by A. L. Mengel
The room quieted as Moses turned, walked back to the lectern, and raised his head to the blue hologram of the Earth, as it levitated, motionless above the group. “Look up there,” he said.
Counselor Abagail sat down as Eli glanced over at her, his eyes wide. He shook his head slowly.
“Your planet has perished,” he said as several gasps emanated from the room, which otherwise was under a hushed silence. “Or rather, it is dying.”
“Your memories will return in time,” he said. “But please understand. Amnesia is a side effect of the hypothermic fluids you have been administered for the journey. In order to preserve you as we travel through space, you will all be submerged in the liquid and ushered into a deep, hypothermic sleep.”
Counselor Abagail looked over to her left and saw that Eli’s eyes had widened. He leaned close to Counselor Abagail and whispered to her. “This seems familiar,” he said. “Like we have done it before.”
She nodded. “He said our memories would return. Maybe the liquid means something.”
Moses continued: “A select few of you will be sent to the surface to collect the necessary items stored at the Red Outpost.”
Eli raised his head and watched Moses.
The hovering planet above them now glowed red. “Mars?” he asked. He looked over at Counselor Abagail, who was intently listening. She made eye contact with him, and gestured towards Moses and Eli turned and listened again.
“Utopia Planitia is the destination area,” he said, as the hologram turned and highlighted a large area on one side of the planet. “This is the area, as scientist theorized, that has the most propensity to contain life. There’s running water there. And men set up camp there. That’s the location of the Red Outpost.”
The room remained quiet as the graphics changed. They zoomed inwards, as the rolling red sands of the Mars surface, outlined by rugged red rock terrain, filled the air above them. All eyes looked upwards and focused on the screen.
“Water runs beneath Utopia Planitia,” he said, as the graphic zoomed further, through a surface crack, and bubbles and water splashed. “Life exists on that planet, which man had written off as dead.”
The graphic zoomed out from the water and back to the surface, moving forward towards a small network of silver buildings. “The Red Outpost has been in place to ensure your survival,” he said. “The survival of the human race. Everything is there that you need – DNA, seedlings, rare metals, elements…all you will need. And so this is a necessary stop for us in our journey.”
A hand raised a few rows away from Counselor Abagail and Eli. Moses looked up and gestured to the man, who stood and introduced himself. “My name is Winston.”
He turned and looked around the room, all eyes were focused on him.
“I, too, share the common problems with memory that you all describe. But I do remember some things which feel…at least to me…are from the distant past.”
Moses nodded. “Such as?”
“I know I am from Africa. Nairobi. And I know I went to America before something that was called the ‘shift’. But how I got here…how any of us got here…in space by Mars…is beyond my comprehension.”
“Interesting,” Moses said, nodding. “You have a different effect from the fluids. You remember much more.”
Eli turned to Counselor Abagail once again. “He looks familiar too. I think we are supposed to know him.”
She looked up and studied the man from Nairobi. She hadn’t even heard of that city for years. But there was something about the name. Winston. Had she known him as well?
Moses called for the meeting to get back on track. “Of course each and every one of you will have different experiences and memories,” he said. “Your memories, as I said, will return in time. And at different rates. You will not all react to the fluid in the same way.”
The graphic disappeared as Moses shifted back towards the front row. “As I said, four of you have been preselected to take the mission to the Red Outpost. This has been based on historical data on you and the colonies that you inhabited back on Earth. And your skill sets. As for the rest of you, you will all be grouped off based on skill sets to form teams for the exploration and the remainder of our journey.”
“What is that?” someone called out.
Moses nodded and smiled. “We are destined for the Jovian system. But more will be explained to you in the smaller sessions. We need to get all of you up to speed, and on the same page. So please, all of you, we will adjourn for breakfast, and all will be explained to you.”
“What about the people in white?!” another man called out.
“All will be explained to you. This session has concluded. You will each be contacted individually for next assignment.”
And Moses disappeared through a door on the far wall, as the amphitheater erupted in chatter.
*****
Counselor Abagail sat back in the chair and watched the amphitheater break out in bedlam. People stood and shouted, in a chorus of questions and confusion. Who were the people in white? What was their mission in the Jovian system? Who would be selected to journey to the surface of Mars?
She sighed and looked over at Eli, who sat next to her, as they didn’t join the uprising. They sat together and Eli reached out, with his palm held upwards, and took her hand. She looked downwards, watching him; then she looked up, and saw his eyes. They were wide, inquisitive. He seemed so young. He was probably half her age. But there was something about him. Something that seemed so…familiar.
And then he took his other hand and placed it over their interlocking hands. “We are meant to be together,” he said. “I can sense it.”
She nodded and smiled as doors opened along the side stairs, leading from the lower levels towards the highest seats in the amphitheater.
There were those in white which appeared at each door in small groups.
When Counselor Abagail looked up, she recognized the smiling olive-skinned woman from earlier.
“Do you feel more informed?” she asked, never breaking her smile.
Counselor Abagail shook her head. “Not at all. But I did make a friend.”
Her smile fell. “You must come with me now. Your group has been pre-determined and they will be waiting for you.” She reached for Counselor Abagail’s arm and ushered her out of the seat. “Come with me please,” she said, as she led her amidst the crowds and back into the corridor.
*****
The Breakfast Hall was located in the center of the ship.
Counselor Abagail was led by her woman dressed in white through the corridors towards the hover tram on the Borderline, just as Eli had been. She looked around the terminal. There were others dressed in black, just as she had been, paired with one dressed in white, just as she had been.
But she could not see Eli.
She sighed.
He seemed to be the only one who had any sort of familiarity in this increasingly unfamiliar world.
The tram pulled up with a hiss and the woman turned, made eye contact with Counselor Abagail, and ushered her towards the platform. “We must move quickly,” she said. They entered the Borderline, and Counselor Abagail stood on the exterior wall of the tram as it accelerated along the side of the hull. She looked outwards, at the countless stars, and wished there had been more to the orientation. And who were the four who were to be chosen for the mission?
Several minutes later, the tram hissed to a stop at Central Station, at the midpoint of the ship.
The doors slid open to a chorus of activity: there were those dressed in white, others dressed in black, all were scurrying in many different directions.
There were shops.
Offices. Bars and restaurants. She looked around, her eyes wide, bewildered.
The woman in white leaned close to her ear. “This is Town Square Station,” she said. “No money is exchanged in those stores and restaurants. But the people can get out and entertain themselves. Take things back for their homes.”<
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Counselor Abagail watched the activity and slowly shook her head back and forth. A little girl chased a dog through brilliant green grass, through trees and scattered wrought iron benches.
“They worked very hard to keep everything the same as what your kind has been accustomed to.”
As they stepped away from the tram station, Counselor Abagail looked upwards. The park in the center seemed to stretch farther than she could see. The sides were lined with busy shops and restaurants. There was a blue sky. Wispy, cotton-like clouds.
And she felt a breeze.
She leaned close to the woman in white. “This…is…amazing! You can’t even tell that you’re on a ship!”
The woman in white smiled and nodded as they found a bench on the edge of the square. She gestured, and Counselor Abagail sat. The woman in white sat next to her and smiled, making eye contact.
Counselor Abagail looked down, studying her hands, clasped in her lap, and then looked back up at the woman in white.
She was still smiling softly in silence.
Counselor Abagail looked the woman up and down. The woman was dressed like the others in her neatly pressed white uniform. She thought the woman might have been a nurse. But now, she felt this woman might be more of a guide. She finally asked the question that she had been wondering all along. “Who are you?”
The woman in white smiled and nodded. “I was wondering when you were going to ask me about my origins. My name is Inikia.”
“You are a nurse? You helped me with that drainage bag…”
She shook her head.
“I am much more than a nurse,” Inikia said, and pointed her chin out towards the many people. “Look around you,” she said. “All those people out there. Everyone here is just as scared and confused as you are, but all have different assignments. A different purpose for being here. You, soon, will learn yours.”
“And so you are assigned to me?”
She nodded. “I have been assigned to you for many years. Our kind has studied your kind and prepared for this mission. I know many things about your people. I am here to protect you. And to guide you on your journey.”
There was something comforting about hearing those words. Everything still seemed so strange, so oddly surreal, but she thought it was helpful to have someone who was determined to keep her under their wing.
Counselor Abagail leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and rested her chin on her palm. The little girl was still playing with the dog across the way. “I just still can’t believe all of this.”
Inikia leaned forward and met eyes with Counselor Abagail.
Counselor Abagail leaned back and shrugged. “Everything’s been such a whirlwind. And nothing makes sense. A town square on a ship? Deep in space?”
Inikia smiled and nodded. “Yes. We have made strenuous efforts to ensure your comfort for the journey.” Counselor Abagail looked out at the scene before them as Inikia continued explaining how the ship was the largest ship that mankind had ever seen or experienced, and that it was a rescue ship, though the mission had changed.
Counselor Abagail watched children walking puppies. Some teenagers walked in a group, throwing their heads back in laughter, walking down a sidewalk lined by brilliant green grass, retreating into a bookstore, next to a small café, where tables were filled with patrons enjoying coffee, pastries, and reading books.
She snapped her head back to look at Inikia. “Why don’t they seem to have the same problem that I do?”
“Oh, you mean the amnesia?”
Counselor Abagail nodded.
Inikia smiled again softly. “They are merely passengers. They do not have the mission that you have been chosen for. You are quite important, and therefore, we must keep you ageless in this environment.”
Counselor Abagail’s face shifted and she cocked her head to the side.
Inikia continued. “Our destination will take several lifetimes to reach. The passengers must be as comfortable as possible while they are aboard our ship. Their environment must be as familiar as it was on Earth. They need to be able to reproduce, and live just as they were when they were living on Earth. Everyone that you see here, walking through the town square, will not live to see our ultimate destination.”
“But I will?”
She nodded. “Yes. You will. You will because we have been holding you in cryogenic stasis, which has been rendering you ageless. You are the same as you were, physically, when you first boarded the ship back on Earth.”
“How long have we been traveling so far?”
“Several years Earth time.”
“And you said that you had to keep me ageless?”
She nodded again. “Yes, for your mission. You have been chosen for your mission which expands a vast amount of time. Your involvement in Sector B, which we researched to be the leading society on the planet, has made you a select. Along with the others who accompanied you from that Sector – Jeremiah Walter, Eli DeJesus, and Winston Joseph.”
Counselor Abagail raised her hand and turned to face Inikia. “Wait a minute,” she said. “You mean I know Eli? From before? And that guy Winston. Him too? He stood up in the briefing and said he remembered everything. Not once did he look back at me. How could I know him? And who is this Jeremiah Walter?”
“He is the young man with the close cropped blonde hair that stood in the lower row.”
Counselor Abagail nodded. She leaned back, sighed, and looked back over at her. “So you’re saying I know him as well.”
She nodded.
Counselor Abagail scoffed, looking down, staring forward. She shook her head. “And I just met you. At least officially.” She looked up and made eye contact with the mysterious woman.
She smiled and looked downwards. “You have been a very nice case.”
Counselor Abagail raised her eyebrows. “Oh,” she said. “Thank you…I think.” She looked Inikia in her eyes. “Since we are complimenting each other, I have to say, your name is quite beautiful.
Inikia smiled, and looked downwards. “Yes,” she said. “Thank you. It is. But I must finish what I was assigned to do. I was to bring you to breakfast. You will see the others there that we spoke of. Now you know that you have a history with them. A long and deep history.”
*****
Counselor Abagail and Inikia headed down the Town Square to the Breakfast Hall – which was nestled between a deserted Pub and a bookstore. It was single door which opened to a long, dark hallway. There was a light which emanated from the far end. “Just head forward and I will get the others,” Inikia said as Counselor Abagail ran her hand against the wall. It appeared to be made out of stone.
“Stone walls on a space ship?” She looked at Inikia, and could see the whites of her eyes in the dim light.
“There are many things about this ship that will seem quite foreign to you and your people,” she said. “But we keep things very natural, at least in this central location on the ship. We spend our lives on these vessels, traveling through galaxies. We try to keep some of the common gathering areas as natural feeling as possible.”
They reached the Breakfast Hall.
The small, dark hallway opened up to a large, brightly lit dining area which was lined with long, rectangular tables. At the far end of the cafeteria were expansive windows, along the hull. A black sea of stars was visible through the windows. There was a sea of ‘Those Dressed in White’, sitting at the expansive, rectangular tables. Counselor Abagail gasped when she looked past the dining members. “You!” she pointed. “I know you! I mean before this morning. Before your lecture. I know you!”
The man who approached her was also dressed entirely in white. She recognized him. It was Moses from the amphitheater. Up close, she could see the details of his appearance. His hair was shoulder length, dark brown and mussed, his facial hair noticeable but well-trimmed. “Yes, I would imagine you would,” he said. He smiled and stepped closer to her. “Do you remember me from Sector B?”
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sp; She took a break and tried to remember. She studied his look, his smile, his hair, his build. She couldn’t quite place him. But she knew that he had been familiar.
“I certainly remember you from the briefing,” she said. “I heard what you said. I listened to your lecture.”
He nodded and smiled. “Ah, yes. But I go deeper into your past, Counselor Abagail.”
“My past, it seems, right now, is a mystery.”
Moses grabbed a tray in the line and looked back at her. “But certainly, you must remember…something? Am I correct? You have this sense of familiarity with me, right?”
She nodded.
She tried to place him.
There was something about him that was familiar. Reassuring. She felt that the due to the fact that he was there, in this foreign and unsure environment.
That everything was going to be okay.
“Hey…Abby…I have a question for you.”
She looked up from studying the food offerings. It looked oddly familiar. There were bright, yellow scrambled eggs.
Toast.
There even looked to be some breakfast potatoes.
“You have all this? In space?”
He smiled. “We are not all that different from you.” He grabbed a pair of shiny tongs and placed a piece of toast on his plate. He offered another piece to her and she nodded. “So I have a question for you,” he said. After a pause, the voices and the activity of the cafeteria seemed to fade away.
“Do you have what it takes?” he asked. “To be a leader?”
Her face shifted as they found a table. “I…”
He placed his tray on the table, sat down, as she did, and then he looked up at her, chewing on some bacon. “I see the qualities in you, Abby. You can lead this team. I know you can. I saw it back on Earth in Sector B. Whether you remember or not, and I think in time, you will, you were in a leadership role in your colony. We’ve studied you. Over years. This is not a rash decision. It wasn’t a rash decision even to save your kind.”
She looked up. “What do you mean…save our kind?”