by D. Brumbley
“I want that too.” His hand moved lazily up and down her back as she settled against him, and he closed his eyes to rest his forehead against her hair. He put his arms around her to hold her tight as she tucked her head under his chin, treasuring the warmth and softness of her against him. “I’ll protect you from everything I can.” He promised, kissing her hair as his hands moved over the worn t-shirt to warm her. “I like you, Mercury.” He said quietly, the tone of his voice making it seem as though there should have been a different word in place of ‘like’ when he said it. “Just wanted you to know that.”
“I like you too.” She emphasized it as he had, since she hadn’t missed the change in his tone. Mercury ran her hands up and down his muscled arms as they were wrapped around her. “I can’t imagine that changing, except to get better.”
11
“Well, that’s it, it’s on the record now.” Logan couldn’t stop grinning. “My criminal record. ‘Driving while distracted by a blowjob’. Official criminal record. I’ve never looked forward to paying a ticket more in my life.”
Anna laughed as he held her at his side, and she reached down to run her hand up and down his thigh. “It’s your fault, you were all over the road. I mean, can’t you pay attention while my lips are all over you?” She smirked and kissed his neck as well. “I don’t think you should have to pay that ticket. He interrupted before you were finished and ruined all the work I put into it.”
“That’s alright, you made up lost ground in a hurry.” Logan leaned to one side to kiss the side of her head, since he couldn’t take his eyes off the road. There was actually traffic on the road. That was new.
It was strange, for both of them, to be in a place with so many people. Even in St. Louis, though, empty space still dominated the landscape, and it was painfully obvious that the city had once been home to hundreds of thousands of people, whereas it now held only thousands. Still, thousands were enough to take the edge off the feeling of constant loneliness that Logan had come to expect from the world, and it was almost nice to have other people around, even if they were strangers. The hotel had been packed, but that hadn’t stopped him and Anna from making the most of their brief window in their room, with a promise of resuming exactly where they left off later that night.
Jannah vehicles were obvious off to one side of the site, which had once been a university. Most of the campus was still deeply under the reclaimed control of Mother Nature and degraded by Father Time. A few of the buildings had been restored, and there was a wide field that had been converted into a landing area for shuttlecraft. A Jannah Initiative ship rested close beside the parking lot, long and narrow and severe. It was the closest Logan had ever been to a functional spacecraft before, and he made no secret of gawking over it as he got out of the truck. “So. This is what takes us to heaven. Little less angelic than I envisioned.”
“I’d hardly call it heaven. Heaven is between the sheets with you.” She said without even looking at him, since she was also staring at the shuttle. “I almost want to run up and touch it, just to make sure it’s real, you know? I mean, we see stuff up in the sky, but it doesn’t seem real until it’s close like this.”
“It’s dirtier than I thought it would be.” He got up close to her and put an arm around her shoulders casually as they inspected it together. “From re-entry burns, I’m guessing, but still. So much for everything out in space being polished and sterile.”
“Polished and sterile is clean and boring.” Anna’s fingers itched at her side, but she focused on holding Logan’s arm to keep herself from running to touch something that had touched outer space. “I’ll take something with a few dirty miles on it any day.”
They were greeted by the friendly, smiling faces of Jannah officials when they walked into the building, which was more off-putting than endearing. Instead of going around meeting new people, Anna held tightly to Logan’s hand and went to find a seat. They sat down close to a full-figured woman who was off by herself, but her scowl made it obvious that she wasn’t interested in making friends either.
The auditorium was easily five times larger than it needed to be to hold those already in the room. There was a selection of food set out on descending tables going down one walkway between seating sections, but Logan didn’t feel hungry. More Jannah officials in the clean suits and ruthlessly-efficient expressions common to Orbitals stood around at the front of the room, obviously going over last-minute notes for the presentation between themselves. The whole thing made Logan feel like he was about to attend the worst middle school play in history. “They seem pretty easygoing for people who just had a station break in half on them a week ago.”
“And isn’t that just the most unsettling part of it all. Considering the station was home of the project itself.” Anna kept herself close to Logan, refusing to let go of his arm. “No one looks happy to be here except the officials. Are we all that skeptical?”
“I think we’ve all heard too much about things that sound too good to be true.” He continued scanning the room along with her, but she was right, most of the others present weren’t even talking to each other, they were all getting food and finding a seat off by themselves to eat and listen.
In scanning the room, he eventually stopped and did a double-take, his eyes widening. “Holy shit.” He whispered, nodding past her toward a door. “Sierra Weber, four o’clock. And she’s got Gary Cowell with her.”
“Doc’s daughter?” She looked over where he pointed Sierra out, and sure enough, their beloved doctor’s daughter was standing by the door with a man who looked a few years older than her. “I didn’t know she was seeing anyone, did you?” Anna said as she leaned into Logan’s side. Sierra hung on the man’s arm like he was the only thing in the world that mattered. Anna knew the feeling. “It’s so cute. She either adores him, or she’s adopted him like the brother she’ll never get. I wouldn’t put my money on the brother thing.”
“No, I hadn’t heard anything about it.” He glanced back over his shoulder and shook his head. “She’s Larissa’s age. And I used to play holo-games with that guy. That’s too weird.”
Anna kissed the corner of his lips. “If they love each other, nothing else matters, as far as I’m concerned. I know that’s how I feel about you.” She reached for his hand and held it firmly as the officials started talking at the front of the room.
“Good evening, friends.” A familiar face with a distinctly Spanish accent said at the front of the room, hands clasped in front of himself politely as he smiled at the room. “My name is Emmanuel Garcia. I am a recruiting manager for the Jannah Initiative, and I’ve been looking over the information for everyone in this room for pretty much the past year straight, so if I know your name without you introducing yourself, that is why. That’s my job. So the past year has been about me getting to know you, and tonight is about you getting to know the Initiative.” His smile was broad and friendly, and he paced along the front edge of the presentation space, eyes moving from one small clump of people to the next in the far-too-large space. Obviously they hadn’t had the turnout they’d expected.
“We’re going to begin tonight with a quick overview of what we anticipate for the following sequence of events, should you decide to join us on this endeavor. After that, we’ll talk about the role the First Wave, that’s all of you, will play in the colonization of the new world, followed by a presentation on what we already know about Jannah, which is something that is growing every single day. Then we’ll leave most of the evening for you to mix among yourselves, get some refreshments, and ask questions. I’ll introduce my staff later as questions come up and as we move through the presentation. How does that sound to everyone?”
Logan scoffed beside Anna. “It sounds like you’re about to record an infomercial, not talk about saving our species.” He said it under his breath, but the fact that he spoke at all still got a glance from Garcia before his eyes moved on through the crowd.
“No one is going to be li
stening to all of that when we’ve got a million questions on our minds.” The curvy woman by herself behind Anna and Logan spoke up when no one else would. The woman’s appearance wasn’t immediately remarkable: tall, brown hair and eyes, a fair complexion and a full figure. She didn’t let that stop her from speaking her mind. “We’ve all read the material. Talked to recruiters. Went through the extensive application process. We know that shit already. How about you tell us what happened with the station that came crashing down and why we should even listen to your little powerpoint presentation after that?”
The man’s amiable attitude evaporated, but he didn’t seem irritated by her interruption. Instead he turned to her with a sad expression. “I lost friends and colleagues I’ve been working with for nearly a decade in that accident. As for what happened to cause it, investigations over the past week have shown that it was a combination of factors that led to the failure.” He ticked them off on his fingers as he spoke. “The regulation systems that help manage the balance of rotation were under maintenance earlier in the day, and therefore there was no even distribution of weight between arms, which can eventually lead to orbital decay. Part of the arm’s anchoring to the central hub of the station had already been scheduled for removal and replacement due to being twenty years old and approaching the end of its life-cycle. When the system tried to counterbalance the rotational anomalies, the strain on the arm became too great. After the first failure, the rest was a domino effect that tore out even the newer couplings under the strain. It was the single largest disaster in the history of space exploration, and all the greatest minds of the Consortium have been digging through the recorded data non-stop since it happened.”
“So you’re saying that there is absolutely no evidence that this was an attack? No evidence that someone might be targeting the Initiative and its people, in order to halt the colonization of Jannah?” The woman was not deterred or placated by the barrage of technicalities. “How long have those stations been up in that sky, and how far has technology come since the very first station? This has never happened before, and I can’t be the only one to believe it’s suspicious that it happened now. It just so happened to kill thousands of people working on the Jannah project. That this happened right before a new wave of people are planning to go up. I want to believe this is the future of humanity, but I’m not about to go up to die sooner than I would have died down here anyway.” The woman crossed her arms over her ample chest and stared the man down, clearly not about to take his first answer without more explanation.
Emmanuel acknowledged her questions, and looked around to acknowledge the rest of the mutterings that were floating around the room. “I’m glad you’ve brought up these concerns. Let me first answer your question by saying that no, there is no evidence that this failure was the result of sabotage or assault by anti-Jannah organizations. You’ve all heard of the different terrorist organizations of recent years. The Earth First movement, the One Sky Alliance, a few others. Some of them have attempted to take credit for what happened on Nine, but there was no evidence that any of them were involved. It’s also worth being aware that while several offices of the Jannah Initiative were housed on Arm Four, the main headquarters of the Initiative are housed on Arm One, along with all of our most sensitive information and prototypes for the transportation that will take us halfway across the galaxy to our destination.”
He shrugged as if that by itself would explain, but continued anyway. “If I’m a terrorist, that’s the arm I’m targeting, not the offices for structural development, habitation research, and hundreds of other people who are working in Orbital rotation maintenance, asteroid belt reconnaissance, solar flare investigations and a hundred other things that have nothing to do with Jannah. The headquarters of the First Wave, which is what you’d be a part of, will be in Arm Two of Station Nine. Because of what happened to Arm Four, your arm is going to be cleared of all non-Jannah personnel, and heavily secured. Crews are already working to perform maintenance inspections of all relevant pieces of the station in order to ensure that nothing like what happened last week ever happens again. To anyone. The work we’re doing is too important to allow anything less.”
The woman didn’t look entirely convinced but she didn’t say anything else from where she sat. Anna watched until their eyes met, then looked back at the officials. Clearly they were waiting for more questions, but none came.
A small, Kenyan woman came forward and decided to speak after her colleague. “If there aren’t any more immediate questions, let us proceed with the meeting as outlined.” Her accent was thick, but understandable as she spoke. “My name is Orisa Kalu, and I’ll begin with the overview of events.” She brought up a screen with a flick of her hand, then scrolled through it with her fingertips in the air. The dates and expectations she rattled through went so quickly that Anna was sure she would need to copy someone else’s notes later, but just as the woman was picking up speed to talk about the possibility of someday returning from Jannah, a voice spoke up to interrupt her.
“About that.” The speaker was clearly polite enough to actually rise and identify himself rather than remaining seated as the first had done. “Kazuo Tanaka, from here in St. Louis. We’ve been hearing for a while now about how we’re supposed to be getting from here to Jannah in a matter of years instead of generations, like most people who’ve passed a basic physics class would expect. Now you’re telling us that we’re expecting a one-year flight time from Orbit to Jannah? One year? How is that possible, exactly?” The man was a rarity in the post-Crisis world, with distinctly Japanese features that neither Logan nor Anna had seen in person in their entire lives. His speech even retained a slight Japanese accent, though his English was perfect. He and a woman who was obviously his sister were focused intensely on the speaker, well-dressed, and just as thoroughly confused and worried as everyone else in the room.
“Transportation has vastly improved in the decades that we’ve been working on getting humanity to Jannah. In the last few years, our teams have been able to create ships that can travel faster than anyone thought possible, and the discovery has been monumental. It gives us great hope that after the initial settlement, we’ll be able to help those on Earth who need it the most, and we’ll be able to help them quickly.” Officer Kalu smiled at the young man brightly. “I’m not involved with transportation, so I’m not able to break down the science for you, Mr. Tanaka, but I assure you that it is possible.”
“At some point, we’re all gonna want to talk to the people who are involved with transportation. Right now that kind of speed sounds like a fantasy.” Kazuo said bitterly, but then sat down anyway, to let the officers continue their presentation.
“Once a colony is established, will preference be given for the families of First Wave members on these fantasy ships?” Logan piped up without standing, watching the officers’ reactions for any sign of duplicity. They seemed to believe what they were saying so far, which was actually surprising to him. He had expected a bunch of thieves and shady dealers. Instead, he felt like he was looking at true believers.
“Yes.” Kalu nodded at Logan with a sincere expression on her face. “The project owes a lot to those who are willing to volunteer to be the first on a new planet, the first to establish human life on Jannah. As part of the reward, your families will be able to join you before anyone else. We want you and your families to build Jannah with us, and we have no intention of keeping you apart for longer than necessary. We understand your sacrifices, and we appreciate those of you willing to make them.”
That promise seemed to shut up part of the room, at least, and seeing silence, Emmanuel stepped in to continue their presentation. “Those sacrifices are going to involve a lot of hard work. The plan for all of you, as the First Wave, is to go up to Station Nine, spend around nine months in training and development, and then depart for Jannah. The trip will take fifty-six weeks, and you’ll be the first human presence on the planet. We’ve already been sending pr
obes and supply ships and just about everything else we can think of, so we can get as clear a view of the place as possible before anybody arrives. Today is October eighth, twenty-three seventy-six. According to timetables as they’re presently written, you’ll all be celebrating touchdown on Jannah right around August twenty-fourth, twenty-three seventy-eight, a little over a year and a half from now.”
That didn’t get many reactions either, since it was a level of detail that most of those in the audience hadn’t been expecting. “If all progresses well with setup on Jannah itself, the Second Wave will arrive two years after that, then two years after that, and so on until we can ramp up transport, hopefully around the fifth or sixth wave, taking more people, on larger transports. But that’s all in the future and it’ll all probably change. What’s important right now is you. All of you, and what you can bring to this Initiative.”
Anna looked over at Logan as he watched the officials and thought about what kind of future they could have together on Jannah, all the years they could have that they wouldn’t be able to have on Earth. She looked down at their joined hands and decided to speak up as well. “When we applied for Jannah, the application stated that we would be automatically entered into your Matching Program. What if we don’t need or want that?”
“I’m glad you asked about that.” Emmanuel said with a slightly more serious expression on his face, pointing at Anna and Logan but looking around at the rest of those in attendance. “Because this is something that I know is going to be a deal-breaker for some of you, even though it doesn’t have to be. Under normal circumstances, by which I mean single, unmarried, voluntary, age-of-majority circumstances, our matching program examines a full range of factors that have been developed over centuries to make for the best possible match between individuals. Currently, sixty-four percent of all marriages that take place in orbit are the result of the matching program, and as much as sixteen percent of those on the ground, by recent estimates. That is a huge number of people, and a lot of data that’s been collected over time to refine the process. I’ve been matched for seven years, and I’m grateful for it every day. My wife maybe a little less so, but you’ll have to ask her.” He gave them a charming smile before he moved on.