Chapter 8, part 2

Duke sat at a table with one of the older ladies. He didn’t like this lady. She was loud and outspoken. She reminded him of his GranMa. Staring down at his bowl of cereal he kept fantasizing about shutting her up. Permanently. He just wanted to take his hand and put it over her mouth until she couldn’t breath and then she would shut up forever. The lady just kept going and going. What was her name again? Margaret? No it was Maggie. She introduced herself as Maggie. Shut up Maggie. Just shut the fuck up! To make matters worse Maggie didn’t appear to care that Duke was a black man. Didn’t care in the slightest when she went on and on about how her Mama’s maid was black and how blacks made the best maids. Maggie was an idiot and Duke really wanted to shut her up for good. Maggie received a reprieve when the lift door opened to reveal Shem and that lady doctor he fantasized about last night. Maggie still didn’t shut up, but she would soon.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please.” Shem raised his voice slightly so as that even Maggie could hear him over her own talking. He gathered his thoughts and then spoke again.

“I have some rather strange news for all of you. Mr. Daniels and I were just outside the ship and encountered what would appear to be the locals.” Everyone looked at each other and Addison was the first to speak up.

“What do you mean, locals? Are there people like us here?” Addison looked quite handsome standing there in his apron. He was making preparations for lunch.

“Not quite.” Replied Shem. “They are humanoid but were not like anyone I have every seen before. Oh gosh, this is hard to explain when even I don’t get it. They had these weird body suits on and had one of those punk style hair. Sticking straight up.”

“Rock on!” Sierra could be heard across the room. “Must be my relatives then.” Everyone laughed.

It was Maggie’s turn to speak. Duke’s eyes rolled and then he continued the fantasy in his head of shutting her up,

“Mr. Finch” Maggie addressed Shem in her southern drawl and had no regard for Shem’s position as a nuclear and quantum physicist.

“Doctor.” Shem replied

“Pardon me? Doctor Finch I don’t understand what you are talking about.” Maggie feigned stupidity when it served her. She enjoyed attention, any attention.

“Mrs.? I’m sorry I don’t know your name yet.” Shem inquired

“Maggie Mae Calhoun, Doctor Finch. Of THE Calhouns in South Carolina.” Maggie was very proud of her heritage.
“oh Lord, here we go again.” Duke muttered under his breath.

“Excuse me Mr. who ever you are. Was I speaking to you?” Maggie dismissed Duke.

“Mrs. Calhoun,” Shem continued

“Ms. Calhoun” Maggie corrected “But you can call me Ms. Maggie if you please.” She danced this dance with everyone she meets. Entices them with her southern charm and then doesn’t shut up.

“Ms. Maggie. It is obvious to me that we have met some intelligent life on this planet.” Shem indulged Maggie just a little longer before moving on to the next order of business. “I have more things to let you all in on so if everyone saves their questions for the end, I’ll answer them the best I can.” Maggie didn’t like to be shut up like that. Duke snickered.

“Alright, everyone listening? Because it’s gong to be hard for me to even TRY to explain this to you when even I don’t understand it.” Shem now wondered if he was even making the right decision. Addison started at him from across the room. How in the hell is he going to get this one past them, he thought to himself.

It was at this time that a humanoid figure just appeared beside Shem on his right hand side. Startled Shem took a step toward Monica on his left and shielded her for protection. Gasps could be heard around the room. Shem looked around and more figures popped up around the room. They were surrounded.

“Our intention is not to frighten.” This male figure appeared to speak but his mouth did not move.

“Telepathy. Wicked awesome” Sierra was the least afraid of them all. “Then whatcha here for?” Sierra’s mouth didn’t move and it appeared to everyone that they were just staring at each other.

“Would you come with us Sierra Dockson? We won’t harm you. We only wish to speak. You can return anytime you wish.” Sierra’s face looked puzzled.

“Why me? Because I can talk to you telepathically?” She wondered how special she was.

“No the rest can do this, they just don’t know how. You are open enough to it. Do you want to come?” They were insistent. The entire room was dead silent and the others were sure that Sierra was in a trance.

“Right then, everybody,” Her mouth was moving now. “I’m going to go with these lovely people here to I have no idea where.”

Shem spoke up in opposition. “No you can’t take her, she’s a child.” Then the voices in his head started again.

“She will be fine. We will return her by night fall” and then as suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared. This time Sierra was gone too. Everyone looked to Shem for guidance.

Chapter 8, part 1

Unknown Planet

Shem had slept straight through supper and into the next day. Snoring loudly he was awaken by the loud sound of the ship’s alarm system. Rolling over he reached for where his alarm used to be. Swatting at the air around him Shem realized that his alarm was not there. He was not “there”. Where was here? Where is the alarm? He opened his eyes after hearing the pounding on his door.

“Finch … FINCH?” Pound, pound, pound! “FINCH?”

“What?” grabbing his shorts, Shem struggled to put his feet into the leg holes of his favorite pair of shorts. Pulling them up he wandered to the door. He was greeted by a boy that appeared to be eight years of age. The boy was panting rather loudly trying to gasp to catch his breath. He had run all the way from the gang plank to Shem’s quarters and running wasn’t part of Lee’s usual routine back on earth. Looking up at Shem, Lee pointed to the strobe lights in the hall way and the alarm blaring. Lee couldn’t speak a word of English but knew Shem’s last name. Grabbing a shirt, Shem turned back toward the door. Lee tugged on his arm to hurry down the hallway to the lift. When they reached the gangplank, Shem was greeted by Mark.

“Sir we appear to have been surrounded by some … uh people like aliens. No aliens like, rarrrr.” He gestured with his hand coming out of his stomach to mimic a popular movie of the late twentieth century. ”These are like people and they are all just out there staring at us. I do not see any weapons of any kind sir. I hit the alarm and told everyone to get back in the ship.” Mark pointed out that the gangplank had been closed.

“Mr. Daniels, please open the hatch. We’ll go out just you and I. No weapons. Fair enough?” Shem wasn’t worried that his appearance was not what one would wear when welcoming company. Mark thought to himself no weapons? Ain’t happening! He hid the pistol in the back of his pants and covered it with a t-shirt while Shem wasn’t looking.

Monica arrived wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair all disheveled as if she too had been woken up by the alarm. “What’s going on?”

“Mr. Daniels here tells me we have aliens or aliens that look like people outside.” Monica’s look of shock and then horror led Shem to continue “not the rarrr kind.” Again he motioned as if his hand came out of his stomach. Monica appeared to breathe a sigh of relief and then gave them a glance that they weren’t very funny.

“So what do they look like?” Monica questioned.

“Well they look human but they are wearing these weird skin tight body suit thingies. They all appear to be male yet look feminine. Weird.” Mark let it be known that feminine looking guys didn’t sit well with him. Shem rolled his eyes.

“Mo, take this sidearm. Mr. Daniels…” Shem gestured for Mark to provide him with the pistol he had tucked in the back of his pants.

Mark interrupted him. “I will never give up my weapon in a potential hostile situation sir. It goes against every fiber of my being”

“Mark, please. You are a civilian now.” Mark remained firm and would not give Shem the pistol. It was a battle of the wills and Shem was not going to win this one.

“Fair enough, PLEASE keep it hidden.” Shem turned to speak to Monica.

“Mark and I will go outside. I want you to stay here. If they do ANYTHING to us, lock up the ship. Do you understand? The shields should hold you for a while. But if it comes down to it, get some of the best men here and let them have it.” Shem motioned to the sidearm. Monica understood.

Shem and Mark took a deep breath and Monica pushed the button to release the gangplank. The air depressurized once again and the gang lowered down to the ground. Shielding their eyes, Shem and Mark walked cautiously down the gang plank. There they stood not thirty feet away. Ten what seemed to be men, dressed in light pink skin tight body suits. Just as Mark had described. Their hair shot straight up and was pitch black. Sort or like the spikey hair look of a couple of years ago. Shem walked a few feet and then stood still. Mark came beside him, guarded.

“hello.” Shem shot around as he heard a voice directly behind him or was it above him.

“Did you hear that?” He looked at Mark.

“hear what?” Mark looked puzzled. She looked at Mark to see if he could catch a glimpse of humor from the man’s face. There was none.

“I just heard the word hello like it was right here. I must be losing it.” Shem refocused his attention on the aliens before him.

“We come in peace. Uhhh take us to your leader?” Shem shrugged looking at Mark and whispered “What? Isn’t that what aliens say?”

“we can hear your every thought.” The voice was there again. Shem whipped back around to find no one behind him. Mark started to look with concern.

“are you guys talking to me in my head?” Shem questioned the aliens.

“yes. In a manner of speaking. We are communicating via your neuro net.” The aliens’ expressions remained unchanged.

“How come he can’t hear you?” Shem pointed at Mark.

”We are not speaking with that one.” From his tone Shem would have guessed the alien was annoyed.

“Make him hear it so I don’t think I’m crazy.” Shem glanced at Mark and gave him a shrug.

“We will be in contact again, soon.” The aliens vanished. It freaked Shem and Mark out.

“Where did they go?” Mark was bewildered.

“They said they would be in contact soon.” Shem looked at Mark apologetically as if to say he had no choice in being the one spoken to.

“huh.” Mark turned to go back to the ship. Shem stood for a second and then hurried after him.

“What do you mean huh?” Shem stood and looked hard at Mark’s unreadable face. Mark was left puzzled by a man standing beside him talking to himself and then mysterious people in front of him vanishing. What was he supposed to think? It has left him pondering and with a great big “huh”

Monica’s look of worry on her face coupled with puzzlement about what had just happened didn’t help Shem one bit as he followed Mark inside the ship. She pushed the button to bring the ramp up and seal the ship up tight. Mark and Shem headed back down toward the lift and she tailed them like a puppy lusting after its daily meal.

“What the hell was that all about?” Monica demanded answers. “Did they say anything? What the FUCK is going on Shem?”

Shem turned to Monica and looked her straight in the eyes. She had the most gorgeous brown eyes he had ever seen. She searched his for answers. There was truly no explanation for what had just happened. If Mark and Monica hadn’t been standing beside him, would they have believed that they just disappeared. For a moment they had a moment. It was as if Shem was trying to communicate as these aliens had just done a few minutes ago.

“I don’t know Mo. I could hear them speaking to me in my head. It was weird.” Shem looked to Mark for confirmation. Mark brought his hands up and shrugged his shoulders as if to want no part of Shem’s lunacy.

Entering the lift they were all quiet. Shem had to explain to everyone what had just happened. Shem had to explain to everyone where they were. Shem had to explain to everyone about time travel. Shem knew they would all think he had lost any bit of sanity had had left.

Visual Aid

I got to thinking that if my book were to be made into a movie, who I would want to play my characters. Here is a visual aid to guide you through the rest of the book. I know I've probably taken away from your imagination but, I also want you to see what I see as I write.

Dr. Shem Finch

Dr. Monica Perez

Addison MacKenzie

Sofia Jaramillo

Mark Daniels

Duke Johnson

Sierra Dockson

Dana Church

Noah

All photographs of the various actors above are the copyrighted material of each photographer or artist. I am not here to violate any copyright but to just use their pictures as a visual aid.

Chapter 7, part 2

The lift doors opened to the bridge. Sunlight poured in from the three surrounding bay windows. It was much larger than the cockpit of a jet plane. You could easily fit 10 cockpits into this one. Shem was sitting at the navigational computer looking at images of a planet. He didn’t even notice that Monica and Addison were now standing next to him.

“Is that the planet we are on?” Addison asked

“Shhh” Shem waved his hand as if he was shooing them away.

“Yes, It matches the …” Monica was about to tell him what she new.

“Shhh!” Shem looked up at Monica and put his forefinger to his lips.

“Shem if you tell me what you are theorizing. Oh why do I even bother. Come on Addison, I told you he gets like this.” She put her hand on his arm as if the escort him off the bridge.

“I’m not going anywhere, am I? I’ll sit right over here until he,” He pointed his finger at the back of Shem’s head, “tells me what is going on.” Addison was stubborn to the core. He was a red headed Scot after all. Addison planted himself right in the captain’s chair where Shem had flown just a few hours previously.

After looking around the cockpit for a few minutes Addison inquired “What did you name this ship anyway?”

“Name? We didn’t name her anything.” Monica answered him.

“Oh come on, you HAD to have given it a name.” Addison was in disbelief.

“The Falcon.” Whispered Shem. He had named the ship after one of his all time favorite flying machines.

“What was that?” Addison didn’t quite hear him.

“He said Falcon. Shem you can’t name this ship that, it’s copyrighted.” Monica realized what she had said right after she said it. It didn’t matter now did it?

“I can name my ship anything I want. All that copyright crap and those laws mean nothing now. Monica, come here for a minute.” Monica approached Shem and looked over his shoulder.

“I took the last image we have from the Space Station of Earth and overlapped them with the image we have of this planet. Look there.” Shem pointed to what was Australia and the area on the new planet. Monica looked puzzled.

“Look at the geographical markers.” She still wasn’t getting it. “Okay over here, North America. If you twist this planet to the right a bit, they all line up. There is more land mass on this planet and less ocean. But the topographical areas remain the same.” Shem could see that Monica started to get it.

“Holy shit! Point of Origin! Shem how?” Monica was bewildered.

“I don’t know. This all may be wrong and this planet may just look the same as earth and not be earth. We have to do some exploration. We have landed here.” Shem pointed to an area on the new planet’s map. He then overlapped it with Earth’s old map.
“That would put us in Canada. Ontario if my calculations are correct.” Monica was stunned. By now Addison was gazing on the same maps. Shem was pointing to where Niagara Falls Canada had been on the old Earth’s map.

“Bloody hell! You mean we never really left? We had to of. This can’t be Earth. Look at it outside. Clean air.” Addison was in shock.

“Okay what we will have to do now is produce a map of the two merged images. Once we get our bearings, and settle the camp a bit, we’ll set out and explore. We’ll go here to where Toronto is supposed to be. If this is Earth, there should be some sort of landmarks.” Shem just realized what he had said. “Monica do you realize what may have happened here?”

“Time travel. Only explanation. But Shem how do we know if we went forward or backward?” Monica and Shem had danced this dance a thousand times. It made them a great team.

“Hold on one bloomin’ moment here. What do you mean time travel?” Addison had wondered what he got himself into.

“Addison, if I explained it all to you, would you truly understand it? No! I didn’t think so. Just let us do our work and you do yours.” Shem was cranky without sleep. “I think first thing tomorrow morning, we need to sort out the camp and living situation, get everyone into some sort of routine and then start picking a team to go and explore. I need some sleep.” Shem got up and went to the lift. “Are you coming?” Monica and Addison joined Shem in the lift.

After letting Monica and Shem off at Deck C, Addison decided to head outside to see where Noah was at. After adjusting his eyes to the light outside, he could see the other 97 people talking in small groups, running, jumping, staring out into the blue sky. Just before where the grass had ceased to be flattened he could see Noah running in circles with another little boy. He hadn’t noticed this boy before. He really hadn’t gotten a good look at everyone as of yet. Sofia and Dana were near by. The boys were running around and giggling. Addison’s face turned happy and he forgot about everything he had just heard inside. He hadn’t seen Noah giggle like that in the short time he had known him. Addison walked at a leisurely pace enjoying the sun on his face and the fresh air. How he missed the sea. He longed for it and it called to him. Addison was born in Crieff and grew up there until he was ten when his mother moved away to Edinburgh for work. It was there that he learned his love for the North Sea. As he walked closer, Noah noticed him and ran toward him.

“Mr. Addi, sir come meet my friend. We have to talk to each other through these. I think he speaks Spanish or something. I saw him and Miss Sofia talking without these things. They sound funny. Come on I want you to meet him.” Noah was so excited. He led Addison by the hand and Noah’s little feet were making Addison run himself.

Before Addison stood a pudgy little boy who appeared to be eight or nine. His face beaming a great big smile.

“Hello there!” Addison addressed Noah’s friend. The boy look turned confused. Noah then pressed the button on Addison’s translator. He smiled at Noah and had realized that he had forgotten to turn on his translator. “Let’s try this again, hello there. My name is Addison.”

“Hello sir, I’m Lee. I’m six. Do you know where my mom is?” Lee searched for the same answers Noah did.

“He doesn’t know where his mom is either” Noah spoke up.

“Hiya Lee. That name doesn’t sound like a Spanish name.” He questioned Lee.

“That’s because his father was a U.S. military soldier of some kind.” Addison turned around to see Sofia standing behind them. “His last name is Garrettson. All I know is that they lived in Mexico City after his father went away.”

“I see. Lee I’m glad to meet you. I don’t know where your mother is son.” Addison hated to break Lee’s heart. “Why don’t you and Noah go back to running around.” Addison stood up and looked at Sofia. They gazed upon the boys once again. Lee shrugged his shoulders and then started chasing Noah and giggling soon ensued. Giggling was a universal language.

A half hour had passed and five of them were sprawled out on the grass looking toward the beautiful sky. It had been a very long time since Dana had done this. Even before her accident, she hadn’t seen a blue sky like this since her childhood. Addison was glad to take her out of her chair and lay her on the grass. Soon the sky turned shades of pink and purple and they gazed upon the sun setting in the valley to their left. It was time to head back to the ship. Stomachs were grumbling.

Chapter 7, part 1

Unknown Planet

After hearing Shem Finch’s words that they had landed, Addi unbuckled his seatbelt and then helped Noah out of his.

“Come on lad, let’s see where we are.” Addi took Noah by the hand and headed out the cabin door. After opening it, they were greeted by the other passengers. They all looked as dazed and confused as he felt. They couldn’t have gone very far because they only left Earth’s atmosphere two hours earlier. There was no way they were already in another solar system. But then again, were they? No one had ever traveled light speed before. They had only seen it done in those science fiction shows on television. Yet here they were on another planet.

Sofia helped Dana into her hoverchair and headed out the cabin door and down the corridor to the elevator. After seeing Addison’s familiar face when she exited off the life, she waved him over. Addison led Noah over to the elevator to greet them.

“So, where do you think we are Addi?” Sofia was just as confused as Addison about how much time had elapsed since they had left Earth’s solar system.

“Dunno really.” Addi shrugged his shoulders. At the same time Finch was back on the communicator.

“Attention please! Can I have everyone move to the dining hall for a meeting? Finch out.” He sounded serious. Ten at a time the passengers into the lift to take them to the dining hall . Within five mintues they were all congregated in the dining hall.

Upon entering the larger portion of the eating area you could hear chatter.Every seemed to be talking to one another theorizing about where they were and what came next. Dr. Finch and Dr. Perez were not there yet. When the door to the lift opened and revealed Shem and Monica, a hush came over the crowd as they watched both of them move to the front of the room. Little baby Emma started to cry. Jo Anna tried her best to calm Emma while she prepared a bottle. Handing Emma to another female passenger, Jo Anna routed through the bag she brought with her. Being thrust into motherhood and remembering things for the baby was a problem right now. Frustrated Jo Anna took Emma and went to get some formula from the pantry in the back of the kitchen. The look on her face was apologetic as she shook the new type of bottles that warmed up bottles when you shook them. It was a new gadget invented the year before that had new mothers in blissful heaven. After reading the temperature gauge on the side of the bottle, Jo Anna tested the formula and then started to feed Emma. In infant happily sucked back her sustenance.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please let me have your attention.” Shem paused and took in a deep breath. “I don’t know what to tell you. I have no idea where we are or what planet we are on. When we re-entered normal space, our navigational computers told us we were at the point of origin. Meaning that we were back where we started. Clearly we are not as this looks nothing like the planet we just left. It does, however, look like the planet the probe found.” Everyone started talking amongst themselves. “Please! We will figure this out. What I can tell you is that the air outside, although a lot denser than what we are used to, is breathable WITHOUT PV’s”

The passengers once again began to talk amongst themselves. They were happy to hear that last part of news.

“Mr. Addi sir?” Noah tugged on Addison’s sleeve. “What does he mean without PV’s? Everyone has to wear them outside or we die Mr. Addi.” Noah was clearly concerned.

“Let’s listen to Dr. Finch and then worry about it, okay?” Noah was still concerned but held his words for another time.

“Dr. Perez and I will go out first and do some exploration. We want a couple of volunteers to help us. Once we find out the area is secure, we’ll start letting the rest of you off to explore. We have no idea if this planet’s dangers. Who inhabits it or what inhabits it. Mr. Daniels?” Mark Daniels perked up.

“Sir?” He was used to coming to attention. It still did not dawn on him that his military career was over.

“You are with me. Mr. MacKenzie?” Shem searched the faces for Addison.

“Yes, I’m here.” Addison stood up. Noah clung to his sleeve.

“You will go with Dr. Perez. The rest of you can stay here if you choose. Remember to check the assignment board as to when you are on kitchen duty. I guess that schedule can start now. Gentlemen,” Shem addressed Mark and Addison “… come with me.”

Noah protested that Addison had to leave. Sofia was the only other person Noah really knew so he thought it best Noah stay with her. It was then that Noah noticed another boy across the room. He wanted to go and say hello. Addison wouldn’t let him.

“Listen, I’ll only be gone for a little while. Stay here with Sofia and you’ll be fine. I’ll see you when I get back.” Addison had his hand on the boy’s head to reassure him.

“Mr. Addi. When am I going to get to see my mom and father?” Noah still had no concept that his parents were dead. He had been traumatized to the point of not remembering any of the events that surrounded him being there. You could almost hear Addison’s heart break at that very moment.

“Noah, laddie, we’ll discuss that when I get back. Okay?” Addison left Noah with Sofia and he was immediately distracted by Jo Anna and Emma.

Shem, Monica, Mark and Addison all headed for the lift. Once inside, Shem pushed the lowest deck button. Once arriving there, he led them down a corridor to a locked door. Inserting a card key into card reader and then nodding to Monica to insert her card key into the second card reader, the door unlocked. The door opened into a room full of weapons. Mark looked around the room like he had won the lottery.

“Not everyone knows about this room.” Shem explained, “And I would like to keep it that way. There is only one way in this room and it lies with me and Monica. I would prefer that we not have to use weapons, but we don’t know what is out there. A simple sidearm should do fine for now.” He handed them each one aluminum 9 mm Ruger.

“P94DC. Double action with decocker. Very effective.” Mark was a gun collector.

Addison had never held a firearm before but he was a quick study. Mark was able to show him how to load it and have it ready to fire at anything menacing.

Standing in front of the hatch door, with their PV units on just in case, Shem pushed a few buttons in sequence and the door depressurized and began to lower. They were at the belly of the ship and the gang plank lowered to the ground. Sunlight poured in blinding the four temporarily. Shielding their eyes against the sun, the four headed down the gangplank and onto the flattened grass below their feet. Monica did a quick scan once again of the air.

Addison turned to Mark and whispered “Right now would be a good time to have a go at those sunglasses my granny used to wear back in the day.”

“It’s breathable Shem. Lighter like we thought, but breathable.” Monica took off her PV unit and for the first time in ten years she was breathing on her own in the outside world. The sun was brighter than they were used to. To Shem it reminded him of days gone by and now days ahead of bright skies with no smog and no PV units. Shem, Mark and Addison all followed suit and took off their PV masks. They breathed in the sweet humid air.

Looking around them they could see a tree line about 100 yards in the distance. Never before had they seen trees this color. Blue and purple leaves along with the usual green but all intermixed on one tree. They warranted further exploration. With caution the four of them spread out a few yards from each other. Shem’s instincts were to look at the integrity of the ship. It seemed alright on visual alone. He would have to inspect it further because he wondered why it was making noises after coming out of light speed.

Mark suggested that they spread out a bit and secure a perimeter. Agreeing the four went in four directions of a 180 degree area.

“To the tree line, no further.” Shem insisted. “If anyone sees any trouble, fire a shot in the air.”

The grass was flattened within a one hundred food radius of the ship. Shem continued to the edge of the flattened grass and then stopped and listened for any signs of life. The eco- system was identical to Earth’s with the exception of the strange colored trees. He could hear insects making their noises, birds chirping and the wind rustling the grasses and trees. Absent was any sound of machinery. This was a wondrous place, Shem thought to himself.

The four met back at the ship after securing a perimeter. They had explored their surroundings for almost an hour. It was time to let the passengers see the outside for themselves. Mark thought it wise that they keep a guard outside the ship at all times, just in case. He had first watch. Shem, Monica and Addison headed back in the ship to get something to eat and tell the passengers there were free to explore the outside. When they were told there was no need for their PV units anymore, there were cries of joy. Slowly, most of them headed for the lifts. They were all still hesitant. Shem, Monica and Addison picked up some sandwiches that had been made and headed for a seat.

“Dr. Finch? Do you suppose I could head up the cooking detail for now? This stuff is horrid.” Addison was obviously disgusted. Ham and cheese sandwiches were not going to cut it. Obviously, his talents could be put to use here.

“Sure, I don’t see why not. What did you do back …” Shem stopped. The reality just hit him. Earth. Earth? Point of Origin, Earth … No!! Impossible!.

Sheme bolted out of his chair and headed for the lift. Taking another bite of his sandwich he turned to look at the two. Pointing his finger at them he said, “We’ll continue this discussion later. Monica, finish your lunch. I’ll see you on the bridge when you’re through.” The lift door shut between them. Addison and Monica were left looking at each other in bewilderment.

“What do you suppose…?” Addison questioned

“I’ve given up trying to figure him out a long time ago. He gets these ideas, gives me a hint he has an idea then goes silent until he figures it all out. It can be quite maddening. If I were to follow him right now, I’d stand there for ten maybe twenty minutes waiting for him to say what he has to say. I would be frustrated. So I’ll wait to go up there.” Monica took another bite of her sandwich. It wasn’t so horrible. It was a lot better than what she was used to.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious? One minute we are talking about this horrid stuff and the next he’s getting up with a weird look on his face. He looked almost terrified.” Addison stuffed his face and got up and headed toward the lift. Monica scrabbled to follow him

“Addison, you can’t go up there.” Monica was persistent.

“The hell I can’t. Who is going to stop me? You? I want to bloody well know what the bloody hell is going on.” Addison entered the lift and Monica hurried after him. Once inside the two did not look at each other, only stared straight forward.

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Chapter 6

Guantanamo Bay Launch Site

Noah woke up early to the sound of the engines ‘revving’ up. He had always been a light sleeper and an early riser. Curious, he got out of his bottom bunk. Mr. Addi was still sleeping and he didn’t want to disturb him. Noah, dressed in a t-shirt and his Spiderman underwear, opened the cabin door. Light from the corridor spilt into the room but Noah only needed a crack to get out. He wandered down the hall to the elevator he had been in the day before. Suddenly, a voice could be heard over the speakers.

“Passengers, please wake up, we will begin take off procedures in one half hour. I repeat, Its time to wake up folks. This is it. You must sit in your cabins buckled in. The pull out table must be back in the wall and secure all items.”

The lights then came on in each cabin. Duke felt right at home. This felt like prison only there weren’t any bars or anyone locking him in.

Addison woke up telling Noah that it was time to wake. When he didn’t get a response, he looked down at the lower bunk and saw he wasn’t there. Jumping off the top bunk, Addi looked in the bathroom. No Noah. Opening the cabin door he saw Noah down the hall near the elevator.

“NOAH! Come back here.” Addison whispered in a stern voice.

“I just want to see what’s in here.” Noah began to come back toward Addi.

“Noah please let me know if there is somewhere you want to go. I don’t want to lose you. This is a big place and there is lots of stuff you shouldn’t touch.” Addi had been thrust into being a parent. It felt so natural to him though.

“Grown ups are all like my parents. Telling me things. You shouldn’t tell me not to do those things. I need to see them.” Noah was stubborn at best. He was back in his cabin and visibly upset. That trip in the elevator would come later.

The sounds of the engines were a bit louder now . Although not deafening to the ear, vibration was steadily increasing. They had all practiced the take-off procedure the afternoon before. Despite having done so, there was a bit of panic in their faces. What would become of them? What if they all blew up?

Shem and Monica were busy going through their pre-flight check list. Everything seemed to be a go. Shem looked out of the window of the bridge thinking that this was it. He was like Captain Kirk or Han Solo or something. He snickered to himself. He would have preferred to be Han Solo. Thoughts of blowing up as soon as they tried to go to light speed crept into his mind. He had to push those thoughts away. Now was not the time to have an anxiety attack. Monica continued to rhyme off the check list and all lights were green. Shem pushed buttons here and there. The engines made louder sounds, like those of jet engines as you hurried down the runway for take off.

The countdown continued. “T-minus 5 mintues.” The female voice computer rang out inside the bridge. Shem had built an elaborate communications system in the ship. His attention for detail was alarming. He turned on the system and spoke to the passengers as well as those in the air tower. It would be one of those speeches that carried through space to their new home and would be the new history books.

“Today we are leaving our planet, our home, to search for a new one and take the human race forward. That is our responsibility and we must accept that it is our destiny. Do not mourn those we leave behind. I believe that they would be happy knowing that we carry on. This is it folks. We take off in less than five minutes. Shem Finch out.” Shem turned to Monica who had a tear in her eye.

“Alright Mo, let’s see if this baby can do what I think she’ll do.” Shem was trying to cheer her up.

Time continued to countdown and each passenger probably had their life flash before their eyes. They were terrified. Shem knew he was terrified, the 98 below him HAD to be.

“T-minus 30 seconds Shem. Main thrusters engaged.” Monica pushed several buttons and the ship began to rock.

Fifteen seconds. More and more vibrations rocked the ship giving the passengers tremendous anxiety.

Five, Shem engaged hovering thrusters. They were now hovering 100 feet above the ground.

Four …

Three …

Two …

Shem pulled the yoke control back and off into the atmosphere they flew. It was with greater speed than any jet or space shuttle had ever flown. Pushing Shem and Monica back in their seats

The passengers had one small portal window in their cabins. It was amazing to them how quickly the thick smog filled horizon turned to the blackness of space. It was literally pitch black. They had left Earth’s atmosphere. What was left of it.

Shem was in his glory. “yeehawwwwww!” He yelled out. He had a love for speed. As a child he dreamed of flying a space ship. Now he had his wish. The look on his face was priceless. Any bit of fear had left him. Like a child seeing a wondrous thing for the first time. Monica couldn’t help but notice and she rediscovered why she loved him. These discoveries and his childlike amusement brought her great joy. She cracked a smile.

“Well wasn’t that fun.” She asked him. He grinned. “Alright initiating light speed engines. We should be good to go in a few minutes.” Monica began pushing more buttons on the console.

“Alright, I’ll let the passengers know.” He turned on his communicator once again. “We made it folks. We have left Earth’s atmosphere and we are setting up our light speed engines. I do not know how long we will be in light sleep, our estimate show not more than an hour. Please stay in your cabins and strapped in as a precaution. Finch out.”

Monica’s computer console bleeped at her and she knew it was time to go.

“Shem, the engines are ready. Any time” She glanced at him. This was it. Shem glanced over at Monica.

He was sweating profusely. He was confident yet apprehensive. With his finger on the button that would take them to light speed, Shem closed his eyes, held his breath and pushed resembling the breathing of a laboring mother. Letting go of the button, he opened his eyes again and breathed out. He was about to give birth to light speed. Upon opening his eyes Shem saw swirling lights before him. It was a beautiful and wondrous site to behold. Was he dead and on his way to the other side? His peripheral vision still had Monica in it. Slowly he turned to look at her as she stared out the bridge’s window. The swirling lights glowed on her face and for the first time he truly saw her beauty. Suddenly warning lights went off and alarms started to sound. Shem and Monica snapped back to reality and the ship started to shake in massive turbulence. The swirling lights grew dimmer as the turbulence grew greater. Shem and Monica frantically pushed buttons on their consoles wondering why they had such bad turbulence. Then within a blink of an eye the turbulence stopped and a planet appeared before them. It was as if it was magically put in front of them. Monica unbuckled herself from her co-pilot chair and went over to the navigation computer behind her.

“Navigational computers say that we are at the same point of origin. I don’t understand it. That doesn’t look like our Earth.” Monica was perplexed and kept searching and scanning the computer for an answer as to where they were. “Shem I don’t understand this.”

Shem unbuckled himself and got up to take a look. This planet before them was apparently the same planet they just left. “There must be something wrong here Mo. That planet is not Earth. Look at it. Clean air and the oceans are all wrong. There is less water on that planet than Earth. It looks just like the planet the probe brought back.”

Monica began scanning with her limited sensors. The planet before them had a moon just like Earth did. There must be something wrong with the navigational computer. Suddenly the hull of the ship started creaking that sounded like something buckling under pressure. Shem didn’t like the sound of it. Neither did any of the 98 passengers aboard. Shem decided it was time to land the ship on the planet, whatever it was. There was no time to figure what this planet out.

“Ahh, this is Dr. Finch again. It would seem that we have come out of light speed and we have arrived at our destination. It was a lot quicker than I had calculated. Ahhh, rest assured that the creaking noises you are hearing are normal.” He lied. “ I am beginning our decent to the planet now. Please make sure you stay buckled up. Finch out.”

The hull of the ship continued to creak. Shem began is approach to the planet below them. He had no idea if this planet had any life forms or what they would encounter once they landed. The entire ship was encased in a thermal shield so that it could withstand ten times the amount of heat of entry of that would be like the re-entry of Earth’s atmosphere. Shem eased the thrusters back to compensate for gravity. He wanted a nice and smooth landing. The hull continued to creak and groan from the pressure and Shem was now afraid his ship wouldn’t hold together.

They had now entered the planet’s atmosphere and Shem engaged the thrusters to land the ship similar to the way a helicopter would land. Through the bridge’s window they could see blue sky with clouds until they were in close proximity to the ground. All they could see was green plant cover, some dwarf trees and green meadow. Shem and Monica knew in an instant this couldn’t be Earth. The trees were too small and not like any they had seen before. The leaves were purple and blue.

They landed with a great thud that bounced them a little bit. It was at that point that Shem took in a breath. So did all of the other 99 passengers.

Chapter 5, part 2

Waiting outside the barracks were 12 unmarked white vans. Each of the drivers was a UN military soldier. Their blue combat helmets screamed “TARGET”. This was all so very weird to the strangers that piled out of the barracks. They all looked at each other trying to size each other up.

Entering the mess hall, everything about this place still looked like a prison and they all felt that way too. Herded like sheep they all lined up for their breakfast. There were an awful lot of other people here too. Who were they and why were they here. Looking a lot like worker bees in a hive they scurried from one station to the other. Overhead loud speakers announced that launch was still a go.

Top engineers and scientists from around the world were here. All were working on a project just so that a chosen few would live. They knew they wouldn’t. For some of them it was an honor to have some part of history that would carry forth the human race. Some were not so naïve as to believe that their name would be in any history book. This could all fail. They could take off and then be blown to pieces. Nothing like this had ever been tried on this scale. Thousands of probes had failed either blowing up or never heard from again. Those probes had tiny reactors to drive their engines. The ship was 100,000 times the size of any probe. Some of them had blind faith in Dr. Finch. Others thought he was a complete crackpot.

Sofia helped Dana get her breakfast and carried their trays to a nearby table so that she could have proper access for her wheelchair. Sofia set Dana’s tray in front of her and then sat and began to eat herself.

“Mind if I sit here?” Addison stood on the other side of the table. Sofia with mouth full, gestured for him to sit. “My name is Addison.” He extended his hand. Sofia greeted his hand with her own.

“Sofia.” She said softly in her Spanish accent. “This is Dana.” Addison then extended his hand to Dana. Slowly she extended her hand.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have assumed you could move your hands.” Addison felt embarrassed.

“No, it’s okay. I prefer to be treated like a normal walking person.” Dana felt attracted to Addison and his accent was to die for. “Tell me Addison, what part of Scotland are you from?” Now she was downright flirting.

“Edinburgh. I have, or rather had a small pub there. Johnny rest his soul, left it to me last year in his will. The Lion’s Claw Pub. When we get to wherever we are going, I’m going to open a new one. ‘Course, we won’t have any beer now will we? Sorry, rambling. It’s what I do when I’m nervous.” Addison’s gaze turned to Sofia.

“That’s very interesting Addison.” Sofia wanted to continue when she was interrupted.

“Addi, please.” Addison gave permission for them to use his pet name.

“Addi, what do you do in this pub?” Sofia asked as she thought there was more to this story. She took another bite of her toast.

"Besides being Landlord? I’m a chef by trade. I wish I had cooked this breakfast for everyone. This stuff is horrid.” The three snickered.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Monica Perez stood up and grabbed the attention of everyone. “Ladies and gentlemen, please, let’s get started.” She waited for everyone to quiet down and then spoke again.

“I realize a lot of you are still dazed and confused about what is going on and what is about to happen. All of you should be fully informed by the end of the day. But first, Dr. Shem Finch wishes to speak to all of you and then I’ll go over the day’s itinerary.” Monica looked down on Shem with a smile and handed him the floor.

Clearing his throat “Hello. I am Dr. Shem Finch, as my most esteemed colleague, Dr. Perez has already told you.” Shem felt so embarrassed when asked to get up and speak. He had become a Certified Toastmaster at one point but dropped meetings to work on his many inventions. He had wanted to stay in the background and not be the one giving the speech.

He continued “As you all know, last week a deep space probe came back with critical information about a new planet, a place where we could start over. Unfortunate for the human race, my colleagues and I were only able to build a ship big enough to hold 100. The reason for this is that the only engine would could build large enough and stable enough is in that ship. It has taken us two years to build that one ship. In those two years many engines capable of producing enough speed to past light speed have failed. It was only two months ago that we finally figured it out.

“We were not scheduled to leave for another month, but many scientists agree that the planet is not going to be able to sustain any oxygen breathing life much longer. We cannot produce synthetic oxygen any longer as the more we do so, the worse the planet gets. Soon your PV’s will fail and all will suffocate and die. They have estimated another month before the planet is completely dead.”

Gasps could be heard throughout the building. For those who could not speak English, personal translators were given in the form of a small computer hanging from their necks. These computers would hear words spoken and translate them into any language for the user.

“Now for the good news. The ship’s reactors have been filled and all systems appear to be a go. Our team has tried to make this all as comfortable as we can for you. Today you will be shown around the ship and also to where you will be bunking for the next six months. We expect it will take that long until we can build adequate shelters on the new planet. Until then, the ship will be our home.

“I know a lot of you are leaving loved ones behind. I wish I could have built a ship or more ships in time to carry all of us forward. I have a heavy heart about that. A burden I will carry for the rest of my life. But we must move forward. Now I will turn it over to Dr. Perez. She will answer any questions you may have.” Monica stood up and Shem whispered something in her ear. He readdressed everyone.

“Oh before I go, where is Ms. Church?” Shem motioned for two of him employees to bring in one of his inventions. “This is something I was working on a few years back and had to abandon for this project. It is a hover craft chair. With this chair you can go up and down stairs as well as maneuver on rough terrain.” By the time he had finished speaking, Dana Church had wheeled her chair to where he was standing.

“Ms. Church you are going to need this on the ship if you are to get around on your own, I only wish I had been able to release this invention to the public years ago.” Shem smiled at Dana and picked her up and placed her in the new chair. He then began to explain the controls to her. He nodded at Monica to continue.

“As Dr. Finch has told you, today you will orientate yourself with the ship as well as learn emergency procedures. Please finish your breakfasts and we’ll get started in ten minutes.” Monica bent over and took her tray back to the kitchen area where she had laid, what seemed like a thousand trays before it. The noise of voices talking soon returned to the mess hall. The new voice translators were busily translating everyone’s questions for each other. Again, the loudspeaker sounded that the launch was a go.

Monica proceeded to give instructions to the military personal and the engineers and workers donned their PV’s to head back to the launch pad. The ship had been moved the day before to the launch pad so that they could test the engines. The 98 passengers were loaded back up into their waiting vans and were taken across to the air force base.

As the passengers looked out their windows they could see the massive ship sitting on the runway. They were in complete awe stricken by its size. They could see that it was a multi-deck ship. At the base of the ship, personnel could be seen loading the belongings of its passengers. They would bunk on the ship tonight and so as to be ready for take off at 05:00 hours.

“Can you believe the size of that thing?” Duke’s jaw hit the floor.

“It’s the size of a football field.” Addi pulled Noah closer to the window for him to get a good look.

“Is that a ship?” Noah asked

“Yes son, it sure is.” Addi had taking a liking to this red headed boy. He figured his mother or father must have had some Scot or Irish in them. Noah had cried less and less now that Addi had become his big buddy. Addi wondered how his parents coped with him being gone. He couldn’t imagine having to give up his child.

“Wow, that’s bigger than the Millennium Falcon, even bigger than an Imperial Starship.” Noah was obsessed with Star Wars. He took his miniature Imperial starship out of his backpack. “See, this is my only one. I wanted more but my Mom said I had enough of them. You know what?” Noah was famous for saying this.

“What?” Addison replied

“I really miss my mom and dad. They got killed. I saw it. Just like on TV” Noah was that matter of fact about it. He had no comprehension that his parents were really dead and that he would never see his sisters again. To him it was one big movie. “Are they going to meet us on the ship?” Noah inquired.

“No they aren’t Noah.” Addison drew the boy in tight for a hug. Noah began to whine and wimper. “Please don’t cry. Look, we are getting closer. Isn’t this exciting?” He was trying desperately to distract Noah.

“Mr. Addi?” it seemed Noah had another question.

“What laddie?” Addison was trying very hard to be patient.

“You talk funny. Just like Obi Wan. Well almost.” They both had a good giggle.

The 12 vans pulled up around the side of the ship where the workers were busily loading suitcases, crates and computer equipment. This ship was massive. The 98 piled out of the vans and stood on the tarmac. The noise from the idling engines was almost deafening. They had been given earplugs as they left the mess hall. Monica waved them all to come forward and take the gang plank into the ship. As the passengers walked single file, they continued to look up and around at the ship in utter amazement. It was like they were living in a dream. None of this seamed real yet it was happening. It was all happening.

As they entered the ship, the passengers were greeted with a wide hallway that went left to right. Some thought that it resembled a cruise ship on the inside only everything seemed wider. Hallways were built wider to accommodate equipment transportation as well as one or more passenger. One thing that bugged Shem about cruise ships was the narrow hallways. They were built to cram as many people in as possible. This ship was not a floating hotel. It was a place of science and a place of rest. Not entertainment. He would be damned if he had to squeeze by another person if he was in a hurry to get to the cockpit or engine room.

Guided by Monica they turned left down the corridor. She explained that they would all have maps in their cabins. They walked down the hallway looking up and around them. The passengers seemed to be in a dream state. It all seemed so bright and clinical. They reached an elevator. Little by little they were ushered up the elevators to the living quarters. When they were all assembled once again on the fourth deck from the bottom they were given their cabin numbers and bunk partners.

Addison looked down to see that he was assigned with Mark Daniels. He didn’t know who that was yet. He wondered about the boy. Noah showed Addi his cabin assignment and saw that he was bunked with Duke Johnson. No no, can’t have this he thought to himself. Addi frantically searched for Duke and spotted him at the back of the crowd. Now to find this Mark Daniels. It was hard to hear anything through people trying to find each other. Addi headed toward Monica to straighten things out.

“Dr. Perez. Is it possible to switch cabin assignments? It would seem you have put a five year old boy in with a, well, criminal. He’s frightened and we have a report.”

“Certainly, Mr.?” Monica still didn’t know who everyone was.

“Addison MacKenzie, Dr. Perez. You can call my Addi. Do you know where this Mark Daniels is?” Addi was eager to get this figured out.

“Can I have your attention please? Excuse me.” A hush fell over the crowd. “Where is Mark ..” she looked at Addi

“Daniels.” He whispered

“Where is Mark Daniels?” she declared over the crowd.

“Yes ma’am, right here.” Half way through the crowd was standing Mark Daniels. Obvious to everyone he was of some military branch. Mark stood 6 foot tall and had a shaved head. He was fit and buff. He made his way to Addi and Monica.

“Mr. Daniels. This is Addison MacKenzie, your bunk mate. He has requested that you take his spot with uh Mr. … “She read Addi’s paperwork again. “… Mr. Johnson. Where is Mr. Johnson?” Addi pointed to the heavily tattooed man. “Mr. Johnson.” Monica spoke up. “Could you come here a minute please.” Duke walked over toward the lanky Dr. Perez.

“Yes little seniorita, what can I do for you? Need a little Duke in ya?” Duke was crude and rude. Monica was not amused.

“Mr. Johnson, please keep those comments to yourself. Now, Mr., … oh Addi here has requested that you bunk with Mr. Daniels here so that he can be with the boy. What’s his name?” She addressed Addi.

“Noah.” Addi reqplied

“Yes Noah. He wants to keep him comfortable. Would you mind switching cabin assignments?” Monica wanted this conversation overwith. Duke disgusted her.

“Anything for you baby.” Duke obviously ignored Monica’s warnings.

“Good. Okay Addi. You will be in cabin D5 with Noah and Mr. Johnson and Mr. Daniels you two will be in D18. Fair enough?” Monica was relieved that this had worked out. They all nodded. Addi bent down to Noah’s level and addressed him.

“Noah you’ll be with me laddie. Okay?” Noah nodded. All these people. Who were they and why was he here. He wanted to see his mom and dad and sisters. Oh how he missed his older sister. He began to pout and whine and he looked terribly sad.

“It’s alright son. I’m here for you. Now let’s get ourselves settled in our new home.” Addison was about to turn down the hallway and search for their cabin when Monica spoke up once again.

“We will meet back in this hallway in half an hour.” She turned and went back to the elevator.

The 98 passengers searched down the hallways on either side for their cabin assignments. It became obvious males were on one deck, D deck. and the females were on C Deck, the one above the male deck.

Addi and Noah found their cabin on the right side of the corridor. Duke and Mark’s cabin was down the hall a bit on the left.

The female population found their way down the other corridor. Sofia was bunked with Dana and Jo Anna had baby Emma with her. Sierra found herself bunked with an American lady in her 40’s.

Each cabin was identical. Two bunks and bench seat and a pull out table. They also were equipped with two computers so that they could watch discs and play games. Something Shem insisted upon for his own cabin and figured everyone should have one.

Soon they were all back in the corridor and ready for the tour of the ship. An assistant to Shem and Monica was on hand to show them the mess hall and entertainment lounge. They were also briefed on emergency procedures should anything go wrong in take off or while in transit.

The afternoon was spent between touring the bridge and a Q&A session. All of the engineers and physicists were on hand in rotation to answer, as best they could, how this ship could fly let alone reach light speed. A lot of people retreated to their cabins because they could not understand any of it.

The night time meal was spent in the new mess hall. It wasn’t what everyone expected. They had expected stainless steel and cold surroundings. Instead, there were four large kitchens that looked like they were plucked from a home show room. They were able to make whatever they wanted from non perishables. The dining tables and chairs were quite comfortable and sat 6 to each. Absent from this meal were Shem and Monica who were busily going over launch check lists.

Everyone retired to their cabins after their meals. Tomorrow would be a day that they would all remember. The ship was leaving at 05:00. Way too early for some. They had been instructed to stay in their cabins and that instructions on what to do when the launch sequence started would be given. All of them breathed a sigh of relief that they were not required to go back to the barracks.

Monica found Shem on the bridge looking over a check list.

“Are we ready Shem?” She leaned over his shoulder to look at the list. She could smell his sweat.

“Yes, I believe so. I’ve been over everything a million times. The engines are at idling power now and they will commence thrust power boost up at 04:00. I only hope that doesn’t wake everyone up. I made every precaution to have the engines at the back and the passengers up front. But we’ve never actually flown this baby before.” Shem got up from his chair to look at one more thing on the instrument panel.

“Why don’t we get some shut eye for a couple of hours and get up at 03:00. I think we’ll be fresher. Who are you bunking with?” Monica had yet to read her own orders.

“You don’t know? You and I share a cabin Mo. It was the only way I figured that we could have all of our paperwork and computer work in one area. Plus when I’m there you’ll be up here and vise versa. Just made logical sense. If you are uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I wanted a cabin to myself but it didn’t work out that way.” Shem felt unsure and uneasy about his decision

“no no it’s alright. Yes it makes perfect sense to have our papers and computers in the same area. Okay so let’s both go to the cabin and get some shut eye.” They walked down the corridor to the only cabin placed on A Deck. Shem wanted to be close to the bridge, just in case.

This would be their last night on Mother Earth.

Chapter 5, part 1

Female Barracks, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

“Rise and shine ladies!” Monica Perez stood in the doorway of the makeshift female barracks. Sunlight leaked in and sleepy eyes were awaken. “You have 30 minutes to get dressed and meet the drivers outside. We’ll have breakfast first and then orientation at 08:00 hours.”

Sofia rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. Her back was hurting and she hoped that the beds on the ship were more comfortable. Wearing only a black tank top and black panties, she reached for her night shirt to cover herself more appropriately. The moans and groans of others waking up were heard all over the barracks. Next to Sofia was Dana Church. It was Sofia’s job to help Dana in and out of her chair and give her the medicines she required.

“Do you need to sit up Dana?” Sofia asked as she came around the other side of Dana’s bed. They had put wedges at the top of the bed to help elevate her head. Dana was paralyzed from the waste down and had the use of her upper body. She was not totally useless.

“Yes please. What time is it?” Dana was groggy.

“Six thirty. We have to hurry. The vans are leaving at seven.” Sofia helped Dana sit up and with the help of another woman they put her in her wheel chair.

“Seven, okay. I can do that. Can you give me my bag over there so I can clean up. Oh and I need my meds.” Sofia knew the drill after only two days. She didn’t mind doing all of this, for now, but didn’t want to have to do it for the rest of her life. She didn’t ask for this burden. Not nice thoughts, she thought to herself, but nonetheless the truth.

Dana wheeled herself toward the huge bathroom, they all shared. It looked like the sort of bathroom you would expect to find in a jail. Very cold, very tiled, very stainless steel.

From the middle of the room could be heard the cries of an infant and the screams of a very cranky 20 year old Sierra. “Does anyone know what to do with this thing? It won’t stop crying. I’m going insane.” Sierra had no idea what to do. She had never held an infant before.

A woman in her 30’s walked up to the cradle and felt the child’s diaper and then her forehead. “This child needs a new bum and some food. Do you see any diapers lying about.”

“ahh nappies, no I don’t see any in the bag. I’ll check the loo . Off Sierra went to see if she could find some diapers or nappies as they were referred to in England. “Found some.” she came back waving a small bag.
“Guess what I found, cloth diapers. I’m guessing they want us to use these cloth ones. Put those away, those are diapers for old people, you know like Depends.” Sierra shrugged her shoulders and put them back on the counter. She did have the notion to bring back a wet cloth.

“thank you. My name is Jo Anna.” The strange woman introduced herself to the young girl.

“I’m Sierra. I’m glad you know what you are doing. Do you have any children?”

“No and I guess I never will now. Well that just sunk in my brain. My husband and I have been trying since the day we were married. It’s been two years and no baby. But I love to help take care of other people’s babies. I volunteer all the time at Church on Sunday. I suffer from Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS.”

“Crikey, what’s that?” Sierra was always interested in physical conditions.

“It is a disorder of the hormonal or endocrine system. Women with PCOS have a lot of different symptoms, but there are a few that nearly every women with PCOS has, weight gain specifically gained around the abdomen, this weight is normally pretty hard to lose and will come back because of the hormonal imbalances. Acne, severe during adolescence, moderate as an adult. Irregular cycles, some women with PCOS have as few as one each year, Personally, I have had 3 in the span of 12 months, and the more time between them the worse they are...sometimes I won't even leave the house because its so bad...Some women also experience unusual hair growth, or rapid hair growth...I'm betting the bearded lady had PCOS. Most of the symptoms are caused by having too much testosterone, and not enough Estrogen.

”For me, I have always had hair that grows REALLY fast, except when I was on the BCPs then it took forever, and the BCPs made me have horrible mood swings...we're talking Dr. Jeckyll and Mrs. Hyde kind of swings...Most of my cysts form on my right ovary and some of them will press on the nerve going into my thigh...I do occassionaly have some that form on my left ovary, The pain can be stabbing or a constant ache, it depends on where it is and what it is pushing on...If my body doesn't try to ovulate then I don't have a problem with pain though.” It was as if she had been through this speech a thousand times.” Jo Anna seemed to be a medical encyclopedia. Sierra’s eyes were wide as she tried to grasp what she had just been told.

“There little baby you are all diapered up and ready to be fed.” Jo Anna swaddled the infant and cuddled her in her arms. “I wonder what your name is.” She had searched around and saw that this child had no documentation of any kind.

“I think I will call you Emma. I love that name” Jo Anna’s eyes twinkled as she held the tiny Asian infant.

“you can take care of miss Emma any time. Besides, these things reek” Sierra pointed to the dirty diaper on the table and turned to head back toward her bunk.

Chapter 4, part 2

Male Barracks, Guantanamo

Duke had seen better conditions in some jails around the United States. This place was a dump. The barracks had been part of the prison that held suspected and convicted terrorists after September 11, 2001. After the assination of Osama Bin Laden in late 2006, the UN Security Council acted swiftly and was able to disband any and all terrorist actions. Most of the radical Muslims had either died or were in prison. If there were any out there, they were quiet.

At the door were two military guards. Duke guessed that they were put there to make sure they didn’t try to escape or was it that anyone would try to get in? He thought this ironic as who would try to escape out into a dying planet, when hope was in the hanger across the base. He was finally going to get his chance to be free. Sure he was the architect of his own destiny but when you are caught in a vicious cycle, it’s hard to catch a break. The cops expect you to break the law, so you do. Duke had lived his life his way since he was 15 and all that money wasn’t going to make it better. He only stole what he needed to survive. If he had wanted wealth, all he had to do is ask for it or “give in” as he put it. He laid still on his bunk, smoking a cigarette, hoping that they had been able to accommodate his wish in bringing a few cartons along. He knew he shouldn’t smoke and he could quit any time he wanted but hey why would he want to.

Duke’s mind then wandered to what kind of little senioritas would be a long for the ride. He was looking forward to meeting them alright. Procreation! Well he was all for the sex part, not the baby making part. According to Duke, he had bedded more women than you could shake a stick and only God knew how many children he had fathered. If those women knew who he really was, he would then know how many children he had. But no one knew. He escaped that pompous life and all its fakeness. For all his grandparents knew, he was dead or just didn’t want to be found. His mother, well that was entirely different story.

“Hey have you got an extra fag?” Duke’s ears picked up. Standing next to his bed a tall slender strawberry blonde man stood. It was Addison

“Listen buddy, I’m not up for that shit. I built these muscles so I didn’t have to put up with that shit. No fags here. Go back to your bunk or you’ll be sorry.” Duke only half listened. Addison rolled his eyes.

“No you stupid sod, a siggy, you know your fag, cig-a-rette. Bloody Americans.” Addison was regretting his decision to ask for one now and turned around to go back to his bunk. Embarrassed, Duke threw him the package of Marlboros. Its manufacturer was the only cigarette manufacturer left on the planet. The rest of them had gone out of business or bankrupt.

“Thanks. Listen, sorry about the comment. It’s been a rough couple of days. I quit smoking four years ago. I don’t know why I want one now. It’s hard enough to breath even with a PV on. I’m Addison, Addison MacKenzie. You can call me Addi, just about everyone does.” Addi extended his hand out to Duke.

“Duke Johnson. The Duke is what everyone calls me. But Duke will be just fine.” Duke shook Addi’s hand.

“Some crazy shit this all is huh?” Addison sat down at the edge of the empty bunk next to Duke’s. “Do you have a light?”

“What, huh, oh yeah sorry. It’s better than the alternative. All those other sorry bastards are going to die and nothing will be left. I had no idea. I knew it was bad, but not that bad. Those guys told me they figured we had only a few months left before all the oxygen runs out. How do you run out of oxygen? Don’t the trees make it or something?” Duke couldn’t wrap his head around the whole planet dying. To him it was bullshit.

“Well if the trees are dying due to the toxins in the air then they can’t produce oxygen can they? It has something to do with the atmosphere becoming more nitrogen than oxygen. All those CFC’s and chemical dumping in the 1960’s and 1970’s started a very bad chain reaction. Funny thing is my mum used to talk about this global warming stuff all the time. Everyone was like, yeah yeah, what’s she like? The air always better next to the sea anyway.” Addison’s mind then wandered back to his mother.


“Daddy, DADDY, DADDY!!” A young boy in the corner bunk started to yell out from his sleep. Addison quickly got up and rushed to his side.

“It’s alright son, go back to sleep.” He brushed the boy’s forehead with hand and lull him back to sleep. Addison got up and walked back over to Duke.

“Your boy?” Duke asked. Addi shook his head no. “What’s his problem?” His disgust for children was obvious.

“The boy’s been ripped from his parents. What do you think his problem is?” Addison became agitated.

“Whoa there Scottie.” It was obvious that Duke wanted to pester Addison some more.

“Addison. Not Scottie, or beam me up Scottie. Why is it that every bloody American says that to a Scot? Ahh sod it. I’m going to sleep. I guess we are all tired.” Addison got up “thanks for the fag, I mean cigarette.” He walked over to the bunk beside the boy and laid down. This was going to be interesting. He wished that he could choose who went and who didn’t. Certainly people like Duke didn’t belong in the mix, let alone be responsible for carrying forth the human race. Tomorrow was the day they would get to view this ship and have an orientation. Finally, he was going to get to see who the other people were.

Chapter 4, part 1

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

The ship was nearly complete. It was a massive ship almost 100 meters in length and probably 50 meters in width. Shem had modeled the hull after numerous TV shows and movies. What it most resembled was a huge version of a shuttle from a popular 1960’s TV show. This grand ark was to carry forth the human race. You would have expected it to have a naval gray exterior but not this ship. Shem was partial to the color back and wanted his ship black.

Shem Finch had just two days left before the launch. Its passengers were already arriving at the base and being kept quarantined until it was time. They knew not of each other until their arrival. One barrack hosted the females and the other the males. All of them bewildered about what was to happen. The old prison looked dismal and deserted. It was in bad need of a paint job.

“Shem, come take a look at this.” Monica was hunched over the main computer in the rear of the cockpit. She was looking at the satellite images pulled from the probe.

“I’ve programmed the coordinates into the main computer and now I am looking at the satellite pictures of this planet. It looks so similar to Earth except it has less ocean and the polar caps are at the side running east and west instead of north and south. But look, if you were to think you were looking at earth, see here where Australia would be, it’s only a bit bigger. It just would seem that the oceans were smaller and the land masts were bigger.” Shem leaned over to look at the computer screen. She could feel the heat from his body behind her.

“Hmmm. That is interesting. Well I suppose we’ll find out what this is all about in a couple of days. Now you said you’ve put in the coordinates into the main computer?” Shem took a step back to allow Monica to stand up.

“Yes and we are almost ready to turn the crank on this puppy. The reactors are almost finished fueling. Do you want to go over launch procedure again?” Monica was a perfectionist. Shem had taught her that.

“Okay in a few minutes. First I want to go back and make sure we have the main passenger compartment ready. Are all the other items loaded on yet?” Shem was referring to the item each passenger wanted to bring forth to represent the human race and its entire existence.

“Almost, we are waiting on a rose bush from someone’s grandmother’s yard. She’s in England. Oh and we are also waiting on some other thing, but I’ve forgotten what it was. It’s funny how most of the passengers wanted to bring books. They’ve all been loaded into the computer. Along with all of your Star Treks and Star Wars stuff.” She teased him.

“Well thank goodness for that.” Shem seemed unphased by Monica’s teasing.

Shem turned and walked out of the cockpit. Monica was tired and a bit disheveled. They were all running on a couple of hours sleep at night. There would be plenty of time to sleep later. Just as that thought hit her, she decided to sit down for a few minutes before continuing her computer programming. Slowly her eyes began to close and then she was out like a light.

Shem moved back through the sleeping quarters. It much resembled that of a sleeping car on a train. Each compartment had two bunks on one side and on the other a long bench style seat upholstered in gray canvas. A small table latched to the wall when not in use and would unlatch to come down and be a divider between the bed and the bench seat. To the front of the compartment was a small bathroom that contained a small sink, toilet and shower. This was to be home for two passengers for the next six months. Together, they would all forge new housing on the new planet. Shem entered his compartment and sat down on his bunk. Five minutes he thought to himself, just five minutes. Shem laid down on the bunk and closed his eyes. He was snoring within 30 seconds.

Be back Sunday

I've got work tonight and tomorrow night so I'll be back Sunday with the start of Chapter 4. In the meantime, I challenge my readers to email everyone they know about this book. I want to see that ticker go up. It will motivate me to create some awesome fiction for you.

Chapter 3

Wilmington, North Carolina

Some of the “abductions” did not go so well. It was reported that a man in North Carolina had killed one of the peace keeper soldiers in order to prevent his five year old son from being taken. The father was subsequently shot and killed and the child ripped from his mother’s arms. All that could be heard was the screams of the boy calling for his mother and father. It was the most blood curdling scream. It was all they could do to keep the boy’s PV on him. As the boy was loaded into a van, the mother came running out of the house waving a bag and had something they couldn’t recognize in her right hand. The soldiers, thinking it was a gun, opened fire killing her on the front lawn. The bag that was retrieved was full of his action figures from most popular movie saga, Star Wars. He loved those dearly and his mother wanted to make sure he had them. In the other hand was, indeed a gun. The boy’s mother knew what the soldiers would do and she didn’t have the courage to kill herself. All of this happened in front of her other two daughters. The older sisters of the boy. The oldest daughter fell to her knees for she was now orphaned.


Columbia, South Carolina

Duke Johnson was a career criminal. He had been in and out of trouble since he was 15. Currently, he sat in the jail in Columbia, South Carolina. He had been sentenced to 15 years hard labor for holding up a gas station in the Northeast part of the city. Duke was in part of the clean up around the city when a van with military soldiers pulled up to his guard’s truck. They spoke for a while and papers were shown to the guard. The guard then pointed in Duke’s direction. As he inhaled the last drag of his cigarette, he noticed the military soldiers, along with some man in a suit approach him. They told Duke he was to come with them and did not answer any of his questions. As they put him in handcuffs, Duke was frantically trying to figure out what else the feds could want him for. There was nothing else. He was in jail for the absolute last thing he had ever done. Duke shrugged it off. Whatever it was, he got off of bending over picking up trash along the interstate. They put Duke in the van with a soldier at either side. These soldiers didn’t look like typical soldiers to him.

Macau, SAR of China

A mother and father cry as their baby girl is taken from them. Their village is small and outsiders were rarely seen. Everyone ran frantically when they saw the soldiers. Even though they were used to their daughters being taken from them and put up for adoption, this was the couple’s only child. The tiny baby was given an infant PV by the council’s representative. Her mother, grateful, because the baby had already started showing signs of repertory problems. They could not afford the infant PV and would often use their own to help the baby girl cope.

Richmond, Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth University was THE university to go to for forensic science. Sierra Dockson was fascinated with death, dying and vampires. She loved her goth music and was particularly into the bands of the early 2000’s. She knew what she wanted to do when the BBC started their own version of an American program called CSI, London. As far back as she could remember, she knew the tale of Jack the Ripper backward and forward. Death, dying and everything about it was her destiny.

Sitting in the library, Sierra was doing research on her term paper due in Psychology. She loved how the mind worked or rather loved playing with the minds of others. The library was a huge place and always had a hushed noise about it. Until the soldiers came in with their council representative and were headed her way. Sierra thought for a minute maybe her student visa had expired. As the man in the business suit compared a photograph to her, he walked toward her. The two soldiers behind him stood and he sat down beside her.

He began telling her the tale as had been told to all of the others that would board this ship in two days time. She gathered up her books and headed out the door with the soldiers. This is going to be some cool shit she thought to herself.


Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Dana Church was a professor of English Literature at the University of Toronto. She sat confined to a wheelchair. She had been there for six years. She had been in a drunk driver accident on a cold blistery January evening. She had been going home after having a few drinks with some of her colleagues. The last thing she remembered was blinding headlights and snow coming down. Lots of snow coming down.

Dana too had been chosen. Some twist of fate had picked her to go along for this ride. She was a lot more open to the idea than any other candidate. Perhaps it was because she was glad to be rid of Frank, her drugged out husband who stole her medicines to get his high. He barely took care of her.

Some of her students thought it strange to see the military guards. They lurked around outside the lecture hall to wait and see what it was all about. About 20 minutes later the soldiers exited the lecture hall, and waited outside. The man in the business suit followed and exited down the hallway. Dana was left to gather what she needed from her lecture hall and then she exited with one soldier on either side of her. When her students questioned her, they were met with a steely gaze and not a word. She was not allowed to say anything. Dana donned her PV and the soldiers helped her out of the campus into a waiting van to take her to her apartment to pack.


And so it continued. Each of the 98 were plucked from their homes, businesses or school and taken to Cuba for an incredible journey. A journey only written in science fiction novels.

Despite their best efforts word was leaked out by family members as to what was going on. The eldest girl in Wilmington North Carolina told reporters about how the bad military man came and shot her parents and took her brother. She didn’t know where they had taken him. Why were people being mysteriously kidnapped. Where were they being taken? The media was on the hunt and in two days they would be too late to discover that everyone else was left behind to die. To die because the decedents before them had killed the planet with the industrial revolution.

Chapter 2, part 2

Paris, France

Sofia sat curled up on her sofa with a good book. It was now 10:00 p.m. and she was tired. It had been a long day working with Jean Claud. They had made 134 sketches that day for his new spring collection. It was nice to escape into a romance novel. Sofia had been interning for Jean Claud for about three months now and she had learned so much about haut couture design. Ever since she could remember she loved to play dress up and alter her clothes. Much to her mother’s dismay.

Sofia was raised in Barcelona, Spain. Her mother, Evita, had been a seamstress all her life. Her father, Joan Manuel, a hard working man at the docks of the harbor. Both were still in Spain and she so many miles away in Paris. Sofia’s dream was to move back to Barcelona and start her own design company there. She wanted Barcelona to be the new Paris of fashion.

Fully engrossed in her book, the knock at the door startled her. Who was visiting at this time of night.

“Que?” Sofia yelled from her sofa.

“Mademoiselle Jaramillo?” The lady on the other side and butchered her last name pronouncing it the English way jar – a – mill – o.

“Qui.” Sofia replied.

“Do you speak English?” the lady on the other side didn’t speak a word of French or Spanish.

“Qui, yes a little. What do you want?” Sofia was up from the sofa and at the door.

“I am from the UN Security Council Miss Jaramillo.” Again she had butchered the pronounciation. Sofia looked through her peep hole to see a badge presented in front of her. She opened the door a crack with the chain still attached. She saw two soldiers accompanying this strange woman who was in need of a new wardrobe.

“Miss Jaramillo …” the woman started

“Jaramillo” Sofia replied with the correct pronounciation.

“Pardon me?” the woman looked confused.

“Har – a – mi – yo” Sofia again stated. “Oy, please use Sofia.”

“okay Sofia, can we come in? What I have to say is of the utmost importance and privacy is needed.” The woman was insistent.

“do you think me crazy? I do not open my door to anyone. Especially this time of night.” Sofia was scared.

“Miss … Sofia, I can have these gentlemen break down this door in a heartbeat. Please.” She had a point.

Sofia closed the door and released the chain then opened it again.

“Come in.” She stood aside to let the lady and the two soldiers in. “Please have a seat.” Sofia was a bit embarrassed, she had already changed into her night clothes and had rushed to get a dressing gown to cover up. Pulling her dressing gown to cover her chest up more, Sofia took the wing chair across from the sofa where she had once sat a few minutes ago reading her book.

“Sofia. What I am about to tell you may sound strange and unbelievable.” The woman in bad need of a new wardrobe went into the same detail about the probe and the new ship to carry the human race forward. Sofia sat in total shock. She was dreaming. She had to be.

Sofia looked around at her apartment and wondered what she was going to take of great importance. She needed to call her parents to say good bye. She needed to say good bye to so many people. How was she going to accomplish all of this.

“Sofia, you need to be ready to go in one hour. I will be leaving these soldiers here and they will escort you to the airport. You will then take a plane to your destination and place with the other 99 people who are so very lucky to have this opportunity. I would warn you though, we have cut off your phone and cellular. You can tell no one. Do you understand?” The woman began to pack up her papers and photos. She had used photographs of the probe to make Sofia believe.

“Si, ah yes. Not even my mother?” Sofia was in tears.

“No. It is imperative Sofia that no one know.” The woman headed for the door whispered instructions to one of the soldiers and turned around before exiting.

“You are one of the lucky ones. Soon the rest of the human race will be dead. I will be dead. Your mother and father will be dead and all that is left is you and 99 others to carry on our race. The human race. Consider yourself lucky.” She snorted back. The woman was tremendously jealous and wanted so badly to take Sofia’s place. The will to survive was strong in her.

Sofia shut the door behind the woman. The soldiers waited outside her apartment door. Sofia slid down the door until she was crouched on the floor. She began to sob heavily.

Chapter 2, part 1

Chapter 2

Edinburgh, Scotland

Addison MacKenzie looked bored. There he sat in his pristine chef’s coat waiting for a customer to come into the restaurant. He had but one waitress left. He had just had installed a commercial ventilation unit and it had cost him dearly.

“How long was all of this supposed to go on? I’m sick and tired of it. I thought these scientists would have figured out the world’s problems by now. I mean, why couldn’t they just abolish all mass production and polluting autos? Bloody planet and it’s bloody problems.”

His waitress smiled and nodded. She had heard Addi’s grumblings many times over the past year. It was a year ago that the owner of the Lion’s Claw Pub had died. He had been a smoker since 11 and died at the age of 43 because his lungs could not take in sufficient air. He left the pub to Addison.

Suddenly the door opened and in walked some man in a business suit.

“Can I take off my PV unit in here?” the man had an American accent,

“Uh yeah sure.” Addi replied and then added under his breath “stupid sod, do you see me with one on?”

“Excuse me?” the business suit man asked.

“Nothing sir. What can I get for you? A pint to start you off?” Addi headed for the bar.

“No thank you. Listen is there some where we can talk more privately?

Addi told his waitress to take the rest of the day off.

“Do you mind if I have a pint then?” Addi asked

“Not at all. In fact Mr. MacKenzie, you are going to need it.” The suited man took out some papers and a pen from his briefcase.

“Look if you are here to try and buy my pub, you can forget it. It may not be much but it’s mine free and clear.” Addi looked sternly at the gentleman.

“No sir. I don’t want your pub. I’m here on behalf of the United Nations’ Security Council.”

“I’m no terrorist! So what the bloody hell do you want with me?” Addison’s patience were wearing thin. He took a sip of his beer.

“No sir, this has nothing to do with terrorism. They are all but extinct. Quite ironic actually don’t you think? Now that we face the end of the world, terror is no longer a priority.

Now Mr. MacKenzie, the reason why I’m here is because you have been selected for a special task. You have been randomly chosen to board a ship bound for a new planet …” he didn’t get to finish his sentence.

“Wait one sodding minute. You’re a crackpot.” Addi got up from his chair and bolted for the telephone. As he picked up the telephone, two soldiers came through the door. Addi recognized them as peace keeping soldiers. They wore blue helmets.

“I don’t know who the bloody hell you think you are and who these blokes are …”

“Mr. MacKenzie, please. May I call you Addison? Addison, please please have a seat. I promise that I am not delusional and although what I am about to say may seem far fetched, it’s the truth and you sir have been given a gift of life.” The man in the business suit had the look on his face like he had been through this all before.

Addison hung up the phone and downed the rest of his beer. He then went over to the tap and poured another. He studied the man’s face looking for any trace of lunacy. He looked over at the two soldiers that had entered the door way. They seemed to be standing on guard. What were they guarding? Why did they need to be here. What the bloody hell was this all about?

“Alright, I’ll give into your madness for 2 minutes. That’s all you have, then you are out of my pub. Understand?” Addison took his chair and turned it around. Straddling it, he sat down and put his beer on the old oak table in front of him.

“Addison, three days ago we sent a probe out into deep space in search of a planet that could sustain human life. Now before you even attempt to figure this out, our scientists have created the ability for light speed.

Now the probe was sent out three days ago with the anticipation that it would be back within a month. It returned yesterday.”

Addison sat there with his jaw slightly open. He lit up a cigarette “Go on you have another minute.”

“We found life outside of our galaxy. A planet that can sustain life. It does not look like it has been in habited. It’s oceans are smaller than our own and more greener continents. The air appears to be pristine. Which brings us to why we are here. We have a ship capable of light speed that will be leaving in a few days. You sir, Mr. MacKenzie, will be on that ship.”

“You sir, are a crockpot, good day.” Addison got up from the table.

“Mr. MacKenzie, Addison, you have no choice in this matter. You must pack all of your belongings now and come with us. It’s either this or die here. I might also add that there isn’t much time left for this planet. It’s that serious.” The man in the business suit nodded at the two military guards.

“These soldiers will escort you to your home to pack. While you are packing think of one item you want to bring that is of importance to you.” The man in the business suit packed up his briefcase and went out the door.

“Please don’t be long.” He mentioned to the soldiers. “We don’t have all day.” He put on his PV and went out the door into a waiting car.

Addison stood there for a good minute before he attempted to bolt out the back. At the back door of the pub he stopped dead in his tracks. He forgot his PV unit near the bar. Ahhhh crikey! He turned around to see one of the soldiers with his PV unit dangling from his finger of his left hand.

“Looking for this sir?” The UN peacekeeper looked unamused by Addison’s behavior.

“Is all this bloody shit for real?” The soldiers were unmoved. Addison took his PV from the soldier and headed over to a stairway in the kitchen. The stairway led up to the flat above where Addison lived. He turned around and looked at the solidiers again.

“Hey can one of you lock up for me please?” The taller soldier on his left nodded and headed back to the front of the pub.

Addison climbed the stairwell to his flat. It was a narrow stairwell that had been originally installed in 1487 and then remodeled in 1978. The previous owner, his mentor and friend hadn’t done any redecorating. Addison had wanted to change it to suit his taste but without an income coming in from the pub, he couldn’t. He had hoped things would get better, since mass production of consumables had stopped and gasoline automobiles were all but extinct. It was supposed to all get better.

Addison entered his bedroom and quickly looked around for a suitcase. How much stuff would he need anyway? Then he got to thinking well if I had a fire, what would I want to get out right away. A picture of his mother. Mary MacKenzie or rather Mary Macayle now. She had married Eion Macayle several years ago. She was lonely and needed companionship. Eion was a drunk and was on his deathbed. The years of drinking had finally gone to his liver and the lack of good air didn’t help matters.

He wished he could take his mother. He wished he could say good-bye.

“Am I allowed to make a phone call? To my mum?” Addison questioned.

“No sir, no phone or any communication. If word got out about this, we would have mass panic.” By now the taller soldier had entered his upstairs dwelling and was standing in the door way of his bedroom.

Addison looked at his picture on his dresser picked it up and put it in his suitcase. Turning around he opened his dresser drawers one at a time.

“Do you think you could give me some privacy? There’s a small kitchenette down the hall to the right. Help yourself to whatever’s cold in the fridge.” The soldiers complied and left.

Addison sat on the edge of his bed holding his hand in his head. It was all too science fiction for him. A ship, right. Warp speed, right. This was lunacy plain and simple. Addison was in emotional turmoil. He needed to say good bye to his mother. Several times he walked over to his telephone and several times he stopped himself. Surely his mother wouldn’t tell a soul. He picked up the phone. Dead. What? They cut off the phone. He slammed the receiver down. Heading toward the door way he screamed a primal scream of frustration. Then calmly went back to his dresser and began to throw clothes from his dresser to his suitcase. It was then he realized that the laundry hadn’t been done. Shit!