First Life, page 8
part #1 of River Saga Series
The tour went on, and so did I, checking my map for a path to engineering. It directed me with a green line on my tablet, and ten minutes later, I was at the entrance for the ship’s control room. It was quiet down here, with only a few people inhabiting the space.
“Dad, let’s go see where the Director slept!” a young girl said. She had a replica Angor flight uniform on, and I grinned at her father. He shrugged and followed after his daughter.
I stood on the base of the ship, in subsection -2, at the fifth quadrant. The engine room went all the way up to the top of the craft. The room was gigantic. They had a simulator running, with bright orange energy lines highlighting the ship’s drive. When the real drives were powered, they relayed their energy into the thrusters, allowing for nearly light speed. I didn’t understand the finer details, but I’d heard enough from various sources over the years to know I should be impressed.
I saw my first Angor workers, wearing uniforms and smiling for pictures with tourists.
“I don’t believe it.” I heard the voice, and instantly was aware it was directed at me.
“Indie,” I whispered, turning to see the older version of my friend. We’d dated for a few months, but our friendship took precedence. It was easier to remember us that way. She looked even better in person than she had on TV.
Her light brown hair hung in looping curls past her shoulders, and she smiled despite the obvious pain in her eyes.
I didn’t speak, just ran over to the doors. I hugged her, picking her up off her feet. She laughed and so did I.
I finally let her go, with a crowd of people gathering to see what all the fuss was about.
“You’re alive,” she said, wiping away a tear.
“You didn’t expect that?” I asked.
Indie shook her head in response. “Not with the…” She stopped and grabbed my arm, dragging me farther into the room. She had a keycard around her neck, and she waved it over a barricaded door. It unlatched, and she took me into a private office. A security guard sat at a desk, watching a dozen screens.
“Can you give us a minute?” Indie asked the guy.
“Sure, Assistant Director Hart,” he said, leaving in a hurry.
We were alone.
I wanted to say so many things but wasn’t sure where to start.
“Colton Beck. I should have known you’d find me one day.”
“I wish I’d done it sooner,” I told her.
She stared at me and lost her smile. “It’s happening, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“When?”
“Under six months. That’s the prognosis.”
She paled and came closer, setting a hand on my face. “Col, I wish I…”
“Don’t waste time wishing away your life, Indie.”
“Where did you hear that?” she asked.
“From a very special young lady.”
“She seems smart. You should have held on to her.” The words stung, but we were both at fault back then. “Look, Colton, I didn’t mean anything by that. It’s just… seeing you. It’s pushed everything to the forefront.”
“I know.” I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled. “I’m sorry about … I should have talked to you. I was experiencing the Xeno shock.”
“Let’s not waste time, Colton. We’re here now. What can I do for you? I assume there’s more to your visit than nostalgia.” She always read me like a book.
“The Expedition.” I glanced at the screens, watching tourists funnel deeper into the huge elaborate alien vessel.
“What about it?”
“I want in.”
Her expression told me I was crazy for even suggesting something of the sort. “Col, I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Why not?” I sat on the edge of the desk, facing her, and she stood turned slightly, almost defensively. Every gesture felt familiar, jogging loose old memories. “You’re the Assistant Director. How did that even happen?”
“It wasn’t easy.” She sighed, and I sensed more behind the three words. “Even if I could suggest a few candidates out of ten thousand, which I can’t, you have …” She touched to her chest. “Xeno.”
“I realize that. But I’m fine. I rarely endure any of the symptoms. It’s not that bad.” I meant it. But when I did have an attack, it felt like a herd of cats were clawing at my lungs. I kept that small detail to myself.
“It’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible.” I smiled. “You never thought you’d see me again, right? Well, I’m here. If someone had asked you yesterday, you might have suggested that was impossible.”
“Improbable, maybe,” she retorted. But she did smirk, and I knew I was closing the gap in her mind.
“Can you try?” I spoke low, staring into her eyes.
“Damn you, Col. I’ve worked so hard to reach this position, and you want me to threaten it by doing something illegal?” She clenched her jaw.
I hadn’t thought of it that way. Of course it was just like me to be selfish, and not see her side of the story. It had been the same twenty years before.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come,” I told her, going for the exit. But she blocked my path, putting a palm on my chest.
“Twenty years. You’ve known you were going to die since you were fifteen. How have you made it this far?” she asked solemnly.
“We’re all going to die, Indie. What’s the difference?”
“The difference is most people have no idea when. Did you read the letter?”
I shook my head, and she didn’t say anything else about it.
I’d been keeping up with my scheduled appointments ever since the diagnosis. It hadn’t been long after they’d quarantined me in the hospital that they let me go. It was quickly obvious that those of us with Xeno weren’t contagious, but that stigma had stuck with a lot of people, specifically the older generation. Anyone born after the Angor released the toxins was fine. It was bizarre. The youth looked at it like something a handful of their elders had contracted. Nothing to be scared of. I recalled being young once too, and how invincible I’d felt.
“You’re a stronger person than me,” she admitted.
“That’s not true. I’ve hidden in the shadows for my entire adulthood. You’ve been working your ass off and making a name for yourself. Aren’t you the first woman to be an Assistant Director?” I asked.
“Yes. And the third human. Technically the fourth, with President Albatross being given the title posthumously.” She did that thing where she rolled her eyes while she spoke, bobbing her head slightly.
“What happened to the others?” I recalled the last one, a doughy man of about fifty. He was the face of the Unity Tower for a decade, and suddenly, he was gone.
“They retired,” she told me. “Regardless, I’m sorry, Col. I can’t help you.”
“It was worth a shot. And I got to see you.”
“Let me put you up in the Plaza,” she told me.
“That old dump?” I laughed. There were so many fancy luxury hotels in New York, but she knew I’d prefer the classic comfort from before the Angor. We’d seen it on TV when we were kids, swearing we would one day stay in the penthouse and order everything off the room service menu.
“You have a better idea?”
“Not even close. I realize you’re busy, but would you have dinner with me?” I didn’t know anyone else, and I had absolutely no clue what I was going to do with my last six months. If Indie Hart couldn’t secure me a slot on the Expedition, no one could.
She gazed at the monitors, and I guessed she was checking the time stamp. It was four in the afternoon. “I’ll have my aide make the reservation for your suite. See you there in three hours?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
She opened the door, holding it for me. “Take your time. The tour is quite fascinating.”
“I guess this is the closest I’ll ever get to the real thing,” I mumbled.
“You should be grateful. Dicore isn’t going to be a Caribbean cruise, Col.” She walked off, and I watched her go. Indie Hart. I couldn’t believe that was her. She looked so different, but still the same in so many ways. I assumed she felt the same.
I grabbed my tablet and sent Desmond a message. I’d only met the guy two days ago and already felt an odd kinship with him, a familiarity that usually came with time. It showed me how few real relationships I had.
How are things?
A couple minutes passed, and I wandered the corridors, taking the central elevators to the top deck. While I was there, I figured it couldn’t hurt to see what all the fuss was about. The crowds of people grew thicker as I neared the bridge at +2, at the first quadrant.
I counted ten Angor actors, playing the roles of the brave crew that had led the vessel from Trum to Earth all those years before. They hammed it up, but the tourists were in awe.
“We can’t go back, Administrator Volins. Earth needs our help, and we’ve committed to the mission,” a female officer said, her words loud through the bridge’s speakers.
“The radiation levels of…”
I stopped listening. We all knew the Angor had a tumultuous voyage here. From what they told us, they lost four of their vessels on the journey. Forty thousand of their people gone.
Colton Beck, I think I’ve made the right decision. Any luck on getting recruited? Desmond’s response read.
Not yet. But don’t give up on me.
My own journey had been rocky, but I wouldn’t stop until I was on that Expedition, strapped into Palora with the other ten thousand colonists heading for Dicore.
Good man. Keep me posted.
I told him I would, and searched for the exit.
First stop, the Plaza. Next… Dicore.
____________
The moment I saw Indie at my door, I felt underdressed. She had that effect. Even when we were kids, she could show up in any room and turn everyone’s heads. Her demeanor was enchanting, her smile contagious.
She wore a simple black dress with her light brown hair pinned to one side, and looked fantastic.
“Nice room.” Indie stepped in, gazing around the suite. And it was. I really appreciated it. The furniture was probably a hundred years old, made well before we knew the name Angor, or that aliens were real, traveling between star systems with the River.
My suite had a second story, and she peered up the stairs before circling back and sitting near the fireplace. It wasn’t on, but the seating was comfortable, set up for a conversation. Gilded mirrors hung on the wall, matching the glass table’s accents, and I peered at the bar, knowing I should offer her a drink.
I was nervous. I’d dated enough in my life, but nothing came close to being serious. I couldn’t do that to a woman, not when I had Xeno. Hell, I’d only told Amy Horowitz about it to get information on the Expedition. It wasn’t something I divulged easily.
I stared out the window, seeing movement along the Central Park boundary. Dozens of armed Angor marched through the street near the park’s entrance. “Is that normal?” I asked her.
“No.”
I hadn’t seen so many Angor together before, especially ones wearing armor and holding large weapons. “What is this all about?”
“They’ve elevated security for the Unity Tower and Manhattan on the whole. Because of the Expedition, there’s been more unrest around the world,” Indie said.
“Why?”
“It proves how many secrets we’ve been keeping from our people. The fact that the details of the Unity Accord haven’t been disclosed makes our population suspect malfeasance.”
“That’s what I’m beginning to see. Wasn’t quite so bad in L.A. Most of the people seemed happy to work with the Angor,” I told her.
“Good. That’s what we want.”
“And you? You believe the Angor are righteous? Here for altruistic reasons?” I studied her expression, and she gave nothing away.
“Would I have accepted the role of Assistant Director if I felt otherwise?” she asked.
“I suppose not. You want a drink?”
“Red wine?” She said it like a question, and I opened the bar, finding a few options.
I didn’t have a taste for the stuff, so I took two of the fanciest bottles and showed them to her. She indicated the left, and I tried not to think of the cost.
“The tab’s on the government. Don’t worry about it,” she said.
I stopped uncorking the bottle and frowned at her. “How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“It’s a skill. Helped me get where I am. I can read people. With you, it’s different. I could easily anticipate your moves when we were kids. Playing hide and seek, your choices were so obvious. It rarely took me more than five minutes to find you, did it?”
“You always had a knack.” I poured two liberal glasses and sat across from her, raising my wine. “To old loves.”
Indie’s smile faded, but she repeated the words, then took a drink. “You know, we don’t have to go out for dinner.”
I almost dropped my glass. “We don’t?”
“I think the room service is top notch.”
“You remembered.” I laughed.
“How could I forget? We used to watch that movie, dreaming of traveling to the Big Apple. It’s hard to believe we were ever that young,” she whispered.
“Look at us now.” I was finally relaxing. Indie had a way of putting everyone at ease, me included.
She set the wine on the coffee table and stared at me. “I’ll do it.”
I glanced at her, trying not to show my cards. “The Expedition?”
“You’re going to die, Col. Did you ever have a chance to do the things you love? Throw a pitch at Wrigley? Get your MBA and start a business? Take a safari tour?” She was animated, her arms waving in front of her.
I shook my head. “None of those things, no.”
“Because of the Angor, we’ve endured so much.” She lowered her voice, peering at the door. “I know they were generous, but at what cost? Our world will survive longer. Our people can thrive at far higher populations than we’d ever anticipated, but we lost an entire part of us that makes us human. I loved you, Colton Beck. And to see you here, knowing you’re going to die, and that you’ve just worked for them every day. Sleeping alone. It breaks my heart.”
I crossed the space, settling beside her. Her hand was warm in mine, and I wiped a tear from her cheek. “Indie, I was impetuous coming to ask this of you. You’ve done so well. I don’t want to ruin that. I was being selfish.”
“No. You deserve to be selfish, and I’ll see that you’re on the Expedition.” Indie coughed and picked up her wine glass. “To Dicore.”
We clinked. “To Dicore.”
Indie brought up the hotel menu on her tablet, and we sat close, clicking almost every box.
____________
There were over a thousand of us in the giant warehouse deep into Long Island. I sweated under the heavy white uniform. It was a recruit jumpsuit, and for some reason, it had the thickest zipper I’d ever seen, and felt too heavy.
I noticed other people squirming in their clothing, and a man next to me in line whispered in my ear, “They could have given us something other than a damned Angor outfit.”
“I guess they don’t sweat,” I muttered.
The lights were high up on the ceiling, blasting thousand-watt bulbs above the gathered recruits.
“Welcome to the Expedition,” a woman bellowed. “My name is Officer Penelope Bates.” A drone hovered near her, emulating her words through speakers in all four corners of the warehouse. She adjusted a setting, and when she spoke again, it was slightly less invasive. “You’ve all been selected from your applications for different reasons. First things first, we will be conducting medical tests. Once you pass, you will be given a button. Secure this to your uniform, and funnel out to the yard where the waiting transports are to be found. Each ship will have a matching indicator. Go to that transport. Those will be your teams.”
“Teams? Is this the military?” the guy asked.
I glanced at him. “I thought we were setting up a colony.”
He offered his hand, trying to be subtle. We were told not to talk while in formation. I shook it quickly. “Name’s Franklin.”
“First or last?”
“Just Franklin,” he said with a laugh. “You?”
“Colton Beck.”
“Beck. That’s simple enough.” Someone shushed us, and the woman pacing around the formed lines continued to speak.
“From there, we will travel to Angor City for preparations. We will be leaving on Palora in two weeks’ time. Understood?” she asked, stopping a few yards from my position. She was a hard-nosed woman, hair shorn short. There were tattoos on her hands, creeping past her long sleeves, and her boots clipped over the concrete floor as she marched farther down the line. “This will not be an easy journey, recruits. There will be ten identical groups accompanying us. We will be visiting alien worlds. Traveling through the River. Dicore will be harsh. But everyone here signed up, and realized the risks.”
Actually, I doubted any of these people understood the implications. They heard about a colony and wanted the chance to be selected to take the arduous trek to another world.
“We’re going to file into the medical scans using your ten lines you’re already in. Don’t worry, it’s painless. We’re looking for anything your local doctors may have missed. If you have an ailment, the Angor physicians will see to them at Angor City. Your belongings will be on the transports already. Is that clear?”
The crowd reacted with a spattering of acknowledgements, and the energy shifted as everyone directed to the medical doors. People began chatting with their neighbors, shaking hands, patting backs, and celebrating their success in joining the Expedition. I scanned for Desmond or Miya, but didn’t see either of them in the mass of recruits.
