“That would have been my event,” John said. “I was there for a prestigious writing award. My vision of the future from reality based science fiction. It is up there with the Pulitzer, the event was at the Astoria. So at least four of us remember being there.”
“Five,” Meredith said. “I was there. I was at the awards. My current lecture tour dealt with where the human race would be in fifty years if it follows the current path of economy, population, and so forth. It was frightening and I, too, had just won an award and that’s why I was invited to attend. So that leaves you …” She turned to Nora.
Nora tossed up her hands. “I’m blank. I know my name and that I am from Ohio. I am certain I have a husband and kids. But I don’t remember them any more than if I dreamt them. I don’t feel them. A part of me knows I was in New York, but again, it’s like a dream. Real? Not real? That’s how it feels. It’s frustrating because I was one of the first ones awake. Here’s something odd …” She shuffled in her chair. “I keep thinking I’m funny. Like …” she crinkled her brow. “Like I am a really funny person. I’m remembering myself being full of life … funny.”
John cleared his throat. “Don’t take this as an insult. Based on how you are now, that may be the dream portion of your memory.”
“No,” Malcolm snapped his finger. “No, it’s not. It’s not. You are. You are funny. I knew you looked familiar. You do a feature once a week on Late Night with Johnny Cramer. You do insane dares. That portion is a huge part of your life. You are funny.”
Unexpectedly, Nora heard John’s voice in her head.
“Aren’t you just funny,” John said.
Nora looked over to John and she saw him, not at that moment, but in the ballroom, wearing a tuxedo.
She heard her own laughter.
“Pretending not to know the guest of honor,” he said, reaching out, grabbing her arm in a flirtatious way.
Nora stood, her heart raced.
“Nora?” Jason called out.
Instantly, her mind was filled with images, a fast moving pictorial slideshow that played in her head quickly. With each fast beat of her heart, came that sensation of ‘knowing’ and ‘feeling’ that Nora fought to gain.
It was there. She had it. She got it.
Not only was she mentally barreled over, it physically caused her to stumble back and fall to the ground.
Suddenly Nora remembered, she remembered everything.
THIRTEEN – NORA’S FLASHBACK
“You’re crazy, you know that, right?” It was Liza. Her friend of twenty years. Liza always went with Nora when she had her appearance on the late night show.
“This is perfect,” Nora said, placing her outfit neatly on the bed. “I mean, seriously, how often is it that we stay here?”
“Yeah, well there’s that UN Conference in town, so everything affordable is booked, but this is not your excuse to take advantage.”
“Um, hello, yeah it is. Johnny will love it if I pull it off.”
“He knows?” Liza asked.
“Yep. Where do you think I got the dress? Network props.” One arm crossed over her waist, Nora stared at the long black evening dress. It wasn’t what she normally would wear for one of her outrageous dares. Usually she wore everyday clothing. In fact the dare wasn’t even a ‘dare’ submitted to her, Nora thought of it herself, inspired by the sign when she walked into the Astoria lobby.
The Galloway Award Dinner and Ceremony.
She was going to crash it.
“I just have to figure out where to put the camera,” Nora said. “The dress is kind of ...”
“Skimpy?”
“Yes.”
“Go. Go make a final pass through, I’ll figure it out and then you need to get dressed.”
It was a good idea. Typically Nora had her ‘dares’ set up in advance, but seeing how it was last minute, she wanted to make another rehearsal pass.
She took the elevator down to the lobby, found her way to the grand ballroom, and did a slow inconspicuous walk by of the table.
Perfect gold name cards were being placed out. Hundreds of them. Nora was certain one of those people wouldn’t up. She just hoped it wasn’t Wallace Hinstrom, one of the names on the cards. Not that she couldn’t pull it off, but it would be tough.
“Are you attending?” A male voice asked.
Busted.
“Yes,” Nora smiled. “I am. I was curious though, what time do they close the doors. I have meeting and I am going to be cutting it close.”
“Doors close at eight PM. That’s when cocktail hours begins.”
“Thank you, I should be here long before that.” In actuality, Nora wouldn’t be there too long before that. To successfully sneak in, she’d have to cut it close.
Her plan was to be some sort of writer, telling a different tale of who she was, to each person she met. See how far she could take it and their reactions to what she said. If it didn’t work or it failed she still had the library prostitute dare she could do.
She got dressed, and planned to arrive their fifteen minutes before the doors closed. She would do a quick scan of the place cards, claim one and go in. However the elevator was taking far too long. When it finally arrived, the doors opened and she was greeted with the loudest yawn she ever heard.
“Oh my Goodness, I’m sorry.” The woman said, stepping off.
Nora giggled. “That was funny. Get some sleep.”
“I will.”
The woman was … an African American woman, still wearing a ‘Hello my name is Amy’ name tag.
No sooner did Nora make it to the first floor, she stepped off and was stopped before she could even get across the lobby.
“Ma’am, just stand here. Please. Thank you.” The man wore a black suit and held out his arm.
“But I need to …”
“One moment,” he said.
Nora looked around. There were many men in suits securing the lobby. Just as she wondered who the ‘big wig’ was, an entourage of people made their way to the exit.
The entourage surrounded the president.
She registered that it was the president, made a mental note of how cool that was and nearly ran across the lobby to the ballroom.
When she arrived they were cleaning up the check in table.
“Miss Rosewood?” The gentleman from early approached her. “Thought you weren’t gonna make it. Talk about cutting it close. You weren’t kidding.”
Nora smiled and accepted the nameplate. “Thank you. I got held up in the lobby.”
He motioned toward the door, “They’ll seat you inside.”
“Thank you again.” Nora stepped into the grand ballroom and was immediately greeted and escorted to a table.
People were mingling. It was cocktail hour and Nora decided to do the same.
As she made her way to the table the beautiful, soft music drew her attention to the stage area, where musicians played. Led by a brilliant pianist.
She placed her small handbag on her chair. There was a lone woman seated at the table fiddling with her phone.
“Meredith, would you like a drink?” a man paused behind phone woman.
The woman on the phone, shook her head, then looked again at Nora as acknowledgment.
Nora passed her a smile, said nothing, and turned. She needed to find someone to engage, and not to mention grab one of those drinks being served.
Looking as if she knew where to go and that she belonged there, she moved through the tables, eyeing a waiter.
Drink. Engage.
Just as she stepped to him, a man cut in front of her. He was preoccupied, holding an earpiece to his ear as he spoke.
“Yeah. No it’s not Charlie, it’s Malcolm. Get your voices right. Learn who you are talking to. And check on camera B. I’m right under A and …” Malcolm said, then stepped aside, out of her way with an apology.
She nodded ‘No problem. Thank you.”
Finally salvation. The waiter. There was one last dr
ink on his tray and Nora reached for it at the same time as someone else.
“Take it, I am so sorry,” he said. Dashing and handsome. Southern drawl. Perfect hair and smile.
“Really? Thank you.” Nora took the drink. He was perfect. Victim one. “You are?”
“Jason Rudolph. And you are …”
Nora didn’t get to answer, a voice from behind her did.
“Miss Rosewood.” The male voice said.
Damn it, Nora thought. Someone knew her?
“Excuse me,” she said to Jason. Then, with her best smile, she turned.
“Are you Miss Rosewood, I was told you arrived.”
“I am. And you are.”
“Not as funny as you,” he said. “Aren’t you just funny?” He reached out and gingerly took hold of her arm. “Pretending not to know the guest of honor.”
“I am so sorry.” She laid her hand to her chest, while quickly taking a drink and remembering the name of the award winner. “John, right.”
“You got it.” He winked. “This is so interesting. How long has it been, Summer?”
“Hmm. Winter maybe.”
He laughed. “You are funny. It’s not like you to joke about your own name since you are so sensitive about it. How did you say it?” He looked to the ceiling. “I resent my parents for naming me after a season.”
“Ah, Summer. Yes.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you were coming. I know you’re busy with the newest projects.”
“Busy. Busy. Busy.”
“But I told you ahead of time my wife wasn’t going to be here.”
“That’s too bad, I wanted to meet her.”
John laughed loudly and then turned serious. “Okay. Jig is up. Who are you and why are you pretending to be Summer Rosewood”
“How do you know I’m not?”
“For one, I know Summer. She has red hair. You do not. And second, I certainly would know the woman who has been my mistress for three years.”
Nora gasped. “Wait. Seriously? Or is this a joke for me crashing this event.”
“No, I’m serious.”
“You just blurt it out like that?”
“Well, if you’re gonna crash my event. Doesn’t matter. My wife filed for divorce four months ago...”
“Still. You dick.”
“What?”
“You cheated on your wife for three years.”
“Do I need to call security?”
“Um. No. How about the moral police. Good Lord, mister.”
He laughed again, “Look at you judging when you crashed my event.”
“Um, there’s a bit of a difference between crashing an event and crashing a marriage.”
“Deceit is deceit, don’t you think?”
The microphone squealed just a little and the Master of Ceremonies said, “If I can have everyone return to their seats.”
“I believe you are at my table.” John, with a gentle hand, escorted her.
“Yeah, I’m not your mistress, keep that in mind, so I’m not putting out.”
“Ah, too bad for you.”
Nora opened her mouth to gasp in shock. He had to be joking, but she never found out.
A loud and deafening ‘boom’ resonated through the ballroom and the ground shook.
The entire room erupted with chaos. People screamed and ran about. Security made their way in, yelling out they were escorting people from the hotel.
John actually took interest in holding on to Nora, grasping her arm to see her out.
But he stopped in the middle of the ballroom.
“John?” Nora called him.
His hand released her and he swayed.
“Are you okay?”
“I can’t … I can’t see…” He blinked and then without warning, he toppled to the floor.
Nora shrieked and that was when she noticed, everyone started to drop. Thump. Thump. Thump. as they hit the floor.
Knowing that she had to get out, Nora raced toward the exit, stepping over fallen bodies. She nearly made it before her vision went. Things switched from cloudy to gray to black and then Nora, like John and everyone else, dropped to the floor.
It didn’t end there for her. She woke up to being wheeled down a hall.
She remembered everything. From the moment they put her in the encasement, until they shut out the lights in her room.
It was cold, so cold. She sensed her own heart rate dropping and breathing growing shallow.
This is death, she thought, then closed her eyes. I am dead.
Nora conveyed the entire sequence of events to everyone. It brought about ‘breath holding’ silence as they listened to every detail she recounted.
She snapped out of that memory a different person than the one who woke up in the Genesis unit. Nora knew who she was. Suddenly she felt who she was, she felt changed, and she also knew the reality that she had a family and missed them horribly.
“This is unreal,” Meredith said. “But it makes sense. Complete sense. This is a tank. A survival tank. John, what did the real Summer Rosewood do?”
“She was a scientist. She …”
“Perfect.” Meredith cut him off. “All of us have something to contribute to society. All of us had to have been placed here because there was an event. It makes sense. We are here with supplies to wait out some sort of catastrophic event.”
Jason scoffed. “That’s nonsense. What do I have to contribute?”
“Spirituality,” Meredith argued. “We need to check every locker to find out who was here and let Malcolm get back to cracking that computer.”
“No need,” The president entered the room speaking in a weak voice. It was sluggish, thick with phlegm. He coughed and sniffed. “No need. I remember a lot now. I think I can explain it. Or try.”
Fourteen – The Genesis Project
It wasn’t the captive audience he wanted. President Wilfred Thomas dreaded standing before the seven people he had only recently come to know in person. On paper, he knew them well, or at least their names.
All but Nora, he didn’t know her and there was a reason for that.
His memory wasn’t spot on. He didn’t have all the logistics. He knew enough that he could at least shed light on why he believed they were all there.
When he was released from the Genesis unit, he had very little memory. They were calling him ‘Mr. President’ but he wasn’t certain of that. As hours passed it felt right. But still no strong memory.
Then as he slept, it all came back. It crushed him emotionally and with a feeling of, “My God what have I done?” he folded. He cried for his family. He cried for humanity.
“It’s called the Genesis Project. Or at least I believe that is what this is,” Will said. “Eight years ago, before I was president, a study was completed that stated the human race, without a doubt was heading for extinction. Not by any outside influence such as bombs or a comet, but by nature. Less disease, better medicine, more people. Population was on a baffling incline and at its current rate, it was predicted that natural resources would be depleted in less than three generations. The consumption, the CO2, emissions, all would contribute to the degradation of the environment. That alone would put at risk our ability to produce food. A starving population, existing merely to try to eat would be a society focused on growing what food they could with the resources they had. Technology eventually would be secondary. It is or was a crisis. Our children, grandchildren would not have any quality of life. Eventually Earth would not be able to sustain life. Something had to be done. Dr. Hassleman is very aware of this.” He looked to Meredith.
“That was a study I worked a decade on. I was working on a solution.”
“And what, doctor, was the only solution you could find?” Will asked.
“There were two. Find another planet to terraform or population control. One child law, but that would be a long process and more than likely wouldn’t work.”
Will nodded. “So another plan was
devised. Mother Nature often takes care of these things. She’ll clean house every hundred years or so, but despite her best efforts, man found a way to cut her off at the pass. It was time for mankind to play Mother Nature and clean house.”
Jason held up his hands. “Wait. What does that have to do with us and …” he faced Meredith. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“I’m guessing.” She replied.
“Doctor Hassleman was not part of the plan,” Will said. “Her findings were, she was not included. She is just as much in the dark as all of you. I was onboard at first. But then I made the initiative to try to stop it.” He looked around. “I failed. With only eight of us standing here, I’d go as far as saying, the entire Genesis preservation plan failed. Let’s just hope the rest of it didn’t.”
Jason asked. “Rest of what?”
John replied “Meredith said it earlier. She nailed it. This is a tank. A preservation tank. We … all of us, were to ensure or insure, that a sampling of humanity would still be here. Forty-eight people. Tucked away … why?” He peered at the president. “What was the Genesis plan?”
“To decrease the world’s population by thirty-five percent. To do so by mass distribution of a virus. Some places in the world hit more than others. The idea was to place the human sampling into stasis until the virus has run its course. Preserved in case, by some small chance things went wrong. An insurance that life would go on.”
Malcolm asked, “So the timer on the door, that is our release into the world?”
“Yes,” Will answered.
Amy asked. “How long have we been asleep? Weeks? Days? Months?”
“I don’t know.” Will shook his head.
“So let me get this straight,” Grant held up his hand. “That door opens and everything may be just fine, less a few people.”
“That’s the Genesis Project,” Will answered.
“And if it didn’t quite work out the way it was planned?” Grant asked. “Then what will we see?”
Jason stood, sadly shaking his head. “Our worst nightmare.”
FIFTEEN – Knowledge
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