Overdue Maintenance

Jack parks the truck just before the exit of a tunnel and they get out. Roaring water echoes from somewhere deep below. Annie grabs her bag and goes ahead. The tunnel wall to the right features doors, large gates, and windows that allow a peek into abandoned offices, storage spaces, and control rooms. The end of the tunnel connects to a balcony with walkways connecting to either side, extending into a narrow ravine. She steps onto it, making sure to keep her distance to the railing, and looks around. The walkway to the right connects to the top of a dam blocking the ravine. A couple bushes, purple flowers, and a small tree grow on top of it and the wall is partially green from moss. Water flows over the spillway, falling into the depths below where it joins a torrent of water coming from two big pipes at the bottom of the dam.

She turns around to see Jack getting a toolbox from the truck bed one word or two? and James and Michelle waiting next to a door, holding a large box full of random spare parts. She hurries over to them and opens it by pulling a loop of wire through the latch.

Inside is the main control room. The wall to the right is lined with metal cabinets that have levers, buttons, dials, and large gauges on them. The wall to the left features a front of windows, allowing a view of the spillway and the top of the dam, below which is a random collection of furniture, primarily desks and chairs. Some of the windows have cracks but, by some miracle, none are broken. The center of the room is taken up by a large console with more buttons, switches, and gauges that is facing the windows and an opening in the floor covered by a thick glass pane.

They set down their things and roam around the room. Out of nowhere, Michelle asks:
Jack, what's the status on that dome city you're building? You guys only have two years to finish that project.
Oh no, I guess we're gonna have to slack less while waiting for bureaucracy to take its course.
Look, the power lines are gonna get hooked up to the battery bank in a couple days. Aren't you excited for that?
Not my department but I sure hope we're no longer gonna need these portable batteries down there. Having a working power grid is gonna be so nice.
They are looking at a calendar on the wall and laughing. It shows October 1991 with a few entries and crossed-off days.

Jack notices that Annie has unwittingly stepped onto the glass pane.