CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel

by A. Bernette

  This year was different. Zura hadn’t done a fancy lunch since they had a large brunch and wouldn’t be meeting over lunch. They needed something they could walk with and had ordered the chef to prepare simple sandwiches. It wasn’t fancy but after how the morning had gone she was glad she hadn’t gone all out for the group for lunch as well.

  As they grabbed sandwiches to eat during the break, Johan could feel the nausea build in his stomach. Once again, he would journey into the belly of the beast. He gave a weary glance to his wife before they headed out and hoped that the solution that had to be out there would be found, and fast.

  Gregor Magiro had barely spoken to any of the members who’d come from UniCorps. The tension between their two main funding groups was as plain as the sandwiches they were eating. They weren’t in agreement about what should be done. Though they rarely openly disagreed, he’d been around them long enough to know all wasn’t well.

  Representative Silver had barely spoken at all and although she didn’t speak much, she usually offered some wise piece of advice or a new way of looking at the issue. On this day, she was quiet when it came to the main conversation. On more than one occasion, Representative Magiro had tried to follow UniCorps questions to the ARC team with another question aimed more at World Consensus or UniCorps. It hadn’t gotten past Johan or the rest of the team. But even his questions went unanswered.

  Johan wasn’t sure where Admiral General Mylar stood on how the situation should eventually be resolved. He’d been the most vocal in his questions and the one person most against telling anyone outside of those already approved to know, and that concerned Johan.

  Up until five years before, Mylar’s visits to the ARC had only been every two to three years. Since then he’d come each year during the final reporting and his largest interest was always the tour and being updated on the progress of the programs Johan ran.

  His interest was rarely what was happening in those science labs, but this year he’d shown more interest in what was happening on that side too. Johan hoped it meant he might be willing to do something about it. At the same time, he wondered if the original plan as he’d understood it had been changed and he just wasn’t aware yet.

  Everyone in that room had staked their reputations, sacrificed good parts of their lives, for the ARC and what it meant for all of their futures. In that regard, Johan was no different.

  As the group headed down the honeycomb halls, winding and turning towards the door marked ‘No Entry’, the six visitors and Johan tried to chat casually about their homelands in between bites of their sandwiches. The conversation felt forced and fake. When the dead space of silence crawled into the conversation, no one broke it and Johan took it as a welcome relief. He couldn’t wait to get back above ground and for this visit to end.

  Johan opened the door and let his guests walk through ahead of him and down the stairs before allowing the door to close behind him. They walked down the ramp towards the first honeycomb chamber, taking the same steps Stella and Stephen had taken earlier.

  “Progress is going well for the next phase of the ARC,” Johan said. “We’ve had great success with growing food in our greenhouse. Johan opened a door to his left and they all filed in.

  The group continued through another door and down a long hallway with the same lights. They stepped along the concrete floor triggering the light sensors which lit up the next twenty feet or so ahead of them, until they reached a small keeping room. They entered the small keeping room that kept the greenhouse sterile and secure. Looking through the glass they could see inside to an open area that was the size of a football stadium.

  The room was bustling with activity. Men and women working inside moved about performing all sorts of activities. There were groups busied with checking the leaves, watering the soil, adjusting the artificial grow lights, pruning, or harvesting the fruits and vegetables that were ready.

  “We’ve been successful in growing corn, tomatoes, a variety of lettuces, spinach, eggplant, lentils, a variety of legumes, apples, pears, strawberries, mangoes and bananas, in a special room, and more. We haven’t been able to grow rice because of the requirements for significant amounts of water, which we are still working on, but we can grow potatoes and other substitutes. Within a year we should have a fully functioning, self-sustaining, fresh supply of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, and grains,” Johan informed the ARC guests.

  Before long a small group of staff had brought over trays for them to sample their produce. There were small white paper cups with fresh tomatoes cut up, spinach leaves, and cut apples for the group to sample.

  “They all taste so normal,” Representative Silver said, surprised after taking a bite from all three. She let the taste of the tomato linger on her tongue. It was one of her favorite foods. “It doesn’t taste like it’s engineered,” she added. The others made similar remarks, pleased with the progress.

  After leaving the produce farming section of the ARC, the group walked through another door with the same set up. There was a second inside door followed by another long hallway with the same lights. When they finally reached the small keeping room for this area Johan spoke.

  “In here we have our dairy and poultry pasture. We recognize that the expense and resources required to maintain full size animals for eating is too great but we can still have dairy and eggs. This pasture is already supplying the dairy needs and enough eggs for everyone on the ARC who cares to partake, even now. Best of all, everything is fresh,” Johan said with confidence.

  “Excuse me,” Johan called out to one of the workers in the pasture. “Can you give us samples of the milk?” Johan smiled.

  He was proud with how the cows were producing and that the taste was on par with cows kept in fields, without them being kept in tiny pens. The cows were free to roam within a large area which appeared to be nearly the size of almost two football fields. The chickens had coops placed around the front section.

  A few years earlier, the engineers had brought in natural grass and laid it on top of a surface made to absorb excess water. The water would be recycled back into the ARC’s water system for purification and watering of plants in the garden. There were at least two hundred hens in the pasture. In separate smaller pens were three dozen or so cocks.

  The pasture keeper handed Johan and his guests each a small cup of milk and waited for their reaction.

  “Wow. It’s better than it was even just last year,” Representative Magiro remarked. “What did you do differently?” he asked.

  Johan looked at him and the others. “We had to modify a few things in their diet and over the past nine or ten years we have begun replacing the bulls with those originating in areas that were less affected by the pollution and commercialization process of food. They were more ‘pure’ so to speak, so what they produce as far as their offspring is concerned has been better too. It took a few years for us to find a good balance of the diet since we have to provide a diet that will be sustainable in the long-term.”

  “Great job on the food so far, Johan. You should be very pleased with the work your team is doing,” Magiro complimented Johan. “This research and your success has the potential to bring sustainable and reliable food to areas that are hard served now,” he said, pleased at how well that initiative was going.

  “Have we been as successful with the other project?” The Admiral General asked Johan.

  Johan looked at the Admiral General with confidence, “Yes, sir. We have. Things are going according to the design and nearly everything is in place for the last phase.”

  “And if we needed to expedite all of this to happen within the next year; would it be possible?” the Admiral General said turning to look Johan in the eye.

  Johan took a deep breath. “It would be extremely challenging, maybe even improbable given that the rest of us are leaving soon and the amount of time that is required for the bonding to take place. That alone isn’t something we have been able to force to happen any sooner
. And the only people remaining are those working on these levels on these projects. For us to be ready in a year, would mean the team staying and figuring out how to speed up the process. The science just isn’t there yet and it isn’t something we’ve been trying to do since we were fine with our timeline. Has something changed?” Johan asked.

  “I see,” Admiral General Mylar said, looking around at the others standing and waiting in front of a door. He chose to ignore Johan’s question. “Would that be a problem? The team staying? You all working on a solution to the rate and timing of bonding?” he then asked Johan.

  Johan was taken back by the question. This Admiral General was the reason they had missed the chance to leave Antarctica nearly sixteen years ago when the twins were born. He’d pressured them into staying because of how important it was to complete everything by a certain time. Nothing had changed.

  “Stay? In Antarctica, over Winter, with my kids?” Johan asked with surprise.

  “Well, you have some family and Zura does too. Can’t they stay with her grandparents or your sister?” he asked with no concern.

  Johan couldn’t deal with his complete lack of sensitivity right now. He looked at Admiral General Mylar in the eyes and mustered up a tight light lipped smile. He was furious that Mylar had the nerve to ask him to leave his kids somewhere for six months so he could make a timeline that hadn’t been discussed before that moment.

  “We’ll have to see. I’m not an island and don’t make those decisions by myself. Let’s continue walking. It’s getting late.” Johan turned and kept moving before he said or did something he might regret.

  A year was really pushing it whether they stayed through the Winter or not. What Mylar was asking would turn their twelve to fourteen hour days into sixteen hour days and even that might not be enough. They would need more staff than what was on the ARC. They would even miss Stephen and Stella’s sixteenth birthday celebration, unless they didn’t send them back until afterwards, which wouldn’t be fair.

  Johan broke the uncomfortable silence. “We still have a lot more to discuss and the rest of my team will be looking for us. Besides, we have a tele-transmission with the Science Institute very soon. I don’t think we have time to stop long in the next section.”

  “Well, let me go in and check it out,” Admiral General Mylar said.

  Johan opened the door for him and he stepped in. This project was a UniCorps funded initiative and they had given Mylar oversight, as a proxy for the World Consensus. The only people with clearance to go into those sections were Chief Scientist Phillips from UniCorps and Admiral General Mylar. Phillips followed Mylar through the door and Mylar held the door and waved his hand for Johan to come in.

  “No thanks,” Johan said with a sickening look on his face. “I don’t need to see it today,” he added.

  “You don’t really have a choice. If we have questions, you’re the man to answer them. Come on, Johan. We need to get on with this.” Mylar pushed the door open wider as Johan walked in.

  In the hallway leading back to the door where the others waited, Admiral General Mylar stopped walking and faced Johan with a frown. “I’m concerned about the age of our specimens. I want to talk to you about that very soon. Not today. There’s enough other business today. That could be an issue for our timeline and will likely be the cause of having to stay through the winter,” he said as they turned to walk back the way they came.

  Mylar stopped again before leaving through the door to join those who didn’t have the clearance. He turned to speak to Johan and Phillips, but the message was intended for Johan’s benefit. “Before we go back up to the main room, I need something to be clearly understood. The World Consensus and UniCorps have recently developed a new and very detailed plan and part of its success relies on those specimens being ready in time.”

  “I don’t understand Admiral General. We’ve always been working to get them ready in time. I wasn’t aware that the timeline had changed until just a few minutes ago,” Johan responded with irritation.

  “Yes, I know,” Mylar said as he glanced back. “We cannot have a repeat of past failures with similar efforts. UniCorps has been around, under other names and has had to operate in secret for longer than I’d like to discuss before we were finally able to birth the government and world we and our predecessors envisioned. You understand this, Johan. Things have changed, and I’ll need you to adjust as well.”

  “We’ve been doing everything according to the plan that was outlined. I’ve been operating from those orders. We haven’t missed any deadlines,” Johan said as he began to feel defensive about his work.

  “Yeah. Well, now it’s time for the next step. We must be able to move on to the next phase, and rest assured, if for any reason we,” Mylar said moving his hand to point to Johan and Phillips before continuing, “can’t do it, they will find people who can. This is our duty. It’s for our survival.” Mylar finished speaking and turned to walk back towards the exit.

  The three men joined the small group waiting in the hall. As they began to walk, their hard shoes clacking on the solid floors on the left side of the lower level, they didn’t hear the quiet footsteps of Stephen and Stella on the right side. The twins headed back through the winding twists and turns to the main level and through the door marked on the other side with ‘No Entry’.

  As they quietly walked towards their living quarters they heard a voice that seemed to come from nowhere. “There you two are. I was looking for you. We are taking a lunch break and I just wanted to check in on you,” said Mave with a curious look on her face. “Have you two enjoyed your morning away from all of this boring grown up stuff?” she smiled and Stella wondered if she knew.

  Stella and Stephen didn’t know how to answer her. They weren’t sure if she’d noticed anything or heard anything.

  “Yes, thanks.” Stella jumped in.

  Stephen looked down for a moment before Mave asked him, “Have you enjoyed your morning Stephen? You get to be away from these intense meetings. It’s pretty tough in there right now.”

  Stephen looked up at Mave, guilt clouding his eyes as it twitched ever so slightly. “Yes. It’s been nice hanging out with Stella,” he answered.

  Stephen wanted to get back to his room to check what Marco had sent. He wanted to find out if it was a clue, a new map, or something else helpful. “I hope the rest of the meeting goes better than the morning, Mave,” he added.

  “Yeah, if you see mom and dad, let them know we’re fine. We’ll probably be in Stephen’s room for a while or in the lounge area,” Stella said, sounding calm and relaxed.

  “Okay. I guess I’ll talk to you later. I’m just avoiding going back in there a minute before I have to,” Mave smiled. “I guess I better head back. The big heads will be back from their tour soon and we will have yet another important meeting,” she said with a slight eye roll.

  Mave had a way of being ridiculously smart and calming and real all at the same time. Something both Stella and Stephen usually liked about her, but right now they were in too much of a hurry to appreciate.

  “We’ll see you soon. We’re trying to catch up with a friend so we’re gonna head to Stephen’s room,” Stella said as they began to scurry off. Mave looked after them. She could only wonder, and hope.

  They could feel Mave watching them but willed themselves not to turn back around and look. Instead they walked quickly away from her gaze. When they turned the corner to their hallway, they each took a deep breath. Until that moment, they hadn’t even realized they’d been holding it.

  Stephen opened his door and they both scurried inside and closed it behind them. Stephen immediately sat down at his desk to pull up the message he’d gotten notice of while they were still on the lower level. Now, he was back at his system where he could retrieve it safely and without risk of exposing it to the ARC’s general system. From down there he couldn’t tell anything about what the message might have said or whether it had a file. He logged in and accessed their
secure system.

  Flashing at the top of his screen was the message from Marco. A file was also sitting there. Stella watched from her cozy spot on the bed behind Stephen and smiled to see something there.

  “Hurry up and tap it, Stephen,” she urged impatiently.

  Stephen’s finger tapped on the file first to see what else Marco and Alexis might have been able to crack. It was just what he’d been hoping for, the detailed blueprints. He started looking through the different layers and noticed some areas were unmarked. It was as if they had been left unmarked from the beginning. Stephen couldn’t find a rationale for why someone would do that.

  Stephen looked at the section of the blueprints where he and Stella had heard the noises. The door was there but there wasn’t any drawing of what was behind that door. No size or measurements or shape to go by. No name, just the same door number RS11 with a second notation N3 on it.

  “What do you think it means?” Stella asked Stephen looking at the blueprint’s layers near his wall.

  “I don’t know. It’s not complete and that room where we heard the unusual noises shows here as just a door with another notation of N3 on it,” Stephen said rubbing his head.

  “It would definitely help if we knew what N1 and N2 were.” Stella said smartly. “Can we look for other Ns?”

  Stephen did a search for N1 and it only showed up as a part of the file name of the first blueprint they’d followed. “That’s interesting,” he said to himself. He then searched for N2. The current file he and Stella were looking at had N2 embedded as part of the file name in the same place.

  “This isn’t random or coincidental,” Stella said, “is it?”

  Stephen had already moved to searching for N3 in the filenames of the other files they hadn’t been able to access yet.

  “There it is, Stella. No this is not random or a coincidence. These files are all blueprints. If I would guess, I would think each provides another level of detail,” Stephen said.