CHOSEN: A Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Dystopian Novel (5 page)

“Gregor,
we need to talk,” Silver said looking at the few who lingered as if waiting for
something else.

“You
all are excused. We’ll give it another go after we get the report from the ARC
in May.” Magiro dismissed the others from his office. 

They
would be off for the coming two weeks as part of the more engaged schedule
implemented by the World Consensus. It allowed for a four week on and two week
off schedule with special adjustments made for major holidays.

Since
going year round they had found themselves with more time to prepare meaningful
legislation and actually review it. He’d been a part of the group that had
pushed for the year round schedule when he was just a second year
Representative. He, however, had selfishly chosen not to vote for the term
limits on his position. This was his career and he wasn’t going to
self-sabotage it. That would be stupid. 

Once
the room was emptied and left to Magiro and Silver, they sat back down. Magiro
pulled the report back up on his tablet and Silver pulled it up on her device.
He always kept a paper copy until he was ready to recycle it. That was buried
somewhere in a drawer at his desk. Magiro didn’t trust that the information
wouldn’t disappear or change somehow with no record of what had really been
there. It had happened before with a crucial part of the ARC program and was
never recovered.

“Did
you see this, Gregor?” Silver asked pointing to her projection of her device. 

“Yes,
I have Silver. It’s not good. I’m afraid all of this may blow up in our faces
if we don’t do something. The one thing we cannot do is drill more pump holes,”
Magiro stated emphatically.

“I
know. Still, the question isn’t what can’t we do. I want to understand what we
CAN do? There is always a solution. Magiro, even though The Stache says people
are working hard on a solution, I guarantee that if they really were, we’d have
seen something by now. The Stache and UniCorps are lying. Point blank. We are
going to be stuck holding the muddy stick trying to pull our way out of the
muck, when everyone else has gone home to lie in their piles of money. I will
not be the patsy, Gregor. You hear me? I will not. I have plans and this is not
part of them.” She was staring Magiro straight in the eyes.

“Silver,
they aren’t the only ones who can work on the solution. We need to be
committing money to that side of the work too. Right now we have a lot of money
tied up in monitoring, evaluation, the outer space discovery and exploration,
ARC, and the pump holes themselves. The people won’t want to put more money
into this to solve a problem they don’t even realize is a problem. BUT we can’t
tell them it IS a problem cuz then they’ll all freak out. It’s like the other
thing. We know they are there but people will freak out, so we can’t say
anything.” Magiro said waving his hand over his head and Silver nodded
knowingly.

You
know, when we ran for these offices decades ago we were young, naive. We
foolishly thought that we could, just as one Representative, actually turn the
course of a mammoth ship. We made promises to our constituents that things
would get better and that we would continue to serve their interests. I
personally promised to be honest and transparent and have done my best to keep
those promises. Magiro, I don't want my life to be made into a lie. I don’t
think I could live with that. The only thing I have is what I leave behind.
That is my legacy. How do I do what they are asking without erasing everything
I have put into this career, every sacrifice made? You understand don’t you,
Gregor?” Silver asked as she began to walk back and forth in front of the
window.

Gregor
Magiro did understand. It was all he had thought about since The Stache visited
him before the World Memorial Holiday. “Yes, Silver. I understand. I don’t have
the answer for how you’re feeling right this minute since I am asking myself
the same questions,” he admitted.

Silver
nodded, “Neither of us has the answer to that question. In the meantime, we
need to get people working on a solution without having it funded by the World
Consensus or UniCorps or scaring the people. Is there a super-rich uncle you’ve
never told me about?” Silver teased.

“Not
exactly, but I do have an idea. I know a retired scientist with a conscience. Are
you willing to trust me a little?” Magiro asked. 

Science Camp, University of Southern Allegiance in Santoria,
Southern Allegiance

Stella jumped up
and down on the twin sized bed that lay to the side of the double window. She
was busy losing herself while her roommate Alexis played music on her guitar. The
sound of Alexis’s strings floated through the air, carried by ribbons of color
that surrounded Stella. Alexis couldn’t see the color show, it was for Stella. With
each jump off the bed that had seen enough college use, Stella tried to turn
her body to get a different view of the campus outside their window.

Stella’s
parents signed her up for the extra science camp to help her make-up credits so
she wouldn’t have to retake her science class. That meant she was supposed to
be studying and preparing for the end of camp presentations. Despite posing the
best argument she could craft as to why she shouldn’t have to go, she’d lost.

Unlike
Stella, Alexis was getting extra college credit with the one week camp but
neither could focus after the long day. Alexis had been the most normal person
she’d come across there and on top of that she seemed to have it all. She was
smart, drop dead gorgeous with raven hair and her eyes reminded Stella of the
Antarctic Ocean when they first arrived each year.

Alexis
had the boys on the campus drooling after her. She was confident on top of
that. Stella didn’t think she had an insecure cell in her body and wished she
had just a little of the confidence that seemed as natural as breathing to
Alexis. She was from Australia, another region that didn’t get a new name and
was now mostly dedicated to science and research.

Alexis
had gotten into University a year early and was studying human sciences and
technology, but that might as well have been a new language to Stella. It was
the one area they realized they had very little common ground.

Even
with that difference, Alexis was fun to hang with and could get them just about
anything they wanted around campus. She had a way about her that people
couldn’t resist. Most people at least. Dr. Lima seemed immune to Alexis’s
charms but anyone else they’d come across so far was fair game. 

Before
her guilt stopped her, Stella had even thought of having Alexis try to get her
something special from the campus gift shop that she’d seen the first day
they’d gotten there. She would ask her mom for some extra money when she talked
to Stephen. She’d been saving for something special and was rationing her
lubles.

She
and Stephen were on a short Spring break that was kept at the same time as most
of the world during the first week of Spring, near the end of March. It was
usually a couple of months before the Antarctic region became too cold and they
left for home. That is, unless you never planned on leaving the artificial
warmth of the ARC. Rather than doing a fun camp for art or music she was stuck
in science camp, also known as school. She tried to comfort herself by
reasoning that being there didn’t mean she couldn’t still have fun. 

When
camp was over Alexis would go back home to Australia where they weren’t frozen
in ice and she’d see real people who weren’t buried in work, and even go to real
school some days. She managed to make her time in Southern Allegiance fill two
needs. Her father lived there with his new wife and he’d already come for her a
couple nights and brought her back later in the evening. When camp ended and Stella
went to Antarctica, Alexis would spend the weekend with her dad.

Stella
could only imagine what it would be like to go to school all the time with
other people. For her she only got the few weeks between leaving the ARC and
the end of June and the months of August to November. Those were the months
when school was in session and Antarctica was still in the dead of winter. The
rest of the time would be spent on the ARC, learning virtually and through
online classes or self-study. 

She’d
be heading home in less than two months and that alone made her smile. At least
she would get to see other people for that last month or so at school and for
her birthday party. It was better than spending it alone with Stephen.

As
Stella jumped and tried to do kicks in the air, she noticed a growing crowd gathering
outside in the square. She bounced slower trying to figure out what was
happening. From where their room was, she couldn’t see what was going on or
hear anything.

She
jumped off her bed. “Come on Alexis. Something’s going on down there. Let’s
check it out.”

Alexis
stood up, looked out the window, and smiled. “Maybe it’s a party. Let’s go.”

As
they came out the door of the dormitory building they could hear the voice of
Camp Director Dr. Lima. She was lecturing the group about something but they
didn’t know what. Confused, the girls slowly joined the crowd trying to get a
better look and to hear what Dr. Lima was upset about this time.

Alexis,
stood on her toes, and then came back down. “Nothing to see here really. Just
some boys fighting. But that…now that is interesting.”

Alexis
pointed at a small group of men and women standing to the side, near a
building, looking oddly stiff and out of place. They were staying in the
shadows but backed away and out of sight as soon as they noticed Alexis looking
at them.

“I
wonder what that was about,” Alexis said trying to see them better.

“Who
knows? Probably nothing. Just seeing who the trouble makers are and adding to
their files,” said Stella. 

“There
isn’t anything left to see here. You all need to go back to whatever it is you
should be doing,” Dr. Lima said, dismissing the crowd. As the crowd parted, Alexis
began walking towards the building where the three had entered and disappeared.

Dr.
Lima came up behind her. “Alexis. Alexis Murray-Cruz, right?” Alexis stopped
and turned around with a smile. “Yes, and you are Camp Director Dr. Lima, right?
Nice to meet you in person.”

Dr.
Lima was unimpressed. “Do you know why I stopped you?” she asked sternly.

“No,
we were just heading to the pump,” Alexis said convincingly. 

“Yes,
I’m sure. I certainly hope you, and that is, the two of you, have been studying
and working on your projects. On Friday, you have your final presentation
Alexis. And you have your demonstration of knowledge Stella. I will be there. I
expect a great deal from you, Stella, being the daughter of renowned
scientists.” They stood waiting for her to say something else. “Good luck
ladies. That’s all.” She walked off towards a group of kids who were standing
by the doors where the woman and two men had vanished.

She
shooed them away and waited by the door until they were gone before walking
along the side of the building and out of sight.

“Now
THAT was weird,” Stella said, her eyebrows furrowing. Director Lima had
intentionally stalled them so they wouldn’t find the three who’d been standing
by the doorway. Stella knew those three people were somehow important. 

“Alexis,
I’m curious. What do you think about a little snack? I don’t have much but it
should be enough for something small,” Stella asked Alexis with a smile that
pulled up just one side of her lips.

Alexis
smiled back at the idea of investigating the strange three. “Yeah, the café is
this way, right? I mean I still get confused on this big campus.”

Stella
and Alexis looked around to make sure Director Lima wasn’t coming back from
wherever she’d set off to. Then, they began walking towards the building where
the three had escaped their view and snuck around to the corner of the building
where the door the three had disappeared into beckoned them.

They
tried to look inside the glass. The lights were off and it was too dark to see
in with the sun already setting. Alexis tried the door and it opened. She
turned to look at Stella, as if to say, “it must be okay, the door was open.”
Neither was sure where they were but both girls knew they couldn’t stop now.
Their curiosity pulled them in.

As
they began walking along the wall, the light switched on. They could hear
footsteps and several voices, including Dr. Lima’s. Stunned, they hurried back
out the door and across the campus courtyard to the pump; an old water pump
that had been used during the water crisis of the late twenty-first century. It
was a historic feature of the campus and a favorite hangout for the students. 

The
pump was connected to a system of caverns used to move water from underground
sources. Once pumped it required being heated to boiling before drinking or
cooking, but it served its purpose for nearly fifty years after what seemed
like a double hit on the water. The first hit was a deadly bacteria that
contaminated the water supply. 

Before
people realized the danger and could kill the bacteria, it had affected more
than ten percent of the population at that time. Most who died already suffered
from a weakened immune system. How the water became contaminated was never
clear but it took scientists months to find a way to fight it and even longer
to find a cure. By that time over a billion people had died. Every inhabited
place was impacted. Anyone on the water system knew someone who’d become ill or
died.

The
low rainfall during that period meant the reservoir levels fell dangerously low
and had to eventually be supplemented by the pump system. They had to dig deep
to bring up the water that was left and at the same time planted over two
million trees there and other forests were replanted as well. Even with that
great effort, the area still couldn’t compare to what they’d seen in photos
from before the crisis. The pump was a reminder of the lesson society had
learned, but it hadn’t stopped society from figuring out other ways to destroy
the planet. 

Stella
shook her head as she passed and thought about the work that kept her parents,
Mave, Rupert, and now her brother so busy trying to, again, fix an issue
destroying the planet. She wondered whether the old pumps still worked. Stella
dropped back and walked slower, letting Alexis go ahead.

She
stopped and picked up a pebble and dropped it in, listening to it rattle its
way through the pipes until it stopped. She then took off after Alexis who
stood talking with some other classmates at the end of the courtyard.

“Did
you all see the woman and the two men standing near the building that, for some
odd reason, is off limits to us?” Alexis said in a hushed voice as Stella
walked up. “They were there when Director Lima was giving her little speech.”

No
one had noticed anything, having managed to tune out while Director Lima had been
talking. Alexis rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help but think that maybe that
was why they were all there. They’d tuned out one too many times.

“You
know what I think would be fun?” Alexis said with a sly smile to the group. “I
think it would be fun to find out who those people are. I think it would be
more than fun. I think it would be something important for us to do,” she
added. Alexis made sure to pause and look at each of the three she wanted to
join her, in the eyes before moving to the next person.

“I
think that it’s for our own good to know what’s going on.” She then added, “I
want to go into that building over there.” Alexis pointed at the building with
the lights still on at the other side of the courtyard. “I want to see what’s
in that building, because it would be good for me to know.” Her eyes watched
the group of four she was speaking to now. “It would be good for all of us to
know.”

She
then simply said, “Come on. Let’s go,” and started walking towards the other
side of the courtyard. Alexis gambled that she’d get at least two of them to
join her. Any more than that would be a bonus.

Stella
followed quickly and caught up to Alexis as she walked deliberately towards the
building. Stella looked back at the others following them and whispered to
Alexis, “What was that about? Why do you want to go back in there now?”

Alexis
kept walking, not wanting to give the others a chance to clear their head and
rethink their decision to go along. The truth was, she hadn’t really thought
about it, she just had to go back and do it at that moment.

Alexis
opened the door to the building they’d just come out of a few minutes before.
The lights were now off and it was quiet.

“Come
on,” Alexis whispered.

Soon
she was tiptoeing along the side of the wall, trying to feel her way in the
dark. Behind her someone bumped into a chair sending it screeching along the
tile floor. They all stopped for a moment, anticipating Dr. Lima walking in and
catching them, or someone else. Instead, nothing happened. They continued to
the other side of the room undisturbed.

Once
on the other side of the large room, they could see through the glass doors
that led down a hall. The hall was dark except for the emergency lighting. Then
Stella noticed a glow coming underneath one of the doors on the left. Alexis
slowly pushed open the glass paned double doors leading to the hall and walked
through as the others followed her silent steps.

The
doors in the hall were all closed and none stood out more than any other. The
small group continued to walk down the hall until they neared a door with
voices talking from behind it. One of the voices was unmistakably Dr. Lima’s. They
also heard another woman and at least one male voice. The frosted window of the
door made it impossible to see in as they stood against the wall trying to
listen. Alexis put her finger to her lips to tell them to be quiet as she moved
closer to the door. She lowered herself to her knees so her shadow wouldn’t
pass by the window.