The Experiment (4 page)

There’s a lot to see. The west side of the Asirium Hall has the best views and the nutrition center is on the way there.”

I was getting hungry so I decided to take his advice. It only took me a minute to find a room and I hadn’t brought anything with me, so I posted my information card on the door and headed for the west side of the Asirium Hall.

I was still in a state of utter amazement, to think so many people could be living up in space like this. It really was like a separate world; They even seemed different than everyone back home… I liked it.

There was no threat of war; it was just peace and silence surrounded by the beauty of space…

I walked the hall for hours, just taking in all the sights and technology on the Aurora. I had no idea what most of it was or what time it is but I didn’t care. I’d be in suspended animation for five years and there was no need to rush. I was sure this upcoming night would be just like the last - sleepless.

As I was about to head back to my room, I heard Kayin yell my name.

He ran over and I said “How was it?”

He looked somewhat disappointed and replied “It wasn’t as impressive as I thought. I guess after seeing this place it made my expectations a little high… Still some really amazing stuff though… What have you been doing?”

I told him about Horus and the details of my possible new job. I was a little disappointed because it meant we’d barely see each other… But who knows what it could lead to…

I could tell Kayin was disappointed as well, but at the same time understood why I wanted to take the job… and also that I didn’t exactly have a choice. The guy was head of the science division.

Kayin smiled and said “That sounds like quite the opportunity. We can still hang out when we have free time… And look at it this way – you won’t end up in the mines.”

“Yeah I suppose that’s a really good thing huh?.. But I don’t know Kayin, I’m still really confused by all this…”

“Atlas, it sounds like good luck to me. The head of the science division randomly picks someone for a nice cushy job and it just so happens to be you?.. I’d just go with it and shut up…”

I lightly laughed and said “Oh I plan on it…”

Kayin sighed, put his hands behind his head and stretched.

“So you wanna keep walking or what? I’ve been sitting down listening to some stuffy old man tell me stuff I already know for hours… All I wanted to do the whole time I was there was get back out here and look around.”

To be honest I was getting pretty tired of walking
but since we might not see much of each other I did it anyway.

“Yeah sure, and Horus told me the west side had the best views.”

For hours we discussed the mission and the possibility of encountering intelligent life. He raised good points about the mining process as well. He explained that the ACI estimated 4 years by studying similar mining conditions on Aeris.

Kayin knew quite a bit about the subject and said he thinks mining 7,000 tons of anything would take longer than that. Especially since all the equipment has to be set up and it might even take a while to find large enough chrysos deposits… if they even exist.

Basically, he advised me to expect our journey to take much longer because the ACI’s estimate was for the best case scenario. I was perfectly fine with that… In fact, I was already feeling like I could live in space for the rest of my life…

Eventually we decided it was time to try and get some sleep; tomorrow was going to be a big day. So we parted ways and headed to our rooms.

I was almost there when I realized how hungry I was. The Aisirum Hall had such a hypnotic effect on me that I must have walked right by the nutrition center. I was tired but I turned around and headed back.

When I got to the center five other people were
already in line and it took a few minutes per person so I had to wait. The machine would scan your body and produce a nutrition bar specifically designed according to the readout. The scan would determine if someone was low on certain nutrients and minerals, or starting to gain weight. It was one of the ways the ACI was able to ration food and keep everyone in perfect physical condition.

While I was standing there a hand touched my shoulder.

“I saw you walking around with Horus, you must be his new assistant… I’m Sara, part of the science team. Nice to meet you”

She put her hand out so I responded in kind and said “I’m Atlas, nice to meet you too.”

Sara was extremely attractive, seemed very kind and had a sincere look in her eyes. I immediately felt somewhat comfortable around her which was a rare thing for me.

I couldn’t help but just stare… Her long, flowing, auburn hair and green eyes almost took my breath away; I actually had to tell myself to stop several times... Then I proceeded to stand there in awkward silence, nervously looking around and trying to think of something to say… Luckily she quickly took the initiative.

“So what division were you in before Horus recruited you?”

I hesitantly answered “Military, first encounter specialist.”

She looked confused and said “Really?.. How did you meet Horus?”

“It was right after Commander Neros’ speech; Horus approached me… He asked a few questions and next thing I knew the job was mine. He said something about not liking scientists as assistants... I don’t know to be honest. I’m a bit confused myself.”

She smiled “Well I guess he must see something in you. What made you sign up for the military in the first place?”

Before I could answer the man waiting behind her sarcastically pointed out that it was my turn.

I rushed over to the booth, got my nutrition bar and stood aside to wait for Sara.

When Sara was done she walked over, swept her hair away from her eyes and said “Sooo?..”

I stuttered a little “Oh uh... Well I joined the military division because it was the easiest way to get involved with the Sirius mission… I’m just here because I want to be a part of healing our world. What about you?”

She smiled “Oh now I understand, you’re the first person I’ve talked to so far that said that. It seems like everyone else is here for fun, work references, or a huge salaries. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one on the team that actually cares about all the people beyond the protected zone.”

I said “I’m sure a lot of other people care… Judging by the speeches I’ve heard, the ACI definitely does.”

She grimaced “You’d be surprised… Well I’ve got to go. It was really nice to meet you Atlas… I guess I’ll either see you tomorrow or in five years.”

I laughed “Yeah, I’ll see you in five years”.

As she walked away I found myself wanting to continue the conversation. I hadn’t met anyone quite like her before. I couldn’t really understand what I meant by that… But it meant something…

Meeting Sara had me wide awake, and since it was my last night here for a very long time I decided to spend some more of it walking the Asirium Hall. I’d gone to the west side with Kayin like Horus recommended, but we kept getting distracted by everything along the way and didn’t make it every far. I have to remember I may not come back at all so it could be my only chance…

After I walked for what seemed like a few hours, I decided to turn around; otherwise I’d have a long way back to the team quarters... Horus most certainly wasn’t lying about the view; it was indescribable.

I had no idea there could be so many stars. I’d always heard we could only see a fraction of the visible stars because of all the light coming from the cities… But I never thought it would be like this…

When I finally made it back to my room, after a few minutes of lying down I started to realize how
exhausted I really was. I guess all the excitement had just temporarily pushed it aside. I wasn’t surprised… Knowing I was finally going up to the Aurora made it so I hadn’t gotten a good sleep in weeks.

I noticed a book next to the bed labeled “The History of the ACI.” I really wanted to start reading it but my eyes were far too heavy… I leaned my head back, and as I started to fall asleep, I thought to myself - “Tomorrow will be my real beginning.”

Chapter 3

I awoke to a knock on the door… I was groggy from staying up so late walking the hall but I had no problem jumping out of bed and throwing on my uniform.

As soon as I opened it, Horus began talking; no good morning, he just got right to it.

I was really starting to get the impression that while he seemed friendly and lighthearted, he was also a very serious and driven man. I could tell I’d have to try my best if I wanted to impress him and keep my new position. I had to pay close attention to every word he said.

He started to explain that his team was specifically sent in search of intelligent life. Then stopped and said “Now Atlas, everything we discuss is to stay between you and me… Not even someone as high up as Commander Neros has my level of clearance… or yours. Do you understand?”

I nervously nodded and thought to myself. “How could he just give me clearance like that?.. Something’s not right here…”

Horus went on to say that X-451 was not only similar to Aeris in every way, but the unmanned ship determined it was approximately the same age and had a perfectly suited environment for humans.

“The ACI believes there is an extremely good chance it could house intelligent life and in the very least a
wide array of creatures and plant life for study. Many of the most important drugs and medicines come from animal and plant life. This aspect alone could produce a wealth of information.”

He slowed his pace, tugged at his shirt collar and glanced over at me. Almost as if he were making sure I was paying attention… He had nothing to worry about; I couldn’t possibly be more fascinated with what he to say.

“The ACI committee and scientists strongly hope to find a type of life form that is very similar, if not exactly the same as us. We have long thought of our planet as a kitchen of sorts, and the type of kitchen and ingredients dictate the type of food correct? Well, X-451 is the exact same kitchen, with the exact same ingredients and it’s had plenty of time to produce a meal… understand what I’m saying?”

I looked over, smiled at him and said “Absolutely… but just so you know I’d prefer if you explained things to me in a more serious way.”

He laughed “Excellent, I’d prefer that as well… just wanted to start things off simple but I can see you don’t need that.”

As we walked he told me a little more about my job description. Apparently I would be doing things like taking notes in meetings and in general, fetching equipment, assisting him while he’s working, and also assisting the team when need be.

“Like I said yesterday, you’ll learn as you go… Don’t worry. I understand you have no science background. I’ll ease you into it… You’re going to learn a lot Atlas, trust me.”

He also claimed he liked an alternate opinion in times of uncertainty.

“Sometimes people looking from the outside in, with a totally different perspective will notice things those directly involved don’t.”

I was really looking forward to watching them work and being involved in their research. Especially if the ACI was right and there was in fact intelligent life on this planet. It was very exciting to think of such a concept as an actual civilization on X-451.

Who knows, it could even be more advanced than ours and be willing to help with the mining process or even give us a better way to fix our atmosphere… Though it could also backfire into a refusal like Kayin said, as they would need the chrysos as well. Only time would tell…

Nevertheless, the idea of anything other than microbial life being a reality is incredible. Especially since I would get to see it, or them, with my own eyes...

When we reached his private laboratory it wasn’t quite what I expected. There were only about 20 people including Sara, and more than a few seemed to be technicians, not scientists.

Given the importance of what they were there to study, I assumed his private division would be much larger…

Horus got the attention of the room “This is my new assistant, Atlas. He’ll be joining us on the Sirius and will also be available should you need an extra hand while you’re working.”

Then he gave me a quick tour of the lab, periodically introducing me to some of the other team members as we walked around.

From the way most of them looked at me, I could tell they knew I didn’t have a science background… They seemed confused, like they were trying to figure out why Horus would choose someone like me and not one of them… I guess I couldn’t blame them, seeing as I felt the same way.

Afterwards, he led me into his office and before he could speak, I said “Why such a small team for something so important?”

He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t expect that question, and that I was sidetracking him… Hopefully he wouldn’t be annoyed. I’m sure he had much more important things to explain…

“Well basically, money. It’s much more expensive to employ world class scientists than any other profession on this mission. It was also extraordinarily expensive to set up the necessary facilities on the
Sirius, even for my small group. It’s one of the reasons our work is highly classified, can’t let the details get out to the public… then they’d know how much it costs.”

He grinned and continued “The argument of our government was that no matter how much the ACI wanted to believe the evidence meant intelligent life; it was still a shot in the dark. I actually got in trouble during the meeting when I said it was like taking a shot in a dark room full of people… The committee didn’t like that very much.”

He smiled and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Then I said “So the ACI still gets opposition from the government?.. I thought it was only a small portion of the public that doesn’t understand how important all of this is.”

“Well, the Capital committee has a few members that completely lack intellect, imagination, and any vision into the future… To be perfectly honest, I have no idea how they got their positions… most likely some one’s sons or grandsons. That kind of thing… I’m sure someone like you knows all about it…”