Bedtime Story to Help You Sleep | The Underwater City | BetterSleep

[Music] good evening tonight's story is called the underwater city so snuggle up under the blankets and prepare for a wonderful night of sleep and once you're all settled in close your eyes the city of cremenos is unlike any other city in the world if you woke up in one of the many one-bedroom apartments downtown you might think that you were in new york or tokyo when you looked out the window you would see tall glassy skyscrapers reaching toward the sky and shading the streets far below if you listened carefully you would even hear the gentle chatter of more than 30 million people as they headed to work [Music] if you were in the top penthouse suite in the apartment building at the corner of 1st street and 1st avenue you might be confused from here you can see both the eiffel tower and empire state building at the same time the city of cremenos was built as a mosaic of some of the world's biggest cities on a 15-minute walk you would also be able to see the needle-like cn tower of toronto the dancing house of prague and the gateway arch of saint louis what really sets this city apart from all others is what you would see when you look up to the sky you would never see fluffy white clouds lazily drifting by on summer afternoons and you would never see dark nimbo strasses clouds forming above you before a rainstorm when you step outside you would never need an umbrella or a jacket since the city's founding in the year 2300 every day has been dry and mild cremenos is the world's first underwater city 30 countries came together during the 23rd century to create this masterpiece of a city that was voted most beautiful vacation destination 45 years in a row it only made sense for the founders to give this city a greek name like atlantis the city that inspired its design the founders decided on the name cremenos from the greek word meaning hidden the climate is controlled with artificial lights that replicate the rising and setting of the sun most of the city's food is imported from the above water world however there are farms at the edge of the city that produce enough crops to support the city's population about the size of shanghai john was among the first generation of people to be born in cremenos his parents had originally migrated to the city located on the ocean floor off the coast of madagascar when john was a child he used to wonder what the above-ground world was like his parents would tell him stories about their cross-country trips across america to places like yellowstone national park and the grand canyon he begged his parents to take him to america when he was younger but by the time he was a teenager he had completely lost the desire to go abroad he had watched enough movies from around the world to know that cremenos was as beautiful as anywhere john had worked as a window cleaner ever since he was 15 years old every morning he was emailed a list of places that needed to be cleaned on the inside and outside of the glass dome that covered the city for almost 50 years he had spent his days driving around the city in his pickup and exploring every nook and cranny he must have been down every side road and driven around the edge of the glass dome at least a thousand times in his life the city was modeled after 32 of the most famous cities in the world even though he had never been to any of those cities himself from what john had heard each district was almost identical to the original overall the city was somewhere between the size of singapore and hong kong now that he was less than six months away from retirement he probably knew the city better than anyone he knew where to get the most mouth-watering slices of pizza in new new york he could also tell you which rooftop in tiny tokyo offered the best view of the schools of hundreds of thousands of herring that swam by during the day he loved his job as a window washer because every day sent him to a different part of the city where he got to meet the locals and learn a bit of their languages as much as he enjoyed the work he looked forward to spending retirement lying on the sandy beaches in little lisbon or the melbourne district after a lifetime of washing the glass at these places it would be nice to run the sand through his fingers with his eyes closed and listen to the seagulls flying around him he could even spend an entire day watching the schools of fish swim by the city now that his time in the workforce was almost finished it was his responsibility to train his replacement on the day he was supposed to meet his successor john's alarm went off at its usual time of five o'clock he took a deep breath before hitting snooze twice when the alarm went off for the third time he climbed out of bed with creaking knees and walked to the window of his small one-room apartment he pulled open the curtains the artificial light that mimicked sunlight hadn't yet been turned on but the neon glow of lights from the clubs and bars on the street below cast a gentle glow around his apartment he yawned and rubbed his eyes he lived in the part of town modeled after chicago to give the area a more authentic feel giant fans were added to the roof of the dome to replicate gusts of wind it was the only part of the city where you could experience something similar to a natural breeze however other parts of the city also had man-made weather substitutes in the winter time in second stockholm city workers would spend a couple of days spreading synthetic snow around the streets and build up snow banks next to the sidewalks there was even a small outdoor skating rink designed to look like a natural pond in the summertime in second soul sprinklers attached to the roof of the dome would turn on for a couple of hours to replicate rain showers if you were unlucky enough to get caught in them your clothes would cling to your skin as you ran back home for a dry outfit john went to his cupboard and poured himself a bowl of oats imported from canada an added milk that came from a dairy farm at the edge of town near new cairo he also sprinkled in pieces of dried seaweed collected by fishermen from the city after he had a cold shower to help wake himself up he changed into his work uniform he wore a pair of raggedy denim overalls with his name sewed into the chest by the time he rode the elevator from the 37th floor to the ground and stepped outside the artificial lights were beginning to illuminate the city and the street lights were turning off one by one the city was quiet besides the humming of the occasional taxi going by he looked upward to the peak of the dome where the faint glow of the real sun shone and made the water look almost green after his retirement he was planning to take a submarine cruise to london his friends who had visited had told him that he should save his money and go to the local london district of cremenos instead however he had to see the above-ground world at least once in his life he wanted to ride the london eye and see what the view was like when the eiffel tower and empire state building weren't visible he wanted to go to all 32 cities to see how they compared to the underwater versions he knew from his apartment john walked along the quiet street until he reached the parking garage where his pickup truck filled with all his cleaning supplies was located he drove through the cape town district into prague and then got on the freeway headed to paris he turned on the radio to listen to the morning news each time he drove through a different district the language changed he got off the freeway within view of the eiffel tower and drove until he was in the far south end of the city nicknamed little lisbon this part of the city was one of his favorites in his opinion this was where the people were kindest and where he felt most relaxed it was built around an artificial harbour that flowed to the edge of the dome where there was a beach there was no water at the beach however the sand ended at the edge of the dome where the actual ocean took the place of where the ocean in lisbon would be john cruised slowly through the old part of little lisbon with his window down all along the main road were cobblestone streets filled with white buildings that had bright red orange roofs shop owners walked along the cobblestone in the early morning light with straw brooms in their hands they swept away the sand that got tracked into their stores from the nearby beaches most of the shopkeepers recognized john since he was here at least once a week and they all waved at him with wide smiles on their faces he parked his car in front of his favorite cafe and walked in the owner a woman in her late thirties waved and said hola dia before putting a tiny espresso cup under the spout of the espresso maker she buttered two pieces of bread from the display case and carried them to john they had been friends for years she had come from lagos nigeria almost a decade previous with her husband who worked as an engineer he was helping build the new expanse of the city in the far west no one knew what the new district would be but there were rumors that it was going to be a south american city maybe sao paulo or bogota john had been hoping that the new district would be buenos aires ever since he saw pictures of argentina in a magazine last fall [Music] john spent about half an hour eating buttered bread with his coffee while reading the local newspaper there was an article speculating the possibilities for the new development some people thought it might be taipei and others claimed that it would be mexico city a group of kids walked by while kicking a soccer ball back and forth and shouting at each other in portuguese the sound of children laughing was relaxing to john it reminded him of when he was a kid and used to play soccer in second rome with his friends leonardo and andrea after breakfast john drove to the edge of little lisbon where there were a handful of resorts next to the beach he parked next to one of the resorts and walked barefoot to the edge of the beach where the glass bubble divided the ocean from the city seagulls flew overhead inside the dome and dove at the sand to pick up stray french fries left the evening before there wasn't a complete ecosystem of animals yet but that was another project that the city planners were working on the eventual goal was to populate the city with wildlife of each region but for now there were only common city creatures like seagulls pigeons mice and squirrels around melbourne there were even a few kangaroos john sat in the sand with his knees curled between his arms as he took a few moments to collect his thoughts before his work day officially began at 9 00 am outside the glass bubble thousands of blue fish about six inches long swam by their bellies glimmered in the artificial light emitted from the city behind the fish was a coral reef made from coral of almost every colour of the rainbow occasionally when he looked out he would see a sea turtle or dolphin peering back at him there were a series of barely noticeable nozzles sticking out of the sand that periodically emitted the briny smell of saltwater he inhaled the smell of seawater before standing up and stretching his hands overhead then he brought his container filled with cleaners his retractable squeegee and his bucket filled with water to the dome before he started cleaning he inspected the glass around the beach this was the most important part of his job inspecting the glass for potential damage in his 50 years on the job he had only ever found one crack and it wasn't even all the way through the glass was more than three feet thick to withstand the extreme pressure of the ocean but every now and then small sections of the dome would be replaced to make sure that it didn't leak by the time the artificial lights at the top of the city reached their maximum brightness john had finished cleaning the first section of the dome on his list he was working on a second section with his squeegee soaked in soapy water when he sensed someone standing behind him [Music] he turned to see a boy with dark chocolate complexion and curly black hair who couldn't have been any older than sixteen [Music] john examined him for a moment and considered that he looked a lot like himself as a young man are you my new assistant asked john the boy nodded and pulled a hand out of the pocket of his blue shorts to shake john's hand he was quite tall for his age he was already taller than john probably a hair under six feet tall and had a wide build john gripped his hand and introduced himself don't you have to go to school today asked john how old are you the boy said that his name was tayo and he explained that he was being homeschooled by his parents they had just moved to cremenos from porto the city above the water his parents wanted him to get a job in the mornings so they could teach him in the evenings after they get home from work tayo was about the same age as john when he started the job even though they looked nothing alike something about the boy reminded him of himself when he was younger maybe it was the shy mannerisms that tayo seemed to have john wasn't home-schooled but he did have trouble making friends when he was younger it wasn't until he began washing windows and meeting people around the city that he developed his social skills perhaps the boy would follow in his footsteps and work the same job for the next half a century it didn't sound like the most glamorous job in the city but it was one of the most important they were responsible for the safety of more than 30 million people john explained to tayo the best way to check for cracks in the wall he should shine a flashlight against the glass and if he saw something shimmer in the light he should investigate it further the boy listened to john intently and only spoke when john asked him questions about himself they worked all morning cleaning the glass along the beach and inspecting the dome for cracks it was nice having somebody with him for a change usually john only had a chance to talk to people in passing the beach filled up with people by noon it became alive with the chatter of languages from around the world even though people couldn't swim at this beach it was still a popular destination for families or couples to spend the day some people just enjoyed lying on the beach while others tossed a frisbee back and forth or ogled the marine life swimming by taiyo continued to watch john's every movement as if john were a famous painter creating a masterpiece when they stopped for lunch john asked tayo to tell him about portugal [Music] as they sat on a towel in the sand eating sandwiches that jon had packed tayo told john that porto was the most beautiful city in the world and that he thought that everybody should see it at least once in their lifetime what do you think of it here so far asked john tayo said that he wasn't sure yet there were a lot of nice parts of the city but he still worried about being underwater john laughed and picked up a stone from the beach he threw it at the glass but it bounced off without leaving a scratch there are three feet of glass between us and the outside world said john we're probably safer down here than people are up there because we don't have to worry about being hit by lightning as they were talking a woman walked towards them carrying a basket she introduced herself as tayo's mother before taking out a thermos of coffee freshly grilled sardines and homemade bread from the basket she asked john how her son was doing so far john told her that her son seemed like a hard worker and that he was sure that he would do a fine job the woman nodded at this and patted her son on his arm she asked john how long he'd been in the city for and john told her that he hadn't left since he was born the woman's eyes widened and she muttered something to herself in portuguese she seemed to have the same worries about the underwater city as her son but john assured her that it was perfectly safe he even made the lightning joke again before asking her to describe porto to him she seemed very excited to talk about her home even though she hadn't been gone long the way she talked about it with passion hinted that she missed it a great deal she talked about wine tasting along the duro river on warm summer nights there were beautiful restaurants everywhere that sold fresh ham and cheese she described the beautiful red tile roofs that you could see around the city as she pointed to the resorts next to them built in a similar style she finished by telling john that he hadn't truly lived until he had walked across the dom louis bridge that had one of the most amazing views in the city if not all of europe john agreed that he would like to see porto someday before describing all the beautiful things about his own city night time walks along the han river in second soul the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the parisian district the spectacular sight of a full-grown humpback whale swimming by after they ate the woman said goodbye and john and tayo went back to work cleaning the glass along the beach john continued to explain the tricks of the trade like how it was always better to start high and work lower or else soapy water could drip down onto the parts that they had already cleaned they worked together for most of the afternoon until they came across a part of the glass covered in an octopus the size of a school bus it was the largest octopus that john had ever seen each tentacle was as thick as around his legs the creature was suctioned onto the glass and gave them an almost human-like expression of boredom taiyo laughed when he saw the octopus and made a joke that they would have to be the ones that removed the octopus off the glass john told tayo that it was their job and the boy gave him a bewildered expression [Music] as if it knew what they were talking about the octopus pushed itself off the glass with its tentacles and left a trail of bubbles behind it the outside of the glass was covered in a slimy substance from the animal's tentacles we need to wash the outer glass said john tayo asked how they could clean it from the outside john erupted into laughter tayo was in for a treat swimming outside the city was one of john's favorite things to do there was nothing in the world more peaceful [Music] i'll show you said john before leading the boy to his truck they both got into the vehicle and drove across little lisbon until they reached new new york which was almost an exact replica of manhattan island the traffic was heavy so it took them almost half an hour to find a parking spot near central park they left the cleaning gear inside the truck except for the retractable squeegee that john carried with him as they walked through the park central park incrimenos wasn't as big as the original because it bordered the edge of the city it only contained about half the park in the actual new york all around them people sat around the grass and chatted as they enjoyed the afternoon john could hear spanish swahili french mandarin and russian he didn't speak any of these languages fluently but he knew enough of each to identify them [Music] the trees at the end of the park brushed against the grass they followed the dome until they reached a large building made almost completely of glass that was shaped like the taj mahal john told tayo that it was the submarine house it was the main way in and out of the city for anyone coming from north america or australia john pointed into the ocean where the submarines docked and took off like planes they went into the large building that was built similarly to an airport there was a food court with popular food chains as well as a security area where people passed through on their way to transcontinental submarine rights john took tayo past all this to the far end of the submarine house this part of the building looked more like a hotel with glass windows that allowed the best possible view of the passing fish and animals there was an area here for city employees to borrow scuba equipment john helped tayo put on his scuba suit and showed him how to properly attach his air tank once they were all geared up they went to the airlock they stood in the chamber that looked like a small prison cell without any windows the door behind them closed and they stood in the dark for a moment before the outer door opened and water flooded in with a loud trickling sound when they were covered up to their necks they swam out of the airlock and into the ocean the trickling sounds stopped and suddenly the world became completely silent except for the sound of their own breathing the gentle current pulled them toward a school of fish that scattered when they got too close [Music] some of the fish brushed against john's arms and legs before the fish swam frantically away john and tayo swam along the edge of the city until they reached a spot between new new york and little lisbon that was covered in algae john gently scrubbed away the algae with his squeegee before they continued on to the spot where they had spotted the octopus earlier john handed tyle the squeegee to wipe the glass and let himself relax into the weightlessness of the ocean [Music] going outside of the city was always john's favorite part of the job he felt like an astronaut as if he were completely isolated from the world and was the last human on earth he watched the sea life swim by as tayo finished cleaning the glass [Music] a school of glowing fish passed by them the fish were a mix of neon pink green yellow and purple each fish was so thin that when they faced john they almost completely disappeared even though there were hundreds of them [Music] a squid lazily passed by swimming through the water with its tentacles dancing beneath itself before landing on the glass to rest john brushed it with his hand and it swam off on its way again john and tayo couldn't communicate verbally so john pointed to the coral reef surrounding the entire side of the city [Music] the coral grew along the sea floor in a rainbow of colours ranging from deep red to light green [Music] various fish and sea critters hid in the coral and the plants growing on top of it strands of seaweed gently flapped in the water tiny fish smaller than a finger darted between the strands as larger fish eyed them from above john stopped to admire a pink sea anemone filtering water from a rock on the ocean floor when a sea turtle drifted by and stared at him [Music] the black streak over the turtle's eyes made it look as if it were angry although the creature didn't seem bothered by jon's presence from head to tail the creature was almost as long as john but it was much more nimble navigating through the ocean with a gentle slap of its flippers it swam upward through the water toward the sunlight at the surface john looked up toward where the sun was shining down at the bottom of the ocean the water was bluish purple but closer to the surface the water was a beautiful teal colour a school of thousands of fish swam by the sunlight temporarily darkening the ocean before disappearing further into the endless waters for a moment the ocean seemed empty and then out of the blue a curious looking fish appeared its back of bright yellow and its front of a bright fuchsia it looked as if it had been created from two fish sewn together casually the solitary fish swam by the two divers not far away two dolphins were swimming around the reef john looked at tayo even with the diving mask over his mouth it was clear that tayo was smiling widely as he watched this magical marine scene one of the dolphins came near them gently bumped its nose against john's leg the gentle nudge became insistent and almost urgent as if the dolphin thought john was drowning and was now pushing him toward the surface of the water [Music] john smiled and followed the dolphin to the surface of the water he broke out to the surface with his head and gazed around it had been years since he had last gone above water they were more than 300 miles from the nearest piece of land so there wasn't much to see as wailing seagulls flew over john's head the only shape that broke the wavy surface of the water was a cargo ship far off in the distance leaving in its trails a stream of smoke [Music] john dove back underwater and found tayo swimming along the coral reef as he watched the thousands of fish in the area go by a handful of other divers in the area were also exploring the reef one of them gave john a thumbs up as he swam by john beckoned for tayo to follow him together they swam to the top of the glass dome until they rested against it near the top floor of the highest skyscrapers in manhattan from where they were they could see the rectangle shape of central park contrasting with the buildings around it from this high up the people wearing suits rushing along the sidewalks were barely visible however john could clearly make out the yellow orange taxis moving bumper to bumper the glass blocked the sound of the cabs but john could almost imagine the sounds of the horns muffled by the water that's why he loved being on this side of the glass everything felt so relaxing it made him feel like he was watching some strange universe from the outside the pair swam toward little lisbon where john had first met tayo this side of the city looked completely different from manhattan the roofs were all reddish-orange and contrasted sharply with the bone white buildings leafy trees dotted the streets between buildings and on a hill was a square castle with a courtyard in the middle all along the beach families could be seen playing and relaxing and couples walking hand in hand leaving footprints in the dry white sand patches of tall yellow grass lined the edge of the beach closest to the results a long boardwalk half covered in the sand led away from the beach compared to new new york this part of the city looked as peaceful as a seaside community taiyo put a hand to the glass and looked and pointed to a group of houses off in the distance that shared the same white frame and red roof as most of the buildings around it john assumed that the boy was trying to tell him that's where he lived waved fertile to follow him and they continued to circle the city they kept swimming until they were in the part of the city nicknamed second soul this area looked even more modern than manhattan at the edge of the district was the han river a series of bridges divided soul from lisbon rows of white condo buildings seemed to go on for miles each of the buildings were at least 30 floors high and had an identical design among them was the lotte world tower that stood so tall that the tip of the building was only a few feet from the roof of the dome if anyone were to stand on top of it they could probably reach the glass with their hands the entire building was made from blue glass and about halfway up the tower narrowed like the neck of a bottle it was the tallest building in the city but if a section of the city was ever added to replicate dubai the dome would surely have to be raised john and tayo swam toward the top of the dome when they reached the exact center they looked down into the middle of the city there was a perfectly circular pond in the middle about the size of the base of one of the skyscrapers in new new york from this angle the city looked like a bullseye a roundabout circled the central pond and eight equidistant roads branched off the roundabout in opposite directions like spokes on a wheel each pie-shaped section of the city between the spokes was divided into four districts to make a total of 32 the innermost piece of the pie slice was one district the middle of the slice was a second and there were two mini cities at the outer part of each wedge in total 16 city districts made up the outer ring and eight cities made up the middle and inner rings [Music] from where john and tayo were it was easy to see why cremenos had been named the most beautiful in the world for the past 45 years not only was gazing into the ocean breathtaking but you could also experience every type of architecture in the world in one single place in the inner ring there was a slice of london from just south of the thames river the london eye ferris wheel slowly spun as people below them enjoyed the ride on the other side of the thames river was beijing the buildings were much more dense here with state-of-the-art skyscrapers and a few traditional red and green temples which stuck out against the sleek architecture next to beijing was madrid which looked completely different from all the cities around it there were no skyscrapers there it only had low buildings built in square blocks tightly packed together many of the buildings had a courtyard john could imagine what they would look like from a closer view there would be children playing people hanging their laundry from clothes lines and families sitting together there was a large soccer stadium in the middle of the district and even from up here john could see the parking lot filled with cars and people lined up to get inside next to madrid was rome with ancient architecture to mimic the original city the colosseum was clearly visible looking out a place compared to most of the modern buildings around it the rest of the inner circle was made up of berlin montreal stockholm and chicago where john had lived his entire life tayo gave john a pat on the shoulder and then gave him a thumbs up john returned the thumbs up with a nod [Music] whenever he needed a break from his city life john came here to watch the city even though he had never traveled he felt like he had visited the entire world it wasn't just the sights of the buildings that gave him that worldly feeling it was knowing that people from all over the world were able to come together to create this city even when john was in high school and working as a glass cleaner part-time he would hear languages from every corner of the globe even if he closed his eyes and plugged his ears he could probably navigate the city by the scent of the different foods cooking when he walked by montreal he would smell the meaty scent of gravy poured over warm french fries and cheese in prague he would smell the vinegary smell of sauerkraut along with roasted pork and dumplings it was impossible to mistake paris with any other part of the city because of the buttery aroma of croissants and the smell of freshly made baguettes stockholm was recognizable by the smell of meatballs covered in a sweet glaze in new new delhi there was the musky and distinct smell of a mixture of curry spices in seoul the smells were of garlic and gochu peppers so strong that you could almost taste the fermented kimchi from the streets in new new york you would get a mixture of scents but the smell of freshly baked apple pie was what he remembered most finally john and tayo swam back to the airlock they removed their scuba suits and re-entered the city [Music] you finally had a chance to see how beautiful the city can be said john what do you think about it now tayo laughed and told john that he was right it may well be the most beautiful city in the world he told john that he wanted to explore every one of the 32 districts of crimenos and that he would visit a different one every week john smiled and nodded yes there was something familiar about the boy's enthusiasm it wouldn't be long before he started picking up the local languages and becoming a regular at cafes across the city tayo shook john's hand before running off toward the beach where they'd first met the artificial sunlight was dimming and turning yellow orange to replicate the sunset john climbed into his pickup truck and drove through manhattan until he made it to the london district he paid for a ticket for the london eye and rode the ferris wheel to the top so he could see the now sunset glow across the city the light spread across cremenos at once bathing the entire city in a dreamy hue when he retired and tayo took over for him he thought he would buy a ticket to ride the real london eye of course nowhere in the world was as beautiful as cremenos but he still wanted to see a real sunset just like tayo wanted to visit all 32 sections of the city john had the urge to visit every one of the cities that he had visited here in cremenos maybe someday he will get to see them all for himself [Music] on this note our story ends good night and sweet dreams [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: BetterSleep Music

Views: 1,218,176

Keywords: bedtime stories, sci-fi, sci-fi story, sleep better, deep sleep, falling asleep, relaxation, calming music, relaxing music, water sounds, ocean, bedtime story

Id: D8eplSV1wus

Length: 49min 0sec (2940 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 23 2021