This domed city was the last cradle left to humanity. One hundred thirty years since Earth's air turned to ash, fifteen thousand lives breathe only because a handful of engineers keep century-old machines limping forward—and none more vital than nineteen-year-old Hartin Alec, the youngest Chief Maintenance Technician in the dome's history.
Alec has lived his whole life inside Dome Varos's iron ribs, hated by the veterans he outranks, sustained only by exhaustion, duty, and the quiet companionsh
The Question Blooming on the Star of Ash - The Ashen Horizon—The Birth of the Sky Magician - Episode 1
"Please, don't stop yet...!"
Hartin Alec tightened the thick pipe with all his strength, his hands slick with oil.
Before him sat the air circulation machine—the very heart of Dome Varos. An ancient device built over one hundred thirty years ago, back when Earth still lived. The smell of rusted iron and a faint burnt odor stung his nostrils.
From above, a heavy rumbling sound echoed down.
(If it stops now, it's over.)
Alec held his breath and peered into the depths of the piping.
This was the lower level of Dome Varos—the mechanical sector, as it was called. Beneath the residential districts, crammed inside a pitch-black iron box, the life support systems were sealed away. A machine to purify air, a machine to create water, a machine to generate electricity from the earth's heat. If even one broke down, fifteen thousand people would stop breathing.
It was that important a place.
"Good... it's fixed, maybe...?"
The heavy sound gradually subsided. Alec wiped the sweat from his forehead with his work suit sleeve. His unkempt black hair clung to his temples, damp with perspiration.
Nineteen years old. His frame was thin, but from constantly tinkering with machines, his palms had grown rough and calloused. His blue eyes always seemed to be thinking about something, with a slight furrow between his brows.
Alec's title was "Chief Maintenance Technician"—the highest-ranking engineer in all of Dome Varos, and the only one. He was responsible for all the life support systems.
But he'd earned that title at just fourteen years old.
***
Alec remembered clearly what happened five years ago.
The night the geothermal generator suddenly stopped and the entire dome went dark. A malfunction that none of the adult technicians could fix—yet the child Alec had repaired it.
"...Why is some brat..."
The look that appeared in the older technicians' eyes then wasn't surprise. It was displeasure.
Five years had passed since then. Alec still sat in the chief's chair. But the attitude of the council's veteran technicians never changed.
"You little punk."
He'd hear them mutter it deliberately when they passed in the corridors. In meetings, his opinions were never heard through to the end.
(It's fine. I don't need their recognition.)
Alec put on a brave face with his words. He truly was confident. He understood machines better than anyone. He could spot malfunctions faster than anyone. That much, he was absolutely certain of.
But late at night, when working alone, he'd sometimes think:
(The truth is, it's a little lonely.)
And whenever he did, he'd remember one face.
***
"Alec! You're still down here?"
A voice called out, and Alec looked up.
A figure carrying a light approached from down the narrow passage. Vain Silas.
Alec's childhood friend. His only best friend.
"Silas. I just finished."
Alec's mouth curved up slightly. Only in front of Silas could he let his shoulders relax.
"You did it alone again? You should've called me to help."
As he spoke, Silas set his lamp down at Alec's feet. His face, illuminated by the light, wore a gentle smile.
Silas and Alec had known each other since before they could remember. They'd grown up in the same residential sector, studied mechanical engineering at the same training facility. Even after becoming technicians, Silas had always stayed by his side.
When the council looked at Alec with cold eyes, only Silas ever took his side.
"...Just having you here is enough."
Alec murmured softly. He thought it was out of character for him, yet the words spilled out anyway.
Silas opened his mouth as if to say something for a moment. But in the end, he just laughed and shrugged.
"You're a strange one, you know that?"
"Don't say that—not you."
The two laughed together, their voices echoing through the narrow mechanical sector.
***
Taking a break, the two crouched down in the narrow passage.
From above, the faint sound of ventilation fans could be heard. Dome Varos was always wrapped in this low mechanical hum. They'd grown so accustomed to it that the silence when it stopped would make them anxious instead.
"Tomorrow's the big repair job, right?"
Silas said it quietly.
"Yeah. The third line of the air circulation machine is at its limit. Today's emergency patch won't last more than a few days."
Alec leaned his back against the passage wall and looked up at the ceiling.
Dome Varos's life support systems had long exceeded their designed lifespan. The fact that they still functioned was only because Alec and the other technicians desperately maintained them every single day.
"We can repair it. But we can't make something new."
It was a phrase often heard among the technicians. The technology of the old era couldn't be replicated by anyone anymore. That's why they had no choice but to keep using what they had, carefully, so carefully.
"Are you doing okay? Your health, I mean."
Silas suddenly leaned in to look at Alec's face.
"...I'm fine. You worry too much."
Alec laughed it off, but truthfully, his exhaustion had long since exceeded its limit.
The daily food ration was sixteen hundred kilocalories. Technicians were supposed to receive a bit more, but Alec always put his own portion last.
(I can't rest now.)
Even when no one was watching, Alec pushed himself with that thought.
***
After the break, Alec decided to check the piping one more time.
"Go on ahead. There's one more place I want to check."
"Understood. Don't push yourself too hard."
Silas said that, left one lamp behind, and headed toward the stairs leading to the upper levels.
His footsteps faded away.
Alec was alone in the passage now. He crawled through a narrow inspection hatch and ventured deeper.
This was a place few people visited. Beyond the third line. The sector where the oldest piping in the entire life support system ran.
Using the lamp's light, he checked each pipe joint one by one.
(Hm...?)
His fingertip stopped on something.
At the connection between two pipes. There was a mark he'd never seen before.
Alec brought his face closer and stared intently.
It was clearly different from old rust or age-related deterioration. The cut was straight and regular.
(This is... a mark made deliberately with a tool.)
His heart went cold.
Alec brought the lamp closer to the piping and examined it more carefully.
Inside the joint, in the part called the packing. A thin metal fragment was wedged inside.
This couldn't possibly be from normal deterioration. Someone had intentionally placed it there.
(If I hadn't noticed this and we'd gone ahead with tomorrow's major repair...)
Just imagining it made cold sweat break out on his back.
If this pipe burst, it would put stress on the entire circulation system. If they were lucky, it might be a minor accident. But in the worst case—the air throughout the entire dome would become contaminated all at once.
Fifteen thousand people would be put in danger simultaneously.
"...Who would do something like this?"
Alec whispered to himself. His voice echoed through the narrow passage and faded away.
His mind spun with various thoughts.
The cold stares from the veteran technicians. The way the council looked at Alec in meetings.
(Could someone actually be trying to destroy the dome?)
It was a thought he didn't want to believe. But the mark before his eyes was undeniably there.
Alec couldn't move from that spot for a long time.
***
How much time had passed?
Alec pulled spare parts from his toolbox with trembling hands. For now, he had to at least repair this damaged section.
He proceeded with the delicate work more carefully than usual. His hands moved skillfully, but his mind kept circling the same questions.
(Who. Why.)
By the time he finished the work, considerable time had elapsed. The lamp's oil was running low.
Alec put away his tools and exhaled deeply.
"...I'll check it again properly tomorrow."
He murmured it to the empty passage, as if speaking to himself.
Should he tell someone about this?
The face that came to mind was, as always, Silas's.
(I can tell Silas.)
For Alec, Silas was the only person he could truly open his heart to. They'd been together since before he could remember, and Silas had always been on his side.
Even if he couldn't trust anyone on the council, Silas was different.
(I'll tell him after tomorrow's repair work.)
With that decision, his heart felt a little lighter.
***
Climbing the stairs to the upper level, Alec suddenly stopped.
In the middle of the narrow passage, there was a small ventilation shaft where faint outside air leaked through. Of course, it wasn't the actual outside air. It was dome air, filtered twice over.
Still, standing here, he could almost feel the outside.
(What's it like out there?)
When he was a child, he'd wondered that, and an adult had scolded him for it.
"Don't look outside. Don't speak of the outside."
For people living in the dome, that was an obvious rule. The barren land—called the Deadland—was filled with toxic particles, and only those wearing protective suits and masks, the exiled ones, could survive there. That's what he'd been told.
Alec shook his head slightly and resumed climbing the stairs.
Now wasn't the time to think about such things.
***
By the time he returned to the residential sector, it was late.
He entered his cramped assigned room and threw himself onto the simple bed, still in his work suit.
A low-ceilinged space of about four square meters. Almost no possessions. A toolbox and a few changes of clothes. That was all.
(Tomorrow's going to be a difficult day.)
When he closed his eyes, the mark he'd just discovered came alive behind his eyelids.
(Tomorrow I'll do the major repair with Silas. This time, I have to check everything properly.)
Even as he thought that, a small anxiety lingered somewhere in his heart.
(Will everything really be okay?)
But his exhausted body quickly gave up on thinking.
Alec slowly closed his eyes.
From far away, the low sound of the ventilation fan reached him. The same sound as always—like the breathing of the dome itself.
Listening to that sound, Alec drifted into sleep without knowing what tomorrow would bring.
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