Ascent
Page 20
I can see the opposition from my room. They’re building outside. There are tanks outside again. The Party brought them in to protect the hotel. It’s resources.
Violence is building on the outside.
But I have nothing to worry about.
I’m an insider now.
And being an insider comes with access.
***
We go from being trainees to being junior Party members. Going forward we wear the Party uniform. Slowly, surely, we’re introduced to the Party’s secrets. We’re the first successful graduating class. Last year after Norris Chen disappeared that class was disbanded. I heard a rumor their memories were erased.
The Monday after graduation we’re instructed to meet in the President’s Room. I’m there first, at 7 AM. There’s a banquet of bagels, muffins, scrambled eggs, and fruit. I pour myself a glass of orange juice and grab a bagel. Casey and Marcus enter next, followed by several others. Farrah is the last to arrive. She looks so different in the Party uniform with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Security guards stand along the wall. They’re watching us. They still don’t trust us, and they shouldn’t. After all, there’s no way they can be certain.
We sit around the table and the murmur of nervous conversation fills the room. No one knows what comes next.
The door opens, filtering a beam of daylight in before it swings shut again. Lisa, Dr. Thompson, and Liam enter the room, each wearing their normal outfit: Lisa in her copycat lab coat, Dr. Thompson in his real lab coat, and Liam in his black security suit.
“Good morning,” Lisa says. She pastes her fake smile on her face. The usual smudge of red lipstick blemishes her front teeth. “Welcome. You may have thought that the hard part was the last six weeks you went through as part of your initiation into the Party. Trust me –” she makes eye contact for each of us in the room: “the hard part is just beginning.”
Dr. Thompson stands alongside her and gives us a welcoming smile. The room has a different feeling, like we’re insiders now, like everything has changed.
“We’re taking you to a new facility today. It’s what we’ve been working on as part of the scientific developmental process for the Party. This morning we’ll enjoy breakfast and we’ll have you sign consent forms. At 9:00 we’ll get on the bus and head out to where you’ll be spending the rest of your training as you learn everything you need to know to become a member of the Party.”
Lisa places a thick case on the table and dials in the combination. The case pops open and she takes out a stack of paper and pens, which she passes around the room.
Confidentiality Agreement
Welcome to the Party.
As a Party member you will hereby be granted access to confidential Party secrets. You will not share this information with anyone who is not an approved Party member. Failure to obey the Party’s rules is considered treason and is punishable by life in prison or even death.
Sign: ____________
Date: __________
Death.
That doesn’t surprise me. I know what they’re hiding.
I sign the confidentiality agreement and wait for time to pull me forward.
***
Today there are no goggles. Now that we’re members of the Party we won’t be returning to the general population. I take a seat directly behind Liam on the bus. I don’t want to miss anything.
The bus heads out of town, but we’re not headed out to IYD. Once we’re out of town, the traffic thins out. We drive through what people in the southwest consider mountains, but they are really just tall hills. The bus’s engine hums its way down the road. Voices whisper around me. A few brought iPods to listen to music. I take in the sights. The surroundings start to look familiar. I recognize the salt flats we pass. We stop in the middle of the desert. I look around and see nothing. It’s just like IYD. No tents, no tanks, no armed guards. This can’t be right. This isn’t what I’ve been watching over the satellite feed.
What if I’ve made a mistake?
Dr. Thompson stands up. “We’re getting closer. We need to retrofit the bus to go any farther. Hold on, we’ll be continuing forward in just a moment.”
We all look around at each other, a few worried faces in the group. I spot Farrah with her face against the window, looking off in the distance.
Suddenly, the bus starts making a crunching noise. The bus bounces. I grab the seat to hold on. Liam and Dr. Thompson sit in front of me. Whereas the fourteen of us in the back look nervous, neither of those two even blink. First the front of the bus goes into the air, and then the back. A voice behind me screams. Then we’re sitting about two feet higher. When the noise is over, Dr. Thompson stands back up.
“That was nothing to worry about, it was just the bus retrofitting itself to four-wheel-drive. We’re going off the road.”
The bus lurches forward and the bumps start. We’re driving on makeshift dirt tracks. It’s not a road. I guess it’s not supposed to be – for a lot of reasons, I’m sure.
We drive around the salt flats. By the look of the sun it appears we’re heading south. A small canyon appears in the distance. The canyon is familiar. I remember seeing it in the satellite photos.
We round a bend and crest a small hill. The bus drops down and a tent appears in the distance. It’s the tent from the satellite photos. It’s surrounded by tanks.
***
Men with assault rifles dressed in the same familiar uniform as Liam stand outside. The bus pulls up to the gate and two security guards board the bus. The men are a good foot taller than me. Their shoulders are wide, their muscles rippling under their clothes. They walk up and down the aisle of the bus. The first guard gives us each a sharp look while the second holds a device in his hand. The device has a green light on the screen. At no point does he look up from it. As he walks, it lets out beeps. The two walk to the end of the bus, pause, and walk back to the front.
“It’s all clear,” security guard one speaks into something that looks like a walkie talkie. Then he turns to Liam. “You’re clear to go in.” They step off the bus and wave the driver through.
The bus pulls into the heavily guarded area and drives towards a lot populated by what look to be military vehicles.
I know Jonathan’s going to be so jealous. I’m sitting on the far edge of my seat, staring out the window. The tent is huge. It must be the length of four football fields. It goes forever. The driver stops the bus and the air conditioning stops. I know we won’t stay on the bus long without air.
“Team, follow me. We’re going to enter through the front entrance. Each of you will get an eye scan when we walk into the tent. Remember to keep your badges visible. Everyone inside the Party Research Institute must have on a visible badge at all times.”
We follow Liam off the bus. He walks towards the tent and we follow behind. I feel someone edge closer to my right. It’s Farrah. She looks nervous, but she doesn’t say anything.
I’m sure she wishes I was Matt, but I guess I’ll have to do.
Finally, she speaks. “What is this place?” Her voice is so quiet I can barely make out the words. “Where are we?”
“It’s the Party’s secret research institute,” I whisper back. I’m not sure if what I said was exactly right, but it’s the best I can come up with.
“What do they do here?”
We walk up to the entrance and are met by more security guards. “We’re about to find out.”
Two guards stand alongside a body scanner. It looks like one of the scanners you walk through at the airport.
“One at a time please,” says a woman in a white lab coat. She has dark hair and holds an electronic tablet in her hand. She doesn’t look at us when she speaks.
“Go ahead, Rick, you always like being the first.”
I step through the scanner. The woman watches the device she holds in her hand.
“You can stand over there.” She points to the wall.
After we’ve gone through the scann
er Liam walks up to the entrance of what looks like an airport tunnel. Massive air vents blow cold air on us from above. It’s hard to hear anything above the noise they make.
“Follow me.”
The walls of the tunnel are lit with the same low lighting as the hallways at IYD. Along the walls are hieroglyphics; they start with gladiators fighting in the coliseum, and move towards kings and queens sitting on thrones. There are hieroglyphics of our country going to war and the Apollo missions.
Then there’s something else. I pause at the sight of what looks like a football shaped ship hovering over farm country. It looks like it’s paused above the ground, as if it’s examining its surroundings. The country is familiar. It’s a place I’ve been before: I recognize the familiar road and the leaning barn in the back. It’s Ronald Dunn’s farm, my grandpa’s long time neighbor.
And it looks exactly how Grandpa described.
“Rick?” It’s Farrah. She’s standing about five feet away, examining me. Everyone else has moved ahead. “Are you coming? We’re almost there.”
I take one last look at the ship and then follow Farrah down to the end of the hall.
***
The end of the hall is closed off with a huge metal door, just like the one that leads into the IYD classroom. We wait outside. Beside the door is a metal box: Liam places his face against it. A laser scans his eye.
“Liam Woodman, head of security,” an electronic voice announces. “Visitor approved. Please stand back.”
Liam moves away from the door and it spins in a circle. The spinning gets faster and faster, blowing a breeze into our faces.
And then it disappears.
“Please come in, we only have twenty seconds.”
Liam steps through the door first and we trot in after him. Like a good little herd.
The room opens up into a giant hangar. Men that are three feet tall, wearing lab coats like Dr. Thompson’s, rush around the room. Only they’re not really men. There’s something different about them, and when one turns around and looks at me I jump.
Its face is round and smooth, the eyes are like little black pinpricks and its lips are bright red. It tilts its eyes at me and appears to be examining me with the same intensity as I examine it. On its chest is a computer readout. For a moment, numbers spin in a whirlwind, before settling and flashing green. The being nods its head and walks away.
“What was that?” Marcus whispers behind me.
And then I look up and see it, what I’ve been looking for my whole life. The miniature men are buzzing around it, like little mechanics to make sure it stays in order. I catch my breath. It’s what I’ve been looking for since Grandpa told me the story while I was still at Fruitland Elementary School.
My mouth drops open. In the middle of the room is a football shape machine. It’s about twenty-five yards wide and smooth in texture. It glows softly, pale green. And it’s humming.
Liam examines the group with a smile on his face. “Yes, you’re seeing what you think you’re seeing. It’s a spaceship. The ship was captured by the government ten years ago over Washington State. It holds many amazing scientific secrets. Some of the technology from the ship was harnessed for the creation of the Slider.”
I stand behind a rope that surrounds the ship. It appears only the small beings are allowed inside the rope and that it takes all their energy to keep the ship’s energy running.
I’m exactly where I want to be standing in front of the secrets of the Universe. There’s so much I want to know. The place I’m standing now has made everything I’ve sacrificed worth it.
One of the creatures working on the ship makes eye contact with me. The word “help” rings in my ears. They can communicate with me, undetected. I nod my head. I need them to know I’m here to help.
The creature goes back to the ship. Liam waves us over and I walk over to where he’s standing.
I have so much work to do. My mind turns over the possibilities.
Chapter Forty-One
Matt
The Paradox
A Situation That Contradicts Itself
Dr. Thompson was wrong about one law of Winn Theory. He hypothesized that if you changed your past and chose not to come back, you would have no recollection of what occurred.
That’s where he was wrong.
I remember everything about the Party. Even though they haven’t come into power yet. It’s starting. And I know it will happen.
And since I know what will happen, I feel like I have to make it stop.
The Party is trying to brainwash everyone. To make everyone think they know what is best.
But I know better.
I don’t tell anyone about what happened. I’m so afraid that if I let on then fate will come looking for me. Or that I’ll wake up one morning and Violet will be gone.
So, I just pretend like I’ve been here the whole time. Like nothing changed. Like Violet was always okay, that on some plane of existence in the universe she hadn’t been killed in a car accident on a night when I had been chugging cheap beer from red cups out of a keg. I’m sure, somewhere out there, I’m living another life. One where Violet is six feet underground and her mom and my mom are no longer friends and I’m playing football for the Party, wanting to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger.
But I’m not an expert in Physics and I have no idea how to get to that place. And even if I were, I wouldn’t want to.
Violet and I aren’t together anymore. A few weeks after I came back we started drifting apart. Drifting in a way you do when you graduate from high school and you have your whole life ahead of you.
Your whole life.
And I’m okay with it, really. Because all I wanted for her was a chance, a chance for a career and a husband and kids and a dog, a white wedding dress to wear down the aisle. Everything she ever wanted is hers for the taking. All she has to do is take it.
I see her around school. We don’t talk. She nods at me the way people acknowledge someone that they maybe feel too strong about to do anything more. Part of me wants to hug her every time I see her. To tell her I’m so glad she’s okay. But I don’t. That would be just too weird, I guess.
But I’m glad she’s happy.
My mom’s doing great. She’s all excited that Violet’s sister’s having a baby. Mom’s helping Violet’s mom plan the baby shower. My mom lives for that kind of stuff. She never had a daughter, so she gets her fix through her friends.
I watch the news. Politically the US is falling apart. The Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on anything. The financial system is crumbling. It’s the perfect chance for a new party to come into power. The Party. I need to find a way to make it stop. Nothing good happens once the Party is in power.
But for now, I’m fine. I’m doing great. Jimbo-dandy, like my dad would say. I hurt my knee playing football and I’m out for the rest of the season. Everyone keeps thinking I should be more upset than I am. Like the worst thing that could happen to a guy is to hurt his knee the first year of college ball.
I can guarantee everyone that being sidelined from the football field is definitely not the worst.
And like the best thing that could happen to a person is being the star, running back at UCLA.
No.
The best thing that could happen to a person is getting a second chance.
***
I’m at home watching the news. The Party hasn’t started taking over broadcast stations and cable TV yet. The very last of the journalistic news channels, they’re reporting on the last election. President Everson won. He ran as a member of the Party.
They’re coming into power now. It’s starting. A few of the ghettos have been developed. The working class is moving into 250 square foot apartments they’ll call home.
The Party didn’t plan on me staying in the past and remembering what happens in the future.
They didn’t count on the fact I didn’t want to be a member of the Party at all.
They
don’t know I’m the person who wants to stop them from taking power.
Now that’s Violet safe, I have my eye on stopping the Party’s ascent.
#
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty