“What if she doesn’t like me?” I mumble into his shoulder.
“Well then we failed as scientists.” He smiles. “She’s going to like you, Atom, and you are going to like her. Now get in there before I have to drag you in.”
He opens the door and walks in. I follow right behind. I poke my head around from behind him and I see Ev leaning against the wall farthest from the door. She’s taller than I imagined. Her dark brown hair falls to either side of her face, ending just at her shoulders. Her pale skin makes her look porcelain and fragile. I want nothing more than to protect her. My heart races.
Dad walks to the center of the room. I stay planted by the door. The ability to run away if I have to brings me comfort. Dad reaches out to her, “Ev?”
She looks up and I see her eyes for the first time. They are green like mine but hers seem to transcend all logic. They don’t look at me, they look in me. I want nothing more than to be with her but my nerves cause me to look away. She looks away as well.
Dad walks back over towards me. “Maybe I’ll just leave you two alone.”
He nudges me towards the center of the room as he walks out and shuts the door.
“What?” is all that comes out of my mouth before I stop myself in the middle of the room. I feel exposed without the comfort of a wall behind me.
I look everywhere but at her. I’m so nervous that I haven’t noticed anything else in the room. There is a couch and two chairs to one side. On the other side is a table with water and protein pouches. I can feel her watching me. It’s too quiet and I suddenly don’t know what to do with my hands. I decide to break the silence. “What’s your favorite flavor?”
I walk towards the table and see movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn to look at her and before I have time to react she has me in her arms.
I don’t know what to do. I just stand there. Her hair feels soft against my skin and it smells like a mix of sour apples and vanilla. I want nothing more than to pull her closer in but my arms won’t move. She must sense that I am uncomfortable because she pulls away.
She falls back into the couch. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I reply as I sit in one of the chairs across from the couch. “You just surprised me.”
She manages to show a little smile. “I feel like such an idiot. It’s just that … I … well, I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time. I knew you existed but they never let me see you. I was just so excited and then nervous.”
Her confession puts me at ease. “You just described everything I’ve been thinking. That’s why I asked you about the protein pouch. I was so nervous, I didn’t know what else to talk about.”
“Apple.” She laughs as she leans back on the couch. It’s intoxicating; I can’t help but join in. The air around us doesn’t feel heavy anymore. “What’s yours?”
“Anything with vanilla,” I respond. So many questions rush into my head but before I manage to ask any of them my dad comes back in. As much as I didn’t want him to leave me alone in here with Ev, now I want nothing more than for him to be gone.
He smiles. “Looks like you two have hit it off.”
“Not yet, Rene! You haven’t really given us much of a chance,” Ev sasses back. She calls him Rene? That’s my dad’s first name, but I would never call him that. In fact, I would never speak to him the way she just did.
This actually reveals more about him to me than it does of her; the side of him that I know would never let me talk back to him. He obviously treats us differently. For the first time it exposes a duality to my dad and I feel that he is hiding things from me.
“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other. From now on you will be training together and taking classes together.” He looks at both of us. “Your first class starts now.”
We both stand and walk towards him. He puts his hand on my shoulder and it feels like a foreign object. He’s still my dad but I only know a fraction of who he is. I know now that I can no longer be satisfied with the answers he gives me. I need to seek things out on my own. I need to know what he and all the scientists are actually doing. I need to find out why we are confined to this compound. Most importantly, I need to learn what my true purpose is. Why I was created.
We walk down the hallway to the end with the classrooms. Dad seems overly happy. I guess he’s been looking forward to this day longer than we have. Probably since before he created us. “You two are getting a new teacher today—Brianna Lawson. She’s a handful, but you will like her.”
“What’s the class?” I ask.
“It’s a very important class,” he responds. “Recent human history. It’s everything that has happened since 1900.”
“It sounds boring.” Ev folds her arms. Her coarse approach to my dad causes me to laugh. She certainly carries some resentment towards him.
He doesn’t seem amused. “I promise you it’s not boring. It starts with the first world war.”
“That does sound fun.” Ev smiles.
My interest is also peaked. “How many world wars have there been?”
“Four,” my dad says as he stops just outside a door. “But you will learn more about them from Brianna.”
“Thanks dad,” I say out of habit. Ev walks in and I follow. He closes the door behind us. The room has windows on one wall and the other walls are empty. Like every other classroom, this one has around a dozen giant beanbags arranged in a circle on the floor. I choose the green one like usual. Ev sits in the beanbag next to mine.
“He lets you call him Dad?” she asks as she makes herself comfortable in her beanbag.
I can tell this is a sensitive subject for her. “That’s what he told me to call him. He would never let me call him Rene.”
“I knew he preferred you.” She’s obviously hurt. “All he does is talk about you and he corrects me if I ever call him dad or father or anything.”
I don’t really know how to respond, but I try. “I think it’s because he respects you. He sees you more as an equal. All he does is coddle me. I just thought that’s how he was.”
“Not at all,” Ev laughs. I really like when she laughs it makes me feel better.
We both stand when the doors open and Brianna Lawson walks in. She is much younger than I would have imagined. She couldn’t be older than 26 or 27. Her deep red hair is pulled back into a ponytail and the big glasses she wears cover half her face. I can tell though that underneath those glasses she has a very refined quality about her. She carries herself well, which might be because of her age. People have probably never taken her seriously since she is young and pretty.
I must have been in a trance staring at her because I get bumped in the shoulder by Ev and realize that Brianna has her hand extended towards me. “It’s nice to meet you, Atom”.
I shake her hand. “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Lawson. I like your glasses.”
“Thank you. Please, call me Brianna.” She pulls her hand away and takes a seat on one of the beanbags. I can feel that my cheeks have turned red because of the heat emanating from them. Ev must have noticed them too because her eyes are burrowing holes into me. I feel ashamed, so I avoid making eye contact and sit back down in my beanbag. When Ev sits, she shuffles her beanbag closer to mine. My heart races as she does so. If she feels threatened by Brianna, she shouldn’t.
Brianna places a 3D hologram projector on the floor inside the beanbag circle. “I want you two to recall your world geography.”
She hits a button on the projector and a giant image of Earth projects before us. It looks odd. The ice shelves at the North and South poles are much smaller. She continues, “This hologram of Earth I’m sure looks different than what you are used to. That’s because this is an image of what the world looked like in 1914.”
“It’s so different,” Ev mumbles. I look at her and can tell that she is just as enthralled as I am. Dad was right. This will be interesting.
“I want you two to just sit back, watch and listen. T
his information will be important for your survival.” Brianna taps the wall behind her and the windows darken, leaving the hologram to light the room.
What does she mean our survival? What are we going to have to survive? These questions flood my mind, but just as quickly as they came, I have to brush them aside. Brianna has started her lesson.
*****
World War I marked the beginning of globalization. Prior to 1914, conflicts remained localized to their specific areas without much outside influence. When America joined the war in 1917 the world got a lot smaller. Any issues that would arise would now become worldwide issues. With radio and later television, these issues also became the concern of any citizen with access. This war ended the German Empire, but gave rise to two new ones. The Soviet Empire and the American Empire. This also brought us into the SciTech Age.
The Soviets, America and Germany all poured money into scientific research. This would lead Germany into attempting to reclaim their empire and their quest for power ignited World War II. In 1939 Europe was once again at war and in 1941 Japan brought America into the war. Though the war itself was mostly over control of certain land, World War II proved significant because it introduced the world to nuclear technology and nuclear weapons. The strong-arm gesture by America to drop two nuclear bombs on Japan would actually raise tensions between them and the Soviet Empire. Both would try hard to win the Space Race and the Nuclear Race.
The Space Race did eventually put a man on the moon and would lead to the development of the Internet. This would be the final step to complete globalization because information could be accessed by anyone at any time. Secrets, whether national or personal, would become obsolete.
The Nuclear Race would have different consequences. Though the Soviet Empire would fall apart due to internal conflict, the amount of nuclear weapons developed by them and the United States would exceed 70,000 by 1990. Relations between nations from that point on would always carry the threat of a nuclear attack. By 2040, 18 nations had nuclear weapons.
Around that time robotics had become commonplace and were used in everything from household chores to space travel. Earth entered into one of its most peaceful eras, as the world powers would unite on the joint goal of putting a colony on Mars. Together the Americans, Chinese, Russians and the European Federation formed the NCM and built a base with launching platform on the moon. Over the following decades they went from putting a man on the moon to developing the first self-sustaining and renewable colony on Mars.
Though the first world countries had all switched to renewable energy, the rest of the world still depended heavily on fossil fuels. With reserves already low, the colonization of Mars drained what was left of the fuels and left the rest of the world in a perennial dark age. Conflicts arose between the third world countries, as they would fight to attain each other’s resources. Brazil invaded Venezuela and took control of their oil, becoming a superpower in South America; battles raged on in Africa, as famine became its biggest killer; the worst of the conflicts would happen between Pakistan and India, when Pakistan invaded India and India retaliated with nuclear force. This marked the beginning of World War III. Afghanistan and Iran allied with Pakistan and launched their nuclear missiles at India.
This forced the hand of the NCM countries. They sent troops into the region to stop the conflict and disarm all active nuclear weapons. Overall, the blasts and the ensuing fallout killed nearly 250 million people. When the conflict was resolved, the NCM and other participating countries with nuclear weapons would sign the Fallout Treaty, agreeing to disarm all active weapons. Any country that did not participate in the treaty would be invaded and forced to disarm its weapons. The two lone holdouts, North Korea and Iran, showed little resistance to the NCM armies that forced their way into the countries. The disarming of the last nuclear missile would mark the end of the World War III.
With Earth in relative peace, the NCM countries would turn their attention back to the advancement of science and technology. They worked to develop chemicals that would offset the effects of the nuclear fallout and allow the areas to be habitable again. They developed cheaper versions of renewable energy that would allow the poorer countries to begin to flourish. Lastly they worked to make Africa a self-sustaining ecosystem by creating a web of pipes that would bring water from this compound on the Nile to the rest of the continent. With access to fresh water, farms could be more easily cultivated, causing the risk of famine and disease to decrease.
Humanity was once again flourishing but in their research they found that global temperatures had been steadily dropping. By the beginning of the 22nd century Earth had entered its next ice age. The average temperature had dropped nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit and would affect the cultivation of food. Africa, however, would flourish, as the climate change brought more rain. Other parts of the world would not fare as well. Famine and disease ravaged South America, Australia and Southeast Asia.
As the ice shelf pushed its way south, the northern countries became uninhabitable. Canadians were welcomed into America. Europeans made their way towards the countries surrounding the Mediterranean. The Russians attempted to move down into China but were met with a heavy blockade, as the population was already too big and too hard to feed. Left with no other option, the Russians attempted to force their way in, ending a long era of peace between the two countries. The other countries of the world did not concern themselves with the Russian/Chinese War because they all had to deal with their own regional conflicts. Since the food supply could not keep up with the demand of the people, countries closed down their trade routes, putting countries with poor access to resources at risk of famine and disease. Anarchy reigned supreme.
Earth had entered into World War IV. Countries fought other countries, civil wars raged in half the world, and neighbors would fight each other for access to resources. Amidst the chaos, those with money immigrated to Africa where the climate was ideal, the resources were plenty and the population was minimal. Africa became a cesspool of the world’s privileged, including politicians and scientists. Together they decided that, in order to save the human race from collapse, they needed to somehow end the ice age.
The decision was made to collect as many scientists as possible and assemble them at the compound by the Nile River. There, they were tasked with finding a way to reverse the ice age. One of the scientists, a young geneticist by the name of Rene Anfang was put in charge of creating clones to use as security for the compound. When progress was stalled on a way to end the ice age, Dr. Anfang and a few other scientists began a revolution to change the objective of the compound. The revolution was successful and the scientists embarked on their new goal. The reset that we are in the midst of today.
2
The history lesson was six hours long and was a lot to process. It left me with so many questions but I wanted nothing more than to nap. Ev and I went back to our separate rooms and rested. I must have really needed it because I fell right to sleep and, though I woke up four hours later, it only felt like I was asleep for a few minutes.
I sat up from my bed and saw that it was just past ten o’clock. Most everyone would be asleep by now. If there was any night that I needed to go up on the roof, tonight was it. I grabbed a couple of protein pouches and my blanket. Last night was pretty cold, so I’m sure tonight won’t be any different.
I head out of my room and nearly make it to the library before I realize that I could have Ev join me. I turn back and head down the empty hallways. I’m still not used to seeing them barren, they feel haunting without the drones. I turn down her hallway and it occurs to me that I don’t know which door is hers. I take a wild guess and choose the third of the six doors.
“Ev?” I knock. I wait a second before I move to the next door and try the same thing. This time I knock a little louder. I’m afraid that if it’s not her room I’ll be disturbing the actual tenant.
I walk to the next door and am about to knock when I hear my name being called fr
om behind me. I turn to see Ev poking her head out from the first door. Why didn’t I try that one first? I walk towards her. “Hey.”
“What are you doing?” she asks.
I point to the other doors. “Did I…”
“They are all empty,” she responds. “No one has ever been in any of them. They keep them locked.”
“Weird. It’s the same in my hallway.” I lean against her doorframe. “I just thought that was where the drones stayed.”
She leans against the other side of the doorframe. “The who?”
“The drones. Those clones that were always guarding the hallways,” I say.
“I didn’t realize that’s what they were called.” She smiles. “What are you doing here anyway?”
This time I smile. “I want to show you something.”
“Are we allowed to leave our rooms?” She takes a step back into her room a bit skeptical.
“They never told us we couldn’t. Come on. You’ll enjoy it.” I reach my hand out to her. This gesture must have made her feel more comfortable because she takes my hand and lets me lead her back down the hallways. After a few turns I realize that we are still holding hands and my heartbeat increases. I can feel myself getting sweaty. I let go and offer her one of my protein pouches to not let on that I got nervous again.
We get to the library and walk in. “I’ve been to the library before, Atom.”
“Just come with me.” I’m frustrated by her hesitation. With how reckless it seemed like she was in talking to dad, she is way too cautious. Hopefully once she sees what I have to show her she will appreciate it. She follows me to the back of the library where the ladder is. I climb to the top and push myself to the roof. I look back down and see her standing on the ground looking around. “Climb up. No one is coming.”
I lay the blanket down on the ground and sit. After a few moments she sits next to me. “We shouldn’t be up here. We could get into a lot of trouble if anyone found out.”
Gene. Sys. Page 2
