Pilgrim One: Prominence (Project Pilgrim Book 1)

by Christopher R. Marrs

  Narmer was enjoying the drive, “I’ve noticed that traffic is rather heavy, heavier than it has been for a while. I wonder as to the reason? “

  “There are going to be quite a few Departure Gatherings this set, I imagine. Since the Final Selection is in about a chirp, anyone crazy enough to host a Farewell event this set is just asking for trouble. I’m pretty sure that on this set is the last of the civil gatherings, it is going to get ugly fast.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “Once I received my Departure Crescent, the Council sent me information on how to get ready for Departure. Lots of do’s and don’ts. I’ve made good progress, for both of us,” she explained.

  Deides drove them to the plaza surrounding the Ancients Monument and down to the public-house adjacent to it and the water. They were on a native rock overlook of the bay.

  “Isn’t it spectacular?” she asked.

  “I’ve been down here before, but it has never meant so much and seemed so magnificent. I am truly overwhelmed,” he responded.

  “Let’s hurry, we are almost late, and I don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”

  “Everyone?”

  “You’ll see, it will be fun!”

  Deides quickly stepped out of the groundcar and headed towards the public-house. Narmer trotted to catch up. Inside were a number of people, all looking at them and obviously waiting for them. Narmer also noticed that there was a not quite middle-aged man in a simple white tunic standing at the back, obviously a Speaker to the Ancients.

  “Who are all these people?” he asked quietly.

  “Why, they are my friends, my Gifted friends,” she replied as if a minor detail.

  “Gifted? But you’re Selected now. The ‘Gifted’ would have nothing to do with you!”

  “Sweetness, you have some things to learn, but later. For now, this is for us.”

  They approached the Speaker, hand in hand to the designated spots and the ceremony began.

  The Speaker started, “Citizens and friends, before us are two people that wish to be known that they are joined in the eye of the Ancients and the public. Is there anyone here to object?”. He eyed the crowd daring someone to speak out.

  He continued, “The Ancients brought us together as a people to expand and create upon this land. Part of that is the coming together of two people to share their joy, love, and challenges together. It is right for you to be joined this rise.”

  “Deides, do you wish to be joined with Narmer?” officially, he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied steadily.

  “Narmer, do you wish to be joined with Deides?” he asked in turn.

  “Yes,” he replied a bit more breathlessly.

  “In the eyes of the Ancients and the Council, you are hereby joined.”

  The crowd in attendance clapped and responded somewhat boisterously. Narmer was thinking, “The bar must already be open.”

  Short, but heartfelt, and now they were joined.

  And the bar was open.

  Someone handed him a glass of something clear and bubbling.

  “Jegit Hus-Klost!” Narmer blurted out inadvertently.

  “I see that you remember me, Citizen Yen-Stedt, I am honored.”

  “Jegit dear, please call him Narmer,” Deides interjected, as Narmer was trying to find his tongue.

  “I, I’m a lot confused at the moment,” Narmer admitted, “I’m not a political person really, but I assumed that ‘Gifted’ and Selected didn’t easliy mix.”

  “Narmer, dear, please say it as Gifted, ‘Gifted’ sounds a little dismissive,” she requested.

  “My apologies, obviously, my limited knowledge has given me some misconceptions about these things.”

  “No apologies necessary, my good Narmer,” Jegit said with the foppish affection Narmer remembered on that set that they had met.

  “Some explanation does seem in order,” he said without the affectation, “We are what you are calling Gifted, but we are also all Selected. Everyone here is going. As a matter of fact, we are all going to board a shuttle together, this set.”

  “This set? Departure is five rises from now. And the Final Selection has just been made. Why the rush?” Narmer asked confused.

  “It is certain,” Jegit explained, “that all forms of Ancients horrors will be forthcoming the next rise once the last shuttles have departed with the Final Selections. Our civilization will begin to come apart. A fair number of those not selected will be moving towards the launch facilities within the next few chirps, the posting of the Final List is already on the cinc.”

  “Large numbers of people have been moving towards the launchports the last few rises in anticipation of being selected. The unfortunate lucky ones to be Selected that are not already waiting outside of a launchport, will have to fight and probably die trying to get to their launch facility. The Council expects that of the five thousand selected, less than half that number will make it to the facility by the time of the launch on that next set. The Council has provided free public transport from anywhere on Kepteyn, but it won’t be safe for most people, those not selected won’t let it be safe.”

  “That is quite unbelievable!” Narmer exclaimed, “This cannot be, it is not just! And launch next set? Too many people that should be going will not make it! What of the Last Set Together celebration where the Discovery team is to be feted prior to leaving on the Last Launch?”

  “A bit of fiction, dear Narmer, the people that the made the Discovery have already left and have boarded Prominence. There is no way to safely launch while most of the world’s Citizens are being left behind. It’s an ugly truth that the Council has had to deal with from the very beginning. Squads of the Home Guard will be guarding each launch facility. All other members of the Guard are currently being disarmed and deactivated. Those guarding the facility are Selected, defending until the last few nauks, was their bargain for being selected. Automatic defenses will cover the launches until the last possible nauk, and they will be very busy, and very bloody.”

  Narmer was sick to his stomach, grabbing it and starting to bend over, “This is a nightmare, all of the old feelings of abandonment hitting me. But now with the realization of my hypocrisy behind it. I don’t feel right about this, any of this.”

  “Sweetness,” Deides said as she fixed him with her stare, “this is going to happen regardless, it always was. The nice, neat, orderly march to Departure was a fantasy that most hung onto because thinking about the reality is too ugly. The whole Pilgrim Project since Discovery is unquestionably rather gruesome, and heartless. There are just too many people, and not enough time, or slots, to be anything but.”

  “However, there is a small bit of hope. You’ll remember last set our discussion about Woodam’s company and the manufacturing of seed ship shells?”

  “That’s right! You said shells, as in more than one,” he said as he began to reanimate.

  She continued, “Those that were wealthy enough and not barred like Woodam had been, or had other means, teamed up with the Home Guard and other parts of the Council to build another seed ship. This was done with the blessings of the Council and with the understanding that Prominence was the priority. Vanguard should be ready for its departure in approximately one-quarter cycle, five chonts. The Selected for that ship have been gathered at Home Guard bases around the planet and have been shuttling to Vanguard over the past cycle. What’s left of the resources and facilities on Chon-su after Departure will be used to speed up the process for Vanguard.”

  “So, you see, there is a bit more hope for some.”

  Narmer was incredulous, “But how? How was it built and how did no one know about this?”

  Jegit put his arm around Narmer’s shoulders, “Narmer, my friend, the Gifted knew the truth. Both ships have been under construction for almost ten cycles. You’ve seen the vids and the special periodic celebrations. You’ve seen Prominence slowly emerge from the construction cradle built into the crust of Chon-su. Vanguard
did the same, but without the fanfare. Once you were launched to our people’s greatest achievement to date, the void habitat Nunet, you couldn’t communicate with, nor come back to Kepteyn. People have been living on both ships for two cycles now, everyone that has launched since then has essentially moved in right away.”

  “You’ve heard us say it before. But the price of being Selected was our silence. And the people of Vanguard had to keep it quiet, or they would lose her before she was completed, which almost happened. There was a scandal, and that has delayed Vanguard. Silence has been our most unbelievable achievement and our greatest deceit. A few more rises and the Great Lie will leave with us; no announcement is to be made.”

  Narmer was numb, saddened by the reality, “So it’s truly everyone for themselves…the Selection was not honest. I could almost talk myself into believing that we as a people were going to survive, via a huge sacrifice. But now, this all seems wrong and dirty. I feel guilty, I feel like I need to make amends to those not going…I…” his words failed him.

  Jegit slowly released Narmer, but looked him in the eyes, “Did you feel that way a rise or two ago when you weren’t going? Did you feel righteous and clean by staying? No, you were envious, angry, afraid. We all were, and now we all feel sad, guilty, and a little ashamed. But not enough to trade places with someone. Very few have. This is the end of us and the beginning of a new race of people as we venture into the void, and it comes with a terrible price. But we need to honor those that are left by making sure that we survive so that they do not die in vain.”

  Narmer was shaking his head, “Nice speech by someone not staying behind.”

  Deides took his hands into hers, and looked up at him with a fire in her eyes, “These people have all been through what you are going through now, the emotions are indescribable, no one is prepared for this. I have my anger at Woodam to keep me going. TIKT! He was going to LEAVE me to die! I haven’t given myself time to worry about the rest, but it will come.”

  Narmer was standing there, hugging himself, a vacant look in his eyes. Deides hooked her arm into his and pulled him towards the bar, “Sweetness, we have joined this rise, and we leave this set for our next life. We WILL enjoy ourselves!”

  As they approached the bar, he noticed his favorite bubbly and a stash of culg. With a look at Deides, he grabbed both, and the party began.

  CHAPTER NINE

  As Ria made her way to the horizon, Narmer walked out onto the natural rock overlook, to view one more set before his departure. His head was buzzing from culg, and his heart was heavy. He was sad to think that this was it, that all of the worrying, all of the dread, and then that last chance that grabbed him from his scheduled death, all led up to this last set. How does one contemplate the end of something so big, so ‘eternal’ that no one or no thing would notice his being born and dying? But now he knew the end of all that was for him and his people was upon them. And what of those, that see this set as one last chance to be selected on the next rise? And if they weren’t one of the Selected, that they would soon be contemplating the actual, physical end of Kepteyn and, of themselves. To see the End approaching.

  In the beginning, he hadn’t given it much thought. When the Discovery was announced, the populace was informed that twenty-one cycles would pass before the End. For roughly a tenth of the planet, the oldest tenth, there was no concern for themselves, as they would not make it until then. They felt sorry for the younger Citizens, but they lived out their rias in pretty typical fashion.

  Everyone else was pretty much fixated on the Selection. Many entered schools of higher learning, hoping to acquire knowledge, skills, and experience that would enhance their opportunities to make it on the Needs List. But for a sizeable number of people, like himself, twenty-one cycles was plenty of time to worry about it later. He was young; he still lived with his parents, he was just discovering life. His parents kept counseling him about getting prepared so that he might be selected. They were somewhat famous animal healers, and with a certain amount of livestock going on the Prominence with them, he was pretty sure that they’d be selected. So, instead, he spent his time pursuing girls, then young women, and he found that he had an affinity for drink and culg. He traveled with his parents and got to see parts of Kepteyn that most would never see. He thought that with the End approaching that he needed to enjoy the end of his world before it, well, ended.

  He enjoyed all that he could, sure of his family’s selection. And they probably would have been, but they were killed in a flyer accident on a mission to tag and roundup meat animals on the wild plains of Nefe. His plans died with them.

  Now, he was in need of an education and valuable experience, all with only twelve cycles left until Departure. He entered the local school of higher learning. He found that he was the oldest in most of his classes. He also found that he either didn’t have the ability for the more obvious choices of void related subjects, or the patience to devote to master them. He did find that there were plenty of opportunities to drink, enjoy culg, and indulge in his main interest, the opposite sex.

  He had always been in and around animals, due to his parents’ vocation, but he never had the passion for it. He discovered the call of the Wer and the animals within while vacationing one warm season with a girl from school. She was studying to be a healer of people and was driven to be Selected. One morning, she had found him passed out in her school residence commons. She was interested in getting gaberry that early morning on her way to class. He looked like he needed some. So, she took pity on the somewhat attractive, but shabby looking older classmate and brought some to him, to the table upon where he was sleeping.

  “You look like you are somewhere else,” Deides said as she walked up to him. The last rays of Ria were being chased by the oncoming shadows. “Care to share?”

  “Contemplating my past and then end…” he reached for her, but she crossed her arms instead.

  “What was her name?” Deides asked.

  “Meilen.” he flatly replied.

  “I liked her more than anyone before, might have even been love. But she was on a mission, to become educated as a healer, get the most prestigious position possible, and make the Selection. Which, as you know, she did.”

  “I tried to keep pace, but spending time around the Wer, and getting to know the hatmet, I came to appreciate their more simplistic life. I reformed by appetites for my vices and devoted myself to Meilen, but it wasn’t enough for her. She was nine cycles younger, driven, and I had pretty much resigned myself to my fate. I still had eight cycles left, maybe things would work out, but I was already too late by then. I had been passed up by more industrious, smarter people while relying on my parents to get me selected. Too much ground to make up.”

  “Meilen sat me down, early one rise in my student residence, and told me that she had found someone, someone in her field, someone driven like her and someone closer in age. I had no defense; I couldn’t argue with her. So, I wished her well, and she left.”

  “I had almost finished my studies, and was planning on heading to the North Coast to do my research, so the timing wasn’t so bad. I did my time, received my Charter and was recruited by the Ward of the Wer administration to study the rem and hatmet population for the benefit of the remmers. It was felt that the remmers could harvest enough protein for the masses to cover the needs of those that were left after Departure, until the End. But the last cycle, it was determined that the remmers were becoming less efficient as Departure came nearer, mainly because remming was not on the Needs List, and no one could justify the killing of hatmet to meet those needs, the project was closed down.”

  “I was now not only not on the Needs List for Selection; I wasn’t even needed in the meantime. So, I took up my old habits. Moved from my private abode and moved to the public residence that you found me in. I should have felt more shame, but so many of us were in the same situation, that we got good at enjoying ourselves, mainly at the expense of the Selected Honoree’s an
d their lavish celebrations. The last cycle truly sped past rather quickly.”

  “But lately, the countdown to Departure was becoming more ominous every rise. I would watch the counter on my p-tab with more and more dread, every rise. I spent a lot of time contemplating my end. I couldn’t imagine the life of a Selected. All I could see was the growing haunting in the eyes of the rest of us. So, the only thing I had decided was that I was going out with as much fun as I could.”

  “Then you found me, and things have been very different, and very interesting since then.”

  Deides was chuckling as she stepped ahead of Narmer and turned her back to Ria setting, “Yes, they have indeed. As I said, I was looking for that type of energy at that moment, because I was suddenly cast aside with no hope myself. I had always assumed that Woodam would not go without trying everything he could to get a slot. And I was correct, but I had been counting on going with him. The last few rises have taken me from one extreme emotion to the other. And I am quite worn out. I am ready to move on, get away from all of this.”

  Jegit strode out onto the overlook and took in the scene. He gently shook his head and then cleared his throat, “Sentimentality will only make this more difficult, but if you must, you’ve found the perfect place for it. But now, we must leave for the launchport; we launch at midset.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  The guests were loaded onto five large public transports, each capable of holding a hundred people, and they were full up. Obviously, there were more people onboard than had been at the Joining, so Narmer asked, “Where did all of these people come from?”

  Jegit, sitting in front of them, turned and replied, “The public house was a meeting point for a group of Gifted to make their way to the launchport. As you’ll see, it will probably be a somewhat interesting trip.”