Wes stood there, on what seemed to be an even floor, with his eyes closed. He hesitantly cracked his eyes and opened them.
"huh?" was the only utterance that could come out of Wes in response to what he was seeing. A thin man with a bald top and long thin white hair flaring out from the sides and back of his head was sitting on an exercise bike and calmly cycling while reading the magazine that rested on the handlebars. The red "walls" of the room he was centered in were of gently glowing crusted lava and was circular in shape with no corners or distinguishable ceiling. Wes imagined that this is what being inside of a very large egg shell would look like if the shell was made of almost entirely crusted lava. The lava seemed to have an inextinguishable life to it, keeping a calm glowing pulse behind the crusted scab that prevented the room from being flooded with lava. Wes saw a refrigerator sitting next to a small counter that had a microwave on it on the other side of the room. There was an oscillating fan sitting in front of the old man that would make his flaring white hair dance every time it passed him. Wes cleared his throat and the man turned his head to Wes without stopping cycling. His nose was long and jagged and his face looked bony and withered.
"Who are you?" said the man shortly.
"Um, I'm Wes. I was the oceans of Earth a couple of seconds ago and then I became pure conscious energy and came here."
"Hmm." responded the man without interest and then turned back to his magazine. Wes stood there for a moment wondering what to say.
"Sooo... what is this place?" asked Wes.
"Its my place." He said with a hint of bitter irony without turning from his magazine.
"Oh." responded Wes awkwardly, "So why are you on that exercise bike?"
"A bulb needs a power source doesn't it? Well that's me. I'm the one that keeps this thing on. I'm responsible for keeping life on Earth going. The weight of your world is on my back." The man turned to the next page of his magazine. Wes stood there in disbelief. This bony old man was the source of the great orb's energy? It couldn't be, but Wes thought it unwise to question him, he already seemed to be in a hostile mood.
Suddenly a beeping noise came from the other side of the room and the old man slowed down his pedaling and stepped off the bike.
"What's that?" Wes asked, alarmed, and also in shock that he would stop pedaling and risk the life of every being on Earth that depended on the sun. The man walked over to the microwave and popped open its door causing the beeping to stop and pulled something out of it.
"My hot pocket is done." He said. He walked back to the bike and resumed cycling while reading his magazine with hot pocket in hand.
"But what about the energy? I thought you had to keep pedaling to keep the light on, why didn't it die when you came off the bike?"
"Son, do you know how much energy this bike generates?" asked the man, this time turning his body to face Wes. "Not very much. There is enough energy stored in the sun around us to last for a long time. I would have to stop pedaling for several milenia just to dim this thing."
"So then how did all this energy accumulate?" asked Wes. The man turned his gaze away from Wes to the crusted shell wall in front of him. His gaze was distant, like he was staring past the shell to an infinitely distant place.
"Time." The solemn word came from the man with a weight that Wes could not comprehend. There was silence afterward except for the never ending hum of the oscillating fan and the old man's persistent pedaling. Wes swallowed and felt awkwardness lay heavy on him. He looked around for something to do but found only a cage of crusted lava. He wanted to leave, but oddly enough he couldn't break through the lava crust. He felt a jolt of panic seize his heart for a moment. How is he getting out of here? Is he stuck here forever like this wretched withered old man? His heart was beating into his throat with bubbling fear.
"Um, how do I get out of here?" asked Wes's shaky voice. The old man sighed and slumped his head momentarily before steping off his bike again and walking over to the refrigerator. He put his hands on both sides of it and pulled it away from the shell wall with surprising strength.
"Come here." he said shortly and Wes obeyed. There was a large and heavy rusted metal door behind the fridge. The man wraped a deceptively strong hand around the rusted handlebar of the door and slid it screechingly open. Stone stairs descended into darkness behind the door.
"Uh, you want me to go in there?" Wes asked with incredulous eyes.
"Yes" said the man without looking at Wes. Wes turned back to face the ominous stone stairs. He placed a reluctant foot on the first stone step and then he lowered the rest of himself onto the step. He heard the screeching door begin to close behind him and he quickly turned around and yelled
"Wait!"
The man obliged.
"You never told me your name." Wes said staring up at his bony and worn face. The withered old man stared down at Wes and uttered the name he hadn't spoke for milenia:
"Atlas."
And with that the heavy metal door screeched shut and all was dark.