Speculation

People expected a return from the most recently deceased and backwards through time. It seemed to be based mostly on emotional reasoning. Having those that died be tied directly back to those that lived through the cataclysm was the emotional buoyancy that kept them going.

In practical terms, these people were of little use in the rebuilding. On the contrary, most of the time was spent recounting what little had transpired since they had passed away. What this time period needed was people that had subsisted on very little, and those that would bootstrap the re-organizing of the society.

To that end, a 'framework' of people from the entirety of human history were brought back in relatively short order. This allowed for a cohesive and balanced approach to problems. Major literature could be produced in all dialects from the beginning, rather than a staggered approach, as speakers became available.

It also diversified the talent pool, as blacksmiths, miners and carpenters of ancient times didn't require the tools that their modern equivalents did. Major scientists from history also got a earlier resurrection, so the moderns survivors, with their over reliance on technology, weren't left to be totally ignorant about the world around them.

Trouble in Paradise

Resources for things like houses were easy enough to obtain. Anything outside of that was a bit more difficult. The main group felt that metal supplies should be used for only listed items -nails and garden implements mostly- and couldn't see the point of anything else. There were even a few extremely conservative groups that thought any excess metals not immediately needed by the majority should be dumped in the 'garbage faults' that had opened in the earth.

A few enterprising souls raided the collection points that had been setup before an official decision would be reached. They sorted and melt down the various finds and stored them in bars at a not entirely public location.

It wasn't that the were against the majority, but rather that they didn't want to see other people's short-sightedness make things more difficult than they needed to be. The official decision was that it was something along the lines of 'out of sight, out of mind'. If it was the conservative group that dumped the metals and they were gone – there was nothing that could be done. On the other hand, if it was salvaged, there was an appeal that materials be made available to the public if there was determined to be a need for them.

The majority of people simply did without, as long as their basic needs were met, they didn't see it as a pressing issue. They seemed convinced that things buried in the earth were done so for a reason and settled for materials that were more readily available. Officially that was the stance of the ruling organization. Unofficially they knew where the resources were, and relied on the salvage teams whenever a need arose.

Those inclined to the sciences were eager to get back to where humans had been technologically before the cataclysm. They found that working openly spurned a lot of pointless debate, so they were generally a bit secretive about their work.

As it became harder to hide what they were doing, the officially word wrote a long overdue piece on the re-discovered technology, and suddenly it was acceptable, as it was officially sanctioned.

Never Changing

He closed his eyes. Time past. He opened them. Things were the same. Better in some respects, but still going nowhere. Projects had been planned, worked on and completed, but very little had been accomplished. A few more trees here, some plants and an over-abundance of flowers. It was all so superficial.

People still focused on the glaringly obvious and busied themselves in the same kinds of cyclical patterns. He couldn't see how people kept seeing something new in things that hadn't changed at all.

What was supposed to be a glorious time ended up being a drawn out sigh and a renewed clamouring at whatever new thing ended up being deemed 'urgent'.

The endless variety had been steam-rolled into a sea of conformity. It took a long time for them to rethink how things should be done.

Why

The future wasn't about knowing what would happen to who, or when major events would occur. The details were nothing. It wouldn't matter in a hundred years. For him it was knowing about the fundamental forces of the universe. To make sense of things in a larger framework, to get a glimpse of the underpinnings of everything.

He was still worried that the future would be a step backwards. Secure but not challenging, devoid of variation and too laid back for progress to occur.

It was difficult to condition himself to think outside the box. To question the unquestionable and disregard the assumptions. He looked around for a bit to nibble on mentally. What could be replaced? Changed? Where would he leave himself clues?

His life was an open book to anyone who wanted to look. Privacy seemed like a outdated concept, at least when dealing with the future. Assuming there was anything left to look into.

Status

He focused on the music again. Time was, difficult. He couldn't imagine it, not that he could picture much of anything anymore. Once he could. He felt that everything clicked. It was an odd state of mind. Like he was in a bubble and that bubble floated along, but it could be pushed in any direction. There was a thickness to things that was almost perceptible. But now he was burnt out.

It was if he was being corrected by several points at once. The later experiments fixing out the earlier ones. He was worried that the future was too conservative. World events being some sort of barrier between when they would and wouldn't interfere.

He hoped that something else was happening. Something more than appeared on the surface. It all seemed to plain. His choices seemed too limited, and in such an environment his mind shut down. There was no puzzle to fathom, no task to busy himself. No tide to get swept up in.

He amused himself in the most mundane ways, mindless clicking and waiting. But he felt relaxed, as if biding his time was simply the best thing to do at the moment. Despite some signals to the contrary, he was alright – even if he seemed to be in a void.