Outside the Oasis: Part 1
The Plan

“It’s not a complete plan yet,” Claire spoke slowly as the gears in her head began to twist, “and it may be a stupid plan, but if we pull it off perfectly, it might just work.”

“And it has to do with the greenhouse?” Mason inquired. He was eager to know all of the details of the plan. After all, if everything went well, he could have his car.

Claire continued, “I’m doing a project that compares the size of vegetables grown in rooftop planter boxes and vegetables grown in automated greenhouses. We can all tell our parents that we are doing some extended research in the greenhouse and we will be gone for a day or two. That should give us time to go get the car and come back.”

“Why are you working on a school project? We graduated last year,” Mason asked.

“Our agriculture teacher was impressed with the projects that I completed before I graduated and asked me if I would present something to his new class this year.”

Taylor let her curiosity cut into the conversation, “How many high schools are in this city? Did you go to the same school?”

“High schools?” Mason turned to Taylor with confusion, but Claire took over.

“Our city doesn’t have traditional schools like that. Every child attends the same school from the age of five until eighteen. That’s where we learn necessary skills that will benefit us, even if we choose not to attend higher education.”

“What type of necessary skills?” Taylor felt bad about changing the subject, but she couldn’t help her curiosity. She was pulled out of school when she was fifteen and she always envied those who got to attend school.

“Self-defense, emergency first aid, outdoor survival, business,” Mason began listing the classes that were most interesting to him, which happened to be the only ones he remembered.

“Yes,” Claire sighed, “But also things like economics, politics, cooking, and computer technology. Here in the city, we believe that public schools should teach children how to be influential members of society, not bog them down with niche mathematics that doesn’t have useful real-world applications.”

Taylor found herself nodding. She felt like she learned more useful skills in the mines than she did during her time at school. She focused her attention back on the situation at hand, “Continue with your plan, please.”

Claire flashed a cute and devious smile at Mason and Taylor, continuing in a hushed tone, “

What if we told our parents that we will be at the greenhouse over the weekend? I will edit a couple of photos so it looks like we were actually there, and schedule text messages that will send our parents photos of us, so they have no reason to question our whereabouts.”

Mason’s smile couldn’t be wider, “I’m in.”

Claire looked at Taylor, “Are you sure you want to come with? This is a risk that no one is expecting you to take.”

“No, it’s fine,” Taylor smiled shyly, “On one condition. We need to make a stop at my old job. I need to pick up a check.”

Claire nodded, “We could fit that into the plan. From what you’ve told us, it sounds like it would be on the way.”

Taylor mulled the plan over in her head. The plan was risky, especially because she didn’t know these individuals. Taylor knew how dangerous it was outside of the walls, and a large part of her never wanted to leave the city, but this was her chance to fix her mistake. This was a chance to give her father his life back. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to get that check.

The three of them decided to go for a walk while they discussed their plan. This way, Claire’s parents couldn’t sneak up behind them and catch their idea before it could be executed. Mason walked ahead of them, practically skipping with excitement. Claire had grabbed a peach off of a fruit tree they had passed and ate it carefully, so as not to get juice on her new sun dress.

Mason could hardly contain himself, “This is going to be awesome! So what’s our first step?”

Claire swallowed before speaking, “Well, in order for me to edit photos of us in the greenhouse, I need to have photos of the greenhouse. I’ve looked online for some photos of the inside, but it isn’t enough for me to make believable fakes.”

Taylor wanted to be helpful, so she chimed in, “Could we go to the greenhouse before we leave and you can snap a whole bunch of photos yourself?”

Claire flashed a smile at Taylor, making Taylor blush, “That’s a good idea, and it’s where my mind went first,” Claire began, “But I want a blank slate to work with. With all the people and machines moving around, it’s going to complicate things.”

“So what if we go in at night? When no one is there,” Mason slowed his step so that he could hear them better.

“Are you allowed to go in at night?” Taylor asked.

“No, but it might be our best option,” Claire touched her finger to her nose as she thought, “Tonight, let’s meet at the greenhouse and sneak in. I’ll take a bunch of photos, and then we’ll leave. Should only take an hour at most.”

Mason giggled as he put his finger to his own nose to mock Claire. She laughed and punched him in the arm, “Knock it off! It’s how I think!”

Mason couldn’t contain his good mood, “I know, but it’s funny!”

Taylor smiled to herself as she watched them. Before she moved to Solar Oasis she had spent most of her time working with her father, and she never spent time with people her own age. Seeing Mason and Claire joke around with each other made her crave that sort of relationship.

Taylor noticed an apple tree further down the pathway and she distanced her thoughts from friendship to ready her hand. She mentally prepared herself to pick one of the fruits and selected the one she would reach for. As she walked into the shade of the young apple tree, she reached up and plucked a vibrant red apple.

“Look at you!” Mason cheered, ’You’re a natural!”

Taylor proudly took a bite and smiled at the individuals she was hoping would be her friends, “Tonight sounds good. Keep me posted.”

--=|=--

The night was cool and silent. Mason pulled his phone out to view Claire’s text to meet her at the greenhouse followed by a message containing the address of the greenhouse in question. He smiled to himself as he pulled up the directions. After many years of friendship, Claire knew Mason better than he knew himself sometimes.

Every walkway around him was empty and the stillness of the city was pleasant. The night was dark and streetlights were sparse, leaving the plants around him responsible to light his path. A lot of the ferns and shrubbery that were placed as decoration around the city contained bioluminescent properties, and by night they provided blue and green glows to the sidewalk in front of him.

A woman wearing a backpack crouched near one of the plants and felt the glowing leaf between two fingers. As Mason approached, he realized that it was Taylor. She turned the leaf in her hand and inspected both sides, her curious features illuminated by a soft green light. She had changed from the outfit that she wore earlier and now wore black jeans and a dark tank top with a faded image of a skull holding a wrench in its teeth. Her black hair was in a loose ponytail and was threaded through the back of an old baseball hat. Mason realized that he should have dressed for the occasion as well, but it was too late to change his clothes now.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Mason asked her.

Taylor took a second longer to inspect the leaf, “It’s like witchcraft,”. She finished her inspection and stood up to look at Mason, “I figured I’d wait for you since we live in the same building and all.”

“You miss me already?” Mason smiled as he began walking.

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Taylor began following, “No, I’ve heard you get lost easily. And Claire asked that I get you to the greenhouse at a reasonable time,” Taylor retorted.

“I’m already a step ahead of both of you,” Mason proudly displayed his phone as the directions sounded in his ear.

Taylor narrowed her eyes as she viewed the directions, “That says you’re going to a doughnut shop.”

Mason blushed as he quickly checked his phone again. He had indeed selected the directions from earlier that day instead of the greenhouse. With a tap of a couple of buttons, he adjusted the directions and flashed a guilty smile.

Taylor chuckled, “You’re a goofball,”.

--=|=--

Mason and Taylor approached the greenhouse and Claire waved at them to join her. Compared to the other skyscrapers around it, this building looked like a garden gnome. The greenhouse was only five floors tall and its construction consisted of mostly glass with a few strips of white concrete that added modern artistic flair to the building. The pathways that lead up to the front door slithered through freshly cut grass and flower beds like a grey snake. While a majority of the plants that surrounded the greenhouse were bioluminescent, there were still a couple of light fixtures on the outside of the building. These lights were styled to look like sunflowers, which didn’t make sense to Mason. He was under the impression that sunflowers always faced the sun, however, these lights (like all street lamps) faced downwards to reduce the amount of light pollution they emitted.

Claire greeted them with a warm smile as they approached, “You guys made it!”

“I didn’t realize you sent Taylor to spy on me,” Mason joked.

“I wanted to make sure we all got here in a timely manner,” Claire responded apologetically.

“So what’s the plan?” Taylor asked as the three of them huddled in a nook at the base of the greenhouse building.

“This is what I’ve thought of so far. We get in, I scan the entire room, and then we sneak out,” Claire smiled hesitantly, “It isn’t much of a plan.”

“Scan the room?” Taylor asked.

Claire patted her bag, “In here I have my computer and a three-dimensional scanner that will scan the entire room. It will then create a digital model of the room that I can use to create a realistic backdrop for the photos I’m going to create. After I scan you guys, which is something I can do at home, I can create photos of whatever I want.”

Mason grinned, “That is so cool.”

“More like creepy,” Taylor was apprehensive about that knowledge, “You can create photos of whatever you want with just that information? What would happen if something like this got into the wrong hands.”

Mason waved a hand at her, “This isn’t a bad thing per se, we are just fudging some details here and there.”

Taylor waved the thought aside, “So how do we get in?”

Claire sighed, “We should have made a plan before showing up at the greenhouse. I don’t know how to get in. I checked the front door, but naturally, it’s locked.”

Mason stood up and began to scan the outside of the building with his eyes, “There has to be another way in. Some sort of vent that leads to the outside. We could crawl through that.”

Claire nodded and unzipped her backpack, “Let me see if I can pull up a schematic for the building.”

Taylor took off her backpack and held it up timidly, “I brought some of my tools just in case we needed them.”

Mason stopped his search and smiled with pride, “Way to go Taylor! Have you done this before?”

“Actually,” Taylor thought about the many buildings she had broken into before, “I have.”

“Got it,” Claire announced quietly. Her face was illuminated by the pale light of her laptop and her eyes darted around the screen, “It looks like there is a large air duct towards the back of the building. It’s big enough to fit us.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Mason shot to his feet and began walking, but quickly turned on his heels as he saw Taylor and Claire begin walking the opposite way.

At the back of the building stood a smooth white fence guarding the external machinery that the greenhouse required. The soft hum from the various components filled the air around them and masked the group’s footsteps. A thin service door joined the fence and the greenhouse, creating a small pathway that mechanics would use in order to tend to the machines. A bright red screen displayed the image of a lock. Mason tried the door regardless, but to no one’s surprise, it didn’t budge.

“How are we going to get in?” Taylor asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.

I might be able to mask my device as the-” Claire began, however, Mason waved a hand to interrupt her.

“Don’t explain it, just do it,” Mason kept a watchful eye on their surroundings. Claire huffed, sat down, and pulled her laptop out again. She had spent her whole life learning about the world around her, and a large portion of that world was operated by computer code. She understood that not everyone knew how things worked to the level that she did, but it still hurt her feelings when Mason would cut her off.

As she typed on her keyboard she looked up briefly to see Taylor staring at her. As soon as their eyes locked Claire flashed a friendly smile but Taylor turned away quickly to try the locked door again. Claire’s smile grew wider and she continued to work on her laptop. Taylor had been a nice addition to the group, and Claire hoped that she stuck around. Hopefully, Mason’s abrasive personality didn’t drive her away.

“This should do the trick,” Claire said as she stood up, clutching her phone in her hand. As she pressed her device against the glowing panel on the gate, it turned from red to green.

“You are a genius,” Taylor whispered under her breath as they all filed through the gate.

“That’s not even half of it!” Mason grinned and closed the door behind him.

Claire continued to look around, tracing certain pipes and passageways in the air with her finger. She compared what she saw with her laptop screen, pressing her finger to her nose every time she glanced at the schematic. She finally put the laptop back into her bag and pointed at a large vent cover that was fixed to the wall.

“Behind here is an air tunnel used to pump air into the whole building. This tube is more than big enough for us to squeeze through. After that, there should be a couple of vents that we can use to get out of the ventilation,” Claire said confidently.

Taylor pulled her backpack off and began to pull out various screwdrivers and tools, getting to work on the vent that Claire had indicated. The vent creaked as each of the screws was taken from their homes. Once all of the screws were removed, Mason and Taylor yanked the cover off of the wall.

As she typed on her keyboard she looked up briefly to see Taylor staring at her. As soon as their eyes locked Claire flashed a friendly smile but Taylor turned away quickly to try the locked door again. Claire’s smile grew wider and she continued to work on her laptop. Taylor had been a nice addition to the group, and Claire hoped that she stuck around. Hopefully, Mason’s abrasive personality didn’t drive her away.

“This should do the trick,” Claire said as she stood up, clutching her phone in her hand. As she pressed her device against the glowing panel on the gate, it turned from red to green.

“You are a genius,” Taylor whispered under her breath as they all filed through the gate.

“That’s not even half of it!” Mason grinned and closed the door behind him.

Claire continued to look around, tracing certain pipes and passageways in the air with her finger. She compared what she saw with her laptop screen, pressing her finger to her nose every time she glanced at the schematic. She finally put the laptop back into her bag and pointed at a large vent cover that was fixed to the wall.

“Behind here is an air tunnel used to pump air into the whole building. This tube is more than big enough for us to squeeze through. After that, there should be a couple of vents that we can use to get out of the ventilation,” Claire said confidently.

Taylor pulled her backpack off and began to pull out various screwdrivers and tools, getting to work on the vent that Claire had indicated. The vent creaked as each of the screws was taken from their homes. Once all of the screws were removed, Mason and Taylor yanked the cover off of the wall.

As the closest blade passed by him, Mason ignored every cautious bone in his body and pushed himself through. He heard the next blade rush by his face and waited to feel pain, but none came. Mason opened his eyes and saw Claire and Taylor standing on the opposite side of the fan, their faces pale.

“What are you guys worried about?” Mason stood up and acted nonchalant, hoping that he hadn’t peed his pants, “It’s easy.”

Claire began to breathe again and fixed her dress nervously, “Do you see the vent we can use to gain access to the rest of the building?” Claire hissed through the fan.

Mason crawled deeper into the duct and spotted a vent that led to a large chamber below them. He smiled as his eyes scanned the surroundings through the slits in the vent, “Guys, you gotta see what’s in here.”