“SIR, YES SIR.” The commander turned to me next, under the curious gaze of the soldiers. “We have a motto in the International Peace Army. Do you know it?” I quickly examined my memory, trying to recall the various mottos of the Alliance. Nothing came to mind.
“No sir, I can’t say that I do.” After the events of this morning, I hadn’t expected another test. I felt the heat rise in my face, sensing that this and all other interactions from this point forward could be tests of my loyalty. My nerves were firing with anxiety at the thought of what might be required of me, but I did not falter. I stared at the soldiers. What did they feel that the values of the Global Peace Alliance were?
“Alright, let’s help her out,” he shouted, his voice filled the room again. “What do Soldiers of the IPA do?”
“WE THRIVE. WE GROW. WE SPREAD.” The soldiers all saluted the Commander, moving as a single unit.
“Now get on that plane and serve your District well.”
“SIR, YES SIR.”
The men filtered onto the plane and I was about to follow behind them, but the Commander stopped me.
“Here, Everly, take this.” He tossed me a large duffel bag and a small brown sack. I looked into the sack first. It was a sandwich, an apple, and a bag of chips. I was starving by that point and the gesture made me feel a little better about this whole thing. I tossed the bag over my shoulder, feeling its heft, and I jogged over to the plane. There were several rows of seats lining the inside of the aircraft, facing inward toward a load of cargo. The seats were large and I chose one out of the way of the soldiers. I hadn’t been around anyone in the military and I wasn’t sure what to expect. As the engine of the large aircraft started to groan, it masked the sound of the wind picking up outside. The weather had progressively worsened throughout the day and it was a good thing we were leaving right away. The clear skies would not hold out much longer. I clipped the harness on my seat into its corresponding buckles and tightened the straps. The plane began to lurch forward and drive down the runway, preparing for takeoff.
It had been only one day since graduation, but it felt like I was leaving that world entirely and entering a new one.
Chapter 4
“How was the flight Commander?” The sound of a young man’s voice filled the aircraft.
I startled awake as I heard a muffled conversation amidst the din of soldiers leaving the plane. I must have fallen asleep at some point after leaving the storm zone and before we entered sAM Airspace.
“It was fine, Adam. I’ve brought you the scientist you requested. I had a hell of a time getting her here too.” The Commander’s voice responded. Who was Adam and why had he been the one to request me?
I made a big commotion of unclipping my harness and jostling my bag so they would notice my presence. I was probably not supposed to hear the words between the two men. The man who was speaking to the commander must be in charge of the project. He was most certainly not a soldier. He was quite handsome-- tall, with tousled black hair and dark grey eyes. He was not wearing a uniform, but a tight-fitting black t-shirt and black pants made of some heavy synthetic material. It was probably some type of military issue, civilian wear. My duffel bag was probably filled with the same sort of clothing. He was as tall as the commander, though he had a much more laid back posture. He couldn’t be more than 19 or 20.
When they turned to me, I shifted my glance feeling suddenly nervous. This was not at all what I had expected. Who was this man that he was able to make requests of the Commander? I tried to make eye contact, to show that I was truly meant to be here.
“Lane Everly, what a pleasure to meet you!” His exuberance took me by surprise. His dark grey eyes and messy black hair contrasted his sunny greeting. He took my hand into his and shook it firmly. His skin was as warm as his greeting.
“Um... Hello.” I replied tersely. “Who are you?”
“Of course, I should have introduced myself. I’m Adam Abbott.” He was still grasping my hand.
“Adam will be on this project as well,” The commander explained. “He is a field medic from the Medical Academy in the Western Coastal district.”
“Well, It’s nice to meet you then,...?” Was I supposed to call him Doctor?
“Please, call me Adam.” His eyes were kind. I was glad that we were dropping the formalities.
The commander handed a large manila envelope to the dark-haired medic, but he made no move to leave the plane.
“Adam will help get you situated,” the Commander was already reattaching the various straps in his seat. “I have to deal with something at the Sector 5 checkpoint.” He sighed and his eyebrows furrowed.
I picked up my duffel bag quickly before Adam could attempt any sort of chivalry. I was small but stronger than I look. I felt my hands stiffen around my bag strap, feeling the need to prove myself. He made no move to take it away from me thankfully. I was too tired to argue against a handsome stranger’s polite gesture and I might have let him.
As soon as we exited the aircraft, I was hit by a wall of hot, humid air. We had landed in a large perimeter of chain link fence and there were numerous tents and temporary buildings dotting the area. The runway was short enough that it seemed dangerous. Adam also took a large wrapped package of medical supplies and I followed him down the dirt trail.
Soon enough I discovered that we weren’t actually at the site of the Black Cat Project. We still had to travel, but this time on foot.
“You may want to change now, Miss Everly.”
“Lane.” I corrected him.
“Lane,” he smiled. “You should have some supplies in your bag. Trust me, the moisture wicking material is a lifesaver out here.”
I rummaged through the huge duffel bag awkwardly. There were multiple pairs of the same black shirt and several pairs of pants, in the same heavy synthetic fabric that Adam wore. I grabbed a black pair and a shirt. I could already feel beads of sweat forming on my skin. The air was heavy with the humidity. Adam led me to an empty tent. It had a fan attached to the side of it, but stepping inside I knew that it did no good. In fact, the fan made it feel like a convection oven on the inside. I peeled off my sticky layers and pulled on the shirt I had grabbed as well as the pants. The material was clingy, but lightweight and I felt relief. The pants were tough but comfortable and much cooler than I had expected them to be.
I walked out of the tent. “Is there anywhere I could get a pair of boots?” I eyed my companion’s sturdy looking hiking boots. My runners wouldn’t last too long out here.
“There should be some in your bag.”
I pulled out more items from the heavy laden pack. There were several pairs of black shorts, made of the same material. I dug deeper into the seemingly endless piles of black material before I found them. They were just the same pair that he wore, black leather with thick nylon laces and a heavy tread. They were perfect.
The whole operation was in some type of natural clearing, but the canopy of trees was left intact except for the one section where the severely short landing strip was located. However hard they had tried, the forest pushed in on every side, threatening to engulf the site. Adam led me through the compound which was mostly empty besides the soldiers who had just offboarded.
“Where are they going?” I pointed toward the soldiers who were piling into heavy duty all-terrain vehicles.
“They’re heading to Sector 5. It’s the main urban center of sAM and there’s an Alliance base there.” He explained. “Commander Marshall will be going with them. You and I will head to Sector 4. Are you ready?” He asked as I had just finished knotting the laces on my boots.
“Yeah, ready as I’ll ever be, I guess. How far is it?” I rubbed my shoulder which was sore from sleeping on the plane.
“About four miles to the river, then we take a boat the rest of the way.” He surveyed me, his steely eyes neutral. I felt distinctly aware of him, the way he seemed to analyze and evaluate me.
The chain link fence that enclosed the area had one gate
on the far south end. It was unlocked and we passed into the forest. It was an unmistakable sensation of being blanketed. The trees filtered the light allowing greens and yellows to sift down onto the foliage carpeted forest floor. There were tall plants of every kind and so many sounds. From a distance, I could hear the cries of howler monkeys as they danced in the trees. There was more life in one square foot of this forest than I had ever seen in all my life. It was like the forest was breathing, with a constant deep thrum.
“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.”
We walked for a long time like that. It was hot and my bag was growing heavier, but it was strangely peaceful. I was so busy noticing my surroundings that I didn’t have time to let my thoughts linger on my anxieties. There were vines as thick as tree trunks running up and down the forest. The brightly colored flowers and leaves were matched in vibrancy only by the tropical birds that I caught glimpses of occasionally. The Green Kingfisher perched on a branch above seemed a watchful guard over us. I fought back the urge to call them out to Adam as we walked. I didn’t want him to think me childish.
After a couple hours of heavy hiking, I saw a light through the thick curtain of trees. There was a clearing ahead. As soon as we reached the source of the light, I could hear rushing water and I knew it was the river. Once, long ago, it had been called Rio Amazonas. It was massive by any account and I was surprised that it was not louder, given the amount of water rushing past. A small boat with a single engine on the back was tied up on the bank and there was a woman waiting by it. She wore khakis and a green t-shirt with a print that read “California.” It must be vintage. The Western Coastal District hadn’t been called that since the Presidential Era.
“This is Achi, She will take us into the section of forest where our project site is located.” Adam introduced us, familiarity showing in his face.
She smiled at me and grasped my hand. “Hello, It’s nice to meet you,” She spoke sweetly. She grabbed my bag from me and tossed it into the small boat along with Adam’s things.
“We have to hurry now.” She pressed on trying to move us quickly into the small craft. “There are storms coming soon. We have probably an hour or two at most.”
I began to consider our mission here. That would be valuable information to begin with, so as soon as we got into the boat and were situated on the narrow plank that made for a bench, I took out my notebook. I was careful to remain neutral, not to bring up the Threshold Crisis specifically. It was the huge unnamed Elephant in the room, that the Alliance forbid anyone to recognize.
“What types of storms have they had in this area? And what is the frequency of these weather events?” I questioned generally, looking between Adam and Achi, our river guide.
I made an entry into my notebook titled The Sector 4 River Basin Extreme Weather Events. Adam noticed the change in tone of my questions and I saw him grin slightly at my sudden academic demeanor. He spoke first.
“Well, the area has been hit pretty hard with Electrical storms. It began several years ago around the same time as the Median Shift in weather events occurred globally. At that time it was only every 60 days or so, but the frequency has increased to near daily occurrences. The environment is damp enough that fires have not spread far, however, there are sections of forest that have been severely damaged. The worse effect has been flooding, which is a common enough occurrence, but not at these levels. That is about as much of it as I can speak to without shifting to a medical perspective. The effect of the storms on the local people has been devastating, to say the least.” He maintained the careful attitude toward the topic of the Threshold that I had established, but he still provided me with good information. We exchanged a glance, and I felt that we were already beginning to understand each other.
“And how far does the region of these events stretch?”
“It covers nearly the entire Southern Equatorial Rainforest.”
“Which is how much area?” I asked still jotting down notes.
Achi replied for him. “Five and a half million kilometers. That is how large our forest stretches and all of it has been affected.” Achi was less careful with her words. She must live close to this area of the rainforest. I knew it was hard to be unaffected by the crisis unfolding all around, especially when it was at home. I felt suddenly like an intruder. What am I supposed to know that could make any difference here?
“Well, except for one small area,” he interjected. “There is one piece of forest that has not seen any damage from the storms, and in fact, there have been no storms there.”
“No storms? For how long?” It was unheard of. The catastrophes that were plaguing the globe came in all varieties, fitting for any particular ecosystem imaginable. The widespread collapse of ecosystems was not limited in any way. The trademark cellular decay of the Threshold Crisis was found in nearly every species on Earth. How long had it been? Weeks? Months?
“Well since the beginning,” he replied. “There haven’t been any storms since any of this started.” We exchanged another look.
It was shocking to hear. Cities had been leveled. Some places dealt with it better than others, but to have had no damage… Surely it would’ve been all over the news. But then, I had gotten a security to clearance to be on this project. It still wasn’t clear what the scope of this project was supposed to be.
“That’s where we are going then?” I guessed.
“Yes, that’s the location of the project.” I realized that we had been leaning into one another and his gaze was intense.
I looked at Achi. Her expression was not surprised in the least bit. She clearly wasn’t working for the military as we were. She didn’t have the all-black uniform that seemed to be standard. However, she must be well informed. Perhaps too well informed. The Commander had been very clear, no information about the project should leave Sector 4.I couldn’t help but feel like Achi was staring at me, so I quickly restarted a conversation with my other traveling companion.
“How long have you been on the project, Adam?” I inched back as I spoke, trying to maintain a safe distance from the two of them.
“I guess it’s been about a week since I got here,” he replied. “This particular effort is fairly new. I’ve been working with Commander Marshall for a few years though.”
Just what does a field medic have to do with all this? I still wasn’t clear on that point. The boat ride was smooth and though the skies darkened behind us we stayed ahead of the storm. I tried not to think about it. The idea of an electrical storm while floating on the wide churning river was the last thing I wanted to consider. I continued to make notes in my leather bound journal. What I had come up with so far about Project Black Cat was this. Project Black Cat was an attempt by the Alliance to gauge the safety of a particular area of the sAM Rainforest. This forest had one small section, sector 4, that had never experienced any of the catastrophes, so they must have assumed that it holds some of the answers.
None of it made any real sense, but I scribbled down everything I knew so far. As we rode along the shifting water, the jungle appeared uniform in its wildness. There were no signs of civilization or the remnants of what used to be civilization. There was only heavy forest, thick and green, as far as I could see. When the motor stopped and Achi began steering us toward the bank, I expected something to look different, but it did not. There was no road, or opening into the forest, just the same dense foliage as we had passed for miles. I began to feel the weight of it. If something were to happen, to Adam or myself, we were miles from anywhere with a hospital. I could only hope he is good at what he does.
Adam spoke, “Thank you Achi.” He handed her something. Money perhaps. Then he turned to me. “We are very close now. Only a short walk.”
“I’m looking forward to being on stable ground again.” I laughed defensively. He seemed genuinely kind, but I still flinched as he grabbed my hand to help me out of the boat. He was clearly just trying to be friendly, but something
about his energy was intense. Again he led me into the forest and this time I kept pace with him. Suddenly I felt a burst of energy knowing that I would finally get to put down my heavy bag and see the site of this strange project I had joined.
We cut into the forest once again, and I couldn’t help but notice that the foliage was denser here than before. I made a note to check in on this later. There could be many implications for the biodiversity and relative health of the flora. I could hear the cries of monkeys, birds, and insects ringing all around us like a chaotic symphony. Adam was telling the truth when he said we wouldn’t have to go far. I saw the fence before anything else. It was deep in the jungle, but it towered as high as the trees. It must have been there for a while because it was covered in snaking vines. It was a simple chain link, but the other side was barely visible through all that had grown up intertwined in the fence. I couldn’t see the end of it, and it looked to stretch endlessly for miles. The ground was littered with old cardboard and posters painted with messages. It was hard to make out but they had ominous messages. One was painted with red letters that said, “The blood is on your hands”. It showed a crudely drawn globe crying tears of blood. What the protest was against was unclear at this point. Adam didn’t seem to notice as we approached the fence.
Emergence: Threshold Series Book I Page 3
