CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel (21 page)

Over
the years, Johan had led discussions with UniCorps and the World Consensus
about revisiting the inactive cleaning factories. He’d proposed that the cost
of producing the noncorrosive tubes had gone down enough that it should be
reconsidered as an option. He’d even offered to help lead the project of
retrofitting the old pipes. He’d raised the offer again last year during their
annual meeting and again he was shut down. 

The
reasons were always obscure and arguments poorly formed, ranging from long-term
plans that would pursue alternative solutions to there not being enough
research on the new materials to overall costs and anything else they could
think of. It was clear they had no interest in the one possible solution that
anyone had offered that had a chance of working. He understood why, as he was
caught in the middle, having the answer while being a party to the problem.

“I
just wanted you to know what was bothering me Rupert and where I am right now. Frustrated
and I want to see something happen. I put too much of my life into this for it
to all be in vain.”

“Johan,
we’ve all sacrificed for this. None of us want it to be in vain. If we want
something to happen though, the demand for it can’t come from here on the ARC.
It has to come from out there, the citizens. They have to want it,” Rupert said
with a sigh.

“They’d
have to know that they should want it first,” Johan said as his eyes wandered
to the small window.

“Johan,
there is no choice but for them to know. Is there something else Johan? I’ve
known you a long time and when you asked to talk to me, you seemed to have more
to say. What you told me, most of it I knew already. So I’m wondering what it
is you decided to hold back now.

Rupert
was right. There was more. He looked into his best friend’s face and smiled.
“It’s not important right now.”

“Alright,
if you say so,” Rupert paused to give Johan a chance to say whatever was really
on his mind. After a few moments of awkward silence Rupert nodded, “Well, you
know your wife is on us constantly to get all this prep work done before we
leave so I’m going to get back to it. If you want to talk again, Johan, you
know how to find me.”

“Thanks
Rupert. I’ll be back down there soon.”

Rupert
stood up slowly from his chair and limped ever so slightly to the door. He cast
a questioning look back and then left the room.

Johan
turned back to the report he was supposed to read, but now he was distracted. That
wasn’t how his conversation with Rupert was supposed to go. He couldn’t put
Rupert in the middle of something like what he carried on his shoulders.

Rupert
hadn’t asked for it and had already given more than he ever needed to. He’d
barely told him more than what they’d all studied in school with the exception
of the possibility surrounding a possible solution to the emission issue, which
was important and Rupert did need to know in case anything happened to Johan.

He
stood up, arms crossed, and looked out his window again shaking his head.
It
couldn’t all be in vain.
Years before, he’d trained and studied to become
both a master engineer and scientist. He’d done his internships with the International
Space and Time Exploration Program, (I STEP) and was familiar with the interest
in and exploration of space and time. It was a topic that always held his
fascination and intellectual curiosity.

Johan
could still easily recall the excitement he had more than twenty years ago when
he’d been chosen to lead the ARC design. He’d come up with the honeycomb styled
chambers with central grounds for community interaction, dining, and more. Family
units were integrated into the design allowing some semblance of normalcy in
the event the ARC was needed to do what it was designed to be able to do.

Most
people living on Earth had no idea of the progress made by all the research and
investigations done in space and time studies. They’d had more success than
they could publicly take credit for. He was forbidden to speak of some of what
he knew, even with Zura and his children. He’d sworn an oath of confidentiality
before taking the position and breaking it would be handled as treason.

As
he sat back down in his captain-style chair in his private office away from the
science center, he continued to look out onto the ocean. There were more fish
and other sea creatures swimming in the Southern Ocean than before. He knew
they’d come in escape, seeking refuge from what they could instinctively sense
as danger.

The
waters in Antarctica were warmer than even just twenty years before when they’d
begun collecting the data. He watched them move through the waters and hoped
that eventually people would understand it just as well.

Johan
stood and thought about how this place, this project, had changed his life.
He’d seen and heard things that he could never explain or share with anyone
outside those privileged to know. There were things others would not understand
and now he was faced with all of it actually mattering and becoming real.

Years
of theory, planning, and preparation might finally have to be implemented. He
was thankful for the residences they’d been granted as part of their agreements
to work on the project, but leery of what might now be expected.

Johan
tried to return his focus to the report, scrolling through the details of
tremor reports leading up to the earthquake in Northern Allegiance that few
outside of the region knew about. What he read from a personal source described
the forced silencing of the news because they didn’t want to panic the
citizens.

There
were no evacuation efforts at all, and while it didn’t result in any direct
casualties, it made Johan wonder whether others were asking what the long-term
plan actually was. Was anyone asking the questions that would yield answers
that could make a difference?

He
shook his head in disgust. There had been signs and warnings well before the
earthquake and the injuries that did occur could have been avoided, but he felt
as if that was just a test. How would people react? If UniCorps and the World
Consensus were willing to let that occur, what else were they willing to do?

Johan
needed to make additional preparations to ensure the safety of his family and ensure
that the others would be ready.

University of Southern Allegiance in Santoria, Southern
Allegiance

Dr. Lima strode
across the beautiful historic campus. It was a warm Spring day with trees that
burst with color. The endless blue skies were interrupted with little puffs of
cumulus clouds. The reddish brown brick buildings held countless stories from
more than three hundred years ago and had been one of the locations the Council
had used since Yin joined it.

The dorms filled once again with the regular
university students ready to finish the final weeks before July, when the one
month Summer break began. Claudia Lima needed a break too. With managing the
camps she barely had time to catch her breath even when the regular students
weren’t on campus.

There were so many balls in the air and
simply trying to do her regular job at the University, help coordinate the
ceremony and track down the eighth were keeping her hands full. She’d decided to
postpone the follow-up meeting with the Council. There was no use meeting them
when she had nothing useful to report.

That postponement ended today. She had to go
back to check in after learning from Mave that Zura was reporting what they’d
found to the funders. Dr. Lima already knew that both the World Consensus and
UniCorps would balk at what they received.

She needed to ensure safe passage of
information out of the ARC and into the right hands so that people would know
the truth. For that she required the Council’s help. They would also have to
help her coordinate everything that needed to happen as they approached the
Awakening Ceremony.

Dr. Lima continued her brisk walk across the
campus as students headed back to dorms before the evening’s special social
activity. She’d arranged for a guest musician, a violinist, to come and perform
that evening. His accompaniment was setting up now and soon she’d be able to
move about more freely.

The entertainment was in the student social
budget and it would keep most people out of the building she needed to use and
out of the immediate area for the evening. She couldn’t risk another incident
like the one with Alexis, Stella, and the other campers.

She lingered in the courtyard watching the
students disperse. Once only a few stragglers remained she began to walk again.
There was a short window between the students returning to their dorms and then
coming back out for the performance.

As she neared the glass doors to the
building, she stopped to look around her. She wasn’t very subtle but she needed
to make sure she had no followers. She quickly pulled the door open and went
through shutting it just as abruptly. She pulled a small grey bar down to latch
the door from the inside, something she had neglected to do over camp but would
not forget again.

Dr. Lima walked across the dimly lit empty
staff dining hall, her arm hairs rising as she moved towards the double doors.
She could already feel them waiting. Their Chi was so strong she could feel it
pulling on her own, bringing her towards them. She walked through the doors on
the other side of the hall and drew them tightly shut.

Dr. Lima fixed her uniform and checked her
hair in the reflection of the glass in the door’s window panes. She knew she
was being silly as they wouldn’t notice or care. They didn’t see her that way.

She walked past three doors on the left
before stopping in front of one where the faint glow of lights which activated
when the building was closed, escaped under each of the closed doors. That was
how those kids had found them, she guessed. They’d kept going by the lights
until they’d heard them. As she approached the regular room they used, she
could see the figures in the room through the frosted glass.

She checked the time before walking in. She
would need to make it out and back to the campus concert hall during the performance
but knew she would have plenty of time.

Dr. Lima scanned her finger to the panel on
the side of the door and heard it click, releasing the lock. She walked into
the room, softly closing this door too, behind her.

She walked into the room and sat with Yin,
San, and Cho for her briefing. Three hours later, she pulled the door handle
open to leave. She nearly stumbled out of the office. She stopped, remembering
to return the lighting to the setting it was on when she’d arrived. She felt
lightheaded as she fumbled her way through the doors leading to the faculty
dining area. As dizziness set in, she sat down at one of the round tables, the
meeting playing back in her head. 

Things were in motion and if it all went
well she could step back from all of this soon. She just had to get them to the
next phase and then those responsible for that part of the mission cold take
over.

Rift Valley, Northeast Part of Southern Liberty

The Rift Valley
had
been showing significant signs of activity and tremors for the past few weeks. Delia
had gone out several times over the past month measuring the cracks in the
hole, sometimes with Lyn, sometimes without. She considered it her duty. She
didn’t know why she had to know and track this tiny change in one single hole
in one city in one Region, but she did. 

The
reports from the news only motivated her further. She just had to know for herself
if there was some connection, even if didn’t mean anything to anyone else. There
still had not been any official position taken. Those in charge continued to
say that tremors were normal, blamed it on seasonality, and weather systems. Things
that made no sense even to Delia, who wasn’t very scientific, at least not in
the traditional sense. 

She
and her parents thought it odd that no one seemed to be talking about what
happened in Southern Allegiance. Her dad often speculated how there was no data
or information anywhere about the patterns in Southern Allegiance leading up to
the major earthquake. There had to be information but whoever had it was
keeping it close.

“Dad,
I’ve got six months of data from that old pump hole now. Is that enough for you
to look at and tell me what you think?” Delia asked her dad Orbil as he packed
a bag.

“I
will take a look at it as soon as I can. Delia, with all that’s going on, I
can’t make any promises and I don’t want you out there asking too many
questions.”

In
light of the changes that had happened over the past few weeks, she had to know
if it meant something. She sent him a copy of what she’d recorded so far.

“I
understand. Anything you see that might look strange, just let me know. I’m
curious,” Delia said trying not to pressure her father too much. They were
still preparing as if they were going to go out on their regular mission trip
to donate items to people in need.

“Are
you all going to be back in time for the evacuation?” Delia asked looking at
the bag Orbil was packing and the one already sitting near the front door
belonging to Marie.

“I
expect so. You just follow the orders. Everything will be alright,” Orbil
answered. It wasn’t the answer Delia had hoped for. Sometimes their trips ran
long and there wasn’t much time until the round four evacuees would be called.

The
RePM Division had told all evacuees that the evacuation was temporary. According
to the RePM Division, it was a precaution only and the scientists and
geologists were studying the issue. At the time, there was no cause for real
concern.

There
were more than thirteen million people living within fifty miles of the Rift
Valley and all had to be relocated to safer areas. Each person was allowed to
take one suitcase and a handbag only. Anything that couldn’t fit into this
small allowance was forced to be left behind. 

The
lines for passage were long, stretching the full length of the streets, spilling
onto the sidewalks and the side streets that led to the main processing area.
SEP Agents were charged with checking the paperwork of every man, woman, and
child to be ported out of the area. This was all planned to occur in the span
of just one week.

They
were already a few days in and more than five million people were out of the
area between the official evacuation and those who had taken the evacuation
into their own hands. They’d left town in personal or chartered vehicles at the
first notice. 

Many
in powerful positions had been evacuated if they had been able to leave work
behind and get their families. Delia knew they would be the ones to get first
dibs in the transports once in the main evacuation.

In
the evacuation zone, just as soon as a hovehicle or bus was full they sent it
off so it could make the return trip. The RePM Division had planned to be able
to evacuate between 300,000 and 350,000 people per day with some taking private
hovehicles and most in the extended capacity hovehicles and airtrains.

Delia
only knew this detail because of Lyn, whose father held a respected position at
one of the global corporations belonging to UniCorps. The math didn’t work out
and Delia and Lyn had both concluded that the evacuation would never really
happen in the time they were giving. Hopefully, any danger was weeks away and
not days.

When
the agents had first come by to announce the evacuation and to begin preparing
people, she remembered hearing neighbors ask the obvious questions.
Were
there enough places to stay? Were there enough hovehicles and airtrains to get
them out?

And
the SEP Agents had been ordered to give a specific response to the question
that was on everyone’s mind -
What happens if we don’t all get out in a
week?
The required response was “We are doing everything possible to ensure
all citizens are relocated in the target timeframe.” If pressed, they simply
repeated the response, just firmer.

The
SEP Agents lined the streets, spaced every ten to fifteen yards to ensure a
smooth and thorough evacuation. The orders they’d been given was to ensure every
person left the city within the one week allotted and this included dissenters
and those who resisted leaving.

The
hovehicles floated along the center of the streets filled with people and with
luggage secured to the top. Behind the hovehicles were older buses that rode
along the road. 

Both
the buses and the hovehicles were being sent to different destinations. People
who had family in other places would be temporarily resettled there and were
assured by leaders that they’d be able to return once the danger passed. Those
who didn’t have family would be sent to further less populated areas where they
wouldn’t be a burden on the already strained resources.

Every
household received an assigned number during the initial phase with a code
based on the day they were to evacuate. Delia’s family, like most of her
neighbors, had the code four. Lyn’s family received the code two. Delia had
been surprised when Ms. C said she’d wait to leave with the other neighbors. It
was especially surprising since every day was another day closer to a possible
earthquake.

The
number arriving for evacuation each day seemed to border near 400,000 and once
they’d already secured their homes they could not return. It was more than
could be processed in a day, which meant each day there was an excess of as
many as 100,000 people who were stranded at or en route to the evacuation hub.
They slept in makeshift camp grounds, nearby churches, schools, and wherever
else they could find shelter.

In
addition to having the prioritized evacuation, the SEP Agents went back each
day for that day’s evacuees, despite the hundreds of thousands still waiting
from previous days. The numbers of people awaiting evacuation wasn’t on the news.
That part of the evacuation wasn’t being reported anywhere that Delia could
find, but she saw it. They were being evacuated systematically, street by
street and block by block, ensuring no person remained and that each only
brought what was legally allowed.

Delia
waited at home for her turn to leave. She hoped that what the SEP Agents and
news said was true. That other regions and cities were sending down all
available hovehicles and even their old buses to help get people out. 

Delia
was constantly reminded of the math. At the start of the official evacuation
there were eight million people in the area. There was no way everyone could
get out, unless they got more help. She hoped that the rest of the world would
care enough. 

The
area that was now Southern Allegiance had always played support to everyone
else. She’d learned in history how the land had been racked by others coming in
to mine natural resources and how the people had at one time been used as
laborers without pay. She didn’t want her part of the world to be considered
expendable. Not right now. Not when millions of lives needed the support of the
world they had always supported.