After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1

by Stark, Nicole

  Kael pulled her chair out and Avalon sat down. Then he scooted her chair back up to the table and sat down opposite her.

  A Compatio waiter immediately flanked her side.

  “What would you like to drink?” the waiter asked. He wore a white shirt and a black vest with a black bowtie. His hands were gloved.

  “Water, thanks,” she said. Where did they get the material to make these outfits?

  The waiter looked at Kael.

  “I will take the same, thanks,” Kael said.

  Kael smiled at Avalon. She returned his smile and they held hands above the table.

  “Did you have a good day today?” Kael asked.

  “Yes, thank you. How about you?”

  “It was good, thank you,” he answered.

  “Is that Ilium?” Avalon asked, and as Kael turned his head she quickly touched her smartwatch to his, and downloaded the information. All the smartwatches contained this feature for transferring information, but only an elite few knew about it. Avalon was one of the few since she worked with the computer software team.

  When Kael returned his head to face her, he scowled. “That wasn’t him.”

  “Oh. Well, I figured. I mean this place is really fancy and I am sure only the Accipios even know about it.”

  “Exactly,” he answered.

  The waiter looked a bit nervous as he walked up to them and asked, “What will you have to eat Mr. Frost?”

  Avalon had paid little attention to the menu, so she looked to Kael to speak first.

  “You can call me Kael,” Kael said. “ And I will take the blackened swordfish with dirty rice,”

  Avalon’s lips parted open in surprise. Rumors spread about synth-meat but she imagined it could only produce something akin to spam. At most, a hamburger.

  “And you madam?” the waiter asked.

  “I will have the house salad and rockfish.”

  “Very good choices,” the waiter said before sauntering over to the kitchen. Avalon had never eaten rockfish before, but it sounded interesting.

  Avalon and Kael fixed their gaze on each other. Avalon was nervous, which meant a dovetail of questions was going to pop from her mouth. “Have you ever thought about the clouds? About how they stopped forming shapes before the asteroid hit? It was as if they sensed the atmosphere changing,” Avalon stated.

  “What are you talking about? Do you mean the simulations?”

  “No. the real clouds. Before we entered the habitat, they stopped forming shapes. You know how people used to look to the clouds and they could picture the shapes of dogs and cats.”

  Kael stared into her eyes.

  “Why are we having a philosophical conversation when all I want is to get to know you better?” Kael asked.

  “You are right,” Avalon replied. They sat in silence, with Avalon quietly begging the waiter to return with her food. He was right on time, placing a salad before her made of mixed greens, tomatoes, bleu cheese, and tossed in light vinaigrette. Avalon smiled at the waiter, said ‘Thank you,’ and then bowed her head to say grace silently.

  Once she opened her eyes, Kael looked at her oddly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s just… I didn’t know people still prayed anymore.”

  A blush flooded Avalon’s face. She quickly stuffed her mouth with the lettuce, trying to stuff the awkwardness by stuffing her stomach.

  “That’s refreshing,” Kael said with a smile on his face.

  “What?”

  Kael pointed to her plate and said, “You aren’t afraid to eat in front of me. Most of the Accipio girls are.”

  Avalon reflected back to the quartet of otherwise beautiful girls with intentional and large thigh gaps.

  “Well, I can’t bear the thought of wasting food in our predicament. Food is life.”

  Kael nodded politely. “You are quite unusual. Very unique.”

  You don’t know how unique.

  After a few moments of small talk, the synthetic swordfish and rockfish arrived. Avalon took a bite.

  Kael asked, “Do you like it?”

  Avalon took a bite. It had a mild flavor, tender, and a nice flaky texture. “Yes. It is quite good.”

  Kael smiled. “That’s another thing I like about you. You are adventurous.”

  Avalon took a sip of water. “You like to read, yes? Tell me about your favorite authors?”

  Kael listed Ray Bradbury, Suzanne Collins, and George Orwell as some of his favorites.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “I like those authors, as well as E.B. White, Mark Twain, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.”

  After the meal, Kael took her hand and escorted her into a different room.

  “Where are you leading me?” she asked.

  “You will see. You have got to learn to enjoy surprises,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.

  Surprises. That’s all my life has been lately.

  Kael pushed on what appeared at first to be a normal wall, but which opened into a large room. The domed room showed the real midnight sky, full of stars. All around the room were bottles of bubble bath gels, nail polishes, and fresh fruits.

  “What is this place?” Avalon asked.

  “My sanctuary,” he said, taking a step towards her. “I am really glad the AI chose you to be my partner.”

  Avalon had her skepticism about that with Elena and all. But at the same time, she believed he spoke some truth.

  “Why did you do all of this?”

  “Why does any male do anything for a female?” he chuckled.

  A blush rose to her cheeks.

  “You are a rare breed. A sweet girl. Innocent even,” he said.

  Avalon tried to avert her glaze to the nail polishes. He was so close, she smelled the woodsy scent of his cologne.

  Then he turned on his heels and she faced his back.

  Have I offended him?

  “Thank you, for all of this,” Avalon said.

  “You’re quite welcome.” Then he turned around to face her again. “ I want to ask you something.”

  Avalon looked into his face.

  “My dad. I feel like there is something wrong with him.”

  “Well he is under a lot of stress,” Avalon said.

  “No. It’s more than that. He is acting strange.”

  “What makes you say that?” Avalon asked.

  He paced the floor. “ Dad always used to drink caffeinated coffee. Now he only drinks decaf.”

  “Maybe the doctors detected a heart problem and he had to switch?” Avalon proffered.

  “I thought that too. But then he used to write with his left hand. Now he writes with his right.”

  “Perhaps he is ambidextrous and never told you?”

  Kael nodded. He looked so different in his sanctuary, in this moment. Normally, cool, calm, and confident, he now looked vulnerable.

  “This job does strange things to people I am sure. Just being in this habitat does strange things to people,” Avalon said, placing her hand on Kael’s back.

  He turned around and as their eyes met, he leaned down and kissed her.

  Electricity coursed throughout her body. While it lacked the sweetness of Ilium’s kiss, it had a passion to it that Ilium’s lacked.

  After a while, Kael escorted her back to her dorm.

  Safely inside Avalon kicked off her high heel shoes. Her feet were throbbing and red with angry marks across the toes.

  Kael couldn’t be the one they were looking for. He couldn’t have the information. Not after tonight. But Ilium was working so hard on every lead, and he would undoubtedly ask about it.

  Should I hand it over to him? What if Kael is the bad guy. No, that can’t be possible.

  Nonetheless, Avalon decided to dial Ilium.

  “Yes?” Ilium asked.

  “Look, I know it is late at night but I got it.”

  “Got what?”

  “The missing piece. Kael’s smartwatch information.”
<
br />   “That is fantastic!” Ilium said.

  “But I still don’t think it is him.” Avalon said.

  “You can believe what you want.”

  “What is it between you two? I mean why don’t you like him?” Avalon asked.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Okay. Try me.”

  Ilium sighed. “I used to be a member of the Accipio class.”

  “What happened?” Avalon asked.

  Ilium gave a long pause before saying, “I falsified my records.”

  “What do you mean you falsified your records? Did you cheat on a test or something?”

  “No. All of my test scores are accurate.”

  Avalon stared at Ilium’s face.

  “I, unlike you and the others, was born to normal parents without the aid of a machine.”

  Avalon gasped.

  “That’s a good thing! That means you made it all of this way without any genetic manipulation! What’s bad about that?”

  Ilium’s eyes looked appreciative as his lips almost turned into a smile before he looked downcast again.

  “Only those born artificially were to enter the habitat to ensure the longest lived, healthiest humans.”

  “How did they find out about it?”

  “Kael found out about it, but I asked him to keep it quiet. He swore he did, but somehow the President learned of it, and I was demoted.”

  Avalon shook her head.

  “I don’t think Kael would do that to you. I think the President did it.”

  “Sure,” Ilium answered. “Avalon…why are you…never mind.”

  “Why am I what?” Avalon asked.

  “Why are you so dressed up?”

  “That’s how I got the information, by having dinner with Kael.”

  Ilium visibly bristled.

  “Look, I sent you the smartwatch info. Let me know when you receive it,” Avalon said.

  “Got it,” Ilium answered when he received it on his smartwatch.

  Avalon signed out of the videomessage.

  The next morning, Ilium walked into the infirmary. Brody trembled and sweat with dangerously high temperature. Ilium recognized these as signs of the final stage.

  Ilium quickly went to work at looking at the information in Kael’s smartwatch.

  I don’t know what Avalon sees in Kael. I mean yeah he is the President’s son and all, but he is not a good guy. Avalon deserves better.

  After more than an hour, he still didn’t see anything. Most of the information consisted of emails, communications, and game scores.

  I wish this stupid asteroid thing never happened. That we didn’t have to be matched by an AI. But then again, I probably never would have met Avalon if that were the case.

  After another two hours passed, Ilium gave up.

  Perhaps, Avalon is right. Maybe Kael doesn’t have anything to do with this.

  Then he decided to double click on one of his game scores.

  Hm…That’s odd. This score is written weirdly. Like a hexadecimal code.

  Ilium went to work sketching out the code.

  This is no accident. This must have something to do with the virus.

  After matching a compound to the code, Ilium came upon a formula which he ran through computer simulations.

  “99% efficacy rate,” the AI said.

  Ilium smiled.

  Well I’ll be. Kael had the missing link all along. But he isn’t smart enough to come up with this by himself. Not at all. He had to have help.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead as he went to work prepping the ingredients to be delivered intravenously. He constantly looked over his shoulder at Brody whose breaths were getting raspier.

  Ilium carefully reached into his drawer for a syringe. Brody’s once strong broad back now shrunk around him. His sweat soaked hair stuck to his forehead. An unruly five o'clock shadow formed around his once smooth face and grew down his nape.

  With sweat forming on his brow, Ilium filled the syringe. According to his simulations, the medicine should take effect over the course of the next four hours.

  Ilium walked over to Brody and grabbed the IV line to his wrist. With a deep breath, he began to administer the drug when two broad chested guardsmen with electric batons entered the room.

  “Hello, how may I help you?” Ilium asked, stopping half way with the administration.

  “You are under arrest,” the tallest guardsman answered.

  “Under arrest! What on earth am I under arrest for?” Ilium asked as the tallest guardsman placed cold metallic handcuffs around his wrists.

  “You are under arrest for hacking into a computer system and for trespassing,” the short guardsman answered.

  “That is two strikes!” Ilium yelled.

  The taller guardsman nodded his head.

  “But once you have three strikes, you are automatically kicked out of the habitat!”

  They ignored his decries and continued on with their recitations. “You will be judged and sentenced for these crimes by the President.”

  “But who will run the clinic?” Ilium asked.

  “Kael has medical training as an assistant and will fill in for you during this time.”

  “Kael!” Ilium’s blood boiled at the name. “Well, at least let me finish administering this medicine to my patient!”

  “Kael can handle that,” one of the guards said.

  Just as the guardsman said his name, Kael emerged from behind them. Ilium’s eyes narrowed as he put the pieces of the puzzle together, too little too late.

  The guards escorted Ilium out of the room and down the corridor to the holding cell. The holding cell was located in Accipio Hall, and no one had actually seen it in person besides the President.

  Chapter Sixteen

  On her lunch break, Avalon searched for Ilium. After five minutes passed, she stood in line without him. After grabbing her standard lunch, she sat down by Skylar. Where is he? Is he with Raleigh?

  “So, you’re going to rejoin the group today, huh?” Skylar remarked.

  “I never left,” Avalon said.

  “Sure, sure. Where is lover boy?” Skylar taunted.

  “If you mean Kael, I don’t know. If you mean Ilium, I also don’t know and I was going to ask if you had seen him?”

  Skylar rolled her eyes. “No.”

  It’s unlike Ilium to skip lunch. It’s unlike anyone to skip lunch except for those skinny Accipio girls. Avalon pressed a button on her smartwatch and private messaged Ilium. “Where are you?”

  After the thirty minute lunch ended, she still had no answer from Ilium. Now she began to worry as her heart raced and her stomach tossed and turned in tune to the thoughts coursing through her mind.

  “Are you ok?” Xin asked. Sweat beads formed across her brows.

  “Sure,” Avalon answered and wiped her forehead. Ilium would have been able to detect the slight lilt in her voice. Thankfully, Xin did not.

  The rest of the workday was exceedingly difficult to finish. Avalon kept staring at the military time clock, which ran backwards. Finally, the work day ended. Ilium was not going to ignore her anymore. She logged off from her workstation and marched straight into the infirmary to check on Ilium and Brody. After Avalon swiped her wrist over the door sensor, she was shocked to find Kael standing where Ilium should have been and wearing Ilium’s stethoscope around his neck.

  “Hi, Kael,” Avalon said steely.

  “Hello,” he answered.

  “Where is Ilium?”

  “I hate to be the one to tell you this, my love, but Ilium was arrested.”

  Avalon stood in her spot a moment before laughing loudly.

  “Arrested? For what?”

  “For being a traitor,” Kael calmly answered, moving closer to Avalon with open arms.

  Avalon backed away.

  “A traitor? There can be no such thing. We have no real form of government. Besides you and I both know that Ilium is harmless.”

  “But, we do
have a form of government, my dear. Remember, my father is the President? And I am his son. We have guards to police.”

  “You mean to protect?”

  “To police and to protect. The fact remains that while you may think Ilium is harmless, he is alleged to have committed two crimes which resulted in two strikes. We must maintain order in this environment. We can’t be like we were before, with all of that chaos and mayhem.” Kael studied her face before continuing, “I trust that you were unaware of these alleged crimes?”

  Ignoring his insinuation, she asked, “What crimes did he allegedly commit?”

  “He broke into the computer systems and he trespassed into the science lab. These are serious offenses. As you know, trust is a very important concept with us confined to a small space like this. We must all follow order and rules.”

  Avalon rolled her eyes at his political diatribe. “Where is he being held?”

  “The holding cell.”

  “What are they going to do to him?” Avalon asked, the pitch of her voice rising as her muscles tensed.

  “I don’t know what his final sentence will be. For now, they will just keep him in the holding cell. But you can only visit him once a week. His cell is located in the Accipio hall.”

  Avalon stared at Kael. “How can you stand here and do this? Pretend to take over Ilium’s position?”

  “I am only following orders. I told you that. Ilium has broken the rules—”

  “I heard you the first time. I also didn’t believe you the first time,” Avalon said brusquely.

  “Wait!” he yelled but she had already left the room. Before she left the room, she viewed Brody’s monitor from the corner of her eye. All of his vital signs were declining. What the heck is happening! I thought the cure was supposed to work!

  That night Avalon watched the clock tick as she tossed and turned. Her thoughts also tossed from Brody to Ilium. We worked on that cure for so long. The computer said it was 99% effective. Is Brody in that unlucky 1%? Surely not. But then again…But we can’t lose Brody! Something isn’t right… Is Ilium alright? Is he afraid? What is he thinking? How did the President discover that Ilium broke in, but not me… no matter how many times she ran everything over in her head, something didn’t add up.