Holo Excerpt – The Club on Level Two

“So the club is this way. There’s a good DJ playing tonight, of course I know your music tastes are every which way,” Philip told her as he led her through the streets of the Level. She looked up as the building reached into the sky. The sky in Level Two had a ceiling, which was the bottom of Level One. She could see the artificial lights flooding the city to make up for the very minimal amount of light that came through via the frosted deck system above. To her right was a large column of water with fish and other aquatic life swimming around. It must be the lake of Concentric. Morgan realized as she was still in the park, one level below. Here, she was surrounded by grass and pavement, layering the crust of the earth. It was a different experience to be deeper than she’d ever remembered, and yet still not in the belly of the planet like the Level Three citizens. She wondered then what it would be like down there.

The buildings in here weren’t as modern as the ones she was accustomed to either. They were built using rather archaic materials such as brick and stone. It was as if she was getting a glimpse of the past — what Shrodin looked like before the HoloNet system was created, and before the cities were condensed and compressed and the rural citizens moved in and their lands converted to the habitat — what is known as the Rim.

There was a three-level building in the distance, with spotlights swinging every which way in a variety of colors. Morgan could hear deep bass tones emanating from it. The closer they got, the more they could even feel the bass through the very ground they were walking on.

“Ready?” he asked her and she nodded eagerly. She was curious to see what was inside this building, given all the activity she could witness from outside and through the narrow reinforced glass windows.

A bouncer was at the door, letting people through by way of a red carpet pole he unlatched for each person. He was scanning HoloPasses to make sure everyone was of a legitimate age. Morgan stopped and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She flushed, realizing she had left her HoloPass in her jacket pocket which was now at home.