I saw something on the evening news that I can't explain

Tonight I watched the local news with a glass of milk and cookies. I haven't been feeling my best lately and sometimes I just need a break from work. I think the show was WSBT channel 22 from South Bend Indiana. I haven't lived here long and I'm not really familiar with the area. I live in a small town a couple miles outside of South Bend. My parents moved here two years ago for work, and I'm a college student. <br><br>The news opened with a shot of the city's waterfront. I immediately recognized the building. "Wait a minute," I said to myself. "That's not right." I've driven by this spot a few times, it's right near a bridge that takes you into downtown South Bend. The building has always been a museum before. Tonight though, the building was gone, replaced with a large, futuristic dome. The news anchor was going on about how this was the newest attraction for the city, and how they're going to have concerts inside tonight. <br><br>I got really confused. I'm sure I would have heard about a giant dome going up in the middle of a city. The camera cut away from the exterior and inside we saw what looked like a large empty hall. The walls and ceiling were crystal clear plasmas. The camera panned across the seats, which were empty tonight. The stage was in the shape of a giant ring. It looked... strange. The news anchor was going on about the shape of the stage, and how they're going to set up the seats in different patterns to match the sound. The camera panned across the seats again. The seats in front of the stage looked normal. But the seats behind the stage looked like they were on an inclined plane, like they were going to be looking straight up at the performers. <br><br>The camera zoomed in on the stage, and that's when things got really weird. On top of the ring, in the very center, was a small, metal ball. It was maybe the size of a baseball, and it reflected the camera light like metal. The stage itself was a deep red color, almost purple, and it was made out of what looked like some kind of metal or plastic. I'm not sure how I know these details so clearly, but whenever I close my eyes the image is burned into my brain. The stage was raising and lowering in a rhythmic pattern, like it was breathing. It reminded me of a heart beating up and down. <br><br>The camera cut to an interview. The anchor was talking to some guy in a suit, who was standing in front of the dome. "So," the anchor asked, "how does one get tickets to one of these concerts?" The guy in the suit smiled and looked down at his hands. He was holding a small device that looked like a cell phone. "Just point your hand towards the sky, and press this button," he said, pointing to a small red square on his device. "You'll be given a choice of concerts. Select the one you want to see, and you'll be given directions to where you need to be." He looked back at the camera. "Or, of course, you can just walk towards the dome, and follow the directions on the sign." <br><br>The camera cut back to the anchor in the studio. "Is that sign we see on screen a part of the dome?" he asked. The camera cut to a shot of the exterior of the dome, and the sign was clearly visible above the main entrance. "No," the anchor said, "I think it's a new law in town. If you don't have a direction device like this one, you won't be allowed inside." The anchor looked uncomfortable. I think we both did. The camera cut to a shot of the guy in the suit, still holding the device. "Is that... universal?" he asked. The guy looked uncomfortable too. "I'm afraid not," he said. "Sorry buddy." The anchor looked like he wanted to punch the guy. <br><br>The camera cut back to the exterior shot of the dome. The anchor was back on screen. "And that brings us to our next story," he said. "Apparently, there have been complaints from some of the local residents." The camera cut to a shot of a neighborhood. I could see the dome in the distance. "As you can see," the anchor said, "the dome is not very far from any neighborhoods. Some of the residents aren't happy about that." The camera cut to an interview with a couple in their sixties, who lived a couple of blocks from the dome. "It's just not right," the woman said. "We didn't sign up for this." The man looked very angry. "We didn't ask for this," he said. "And we especially didn't ask for what's coming with it." The anchor looked surprised. "What do you mean?" he asked. The couple looked at each other. "We've been getting these... pulses," the woman said. "They feel like a heartbeat. They feel like my heart when I'm scared. And I don't know why." The man looked at the camera. "And neither do I. But I think it has something to do with the stage." The camera cut back to the exterior shot of the dome, and then to the stage inside. The stage was still breathing up and down. "We can feel it when the stage is rising," the woman said. "And we can't feel our hearts when it's falling." The anchor looked uncomfortable again. "Do you think it's... replacing your heart?" The couple looked at each other again. "We don't know," the man said. "But we're hoping the best."<br><br>The camera cut to a shot of the news anchor, who looked like he was in a hurry to get to the next story. "And that brings us to our next story," he said. "There have been reports of a new highway. One that runs directly to the dome." The camera cut to a shot of the highway. It was a long shot, taken from an airplane or something. I could see a few cars on the road, but not many. "The highway has only been open for the past couple of weeks," the anchor said. "And so many people are driving towards the city. We don't know why." The camera cut to an interview with a man who was driving on that highway. "I just know I have to be there," he said. "Ever since I saw them build the dome, I knew I had to be inside. And I know I'm not alone. My friends, my family, my co-workers. Everyone I know is driving towards the city. And I don't know why." The anchor looked just as confused as the man. "We don't know what's drawing all these people to the city," he said. "But we hope to find out."<br><br>The camera cut to a shot of the city. There were a lot of cars on the road, all heading towards the dome. "You see," the anchor said, "the city is only a couple of miles from where I live. And I've never seen so many cars all at once. And they're all going the same direction. Again, we don't know why." The camera cut to a shot of the exterior of the dome. It looked beautiful, especially in the dark. "We're going to go down to the street and see what's going on," the anchor said. "We'll be back after this break. Stay tuned." The camera cut to black, and the volume went down. I was confused, and I looked at the TV. It said "WSBT channel 22" in the corner, but there was no signal. I sat there in the dark for maybe thirty seconds, wondering if I was dreaming or not. Then the signal came back on, and I saw the anchor walking down the street. He was maybe a half mile from the dome, and there were already cars parked on the street. People were walking towards the dome. "We're here," the anchor said. "And we can see that a lot of people have already arrived." The camera panned across the crowd. There had to be in the tens of thousands of people. "We don't know why all these people have come," the anchor said. "But we're going to find out." The camera cut to a shot of the exterior of the dome. The main entrance was already crowded with people. The camera zoomed in on the stage. The metal ball on top was reflecting the street lights like diamond jewelry. "We're going inside," the anchor said. "We don't know how we're getting in, but we're going to find out."<br><br>The camera cut to a shot of four or five police officers in front of the main entrance. One of the officers was holding something that looked like a small radio. "We're with the police," the anchor said. "They've let us tag along tonight. We're going to see what's inside." The camera zoomed out as the anchor and the officers approached the main entrance. The doors were already open, and people were filing inside. "We're going in now," the anchor said. "We don't know what's inside, but we're going to find out." The camera followed the anchor and the police inside. The interior was just as empty as it was on the news a few minutes ago. "As you can see," the anchor said, "the hall is empty again. But we can hear the sound of the crowd coming from somewhere." The camera panned around until it found a staircase leading down into the floor. "I think the sound is coming from down there," the anchor said. The camera followed the anchor as he descended the stairs. "We're going down now," he said. "And I