The following weekend, as is often the case on Sundays, we all meet at the beach next to the village. It's the only day of the week when we can finally relax. As a rule, we leave early in the morning and spend the day basking in the sun, swimming, diving with simple masks and snorkels, and surfing the waves with boards the boys have made themselves. The best at this game is Phébé, the heartbreaker ! There's always a girl to admire him strutting his board, shirtless, hair blowing in the wind ! You've got to admit, he's got style : a body worthy of a Roman gladiator and curly, shoulder-length light-blond hair.

In the distance, we can see Fossea, an immense bubble with, at its summit, motors that use the force of the wind to power micro-turbines that generate electricity. On the surface of the dome, scientists have installed thermal solar panels (1) that allow seawater to evaporate thanks to the sun's rays. Salt and other substances are stored on one side, while on the other, water vapour is condensed for drinking purposes. Everything is designed to be self-sufficient and to support the local population. There are several sites on the planet, such as Fossea, scattered across various regions that are still habitable.

In the air, small devices swirl around to detect any unusual behavior. There have been explosions in the past. People have tried to flee Fossea. The water turned red and a multitude of carnivorous fish pounced on the scattered remains. It was a vision of horror !

But for the moment, I'm on the sand in Lois's arms, and our conversation isn't about possible explosion victims, but rather about her upcoming departure.

— When are you leaving ? I ask Lois, taking her hand in mine.

— Wednesday morning, nine o'clock. It'll be weird to go back to my region to see my parents, my sister and the people in the village. I'm really happy, but at the same time sad to have to leave you.

He gives me such an unhappy look that I feel obliged to reassure him, despite the pain I feel at seeing him go away for a month.

— Don't worry, I'll survive, I say, laughing. Just think how happy you'll be to see your family again. It's been six months since you've been home. You'll see, once you're there, you'll feel great, I insist, trying to make the most of my time there.

I saw mine two months ago. It was so wonderful to be reunited with my mother, father and brother. Our village is in the country, whereas Loïs' family lives in a seaside village. I loved spending time with my family. I cooked with my mother, gardened with my father, simple things that we can't do the rest of the time. But my favorite part was talking to them. My father is interested in all kinds of subjects, especially history.

When I was little, he used to tell me lots of stories about the past, how people used to live, what the earth was like before the explosion. He owns some very old books that I used to leaf through as a child. These books have not been authorized for years, so I could only consult them in secret. I inherited his passion for those bygone days. I think I'm a lot like him in character. My hair is the same as his, light brown and wavy. On the other hand, I have my mother's eyes, very dark green. My brother Ilian was there too. He's older than me, twenty-six, and moved back to the village this year to live with his girlfriend Sirice, whom he met on his work site. As kids, we spent our days climbing trees and fishing in the nearby ponds. We got on famously, and still do today.

That month in the village was pure bliss and I'd give anything to go back, but I'm not yet twenty-six. I have to finish my five years' work in Fossea. Sometimes I think this rule is terribly unfair. I know that some young people would like to rebel, to change the course of things. I hear things sometimes. Loïs himself has his doubts about the situation, but I tell myself that after twenty-six, you've got your whole life ahead of you and that ten years may be a necessary sacrifice for the survival of our people. At least, that's what the power committee has always told us.

This rule dates back to the time when large quantities of methane hydrate (2) were discovered deep in the oceans, in trenches hundreds of meters below the surface. Scientists worked for many years to understand how to extract it, because it turned out, as I mentioned earlier, to be a terribly unstable gas. Any attempt to extract it was a feat, and often ended in disaster. It became essential to find a way of decompressing (3) the hydrates to recover the methane, and after many, many attempts, they pulled off this miracle. Motivation was strong: a replacement for oil was needed at all costs.

From then on, men began to dive to perform this back-breaking work. Scientists had developed a gaseous mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, derived from the hydroxide (4) used by deep-sea divers (5) in our ancestors' time to work at great depths. At the time, the first men to have attempted this experiment suffered numerous accidents due to decompression stops (6) or deep-sea intoxication (7). They also suffered from nervous syndromes, and many died from lung edema (8), known as hyperexia.

Over the years, however, researchers succeeded in perfecting the equipment used, and accidents finally stabilized. Despite this, the work remained risky and hard on the organisms. Those who dived were soon exhausted, and their physical fitness diminished by the day. This observation led the power committee to turn to a younger, more vigorous workforce. It recommended employing young people, from the age of 16, and training them for a year, so that at seventeen they could start working in the pits. Faced with the risks involved, parents rebelled and refused to let their children go. But the revolt was put down by the military. From then on, sites like Fossea were created for young people aged 16 to 26, who were obliged to leave their families and regions to work in the pits.

These sites began to appear all over the ocean. Complexes had to be built to house people, feed them and take care of the necessary logistics. And so, for decades, we've had to leave home at the age of sixteen, only to return at twenty-six, ten years of hard labor.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts by a wave playing with my feet. The day is drawing to a close. Everyone has returned to the village. As usual, Loïs accompanies me to my door. We hug one last time, sticking together, knowing that the days ahead will be very long during this separation...

(1) Thermal solar panels : panels that use the sun's heat to evaporate water and distill it.

(2) Methane hydrates : icy structures containing the gas methane.

(3) Decompression : action to reduce the pressure of a gas.

(4) Hydrox : gas mixture used for deep-sea diving.

(5) Scuba diver : underwater diver involved in exploration, inspection and underwater work.

(6) Decompression stops : stops of a few minutes at a specific depth before returning to the surface to reduce the amount of nitrogen and helium remaining in human tissues.

(7) Oedema : swelling of tissues due to an increase in fluid.

(8) Deep-sea drunkenness : natural phenomenon due to excess nitrogen, which acts on the nervous system.

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Hello everyone,

I hope you're all well. Well, I've explained a little about how these difficult living conditions for young people came about. For the survival of the people, they were sacrificed a little!

In the next chapter, Manéa will meet a new character who will upset her world a little. Thank you for following my story. Please let me know what you think and vote😍

Lona.