Chapter Two
All Aboard
Angie was right
where she told them she would be, right when they said they would be
there to pick her up. She stood in the middle of the trashed
intersection and looked around at the chaos that surrounded her, the
stores were gutted, houses were burning people were being beaten or
killed. A girl was dragged away on the pavement by two men, leaving a
small child behind screaming “Mommy”
The faces of these
people were ones of anger and hate or they were blank, emotionless
and resigned to their fates. The latter were milling about, lost and
aimless, the former were tearing, destroying and running wild. First
and Maple Street, this is where they said to be.
“Here I am!”she
screamed at the sky “Right where I'm supposed to be!”
Nobody paid the
screaming woman any mind, it wasn't like this was any different in a
world gone crazy. Angie wore a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops and
wondered when the male crazies would run out of prettier and more
enticing females. The females were scarier, she saw one cooking a cat
on a spit over a fire, at least she hoped it was a cat.
She was almost ready
to give up. Angie could see some of “them” starting to notice
her, starting to move in her direction. There was no direction she
could run, she would always be surrounded by monsters like these.
“I'm here! You promised!” she screamed at the sky, now frightened
that there were worse things than death.
Then she was
surrounded by a shadow, she looked up. Blocking out the sun she could
barely make out what it was but there was only thing she could think
of. It was a hovering fan-jet, she hadn't even noticed the noise over
everything around her. The crazies were enraged and started moving
toward her faster. She sat on the pavement and ducked and covered
like the old tornado drills in school.
That is when she
heard the loudest, most hellish noise she could remember. She peeked
to see the pavement being torn apart and fragments of it flying
everywhere, then the crazies who hadn't run were being hit by some
gun from the aircraft, pop, pop, pop right across the chest, nearly
cutting them in half.
Then a hand pulled
her up, she screamed but then saw he was wearing a uniform.
“Angela
Carmichael, I'm here to get you to your flight!” he said, he put a
rope or harness around her and then they were being pulled up into
the sky. She was helped into the aircraft by someone else who helped
her fasten into a seat inside the open-side craft. The sides folded
shut after the man was back on board, then she could feel the
aircraft accelerate .
She was going to
make it.
…
“Daddy” the
little girl in the pink dress said to the gray-suited man, he kneeled
down and picked her up. “Yes, my little angel, what is it?”
“Are we all going
to go together daddy?” she asked
“Yes, honey. Our
whole family is going”
They were inside the
upscale home inside of the walled compound that employed its own
paramilitary police force. The people that lived here were invariably
on the list to get aboard the ship, mainly because they designed it
and helped make it reality.
The project had
taken close to two-decades from start to finish and would never have
happened without some major technical achievements and technological
revolutions. Ships with gravity nullification had been used to build
the massive orbiting vessel, this took a hundred trips a day for the
past eleven years. A large percentage of the manufacturing
capabilities of the whole planet had been harnessed for this purpose.
The Salutem Novis
was several miles long and very wide and deep of draft. There were
several large biological habitats on the top of it where plants and
trees and some animals would be alive for the trip, a few humans not
in cryogenic suspension would be their caretakers. They would also be
the “crew” because the computer required a person to serve. There
would always have to be someone not frozen.
“Rodger” a woman
asked, she was dressed smartly in a conservative suit with a skirt
down past her ankle “Try not to spoil her too much, she has to go
to sleep in her own chamber when we get there”
Rodger Dawson was
one of the chief engineering officers of the project while his wife
was one of the medical scientists who had made sure to design the
cryogenic systems to last for thousands of years. It did not seem
possible to most but the inner-workings would be kept in a vacuum and
very cold to prevent decay of the systems inside.
They and their
daughter Annalisa left their house. Outside it sat on a cul-de-sac
and at the center there was a shuttle parked for them. They would get
a direct trip to the ship, not having to gather at an airport
(renamed space ports for the purpose). All of their neighbors were
also coming outside and were also going to ride up, they greeted each
other like old friends.
“No sense in
waiting” Jonathon Sanders said, he was Project C-Team Coordinator
and the oldest man in the neighborhood. He climbed aboard and put out
his hand to help his frail-looking wife on board, no one was going to
say anything, although some looked uncomfortable.
As others entered
and found their seats, Mr Sanders encouraged them “The Salutem
Novis is the ark that will save human kind from the end of the
world. The best of the best, those needed to rebuild society on the
other side, some chosen by random lottery too. This is how the
quarter-million people were chosen that will carry on the human race.
We owe it to those not with us to carry out this covenant.”
…
Then they approached
and entered the hangars on the massive vessel. A small robot attached
the ceiling greeted them as they exited the decontamination chambers.
They were all now wearing simple cloth one-piece smocks and following
behind the little robot that happily chirped to them “Good day, it
is a good day to depart. Let me show you to your assigned area.
They entered the
stark white room, everything was clean enough to impress them. They
circular room had just enough chambers sitting there for them, all of
them were open and waiting. Once you are lying in the chamber it will
form fit to your body, for your comfort. Once the cover is closed an
anesthetic will be introduced to help you sleep before the cryogenic
process begins. It will be painless and you will wake up when we
reach your new home.”
“It's scary”
Annalisa said looking at the chamber. They showed her others getting
inside and falling to sleep immediately, it was a calm affair. “See
nothing to worry about” her mother said.
Her father got down
on a knee to speak with his daughter. “It's okay, me and mommy are
right here, we won't let anything bad happen to you. You will go
straight to sleep and we will be here when you wake up and give us
big hugs!” he said giving her a big hug until she giggled.
He picked her up
“It's just like going to bed. Everything will be fine, I promise.
Daddy won't lie to you”
“Never” his
daughter said with a giggle as he placed her into the chamber and the
surface underneath her shifted to conform to her little body.
“Goodnight daddy, goodnight mommy” she said as the transparent
lid closed over her. She waved and her father waved back and then a
white mist was sprayed inside and she was asleep within moments.
Her parents hugged
each other and promised to see each other on the other side before
getting inside of the tubes on either side of their daughter. They
were the last ones to go to sleep and the room was quiet. Then the
tubes withdrew into the walls and were shifted through special
corridors into another tremendously large chamber where they were
stacked with all of the other occupied cryogenic chambers.
New, empty chambers
were inserted into the room.
The Salutem Novis
Central Computer noted that nearly all of the units had been
utilized, the ship was in perfect condition and the predetermined
time for departure was closing quickly.
...............................
New Arrivals is my first little book, a quick read of teen and YA friendly adventures with 12-year old main characters. It's light and fluffy science fiction.
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