Ark-13: An Odyssey

by B. B. Gallagher

  “Yeah, you really need to learn how to tail someone. Especially if you are going to be sneaking around the Ark. They are always watching…” he nodded toward the corner of his pod where the lone camera was mounted to the ceiling. Jake turned back to Danny with consternation drawn over his face.

  “Don’t worry… I’ve hacked it. The Bridge can only see a recording of me sleeping last night. What they don’t know and what they won’t notice is that the feed is on repeat. They won’t notice though… I don’t shift in my sleep.” Danny winked at Jake.

  “How did you do that?” Danny pulled what looked like a pen out of his pocket. He twisted the pen into a teepee stance and shined two holograms out of either end. One was a keyboard and the other shined the mini-computers monitor on the wall. Danny’s fingers began tapping on his desk where the hologram of the keyboard showed.

  “I hacked my way in.” Danny’s fingers continued to tap on the desk until they came to a stop. He leaned back in his chair so that Jake could see what he brought up.

  It was a listing of all 1,000 cameras throughout the Ark. Jake could not believe his eyes.

  “Is there any surveillance feeds of the Bridge?” Danny shook his head emphatically.

  “Already checked, those GENESIS bastards are still ghosts.”

  Jake shook himself from his own disbelief, returning to his own skepticism. He stepped back away from Danny and folded his arms. He cocked his head to his shoulder and looked down on the teenager before him.

  “Why do you think I came here?” Jake challenged him to make sense of it all. Danny noticed the change of posture and tone but did not change his demeanor. He snatched a ball from his desk, leaned back in his chair and chucked it against the pod wall, catching it upon its bounce. He continued to speak with a casual certitude, shrugging as he answered.

  “You are here to figure out what Meredith Jones did with me prior to being taken. The question you really want to ask is did I get her in trouble? Or did I frame her by hacking her armport? And the answer is ‘No’. GENESIS did.” Jake shifted in his stance upon hearing this.

  “What do you mean?”

  Danny raised his arm to show off his armport.

  “So these things are called armports. They relay every aspect of our bodily levels to GENESIS. Whether it be protein levels, blood pressure, internal temperature, hell even our hormonal balances. They got it all. The question is why? Why do they care what my Cortisol levels are?”

  The answer dawned on Jake as the words, ‘Detain for Treason’ flashed in his memory.

  “To sniff out disorder…” Danny smiled and nodded his head. The logic continued to unfold in Jake’s head. His eyes found a peach on the desk, one that Danny stole from the Stalls. He remembered that his vitals indicated that he was telling the truth when he said he hadn’t stolen them.

  “But you have found a way around that.”

  “Yes, indeed…”

  “The kid you met this afternoon… you downloaded his vitals and are uploading them as yours?”

  “I already have mine programmed in me. Those vitals were not for me…” Danny’s eyes narrowed on Jake, as he pulled out the drive and shook it near his ear.

  “They were for me… You knew I was coming…”

  “That’s right, and I think before we go any farther you are going to have to make a decision. I see that you are interested in what I have to offer and are obviously dedicated to figuring out what happened to your girlfriend. But I know that you are a member of the Council.” Jake knew what Danny was implying as he continued to fan the drive in his grip.

  Jake thought of the events of the last 24 hours. His distaste in GENESIS had mounted over the weeks and he knew that his vitals had probably already bordered on treason. He used to be a man who played by the rules and never risked anything. A man with his guard up at all times.

  “What’s it gonna be?” Danny asked with a tempting grin.

  Jake’s last thought settled on the engagement ring in his parcel. The one he hadn’t given anybody. The chance he never took in his low risk life.

  I have to find my redemption in this new life.

  “Red pill, blue pill?”

  “Something like that…” Danny smiled at the reference of one of his favorite classic movies.

  “I wonder how much change we could actually make for ourselves. Whether we like it or not, we are still flying into the great unknown. And we are still stuck on this God forsaken Ark. But what are the other Arks doing? Which direction into the ‘great unknown’ are we flying? We aren’t a part of that inner circle of decisions. We have no representation. I don’t know much, but I know that living with armports and constantly being monitored for any sign of rebellion is cause enough for rebellion,” Jake thought aloud, adding justification to his decision. And then with focused eyes he looked up to Danny.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Over the next ten minutes, Jake sat hooked up to the insertable drive. Jake did not speak as the device in his arm was hacked. Danny remained fixated on the screen as he rattled off different commands on the holographic keyboard. A progress bar materialized on the holographic monitor before them.

  66% Complete.

  The screen flashed different data points and different command queries as fast as a strobe light. The drive remained plugged into Jake’s arm, as if it were an IV dripping new life into him.

  83% Complete

  Jake began to process the decision he had made and its implications. He knew that nothing would ever be the same from that point on.

  100% Upload Complete

  Danny’s eyes lifted to Jake.

  “Welcome to the Insurrection.”

  Chapter 11

  Requiem for Earth

  Log Entry # 4

  My father’s name was Walter Hansen. He was a partner of Teague, Hansen and Kendrick, LLC – the most prestigious law firm in Washington, DC. He handled many confidential matters for all branches of government. The majority of their business served what he would call the fourth branch of government: government contractors.

  My dad controlled my whole life. He had a formula for me to follow. It started with straight A’s all through school, active participation in sports, boy scouts and even volunteering. ‘It’s all about the resume’, he would constantly remind me. If I started to like anything growing up he would immediately figure out a way to spin it into a professional credential of some kind. After graduating with a 4.0, I would get into an Ivy League school where I would study pre-law immediately. I would graduate with highest honors, I would pass my BAR exam, work a clerkship for a couple different judges that he knew and then I would work at his firm. I would carry his torch.

  That was the formula.

  But there was one major difference between my dad and me.

  I was never good at his Math.

  I had wondered for the past few days why he could possibly want to talk to me. After five years of no communication, the message was clear. I didn’t want to be him. So what could he possibly want to talk to me about? He had only talked to me about my career plans, so if it wasn’t going to be that then what would cause him to have Nora come ask me to call him out of the blue?

  I was sitting on my bed, dialing his number when my finger rested over the last digit for a moment. I had to exhale a lifetime of tension before I pressed that last number. After a few rings, my father answered.

  “Jake…” his voice was older than I remembered. It had a slight quaking behind it.

  “Hello…” the awkwardness settled in quickly.

  “It’s been too long my son.” I didn’t respond, wanting to get down to business.

  “I’m so glad you called...” he continued.

  “What is this about?” After a moment, he began with the full weight of gravity in his voice.

  “Have you ever heard of Cyrus Holder?”

  “Founder and CEO of GENESIS Enterprises… of course…”

  “I am sending him to come see you. I can ass
ure you that it is of the utmost importance that you listen to him and do everything he says.”

  “Dad, if you are trying to get me a job, I swear—”

  “I’m not! This is serious son. I have been working solely for GENESIS Enterprises for the last two years on a particular matter. All I can say is that I was able to negotiate your selection.”

  “Selection for what?”

  “I can’t say. Cyrus will tell you. Do everything he says, do you understand me?” I sensed a begging in his voice. I had never heard my father beg before. Something was amiss and I knew I would have to comply to get to the bottom of it.

  “You are telling me that one of the most influential people in the last decade is coming down to Georgetown, SC to meet with me.”

  “Yes.” He was dead serious. I took a few moments to process everything.

  “Alright… but you’re leaving me with a lot of questions…”

  “Answers are coming soon,” he responded.

  “Where do I meet him?”

  “He’ll come to your office. Tomorrow. Cancel all your appointments. It is critical that you listen to him. He will give you the answers you are a looking for. And I assure you what he says is true.”

  “Alright then.”

  “I love you, son…” he admitted with great difficulty. I couldn’t say anything in return, I was shocked. I couldn’t remember any time in my life that he had told me that.

  Without another word, I hung up the phone.

  Now that I know what happens in the end, now that I know he saved my life with that conversation, now that I know he looked out for me as a father should, I wish so badly that I had told him that I loved him back in that moment.

  But it’s too late and I’m left to regret the man I was before impact.

  Chapter 12

  Day 19

  “The Insurrection?” Jake asked, as if wondering if he had heard it right. Danny turned his chair from the computer to face him and held his hand out. Jake pulled the insertable drive out of his armport and placed it in his open palm.

  “You are not the first, Jake…” Danny smiled. “I couldn’t tell you until you were overwritten,” he said nodding to the drive in his hand.

  “How many of us are their?” Jake asked.

  “You are the seventh… To be honest, we needed you, Jake. We have no leadership. Just crazy rebels willing to risk everything for our rights.” For the first time Danny broke from his confident swagger. His voice carried an emotional cadence behind it. A slight quiver resonated behind his words. “We have no strategy, we have no direction. We need someone… like you…”

  Jake remembered Meredith’s note, Trust Danny Ryder. And he saw why. Jake could see in his eyes a hope for a leader.

  He nodded to his new friend, eyes still locked on his.

  “I’m all in…” Jake affirmed but Danny leaned forward and appraised his admission. He arched his eyebrows in an effort to emphasize his assurance. Danny nodded, accepting the commitment, and leaned back in his chair.

  “Who are the other five?” Jake continued his line of questioning.

  “Coop Nolan, Nurse Lucy from Sick Bay, Elijah Johnson, Zoe Maddon and Junior Posey.” Jake’s ears perked up at mention of the last name.

  “The last time I saw you with Junior Posey, he was about to beat the snot out of you,” Jake exclaimed. Danny smiled, devilishly. “Was that for show?”

  “He wanted proof that overwritten vitals would work… so I had to show him,” Danny shrugged. Jake shook his head again in disbelief. He had to hand it to Danny, he was three steps ahead of him.

  “I know Coop and Lucy but who are Elijah and Zoe.”

  “They are my age. Elijah is popular with most of the rough and toughs. Quarterback-of-the-football-team type of guy. Zoe is more of the artistic type. Kind of emo but I love her anyway…” Jake nodded his head and changed the subject.

  “Was Meredith a member?”

  “No… she wasn’t overwritten.” Danny shook his head.

  “What did you talk to her about before they issued the detainment order?”

  “Meredith followed me here, much like you have, and asked how I had hacked my armport. She caught on to me somehow from our little episode in the Stalls. She expressed some interest in being overwritten herself but first wanted to know what else I had hacked. So I showed her the Q drive, which not only contains all the surveillance feeds from around the Ark and all of the e-messages transferred across the network but also contains every colonist’s vital prints.”

  “Woah, woah, woah… you mean to tell me you have access to all of that?” Jake asked, astonished with an open hand, slowing him down.

  “Yeah man…” Danny responded as if it wasn’t a big deal. Jake turned his hand as if to release the brakes on the conversation.

  “But the problem is that most of the data is useless at this point. Each colonist has been assigned a random identification number. They are only referred to on the Q drive by that number in the data tables and we don’t have the corresponding names. So I can see a message being transferred but I don’t know who it is from or who it is to. I can see that a guy is crushing and a girl is blushing but I don’t know which colonists. If I did, I could be quite the matchmaker.” Danny leaned back, pleased with his wit. He let the information settle and tried to read Jake’s expression.

  “Are ya with me?”

  “Yeah, I got it…” Jake affirmed, waving for him to continue.

  “So in a nutshell we have all of this data but we don’t know how to read it, so we can’t use it. The colonist master file serves as the map between names and IDs. It is critical to being able to use this data on the Q drive. I told her that I couldn’t hack it without GENESIS knowing and that it would have to be copied manually, which sucks because the file is on the…”

  “X drive…” Jake finished his sentence, recalling Meredith’s note.

  “But as you know the X drive is in the Vault of the Archives. She seemed eager to joining the cause, but a little too eager…” Danny punched one last command on the computer to bring up the surveillance footage from the previous day of the Archives. It showed Meredith sneaking through the aisles of the server farm until she reached the glass room in the back of the chamber. A door with a keycard slot stood between Meredith and the one server behind it.

  Meredith pulled a homemade hacking keycard out of her back pocket. A series of flat wires streamed out the back end of the keycard and small monitor connected to the end of the wires. With a few commands punched in, the device attempted to hack the lock.

  “Yeah, she swiped that from me. I didn’t know that she had. It took me awhile to build that, too.”

  After a few moments, the door to the Vault opened. Meredith walked in and plugged into the server with her holographic. She swiped through the different directories and then stopped.

  Her hands came over her mouth.

  Her mouth dropped in shock. And then sirens sounded and the lights on the feed flashed red.

  “As you can see, Meredith saw something that she was not supposed to...”

  “She said that very thing,” Jake spoke, eyes still fixated on the feed.

  “What did she see, though?” Danny asked, through his befuddlement.

  “The truth…she saw the truth, which means that what Cyrus Holder told us… was a lie…”

  Chapter 13

  Requiem for Earth

  Log Entry # 5

  I remember performing my morning ritual. I grabbed a coffee from Earl at the corner cafe, popped my headphones in and walked along the boardwalk listening to an old crooner from the 50’s. The sun peered onto the bay and the seagulls gathered. I sat on the lone bench on the boardwalk, looking out over the harbor. Being a creature of habit, this morning ritual was repeated before each and every work day.

  I always found it to be a peaceful way to begin my day.

  I arrived to my office at 9. My secretary was on edge by the time I walked in.

  �
��What is it, Doris?” I placed the blueberry muffin I had bought her on her desk.

  “There’s a man in ya’ office. I sure tried to get him to wait out ere’ but he said you’d been ‘xpecting him.” She shook her head in a tizzy.

  “It’s okay. Just enjoy your muffin and hold all my calls,” I tried to offer a comforting smile but she was an old Southern woman who would think what she thought regardless.

  I entered my office and found Cyrus Holder, inspecting the pictures on my wall. He turned and smiled a toothy grin at me.

  Cyrus Holder did not look like your typical CEO. He had a feeble, skinny frame, large outdated glasses and thinning hair atop a receding hairline. He wore a navy blue cardigan with elbow patches and a plaid button-down underneath it, atop a pair of wrinkled khakis.

  It was the appearance of an older man with no woman in his life.

  I was slightly star struck as the man before me was in fact one of the most powerful men in the world. GENESIS Enterprises was the world’s leader in all things technology. They had the best selling gadgets, phones, tablets, cars and solar panels. GENESIS was a private firm, so was able to maintain a level of discretion that most public companies could not. Most of their research was kept under wraps and the company was at the center of every conspiracy theory from Bilderberg to the Illuminati.

  The news had been reporting over the last six months on his progressing cancer, as questions circled about.

  With no children or spouse, what would happen to the company in the event of his death?

  I wondered if he was going to use me to plan his last will and testament. I am an estate lawyer after all, but why would he give such a small town lawyer that responsibility when he has a cohort of lawyers, including my father, on payroll.

  As I looked at the man at the center of every tabloid in America, I could see that he had a much different purpose. And his will was the last thing on his mind.

  “Mr. Holder, a pleasure.” I shook his hand and dropped my bag near my desk.

  “The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Hansen.” I motioned a hand for him to sit in an armchair by a nearby coffee table. I grabbed the other chair.