[ WP ] After the surface of earth has been made unfit for human life , humans have relocated to the bottom of the ocean . Oxygen is now our most valuable resource .

“ And that, class, is the truth of the time that we humans primarily lived our lives based on combustion. ” 
 
 I looked out over my students, and suddenly it struck me that, in fact, I am a terrible lecturer. “ And that, class, ” has got to be the *worst* possible way to finish out a class. Whatever. I turned around walked into my office as students filed out the door opposite me. 
 
 “ Hey beautiful. ” 
 
 I gawked. There, right before my eyes, was the most wonderful, most beautiful, most outrageously inappropriate sight of my career. 
 
 “ Um… hi. ” I should ’ ve been mad. I really should. I mean why in all hell was my girlfriend sitting in her underwear on my desk? I would have said something of the sort were I not a tad distracted. As it was, my mind wasn ’ t quite there. 
 
 “ Um hi? For god ’ s sake, Saanvi, you really need to learn to focus. You can ’ t teach if you ’ re so easily distracted. ” She was taunting me. I couldn ’ t complain, of course, this was fantastic, but still. What the hell. 
 
 “ What are you doing here. ” It was too harsh, and I knew it immediately. It wasn ’ t meant to come out that way, but it just did. “ I ’ m sorry. I just… it ’ s just that I just got this job, you know? I don ’ t want to lose it and if my girlfriend is bouncing around the complex in her underwear, I won ’ t last a day. You know they don ’ t like... ” my voice was faltering, “ I mean, you know… You know they don ’ t like people like us here. It ’ s the military. They still believe in mandatory conception for all relationships. This kind of thing couldn ’ t be allowed. ” 
 
 “ Saanvi, you think I don ’ t fucking know that? ” Okay, so Ellie was a little upset. That ’ s fair. That was obvious. “ You think you ’ re the only one who could struggle? Do you even remember how we met? Your dad controlled the oxygen supply for our entire fucking district, and my family was sharing out of one fucking tank. Remember how you were supposed to watch him cut us off, to learn the family business -- ” 
 
 “ But I didn ’ t do that. Ellie Chang, you know I never wanted that. You know for all its given me, I *still* hate the fact that my dad ’ s business is about making people pay up or die. I ’ m a historian. I learn history and I ’ m using it to try to find a way out of this mess. There ’ s a reason I work at this military academy. They ’ re the only ones who are gon na be able to free us from this submerged prison someday. ” 
 
 “ I know that! ” There were tears in Ellie ’ s eyes. Of course there were. I could still remember what it looked like. Little domes on their heads and tanks on their backs. An entire district without dry spaces, water all around them. And then the chang family, all sharing from one little tank, taking turns breathing it straight then holding their breath five, maybe ten minutes at a time. We were only seventeen back then. 
 
 Voice shaking, Ellie looked up to me. “ Saan, I just want to be here. I ’ ve never been able to live without a suit on, let alone in real underwear. Not until you. And here at a military complex, the air here is so pure, there ’ s oxygen. Hell, You could probably start a fire in here that would burn forever. 
 
 “ I ’ m sorry I came, Saanvi. I really am. It ’ s just that I can finally breathe freely. ” 
 
 I couldn ’ t help but to kiss her then. 

