The End of the Beginning

by Eichholz, Zachary

  “China has turned around? The country is still the biggest polluter on the planet by far. Satellite images consistently show air pollution drifting east into the Pacific,” said Gaspard.

  “It takes a big ship time to stop,” said Dao, “but eventually they do. One can make it slow down faster though by lightening its load, which is what China is doing very aggressively. Our renewable energy funding is second to none. Like China, we are all on big ships; some of us just started stopping sooner than others.”

  “Yeah, everyone must stop but all the superpowers should have done it first as an example.”

  Everyone looked down the table at the voice of Rescue Officer Abeo Lawal, an outspoken man who had worked for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency but was fired after repeated cry-wolfs involving oil spills off the coast in the Gulf of Guinea; until it actually happened when at which point he was given his job back. Instead of taking it, he joined UNIRO. Abeo crossed his arms.

  “It's the little guys that started talking that made everyone else listen. The superpowers should be paying for all this. I do not agree with the one percent rule. Why do all the giants not pay the price for the damage they have done? They did it all first. For decades, I watched my people suffer in the Niger Delta at the expense of the rich that shelter in the superpowers; digging till their hands could go no further into land that was not meant for them to touch. More oil spills into the delta than all the oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon blowout. If you walk there, the land is black and burned and the smell is too much for many. The people that live there don't remember a time when they didn't see oil sheens from birth. Who should pay for all of that, my country? The Ogoni people who call the delta home? Hmm? No! It should be the leaders of the world and the CEO’s that run them.”

  “It can't be just them Lawal, it has to be everyone because we have all done something wrong,” said Amanda. “All are responsible, that's why UNIRO was made; so that everyone has an opportunity to contribute making things right.”

  “Is it to little to late though?” said Abeo cynically.

  “Never,” affirmed Mario.

  “Ye-Yes. Never,” said Seong. “I-I-I never would ha-have joined if I thought it was to-to-to late for anything.”

  Abeo put his head down. “I forgot what it was like to be around optimist. I realize now I have missed it. I hope you are all right, I really do. We don’t have much time. The violence in my country only increases. And now, we have Terra Nova. A hotter world equals hotter tempers. You want real world evidence, just ask Sergeant Horbert. I bet she knows.”

  Abeo pointed to Vega who was drinking a glass of water at the other end of the table, not participating in the conversation. Vega reached the bottom of her glass and saw that everyone was looking at her through it. She put her glass down, not really wanting to talk.

  “Violence, Rescue Officer Lawal,” she tonelessly said, “is something that my country has always lived with. Violence will always find its way to us. My people accept it and live with it. First it was the Holocaust, then it was a six-day war, assassinations at an Olympics, then it was the Arab Spring, and now it is climate change. It makes no difference what it is. Israel will always find violence, or rather, violence always finds Israel.”

  Vega got up to go refill her glass of water. No one really spoke until she returned, as if waiting for a sequel to her first thoughts.

  “This,” she said putting her full glass of water in the middle of the table, “is what we fight over now.”

  “It's true,” said Gaspard. He used to be a mechanical engineer who worked on Mediterranean desalination projects. “Water scarcity has become a major source of conflict throughout the Middle East. Many blame drought for the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi chaos. Haven't recovered since. The region would be nothing without water. Israel is in competition with Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinians, who don't have a great relationship in the first place, over the Jordan River. ISIS extremists blew up the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates in Syria in 2021 to keep water flowing through to Iraq. Turkey and Cyprus threatened war a few years ago over the canceling of a water pipeline to the island, which has almost no reserves left. I was supposed to work on that project. The French can build.”

  “Didn't you guys try and build the Panama Canal… and fail?” smirked Vinny.

  “When water goes scarce,” Gaspard lectured, ignoring Vinny, “in a place where it already was it leads to crop failures, which can lead to economic distress and migrations that lead to other social systems becoming strained. Unemployment and economic dislocation follow and people become upset. People expect to see action to combat the problems but when you combine all those troubles with shady regimes you can get social unrest. It's all a vicious feedback loop that can ultimately end in war.”

  “Well, I hope we can break that loop… Rescue Officer.” Vega gulped down her full glass and then banged it on the table in front of Gaspard, then left.

  Simba got up and stood over Gaspard after a few seconds of silence. “Oooohhhh, Mini-boss lady has it in for you, Fortin. You should have kept your mouth shut. You know she could kick your French fry ass across the base. I heard she was a member of Unit 669.”

  “Wh-What is Unit 669?” asked Seong. Most everyone else had the same question.

  “Unit 669,” explained William, “is the Israeli’s elite heliborne medevac extraction unit. They are the best. UNIRO even based some of its training methods off of what 669 do. They are trained in special forces tactics and in addition to being comfortable in the air they make for great ground soldiers. She probably has more rescue training than all of us combined.”

  “Nonsense Boss, you're the best here. I’m sure Mini-boss is great to but none of us can say we have done what you have done.”

  “Well, thanks,” William sighed. “But you don't want to have done what I have done and I hope none of you ever have to.”

  “But if we do, Boss, we will be ready. Isn't that right, guys?”

  Each of the team offered their agreement. William’s eyes actually got a little watery. He realized something right then and there. After years of being alone and scared, he now finally had something he had been yearning for after so long… a family. When he thought about tomorrow he did not fear it because he would not be alone. He had ever more reason to fight now.

  Letting out a long, sore moan, William stretched out his legs under the table. A bandage on his forehead marked where the barbed wire had cut him earlier in the day and both his shoulders were bruised from aerial tunnel crawling. But he would take it all and more to finally feel the way he was feeling now. Happy.

  “To us,” said William, raising his glass of lemonade.

  “May we rise together, fight together, and should fate see it, die together,” nodded Mario.

  “Hear, hear!” cried Paul.

  “I’ll drink forever to that creed,” said Vinny.

  They all toasted.

  “Captain,” asked Amanda, look back and forth down the table. “Where are the Mamedov brothers?”

  CHAPTER 37: One Must Know Their Place

  William left dinner satisfied, until he reached down into his pocket and felt the piece of paper. It felt poisonous in his pocket. He wanted answers. He wanted security. He wanted to talk to Hernandez.

  It was late, past eleven o’clock, but William was sure Hernandez was still up and working. A quick call over to his office confirmed that. He biked the short distance through the BLOC section from the dining hall over to the domed ISAF headquarters building. Once he arrived an assistant escorted him inside to Hernandez’s office. The assistant left William at the office door. William knocked twice.

  “Enter,” he heard Hernandez say.

  William slowly opened the door. Hernandez was talking to someone through his earpiece sitting at his desk. The only light in the room was coming from his desk lamp and his computer monitor.

  “Yes,” he said hurriedly, seeing William. “Just make them understand, please. Our
schedule is very tight. Yes. I need to go. Thank you.”

  William had made his way to the middle of the office. He noticed Hernandez’s little ant farm had new tunnels carved into it.

  “Lo siento, amigo. Lo siento. Please sit.”

  “Rough day?” asked William, taking a seat.

  “Long day. But a long day is usually a fulfilling one. What brings you here Captain, at this hour?”

  “Chief. I need to talk to you about something that happened today at training. I don’t know what to make of it.”

  Hernandez leaned back in his chair. “Okay.”

  “My mistrust of Base Commander Hammond grows, especially after what happened today.”

  “Why?”

  “One of my rescue officers, Samir Mamedov, was injured today on the ropes course in the Yard. The entire time before being injured he was rude, acting undisciplined, and didn’t seem to care about being here at UNIRO. Then, just before being taken into a medical tent for his injury he handed me this.”

  William took the piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to Hernandez.

  “Thou art amongst traitors,” Hernandez read.

  “He told me to read it when I was alone. For a few seconds his attitude completely changed. He looked scared as hell. He looked… disturbed. Desperate.”

  “What do you think this note is in reference to?”

  “Hammond.”

  “Because of what you saw her doing in the warehouse.”

  “Exactly. She knew about Toronto Chief. I think she damn well knew.”

  Hernandez sighed and looked at his tiny ant farm. He gave its plastic container a quick flick with his fingers.

  “I wish people were ants. I mean, look at them.”

  William saw them scuttling about through their tunnels, never stepping over each other.

  “There are so many yet, they do not fight. They do not argue or debate what should happen. They just do what is necessary to build towards perfection. They build to create the perfect living system. If someone steps on their home they do not wonder whether or not their home had actually been destroyed, they just react and begin rebuilding immediately. They understand something I sometimes fear humans never will. Synergy.”

  The chief continued staring at the ants.

  “Do you trust her, sir?” asked William brazenly.

  Hernandez hesitated long enough for William to know his answer. “We live in difficult times, Captain. Very difficult. Threats to UNIRO are growing; both from the outside and now, I fear, the inside. Evidence is mounting to suggest at least a handful of Terra Novan conspirators have successfully infiltrated UNIRO but so far this evidence is only superficial and based on eye witness accounts, like yours. We have nothing concrete. But, with something like this…”

  Hernandez read the piece of paper again to himself.

  “Rescue Officer Samir Mamedov will have to be questioned about why he wrote this and why he gave it to you. I need to know if something sinister is behind this or if this is just a stupid immature joke.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll talk to him as well. I need to talk to him anyways about his attitude. What about Hammond?”

  “This doesn’t leave the room, do you understand me,” said Hernandez seriously.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “She is under surveillance. Very few know that for obvious security reasons.”

  “Then why tell me?”

  “Because everyone needs someone to vent to, even the head of ISAF,” smiled Hernandez. He looked tired now, especially in the low light. “I hope it isn’t true. The last thing this world needs is for someone in Hammond’s position to be exposed as a terrorist. There would be more mistrust than ever.”

  “Yeah,” said William sadly.

  “Thank you yet again for more insight, Captain. You’re becoming an invaluable ISAF asset. I know you are vigilant and concerned. That is always good, especially now. But do not lose focus here over this. Let me do the worrying. Your job is to rescue, not to judge. That’s my job.”

  William laughed in his chair. “Yes, sir.”

  “Speaking of rescuing, how is the rest of your team doing? Are they settling in behind you?”

  “All except one.”

  “Samir. It sounds like this man needs to be talked to soon. If this whole paper thing is all a joke it would line up with his behavior that you have seen so far. He seems extremely uncaring about what is at stake here and for the safety and betterment of his teammates, and his leader. That is dangerous, Captain. As the old saying goes, all it takes is one bad apple.”

  “Oh yes. I know, sir.”

  “When I was a part of the Policía Federal, the Federal Police,” started Hernandez, putting his hands behind his head, “years ago, we had this one guy. His name was Rafael. He was about your age. He never listened. He didn’t have an ounce of sacrifice in his body. Most believed the only reason he had the job was because the leaders within our police unit were paid off to take him. Turns out, that rumor was true. His employment was being paid for by drug lords. He was their inside man. It made sense, finally, why after so many raids we always found nothing.”

  “How’d you find out he was a part of the cartel?”

  “One day, I watched, from twenty meters away, as he and a few other officers were cornered in a junkyard we had been investigating. I was providing cover. I always had the best shot,” Hernandez grinned. “Armed cartel members were yelling at the officers to put their weapons down. The officers were brave though, they wouldn’t. It was a standoff. Then, I watched Rafael sneak behind the line of cornered officers and shoot the highest ranking one in the head. As the others looked on in confusion over who had just fired, the cartel members themselves opened fire, killing everyone, except Rafael of course. Most of them were my friends. And one of them was my fiancée.”

  Hernandez took in a long full breath and then let it out for just as long.

  “The problem was, I was that groups commanding officer. It should have been me in that standoff. I wasn’t there for them when they needed me and they died. I should have acted on Rafael sooner. I should have seen who he really was but I didn’t. I failed them in leadership. I don’t intend to do that to any of my men here. If there is anyone I question, either in commitment or loyalty, I make sure they either get put in shape or put where they belong, far from here in a cell. Terrorist or not, Samir needs to be put in check, Captain. He needs to know his place, just as each and everyone of those ants do. And that place is behind you.”

  CHAPTER 38: Waste

  Hernandez’s insight could not wait till tomorrow. William wanted to straighten Samir out now. He also wanted answers about the foreboding piece of paper he had been given. If it was just a joke, Samir would be lucky to even be allowed to sleep in his bed tonight and not the brig for the incitement of a terrorist conspiracy in Base Tranquility.

  Samir was wasting away anything he may have. William believed he had to have something in him, something that could show everyone how he could contribute. Wastefulness, it was a tragic side effect of human laziness. So much could be saved and reused or repurposed to fabricate new products that could be used for something they were never intended to be, including a person's skills.

  UNIRO hated being wasteful. Almost everything on the base was recycled when its use was finished or made from a recyclable material. Many of the parts coming into the ever-progressing base construction were made from plastic taken from the Great Pacific and Atlantic Garbage Patches, continent sized areas littered with the billions of tons of floating trash and plastics. One of the first environmental projects undertaken by UNIRO, and crowd-sourced from a kid named Boyan Slat who was only nineteen at the time of his invention making headlines, it comprised of a system of marine containment booms and a floating tower that collected, sorted, and stored material caught using the oceans own currents, capturing plastic waste mostly floating a few feet below the surface. UNIRO ships would then take the captured waste and take it to recycling a
nd manufacturing plants that turned the waste into useful products or printing solutions to be used in 3D printers. Yearly, the system was cleaning millions of tons of plastic waste a year and would have the two patches clean within just over a decade.

  Plastic, for all its miracle uses in the modern world, was still a product of the petroleum industry. Its lifespan was centuries in most cases and would, no matter how hard UNIRO or anyone tried, be apart of the geologic record, proof of what humans had done to the planet; their inheritance sealed within the crust of the Earth. Examples of this were already visible in some parts of the world where rock and plastic had fused together. Geologist had a name for it, plastiglomerates.

  Human legacy would not be our bones such as the dinosaurs but our plastic. So great was this discovery learned by William in class that it helped scientist to declare a new epoch in Earth's history, a new subdivision in the geologic timescale, the Anthropocene.

  Epochs normally lasted millions of years, displaying evidence of their defined time through rock layers that could be studied. Some suggest mans started as recently as the Industrial Revolution, displaying how fast our awesome force for change over the planet took hold. In that time, humanity managed to touch and waste away almost every natural system in existence and even throw some out of existence.

  Wasting materials was like wasting a life to UNIRO, it was unacceptable, unacceptable in a future where man wanted to be sustainable and people wanted to be safe. It was unacceptable to William because he had wasted so much of his own life. Knowing now from experience, he hated to see another person slip down the same path that led to a life of just floating, bobbing, and waiting, waiting to be picked up or waiting to sink to the bottom where one would stay; like the plastic in the sea, never to be otherwise used again.