The Experiment

by Costanza, Christopher

  “Yeah…”

  I’d been thinking about this moment for so long… So much of my time was spent thinking about her and what this would be like… Now I was nervous and couldn’t figure out what to say. It was just like when we first met…

  “So what did you do before you joined the ACI?”

  I wasn’t sure about how eager I was to answer this question… She was on the science team; that means she came from the upper class in the Capital... Someone like me was below her…

  I hesitantly said “Well… After I finished school I just kinda had odd jobs here and there… Delivery driver, worked in a factory for a while… I always wanted to join the ACI and take part in the Sirius missions, just didn’t really think it was possible until I found out my neighbor did it… What about you?”

  I asked, even though I kind of already knew what she was going to say… Though I could be wrong…

  “My parents were crazy… They were both retired from the ACI so it was all they cared about. Basically, I went to school my whole life and now I’m here… And I recently took part in seizing a giant spaceship from some evil tyrants…”

  We looked at each other and laughed.

  “I know it’s so…”

  “Crazy?”

  “Yeah.”

  I was so nice to finally be around her and just talk… It’s one of the few things I thought about every single day. And the longer it lasted the more comfortable I felt. My nerves were quickly fading and being replaced by the want to be even closer to her…

  “Believe it not, I never wanted to be a scientist… And I never got a chance to try anything else so to this day I still don’t know what I want to do. What I do know is that I’ll be quitting my job with the ACI once we get back.”

  She paused and lightly laughed.

  “For the longest time I was so mad at my parents for forcing me into this life. They’re the reason I wound up on this ship and I hated them for it… Now I’m glad that I got to help free the natives.”

  “It’s funny you say that… I came to a similar realization myself. Just up until recently I hated myself for making what I used to think was the worst decision of my life… Right, now there’s nowhere else I’d rather be…”

  She took my hand again….

  When we got to the observation room she stopped and said. “I knew you spent a lot of your nights here… I always wanted to go too but I was afraid of running into you. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide everything from you for long.”

  I opened the door and she continued. “If I didn’t eventually get reassigned to studying the plant life on the planet I would have gone crazy. It was pretty boring but at least I got to spend time on the planet now and then… It’s so beautiful isn’t it?”

  “So much so that it changes the way you see everything doesn’t it?.. Have you ever studied the history of Aeris?”

  “Just a little in school. I was always so busy with other things… Why?”

  “Well I’ve read many description of what Aeris used to look like before human industry ruined it… From what I can tell, one day Aeris will look very similar to this planet again.”

  When we sat down she leaned up against me.

  “You don’t mind do you?”

  “No, of course not… You know I feel the same way…”

  She paused for a few moments and I felt her body relax. “So Aeris used to have blue oceans?”

  “Yes, and vast forests, further than the eye can see… In some parts of the world it was so thick it was totally unexplored.”

  I leaned back a little and got more comfortable.

  “There were even millions of different creatures, just like on X-451…”

  Sara didn’t respond so I looked down at her… She looked at me and put her hand up to my face, then I felt her lips touch mine…

  Chapter 16

  The moment my eyes opened, I panicked… I could just feel that I slept through the night.

  I woke up Sara and said. “I’m pretty sure it’s the next day, we’ve gotta go.”

  She jumped out of bed and we put on our uniforms.

  Before we walked out the door she stopped me. “It was nice to finally get to you know you.”

  “Sorry… Just kind of panicked…”

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure Kayin would have sent word if he heard anything.”

  I took her hand, leaned down and kissed her.

  We stood there for a few moments, looking into each other’s eyes and I said “I’ve been wanting for this for so long… When I said I thought about you every day, I meant it.”

  “I know… me too Atlas.”

  “Believe it or not… When I first met you, I already knew... That’s why you were my last thought before I was put in stasis.”

  She smiled and kissed me again. “Ok, now we can go… Was that too much to ask?”

  When we got to the flight room I could immediately tell 3 hadn’t made contact yet. Kayin looked really irritated...

  As soon as I got close he said. “He’s got one hour! And then I’m gonna go find that hairball and make him tell me what’s goin on!”

  Kayin looked exhausted… He had dark rings around his eyes, and I could even hear it in his voice… Now that I think of it, he probably hasn’t slept in almost 48 hours…

  I said “Kayin, you haven’t slept in days have you?”

  “How could sleep with all this going on?.. Glad you two had a good time!”

  I knew he was just upset but… “Hey come on man, don’t take it out on us!”

  He glared at me but then his face relaxed. “I know, sorry…”

  I walked over to him. “Just be patient. He still had six more sites to go to when we last heard from him… We might not hear from him again until tomorrow. It’s going to take some time.”

  “Atlas we need to get started today. I already ordered all the soldiers to assist the other miners. There’s no need to guard the sites anymore… But I haven’t been able to coordinate anything else yet because I don’t know what’s happening with the natives.”

  …”I need to know what’s going on right now!”

  I got a little upset. “We’ve been waiting years!.. We can wait another day if we have to. According the 3 this has turned into a really delicate situation… And that requires patience Kayin!”

  He jokingly put his hands up. “You’re right, you’re right… I’m just talkin to talk. I’ll shut up about it.”

  Sara came over. “Would it really be so bad if the natives helped us finish as a way of saying thank you?”

  “Yes!… I don’t want to see even one more of them die in those mines Sara… The treatment Horus came up with wasn’t perfect… It can still kill them long after it’s been administered if they overexert themselves… It seems like it weakens their hearts…”

  He sighed. “Look just give me a few minutes to calm down… I’m sorry.”

  I patted him on the shoulder and we walked over to the front and looked out at X-451. There was a small amount of asirium in the front of the flight room. Even though the pilots didn’t fly by sight they still always had a section for them to see out of.

  Sara leaned against me. “I’m sure it’s a beautiful day…”

  “…When I first started going down we spent a night in the woods during the full moon… There was something special about it. I can’t really describe it, just the way the light of the full moon affected everything made me want to just stay here… I felt so peaceful.”

  “It would be nice to have a small house over by that lake, just in front of the tree line… I love living in the Capital, every time I looked up at the buildings and amazing detail of everything, it takes my breath away… But there’s just something about nature that can’t be contended with…”

  I turned to her and smiled.

  “Believe it not, I’ve been thinking about that too… There’s just something about this planet that makes me want to stay, Aeris doesn’t seem like such a great pl
ace anymore…”

  Sara looked down I could see her eyes start to tear…

  “Seeing all this makes it even harder to believe anyone could have ever wanted to harm Aeris in the first place… What good is power over a planet that’s lost everything that makes it special?

  “I don’t understand it either Sara… I guess our ancestors just lost touch with what was truly important…”

  Neither one of us said anything for a while. I think it’s because we both knew staying was just a dream… We had to go back to Aeris and face our government and the ACI. In reality, even when we finished mining all the chrysos, this would all be far from over…

  I wanted to give Kayin time to cool down but I also had something I wanted to talk to him about. After 15 minutes or so I told Sara to come with me and went back over to him. I wanted her input too.

  I walked over and leaned up against the main console. I heard it make a noise, so I jumped back and looked at it… Kayin laughed and said “You didn’t do anything, don’t worry.”

  I scratched the back of my head and lightly laughed. “Hey I need to talk to you about something… It’s a long way away, but it’s been on my mind.”

  He looked calm enough to be interested and really listen. “Yeah of course.”

  “I don’t think it’s safe to return to the Aurora.”

  They both looked confused and Kayin said “What do you mean?”

  “Think about it you two… The ACI obviously has a great deal of control over the government. They specifically sent Horus here to make advancements in human intelligence for THEM… Using the natives to mine the chrysos was just a bonus… I don’t think they’re going to be happy. And if they would knowingly promote something like this, then it’s safe to say they would kill all of us too… Or bury our story and make sure we go to prison.”

  Judging by their faces, I could tell they both knew that what I was saying made sense.

  “I have no way to prove it, but I don’t even think they need anywhere near the amount of chrysos we’re mining. I think it’s so they’ll be the only people with chrysos on the whole planet… Money equals power… And combine that with artificially enhanced intellect…”

  Kayin moaned “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! I was under the impression they’d be happy and congratulate us… what makes you so sure Atlas? I mean, we will be coming back with the chrysos… There can’t be that many people in on this… The ACI consists of over 100,000 people.”

  I shook my head “That doesn’t matter… I’m telling you, if we dock with the Aurora there’s a good chance we’ll never see Aeris again…”

  Kayin thought for a moment and said “Yeah you’re right… it’s not worth the risk.”

  Sara interjected. “I agree… So what’s your plan?”

  “Well, I think we should land the Sirius in the middle of the Capital… During the busiest time of the day. If we have to stay on the outer edge of the solar system and wait to time it just right, that’s what we’ll do.”

  Sara said “Yes! That way everyone will see us. We can get out and immediately start telling everyone what happened… Even ask for protection. I’m sure people will help us.”

  I said “Exactly. We have to make it impossible for them to do anything to us or hide this from everyone… It’s the only way.”

  I looked at Kayin and he said. “I totally agree… That’s the plan… Guess we’re lucky to have you around huh? I was ready to return to the Aurora with my head held high…”

  Then Kayin made a funny face. “So on a brighter note… are you two a couple yet or what? I noticed you never came back last night… It’s about time!”

  He started laughing. “I thought it was never gonna happen.”

  Sara looked embarrassed and shied away from the question.

  I smiled and said “Yeah well, things were complicated... You know what happened…”

  Just then we heard the radio cut on.

  “This is 3, I’m heading back now… We should be docking in less than 5 minutes.”

  Kayin yelled out “Aaaaah finally! I was just keeping my cool… I’ve been going crazy on the inside!.. He better run all the way to the flight room!”

  I laughed and shook my head…

  The moment 3 appeared in the doorway, Kayin flew across the room and got in his face. “Ok, let’s have it.”

  3 backed up and said “Please… personal space Kayin.”

  For a moment I could swear Kayin almost turned red…

  He backed up. “Just… tell me what’s going on.”

  3 crossed his arms. “Yeah nice to see you too… Glad you’re ok… Thanks for helping us too!”

  “Alright, I’m sorry… 3 thank you. You know I appreciate everything, I’m just really anxious to find out what’s going on… There’s a lot waiting on you.”

  He smirked. “I know.”

  Then he signaled for me to come over with his usual air of arrogance.

  He sighed. “Now that they believe they took part in a war against the enemies of their creators… There’s no way I’ll be able to convince them you’re not… mystical beings… or whatever they think you are… When you address them, you’ll have to just play along for now… This is going to be a slow process, but I have some good ideas.”

  Kayin said “Well just keep trying to talk to them. We’ll even help you. They’d have to believe it, coming from us.”

  “You don’t understand… I can’t explain what you are and how you people do the things you do. They don’t have words for these things. And even if they did, they couldn’t understand the concept of any of it… You come down out of the sky in metal boxes. Like I said before, they don’t understand your guns either… They still think you can kill them by waving your hands.”

  He turned around and folded his arms. “I gave up after one group almost attacked me because they felt like I was insulting you.”

  Kayin started to get upset again. “3, you have to make them understand… otherwise everything we did was…”

  3 stopped him. “No Kayin, what your people did was not in vein… Believe me when I say that.”

  Kayin nodded.

  “All you can do is continue to work with them as we mine… But I’m going to need your help too.”

  He went on to explain that he needed us to stop letting them see all of our technology… Do things like land the ships far away and wear plainer clothes. He even suggested never using radios in front of them.

  3 believed that it we took away the aspect of ourselves they believed to be “supernatural” they’d eventually see we aren’t so different than they are. “I’m just going to have to keep rotating my presence at the different sites. The more I teach them the more they respect me… It could eventually lead to them listening to me about your people… If you can abide by these rules, it’ll be our best chance.”

  He laughed. “Look at it this way… All we can do is try our best and if it doesn’t work you’ll leave much sooner and it will all end… Yes more of them will die but it’s not your fault… Your leaders and the ACI did this. You’re just having to suffer through the consequences and the guilt.”

  Kayin said “3 if you think that will help then I’ll address the ship and everyone on down on the planet later to give out your instructions… We’ll do our best.”

  3 smiled. “Now, you two somehow managed to survive all this and become the new leaders of your people. It’s time to meet with mine. If they can see that even the leaders are mining alongside of them it’ll only help the effort… Like I said, you have to make it appear as though you aren’t special in any way.”

  We all agreed and headed to a transport ship.

  On the way 3 said. “Kayin… Please have that same pilot take us down. He’s able to land without almost killing us.”

  Kayin didn’t say anything back… He just took a deep breath.

  I was laughing on the inside. I still couldn’t help but find 3 funny sometimes… I just hope he doesn�
��t turn his people into a race of sarcastic, rude, and arrogant egomaniacs…

  Just as 3 requested, Kayin had the pilot land about a half a mile away from the site… It was nice to see a forest again. Especially since Sara was with me this time. It just made it even more of a special experience.

  It was just before mid-day, the sun was shining so brightly it easily pierced the canopy and showered us in warmth. I could hear the leaves blowing in the wind and a wide array of different sounds being made by the wildlife.

  It was such a difference from the calmness of the night. I could actually feel the energy from all the life… I’d never felt anything like quite like it…

  As we walked Sara turned to me and said. “Was this the forest you spent the night in?”

  “No, it was near the second mine we took 3 to, this was the first… It’s just as amazing though. Maybe even more so.”

  Just then a flock of small birds came rushing out from the bushes and trees around us and took off into the sky. We must have frightened them.

  Sara’s face lit up.

  “Oh look at them Atlas!.. I still get excited every time… It’s so rare to see birds at home. I can’t wait to learn about everything that’s been cataloged by the other science teams.”

  “I know, I’ll be so sad to leave…”

  Kayin said. “Yeah me too.”

  3 said “This would be a nice area to start teaching my people the benefits of settling instead of constantly moving around… There’s plenty of wood, fresh water and wildlife to really get something started.”

  I looked over at 3. “I agree, it’s perfect… Remember to make sure and take some of our information about farming before we leave. Some of the techniques they’ve come up with could drastically increase your production… It’ll especially help you get through winters.”

  “I’ll make sure to do that, thanks Atlas.”

  “Before we go I’ll gather any books or information I can that might help your people. I think you’ll be surprised…”

  When we approached the mine, 3 stopped and said. “Don’t say anything unless I talk to you… I don’t want you to come on too strong… Remember, they’re absolutely terrified of you, even though they know you saved them. It’s more of a great respect of your power I suppose… Anyway, speak softly and don’t be aggressive…”