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“This thing’s gotta
function like a
miniature cruise ship.”volunteered to be locked in spaces
with groups ranging from the size of
a family to over 1,000 people as part
of the U.S. government’s attempts
to assess psychological/behavioral
impact on people and communities.
While these studies yielded inter-
esting information, they all had
numerous shortcomings. Two were
glaringly evident: they were for a set
time period, and people knew they
were a performance. If such studies
were truly to assess the psychological
impact of bunker life, they would
have to embrace a realism that was
clearly impossible to simulate.
Hall, however, thought he had
worked out a solution to these
two potential obstacles. The key towell-being underground, he told me,
could be about creating an illusion of
“normal,” aboveground, pre-event life.
“So,” Larry said, “we will have people
baking bread and making coffee, peo-
ple can advertise their yoga class on
the café blackboard and we’re going
to stack this deli case full of three dif-
ferent species of tilapia that are grown
in the aquaponics facility next door.”
The nitrates from the fish droppings
would fertilize soil for the plants in
the FDA-certified aquaponics facility.