CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel

by A. Bernette

“I don’t think we are going to be able solve this without looking at population, location of population, the number of pump holes, location of pump holes, and how much is being pumped.

  “Those are things that we don’t have any control over and honestly, they don’t give it much support as far as research,” Zura responded.

  “I don’t see how anyone can ignore it. There are twenty billion people and there is a lot of waste from production to support those twenty billion people. Because people are spread out companies either produce in more areas to minimize transportation or they have to ship to more areas and thus put more load on fewer pump holes. Either way, we can’t keep pumping into the earth at the levels we are without these tremors and earthquakes getting even worse. Then there is even the issue of volcanoes. We are already seeing this happen. In the short term, the only solution I see is to close the pumps.” Stephen stopped speaking.

  He didn’t want to go any further and looked at Zura, wanting his mother to take it from there. He then looked at Johan.

  “Here,” Stephen said, handing the paper and the data chip to his dad and walked out. “I need to get ready for the day.”

  “What the heck Stephen?!” An exasperated Zura yelled after Stephen as he walked out of the room and back towards his room. Sometimes he drove her crazy. She could never really figure him out. Stephen figured that this was their problem. Johan put up his hand to Zura. After letting Stephen get a few yards ahead of Johan followed.

  Stephen didn’t answer his mother. He didn’t want to talk to her or anyone else in that room. He was still a kid and he wasn’t supposed to have to think about things like that. He wanted off this forsaken sheet of ice. He wanted to tell someone what was going on and maybe have someone who hadn’t already sold out look at the data with him.

  Exhaustion hit Stephen hard as he crossed the threshold of the door to his bedroom. His bed called to him, reminding him that he’d ignored it the night before. A light knock on the door made Stephen roll over on his back to and strain to see who was three through dreary eyes.

  “Hey dad.”

  “Hey Stephen. How are you?” Johan asked and then sat down on the edge of Stephen’s bed.

  “Tired and upset.”

  “I bet. You were working pretty late on this weren’t you?”

  “Yes. Very late.”

  “And you didn’t get quite the response you were hoping for did you?”

  “No. There should be only one response, dad. There is one simple answer. Stop pumping emissions into the ground, move the people in the hot zones, then fix the problem. You can even propose your solution again, right?”

  “I wish it were that easy Stephen, believe me. For every one person you see that we answer to, there are two or three more that you don’t see. Unfortunately, every single one has different interests. Maybe, just maybe, we are getting somewhere with all this. Maybe we have enough data finally to make a case that they can’t ignore. Then, maybe they’ll listen to what I’ve been suggesting for years,” Johan smiled at his son.

  He hoped to lighten Stephen’s mood. It wasn’t fair for Stephen to have to be involved like he was, but he was involved and he needed to be. Stephen was right. What was happening affected all of them, Stephen included. He had a stake in the outcome, perhaps more than even either he or Zura.

  “Enough of that. Anything else exciting happening?” Johan asked, trying to shift the focus from work.

  “No. It’s supposed to be Spring break but it doesn’t seem like it, especially with Stella gone. I’m tired dad and I need time to think,” Stephen said, rolling onto his side.

  Johan stood up and avoided stepping on the paper Stephen had let drop to the floor.

  “Well, get some rest and then come back down and see us when you’re ready. Okay son?”

  “Okay. Can you close the door please?”

  “Sure. Talk to you soon.” Johan gently closed the door and Stephen collapsed onto the bed, landing on his stomach.

  His eyelids were heavy and the dark circles underneath were now evident from the multiple nights of lost sleep. His cheek lay against the bed and his hands fell beside his head. The small light on his watch pulsed blue. He pushed himself up just enough to reach it with his other hand.

  Stella had sent him a message. She’d gone exploring at camp and would tell him about it when she got home in a couple of days. Stephen looked at the ocean life calendar Mave had bought him. Only two days were left. Sleep beckoned him as he lay sprawled across the bed. He would have given into it but he felt compelled to continue working. His dad might be right - maybe they were close. He also felt guilty after he’d rushed out of the science center the way he had.

  Stephen let himself tumble off the bed and stumble into the bathroom. He peeled off his pajamas and stepped into the hygiene closet. He took a deep breath and put the plugs into his ears and nose. No matter how many times he did it, he still hated the feeling of the rubber nodules pressed against the skin inside his nose and ears.

  He dragged his legs over the short wall and stepped inside the small closet, letting the door close with a click before pressing the button to let the sanitation begin. With his head leaning against the wall in front of him he rested his hands on the sealed, smooth, concrete wall above him and spread his legs as if preparing to stretch for the marathon that would be the next month of his life. The hygienic wash and rinse would begin soon and with it, ninety seconds of peace.

  As the pea gravel sized holes in the hygiene closet opened and began to squirt the anti-bacterial foam onto the top of his tense neck and back and then down the back of his legs, he forgot where he was for a moment. The foam would stay on him for thirty seconds releasing the tiny beads that tingled against his skin, revitalizing him. The infrared light shining from above his head, beside him from the walls, and up from the floor killed other germs.

  The faint sound of a beep brought him back to where he was and he turned to face the other way for another thirty seconds. He loved the rinse the most. He had set the rinse power so it felt like standing out in the rain on a Spring day back in Northern Allegiance.

  The final rinse removed all of the anti-bacterial solution and left him feeling clean and refreshed. He always opted to turn off the heated drying element in the hygiene closet. It was too warm and sucked the moisture from his skin, especially when the moisture in the air was already so low. Besides, he preferred the cooler air outside of the closet, and a thick towel.

  He grabbed his oversized navy blue and white striped towel from the hook just outside the closet door and stepped out onto the cool white clay tile. Now that he was feeling a little more alive maybe he wouldn’t be such a curmudgeon when he went back to the science center. He was already feeling restless, knowing there must be something else; something he was missing.

  Mave looked towards the doorway as Stephen appeared again. This time he was fully dressed and looked as if he’d been in the hygiene closet.

  “Hi, Stephen. Welcome back.”

  Stephen walked in and sat down by Mave.

  “Hi Aunt M,” he tried to say calmly. “Did you see what I brought earlier?”

  “No, Zura took it. She and Johan have it in there.” She pointed toward the door leading down to the ROC room. “I wouldn’t go in there yet if I were you. I don’t think they like what they are seeing and I don’t think they agree on the next step.”

  “So what does that mean? What am I supposed to do?” asked Stephen confused.

  “Right now? Nothing. Wait. Things will work out. In the meantime, you can help me do some of this prep work so we can get reports for when we are gone. Believe it or not it’s almost time to leave this ice nest and it’s almost birthday time for you and Stella. I’ll be a bat’s uncle, well aunt, if I’m in this place ever again in Winter.” Stephen looked at her with a strange smile.

  Sometimes Mave said the craziest non-sense things. Since she’d starting working on not swearing she said whatever other craziness popped in her head.


  “You’ll be sixteen this year and para-adults. It’s a big step and I have something special for the two of you. However, my dear, it won’t happen on Antarctica.”

  “What is it?” Stephen asked.

  “It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it? You’ll just have to wait and find out, but don’t worry, it is out of this world!”

  “Okay. Fine. I’ll help you. You don’t have to make all kinds of promises, Aunt M. You know I don’t like surprises. What do you need me to do?” Stephen said.

  Mave slid over with coffee in hand letting Stephen take command of the programming station.

  “Why don’t you run the program to get data on the sea creatures first,” Mave instructed.

  Stephen looked at her and protested, “But I want to work on the seismic activity program.”

  “I know. That’s why you have to do the sea creatures first. I know if you start with that seismic activity program I’ll have a hard time getting you to stop and do anything else. By the way, make sure when do the seismic program you are getting data from all of the regions. I don’t want us to miss anything,” Mave smiled at Stephen who gave her a look of frustration before turning a corner of his lip upward.

  They could work together for hours. Sometimes it would be in silence, yet whenever he was around Mave, he always felt safe and connected to something bigger. He knew what he was doing wasn’t for nothing.

  Chapter Eleven

  Answers

  Antarctic Research Center

  In the ROC room, Zura and Johan both looked out the wall of windows towards the never ending ocean. Zura felt lightheaded from everything that was happening much too quickly and all Johan could do at that moment was hold her. This was their life’s work. This whole program was possible because of them.

  They were supposed to be saving the world. All of their hard work and sacrifice was for what surrounded them and for the nearly twenty billion people sharing the planet with them. If they screwed up, they would be responsible for the fallout and that wasn’t an option either wanted to consider.

  The pressure seemed to push into Zura’s shoulder blades and crept into her neck. She was the lead, this was her project, and at the end of the day she was responsible for what happened and for all the lives impacted by their work and the information they had. She felt the weight of the world pressing into her neck and back, even if she didn’t have to bear it.

  She took in a deep breath and as she let it out slowly she was reminded of the little ball of light that had appeared when she’d been working just two and a half months before the twins were born. She had never told Johan about it, but that message, along with Mave’s insistence, had kept her pressing on with the mission she sometimes couldn’t seem to grasp.

  The message she got that day kept her committed to making sure the twins knew their worth. Their premature birth and that message were why she said yes to the serum during her labor. It was why she had risked everything. The ARC and all of the sacrifices she, Johan and everyone else had made along the way couldn’t be for nothing.

  Zura whipped her head away sharply from her embrace with Johan. She’d felt as if they were no longer alone, but as she looked around the room and behind her confused husband there was no one there. She stood back from Johan and looked around again, trying to shake off whatever was causing the hairs on her arms to stand up. She could feel a shift of energy in the room but only she and Johan were there.

  “We have to do something, Johan,” Zura finally spoke. “We have to send a report with our suggestions to both the UniCorps and the World Consensus Science Branches. They have to know what we’ve found so they can do something. I will not let this kind of blood be on my hands or our hands.”

  Upstairs in the general science room Mave suddenly sat up erect in the chair beside Stephen, a calm look coming over her face. She smiled and said, “I think you’ll be happy with your parents.”

  Mave continued to work with a little more pep. A couple of minutes passed and Zura and Johan stepped out of the decontamination chamber and were coming up the steps to the science center workroom where Mave and Stephen waited expectantly.

  “Hi, Stephen, Mave,” Zura said as she slipped on her shoes. “Glad to see you seem more yourself this time, Stephen. Mave, can you and Rupert begin putting together easy to understand charts using the data we have? I don’t want anyone saying that what we provided wasn’t clear. I am going to start drafting my report. Johan, I need you to keep an eye on the subfloor activity. Get in touch with your global associates to get regional data for all global activity over the past eighteen months,” she instructed.

  “That may not be enough,” Johan responded.

  “You’re right. Make it two years. In fact go back until you can see where the data begins to show a new trend and then go back further so they can see that something wasn’t there and then it was. We need something that shows there was a change. It could be two or three years, but I know it’s there.” That was all she said before she sat down at her station and began to type. She was in her own space again.

  “Stephen, you can keep working on what you were doing,” Mave said before walking out of the lab in search of Rupert who was supposed to be taking the morning off.

  He’d been up later than Stephen analyzing data. Mave knew Rupert well enough to know that without any rest, he wouldn’t be much good but there wasn’t time to sleep now. She had only slept three hours herself, but she got by fine on a pot of coffee a day and the occasional moments she took for rejuvenation. She knew the coffee addiction wasn’t good for her, but it was one of her few guilty pleasures since coming here.

  As Mave left the lab she figured that Zura wouldn’t miss her for at least fifteen or twenty minutes. She’d be so wrapped up in her work she wouldn’t even notice that she and Rupert hadn’t returned.

  Mave wandered through the tunnels looking behind her to make sure no one was following her. She desperately needed a moment to herself. She went into the hall leading to the living unit she shared with Rupert. She passed the main living areas to make it to her own bedroom. She opened the door and quickly closed and locked it behind her, making sure it didn’t make a sound.

  Before she let herself retire to the comfort of her bed for a few stolen moments of peace, she tested the door again to make sure it was secure. She could feel the tension that was in the science center all through her legs, back, shoulders, arms, neck, and head. She needed to recharge and clear all that tension out before going back in there for another round. She unbuttoned her uniform top leaving her undershirt and pulled off the cargo style pants, before she stretched out on the bed.

  Mave took a deep breath in, closed her eyes and exhaled. She could feel the life of the breath fill her chest and throat before leaving again. She continued just breathing, circular breaths, round and round. In a few moments she felt her body warm up from within. Soon her body seemed to radiate, just a little at first and then enough to give off a faint glow. The light that circled her body got bigger and bigger until it filled the whole room.

  Mave was one of the Connecteds. Connecteds were all over the world, placed on every continent to serve as a connection between the earth and its people with the Unseen and those like the Council.

  After the World Consensus took over and the voting power of corporations exceeded that of people, the Connecteds were forbidden to publicly share any information they received that might affect the citizen’s positive perception of the World Consensus or the corporations. They had even gone so far as to say that it was punishable by loss of Citizenship. They could become part of the homeless population.

  Anyone who was suspected of being a Connected was to be reported if there was evidence of suspicious behavior, such as having knowledge or abilities that couldn’t be scientifically or physically explained. This law had the desired effect of convincing most Connecteds to not speak or act openly about what they knew in certain areas of government, politics, and
power.

  Mave successfully avoided being targeted or reported as a Connected, despite being from a place called India in the Eastern Way, where many Connecteds came from. Her science background and quick wit helped her find answers and communicate what she knew in a way that wasn’t too out of the ordinary or suspicious.

  Of course, there were times when she simply had to remain silent because her mission here was too great to be compromised by ego or anything less than being a part of the movement.

  Mave lay there peacefully, basking in the glow. It felt like a warm hug that washed away all the stress, until there was a knock on the door.

  “Mave? Are you in there?” It was Rupert. Mave muttered something as she came out of her blissful state.

  “What?” he asked through the door.

  “Give me just a minute. I was just catching a little bit of shut eye,” Mave said with a huff of slight irritation. She then forced herself to sit up. It was time to get back to work and at least it was Rupert at the door and not Zura.

  Her moment of relaxation was over. She pulled her uniform back on, trying to focus through the feeling that she was still floating. She stepped into her boots, pulling the laces snug and then went to the door. She turned back towards the bed and smiled. She could still see the lingering light begin to fade and disappear.

  Mave opened the door and greeted Rupert with a kiss on the lips. “Oh? I think you need to get cat naps more often,” Rupert laughed. She didn’t know what had come over her, but it was done.

  This woman is amazing in every way, Rupert thought. He looked at her like he often found himself doing. He would have followed her to the ends of the earth. As he thought about it, he realized he had, and she still wouldn’t let him be her official unity partner.

  “So, we have some work to do Rupert. Zura has decided to do the right thing like we suspected she would. I am pretty sure we got some extra help on that one. Of course that means you and I have to help get everything she needs to really make the case. She’s working on the formal report and we’ve got to pull together the charts and graphs that support what we’ve found,” Mave said in one breath.