In the authoritarian world of the silo, one must never say dangerous things out loud. 

Shortly after her fifteenth birthday, Mia Flynn began hearing voices. Fifteen-year-old Lily Yates began hearing and seeing fantastical things. This all occurred within the hydroponic farms. However, allowing oneself to be swept up by imagination, saying things that suggest a rebellious form of mental illness, is dangerous within the silo. Certain things must never be spoken.

The Shattering of Light Into Rainbows is a short story based on the best-selling Silo Series by Hugh Howey and was written with his permission.

Excerpt. The moment that Lily Yates first witnessed fantastical things:

The day I first saw the light shatter, I had been picking oranges from the trees and placing them into a sack tied around my neck. I was bored and tired. The neck strap had been rubbing my skin raw. It burned every time I lifted my arm to pluck an orange from the tree.

The water pipes had done their job, splashing the orange trees with hydration. Right above a spot where water had pooled into droplets, a plump caterpillar all dressed up in a green bodysuit with black and orange stripes sat nibbling on a leaf. He looked down at me lazily as though to say, “What’s up?”

I answered him. “What’s up is you. You’re up in my tree.”

He replied, “Yup. And I intend to stay here. Name’s Bubbles. What’s yours?”