Ark-13: An Odyssey

by B. B. Gallagher

  Elijah’s hand formed a powerful fist. He nodded emphatically, feeling the fire ignite in his gut.

  “We are the Insurrection!” Jake kept his fist raised, armport exposed. Elijah raised his fist in unison. Then, Coop and Junior. Lucy looked around the circle and raised hers after scrunching her sleeve up to also reveal her armport. Lastly, Zoe joined.

  Together, fists raised, the Insurrection stood cemented in defiance. Smiles cracked as each other eyed each other.

  “We’ve already taken the leap. Now we have to work together to make things right.” Jake’s words now met a chorus of agreement, as they all lowered their fists.

  “What’s the plan?” Coop asked, as excited as he had ever been.

  “Danny has hacked the Q drive. He has a wealth of data for us to use. He has everyone’s messages, he has the surveillance feeds and he has everyone’s vitals but the database assigns an identification number to each colonist’s record. We don’t have the names, though. We need the map that links the names to the identification numbers. This data map is on the X drive. We are going to steal it.” Jake spoke with authority.

  “That’s got to be risky. Isn’t that kept in the Vault?” Junior asked.

  “Yeah, but I think I’ve found a way in… the air conditioning duct.” Coop shook off the idea, hung up on something.

  “Wait…wait…wait… why do we care to hack the X drive anyway? So what if we know everyone’s vitals? What does that do for us?”

  “GENESIS monitors us to ensure that our levels indicate that we are happy and obedient. Why can’t we use those same levels to show us who is fed up with all of this? If we know everyone’s vitals we will be able to tell which colonists would be most open to joining the Insurrection.”

  All eyes rose to meet Jake’s.

  “We are going to recruit an army. And we are going to take the Ark...”

  Chapter 16

  Day 20

  Jake Hansen entered the Assembly conference room and grabbed one of the five seats at the circular table. Andrew Langford and Sophia Chen were already seated and turned with smiles to Jake as he joined them.

  “Jake! Sophia and I are going to Eclipse tomorrow night if you would like to join us,” Andrew asked. Eclipse was the bar on the recreation floor. It served the alcoholic Ether that GENESIS delivered via supply drops. It was only open on the supply drop nights.

  Jake could see the excitement in their eyes.

  “Sure… I could use a drink… crazy week…”

  As commotion approached the door to the chamber, Andrew leaned in and whispered one last thought.

  “Don’t tell Booker…” Jake leaned back in his chair, exchanging chuckling glances with both Sophia and Andrew.

  Sigh and Jim Booker walked in. Jim was arguing a point to Sigh, inaudible to the others.

  “Good evening, councilmen.”

  “And woman!” Sophia chimed in jest.

  “And woman…” Sigh grunted at all things politically correct. Taking a seat at the table, Sigh turned to business as usual. “Alright, it appears that GENESIS has taken Meredith Jones. I know that we voted to release her but new evidence has been brought to my attention.” All eyes turned to the obvious source of the evidence, Jim Booker, who sat straight, shoulders back and nose in the air.

  “Jim, show them,” Sigh ordered to which Jim compiled. Jim pulled his holographic from his pocket and placed one end in his palm, which projected the hologram before them. After a few quick swiping commands, the surveillance feed played before them, showing the Vault and Meredith using the keycard hack to break in. It showed her plugging into the server and navigating through it via her holographic. It ended with Meredith’s eyes widening and shock paralyzing her face.

  Jake realized that he had to pretend that he had never seen the video before. His expression dropped and he spoke with a tremble.

  “Wh…where did you find that?...”

  “As Chief Enforcer, I am custodian over the Lookout, our only access to all unrestricted surveillance feeds across the Ark. I did my due diligence and searched the surveillance history,” Jim shrugged. His smile was plastered over his face. “You were going to let her go because you had no evidence of her treason. Innocent until proven guilty… well?” Jim’s judgmental look conveyed only one message to the Council: I told you so.

  “Well, Meredith is gone remember? So what does this mean?” Sophia offered.

  “Look at this.” Jim swiped the holographic screen to rewind the feed. He then pinched the screen and separated his thumb and index finger to zoom in on the device in her hand. It was the keycard hacking tool that she had taken from Danny Ryder.

  “What are we looking at?” Andrew asked, squinting into the hologram.

  “She has a device here that is how she broke into the Vault. I knew Meredith well enough to know that she did not design this device,” Jim explained, leading Sigh to form the conclusion.

  “She had help...” Sigh’s tone deflated as he exhaled. Jake held his breath, unable to breath as the tension in the room continued to choke him like carbon monoxide.

  “A rebellion is in our midst. I suggest that we recruit an enforcement team. They will police the colonists for any signs of revolt. They will patrol the Ark. We have enough electrostaffs in the Armory to arm them.”

  “How are we going to get this neighborhood watch you are suggesting?” Chen asked.

  “I think Peter Gambit should head up the effort. One of the teens can be pulled from classes to cover his lunch shift in the kitchen.”

  “Any objections?” Sigh took one look over the rest of the Council, taking an informal vote on the proposal. Jake couldn’t disagree without putting himself under a microscope of scrutiny.

  “Make it happen. We can’t risk a disgruntled rebel getting out of hand. Someone could get hurt.”

  General agreement swept the table, while most of the Council still remained despondent and shocked by the footage of Meredith heisting the Vault.

  “Assembly adjourned.” Sigh smacked the table with his hand and the group dispersed.

  “See ya tomorrow night,” Sophia whispered behind Jake as they exited the room.

  They stepped out into the Loop where people milled about and commuted to their job shifts.

  “Sorry, I had to be the bearer of bad news, Jake.” Jim stuck around to gloat.

  “Yeah, I just can’t believe Meredith would do such a thing,” Jake feigned disappointment.

  “Well, whoever they are… we will get these bastards. Nobody is going to rebel on my watch.” Jim walked off into the passing crowd. Jake’s sight got lost in the crowd until they found a familiar hoodie.

  It was Danny Ryder, standing thirty yards away.

  The grim expression on his face cast an ominous shadow before him.

  Despite colonists passing by, Danny remained at a distant and locked on Jake. He didn’t have to say anything; Jake understood and nodded to the directive conveyed.

  ⊶<>⊷

  Jake took a quick lap around the Loop and found Danny’s pod. He slapped the button and the door shot open.

  “What the hell?! Where the hell were you today?” Jake entered the pod, leading with aggression.

  “Yeah… of course I know—”

  “We are going to break into the X drive and use the data map to build an army—”

  “Jake!” Danny tried to settle him.

  “What?!”

  “I wasn’t there because I found something. I found a message.”

  “What kind of message?” he asked finally focused on what Danny was trying to say.

  “It said, ‘Meredith Jones did not act alone. Sniff out the rebellion and destroy it by any means necessary.’” Danny adjusted himself as he found the words, perched on his lips. “The message came from the GENESIS to colonist #309. We still don’t have the map to know who it is, but we can be sure of one thing,” Danny explained with great difficulty.

  “It means…” Jake’s knees buckled, struck by d
isbelief as he realized what it meant.

  “GENESIS has planted a mole among us...”

  Chapter 17

  Requiem for Earth

  Log Entry # 6

  People sometimes ask, 'if you knew you had one day to live, what would you do?' Well my last day in Georgetown was much like the last day of my life. For all intents and purpose, I would be dying the next day, flying off to an undisclosed location and beginning a new life.

  I had one last chance to do anything I wanted. What did I end up doing?

  I did the same thing I did every day. I am a creature of habit and I am a firm believer that history repeats itself – I prove it every day.

  Anyway so I popped my headphones in, grabbed a coffee from Earl at the corner café and watched the birds circle over the harbor.

  "Somewhere... beyond the sea. Somewhere... waiting for me..." Bobby Darin crooned in my ear. There was something about that tune in that moment, maybe it was the trumpets or the hopping bass line. Whatever it was, it made me burst into laughter.

  The irony of it all.

  Humanity just cared so much about everything. And an asteroid comes and erases it all from existence. Working tirelessly on that promotion? Ain’t happening. Going to prom with the guy of your dreams? Not anymore. Your team on their way to the Super Bowl? Think again.

  Here we have a species that's strongest instinct is self-preservation and, save the passengers of the thirteen Arks around the world, they are all going to die.

  I couldn't help but think of what's next. And then I couldn’t help but think that the world had spiraled into an obsession with the present moment. Everything and everybody has been focused solely on the here and now for as long as I could remember. But what is there when the here and now are gone?

  No one thinks about what comes next anymore. Well with the end in sight, I looked around and wondered if there was an afterlife. Mine, for the time being, would be spent on a space station perpetuating the human race. But I remember thinking, 'where are all of these people going?'

  Are they going to an infinite state of nothingness or to some heavenly oasis with naked baby angels playing harps on clouds?

  It's probably neither. But it has got to be something....

  I think it is fair to say that there has to be meaning to all this. This life doesn't just amount to being destroyed by a floating rock. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Isn't that what Newton said? Well, what's the reaction to Armageddon? What's the reaction to death? If nature is a series of causes and effects then what is death the cause of? We tend to think of death as an effect of a life well lived, but every effect just becomes another cause, just like a domino falling into another domino and into another and into another...

  As I was watched the birds circle overhead and the sun glimmer over the harbor from the same bench I had sat so many times before, I realized that this was not the end. It was only the beginning.

  Chapter 18

  Day 21

  “You sayin’ we got a GENESIS rat among us?” Elijah asked in the clearing of the cornfield to the group through his respirator.

  “I mean that GENESIS has sent a message to colonist #309, whoever that is,” Danny explained. The others were assembled and floored by the news.

  “What?!” Coop grumbled. “They are spying on us? Are the cameras and armports not enough?!”

  “Does anyone have any idea who it could be? Has anyone been suspicious?” Lucy asked.

  Everyone exchanged glances with each other, but no names came to mind.

  “We have to be on guard,” Danny explained. “And we can’t recruit anyone until we have the X drive data map. We are going to have to be extremely careful with our selection.” The Insurgents nodded in unison and then turned their eyes to Jake for instruction.

  “We move tonight… But our plan has changed, something has come up… more enforcers have been recruited and they will be standing guard at the Archives. So, we are going to need to make a diversion. There was a supply drop this morning so Eclipse will be busy. I think if someone causes a ruckus up there, it will draw the guards from their post, leaving the all clear for our hack. Coop, are you up for it?” His eyebrows rose along with his shoulders.

  “Absolutely! What kind of ruckus?” Coop asked with eager anticipation.

  “How would you like to get in a bar fight with Jim Booker?”

  Coop smiled wide.

  ⊶<>⊷

  The third floor of the Ark held a recreation center, complete with a fitness center, court, lounge and Eclipse, the Ark’s nightclub. Eclipse was a dark bar, lit up in different colors. Music sounded over the speakers, muffling all conversations around. There was a series of tables and chairs, lining the circular platform on which the central bar stood.

  The bar was operated by Luke Payton, a handsome man of his late twenties. He had a calm cool to him and eyes that rendered the females of the Ark defenseless. His jovial charm uplifted the party and discouraged any alcoholic sulking.

  Coop Nolan ascended the neon steps to the central platform where an electronic dance song thumped over head. He waved to a few of the patrons and approached Luke, slapping down a currency note on the bar.

  “Luke, how you doing?” Luke turned to Coop, revealing his baby blues eyes illuminated in the club’s light.

  “Hey! Coop… what’s it going to be?” Luke laughed, filling a cup of the only liquor they ever had in stock.

  “The usual!” Coop quipped.

  “Here you go, buddy!” Luke slid the Ether across the bar into Coop’s hand. Coop nodded a ‘thank you’ and danced toward the tables, as well as a fishing boat captain could.

  Coop’s eyes met two council members, Andrew Langford and Sophia Chen, laughing and having a good time over their drinks. Andrew lifted his head from the conversation and called to Coop.

  “Hey Coop! Have you seen Jake? He was supposed to meet us here… He’s a no show!” Andrew laughed aloud, obviously already on his third drink of the night.

  “I don’t know where he is! Probably working out or something,” Coop suggested, trying to avoid them. With a nod of the head, Andrew’s attention fell back to Sophia.

  As Coop walked toward an empty table, he nodded to Zoe who sat in a nearby booth, awaiting his signal. Zoe tapped her ear and spoke into her comm.

  “Jake, he’s in position.”

  ⊶<>⊷

  Jake walked a brisk pace up the Loop, having just received Zoe’s word through his earpiece. He noticed Peter Gambit, a tall, bulky framed man, speaking to two men who stood guard at the door to the Archives. After an exchange of parting words, Peter left the enforcers to their post and walked by Jake.

  “Councilman…” he nodded.

  “How are ya, Peter? How have patrols been going so far? Everything in order?” Jake kept up his appearance.

  “All quiet on the Western front…”

  Jake spun as he passed, flashing a parting smile and continued walking the other way.

  “Jake…he’s in position,” Zoe’s impatient voice carried an expectation in it. Jake turned the corner and the air conditioning vent came into view outside of the restroom.

  His eyes narrowed on it.

  “Is Jim there yet?”

  ⊶<>⊷

  Zoe foraged the club until Jim Booker entered alongside Junior Posey. Together they ascended the stairs and approached the bar. Zoe exchanged glances with Coop at the adjacent table and then spotted Lucy across the bar, talking with a friend and Elijah in the corner, awaiting Coop’s move.

  “Junior, got him here, they just arrived. Everyone is in position.”

  “Alright send the signal,” Jake instructed over her comm.

  And with that Zoe connected eyes with Coop and gave a concerted nod of the head to convey the signal. With that Coop slapped his hands on the table and stood up, shifting in his weight like a drunkard. He stumbled up to Jim and Junior and haphazardly slapped Jim on the shoulder.

  “Hey! Booker
!... What’s this I hear about more enforcers?!” Coop’s voice slurred with a disgruntled ire. The volume of his voice was high enough to attract the eyes of nearby colonists.

  “Just for everyone’s safety, Coop...” Jim assured him, as politely as he could, although his eyes offered a condescending judgment. The song overhead came to an end, leaving a silent background to the building argument.

  “What? Don’t ya think we’ve been through enough! What gives you the right to police me?!” Coop prodded. Jim’s eyes darted side to side, realizing a crowd had gathered.

  “The Council voted on it. And yes because of recent events it seems to be a good idea!” Jim fired back in the defense.

  “She didn’t do anything wrong! Meredith was just minding her own business and GENESIS decided to take her! Can’t you see that GENESIS is not who they said they were!” Coop yelled loud enough to plant the seed in each onlooker.

  “GENESIS is the only reason we are alive!” Jim yelled at the top of his lungs.

  “Well I think ya work for em’. I think your spying on us!” Gasps sounded about as Coop stepped forward and punched Jim Booker with a right hook across the jaw. Jim’s anger ignited into fury as he charged at Coop. They crashed back and toppled over a nearby table. The commotion caught the attention of every colonist in the club and so quickly a perimeter was formed around the two wrestling men.

  ⊶<>⊷

  Jake leaned up against the wall, pretending to consult a book projected from his holographic. After a few moments, he noticed the enforcers standing guard at the Archives getting a message in their ear. After equipping their electrostaffs, they booked it up the Loop, abandoning their post in the pursuit of the action at Eclipse.

  “Am I clear Elijah?”

  “All clear, boss!” Elijah confirmed in his earpiece.

  Quickly, Jake crossed the corridor and unscrewed the air conditioning vent. With one glance over his shoulder, he stepped into the duct and closed the vent behind him.

  Upon entry, Jake could hear the subtle humming through the duct from the turbines, churning on the Resource deck overhead. He approached a ladder that climbed an overhead channel. Upon reaching the top of the ladder he shifted onto his stomach and slithered his way around the bend. He came to the first vent grate and peered down through it. There was the glass pane of the front door to the Archives, so he continued, now aware of his position above the ceiling.