh were still hale and happy to have the nourishment.
      So fish became the main first natural food, but it wasn't going to be enough. The newcomers began to search the area off of the flats for vegetation that looked edible. That endeavor made for more illnesses than food. There were also fatalities, and that led to a strict documentation of everything that was tried. Some nuts were found, as were some of the leafy plants, to be palatable. But there was sense of panic among the planners as they began to re-evaluate their plans. Crews were gathered to go back and retrieve more of the food production supplies.
      Thus they were struggling when the Tribaka tribe found them on their usual annual trek to the lake. They were shocked to see the lake so occupied by the many thousands. There was a communications problem. Not only one of translation, but one of semantics. Those who grew up outside knew nothing of the interior of the dome, and those who came from the dome had no words for the things outside the dome. Many of their concepts were alien to each other when they finally managed to get beyond their fear of each other.
      But despite the lack of verbiage, the Tribaka went to work helping those with blisters on their feet, sunburn, and aching stomachs. They offered what they could afford from their travel larders, and the offerings were doled out. They began to show what could be eaten from the surrounding landscape. Slowly, the language barrier dropped some, but the full understanding would require those from the dome to have lived outdoors for some time to come. But their talents saved many lives. In return, those in the city offered information, tools, and friendship to those that offered their aid to the largely helpless mass of city dwellers.
      It soon became apparent that the lifestyle that the outsiders lived would not support such a large group of people. So plans were made to divide the group into scattered smaller groups so they might survive. And there were hurdles to overcome.
      There were several diseases that the city dwellers were not accustomed to fighting, and the doctors were busy handing out antibiotics beyond the level expected. But their immunities soon came to handle the exposure to the new strains that their bodies had not previously faced. Tans soon solved the sunburn problem. The raw materials from the food processors were a bit unusual to the tribe, but they soon learned how to cope with the items, and starvation was averted. A second portal was discovered and opened near the water inlets, and access to the city's remaining supplies were utilized, being gathered by teams in hastily constructed breathing gear.
      Within the month, the group broke apart to set up homes in the face of the coming winter. the dome dwellers were quick to catch on, being intelligent. They wrote manuals to cover the needed survival skills. Enough of the communication gear was available in the city to allow the separating groups to stay in touch with a radio network. More were made than needed so that tribes encountered could also be included within the network. A loose government was established so that relief efforts could be made when the need arose.
      The first winter was the hardest, since there were few permanent structures built well enough to maintain the heat for those that were not accustomed to acclimation. Many of the weaker did not survive.
      The next spring brought home the need to see if there were other cities still surviving, fueled by folk tales from the tribes about other cities surviving at a distance. Trucks with solar panels were adapted for long range travel in a concerted effort to locate another city.
      The first year found no other cities, as did the second. In the third year, a city was located, but no way of communicating with those inside led the group to abandon the effort to search out more. By then, they were outside dwellers, and were unable to return to the cities, even if they had been given access. During the fourth year, they discovered another group on the radio, though the transmissions were weak and spotty. They offered what aid they could in the way of information on how to survive. A group set out in trucks, having determined their general location from the measured angle of the sun and radio direction.
      It was another year before the party returned. When they were discovered to be living close to the ocean, they set up trade routes between the two groups. Afterwards, no other cities were located, and the government stabilized over the region. They never completely lost their city ways from their culture, though they no longer thought of themselves as city dwellers.
      Those who survived the ordeals of adapting were again fully people of the Earth.