Insolation

by Bradlyn Wilson

  “Hadley, I’m Captain Neil Kane. But call me Kane, you always have,” he said as a matter of fact as he bent to a one knee kneel in front of her. His auburn hair was longer on the top and short on the sides. He had it slicked to one side.

  Hadley studied him, trying to figure out who he was. His cheekbones were high and his nose was long. He was attractive, and dangerous but had a scholarly look about him. Kane wasn’t much older than Hadley and he definitely wasn’t what you would expect of an army captain. He was strong looking but he was, hands down, a scientist.

  “How do you know my name? How do you know me?” she asked timidly. She heard the edge in her voice as her speech heightened near the end of the sentence. She hadn’t wanted to show fear or dismay, but both had come out in her voice. She cocked her head to the side and waited for his response. Just as before, they continued with strong eye contact, a pull growing between them.

  “I know all about you,” he replied softly as his eyebrows flicked upwards.

  “Yet, I know nothing about you.” Hadley felt the anger growing inside her and struggled against her restraints. The muscles in her arms started to cramp.

  Kane stood up and pulled a small pocket knife from his trousers and walked around behind her. He cut off the restraints holding her arms. Then he knelt back with her and cut her legs loose.

  Hadley pulled her arms forward and rubbed her wrists gently. Her one shoulder was completely dislocated. Kane looked at it and sighed. He flexed his jaw bone as he figured out what to say next.

  “Give me a second to explain. You do know me; you just can’t remember,” he said softly, so much so it took her off guard. She didn’t say anything; instead she just studied him waiting for him to say more.

  “What do you know? Or think you know?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

  “I don’t know what I know. The last thing I remember was explosion after explosion. I know what I was studying at school. I remember school but only bits and pieces. I think I know everything before... or maybe nothing before,” Hadley blabbed. It all came out in a meaningless blur that she hadn’t even thought about. Saying it out loud was scary, as if the words she was saying were out of someone else’s mouth. How could the last few years be such an empty blur? she thought to herself, finally feeling the fear.

  Kane purposely put his hand on her good shoulder. He leaned closer, and she felt the heat of his hand radiate through her. He gave her a reassuring nod and asked sympathetically, “Do you know about the UN’s SPaDI program?”

  In the back of her mind, a light switched on but it was too far to get to. She knew the name and the rest was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t make sense of it. She didn’t like the uneasy feeling that she was getting, and unable to formulate words she just shook her head no.

  Kane nodded supportively. He squeezed her shoulder a couple of times. “Hadley, you were the first person on the exclusive team. I recruited you myself in your third year of university. The same year a prominent group of academics and experts at the UN decided that if the world was going to end that we wanted a fighting chance to restart it, thus SPaDI. It’s the UN’s Scientific, Political and Defensive Initiative.”

  “Why though?” Hadley asked.

  “It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you everything over time, which I know is a frustrating answer,” he stated dryly before he decided to continue. “When we gave up that climate change was going to destroy everything well we started to recruit a group of the most intelligent students across the globe we could find in various fields. Then the planet would have a chance. A small one, but a chance. What we didn’t expect is that the effects of climate change would lead to biological warfare that would turn into nuclear warfare and a full-fledged global crisis.”

  Hadley just looked at him, unable to form words.

  “We should have known. We should have, really. The resources were becoming scarce. Anyways, now we’ve been trying to find the last living members of the initiative. Luckily you were the last living pinger.”

  Hadley felt herself start to shake uncontrollably. She was dehydrated, cold, hungry and bleeding. Those things, along with being confused, made her feel like she was going to throw up again. She was swaying back and forth.

  “So what’s left?” she choked out, scared of the answer.

  “There are twenty-four students from the initiative left. There are less than a few million people alive and every major governing body except the United Nations has fallen. Eighty-seven percent of the world is uninhabitable. Hadley, we are the resurgence.”

  His eyes met hers. She was absolutely terrified.

  “What year is it?” she asked slowly, feeling her brain becoming foggy and tired.

  “2584.”

  Right. She knew she should have known that. She raised an eyebrow slightly before falling to the side, her eyes rolling back into her head.

  Chapter Nine

  2106

  “150, 160, 170….” Hadley’s watch counted through her implanted earbuds. “Target heart rate reached.”

  Hadley slowed her pace to a light jog, twisting around the corner of the forested dirt path she was running on with Kila, her Labrador whose tail wagged in the wind. Hadley looked around and enjoyed the peace that surrounded her. She had taken the week off of work with SPaDI to rent a cabin in the woods and enjoy some time away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Spending the first bunch of years of her life with her grandfather in the middle of the desert meant she had learned to love the outdoors.

  The sun was beating down through the bright green leaves as the hot summer day came to an end. A drip of sweat ran down Hadley’s brow and into her eye. She stopped to wipe her forehead, lifting up her already soaked shirt to do so.

  “It’s hot today huh Kila?” Hadley said bending down. She took a small water bottle out of her running belt and coaxed Kila over, who immediately opened her mouth. Hadley squirted the water into her mouth.

  Kila walked to sniff a tree, her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Hadley watched as she bent her head forward. She stretched out a back leg as she did so and her tail wagged even more so. Then, she walked around the tree and squatted to pee on it.

  Then Kila came back to Hadley’s feet. Hadley balanced on her toes to pet Kila’s neck. Kila rolled on her back and expectantly looked up for a tummy rub.

  Hadley stood up with one more pat on Kila’s head and began to walk. There was a crunch behind her. She turned an ear bud out to listen and vaguely heard the sound of a gun’s safety turn off.

  “Hadley!” someone shouted behind her. She didn’t even turn around to see who had called her name, because she knew who it was. Instead she just rolled her eyes and started to run, ducking into the thick forest, off of the trail. Kila could barely keep up to Hadley until she started to really run, jumping over logs.

  Hadley ran through the trees, winding through them like an obstacle course, praying not to catch her shoelace on the ground and end up on her face. She glanced back to make sure Kila was still with her and couldn't help but smile seeing she was right on her heels even though they were running away from someone. Kila had no idea why they were running so fast.

  They both jumped over a tree log and scampered down the edge of a ravine. The water was shallow and flowed slowly through the woods. Hadley looked around and saw a hollowed area of moss and branches; she dove into it completely out of breath. Why am I always running from something? she thought shaking her head to herself.

  Kila started to lick the sweat from Hadley’s bare leg.

  “Hadley! Come out! We’ve been trying to get a hold of you!” The voices were closer than she would have liked. Hadley held her breath and pulled Kila closer to her. She could hear the footsteps getting closer; she knew she would be found soon.

  Then her phone started to ring in her ear. “Paxton calling,” her watch said. Hadley clicked a button to ignore it.

  The footsteps kept coming her way.

  “Had, stop
ignoring my calls!” the person yelled.

  “Pax?” Hadley said instinctively, immediately covering her mouth with her hand.

  The footsteps came around in front of her and she had nowhere to go. There in the blazing sunlight stood Pax and Kane.

  “Oh, well hello,” Hadley said smoothly.

  Kane shook his head despairingly. “Why do you always run?”

  “Why are you here, Kane? You should have sent Pax alone, or really anyone else.”

  Pax gave her a look. “You didn’t answer his question Hadley.”

  “You know how it’s been this month, since the Odyssey TNB mission went down. How was I supposed to know that you weren’t just another group of paparazzi?”

  “You didn’t even look Had,” Pax said with a smirk.

  Hadley tried to hold her tongue, but failed. “Oh come on, my life has been hell. Give me a break.”

  “We know, but Hemmer needs you in the lab, it’s urgent.”

  “Fuck Hemmer!”

  Pax held out a hand to help her up. Hadley begrudgingly grabbed it and hoisted herself to her feet. Hadley looked at them both staring at her awkwardly. “I’m not going back to the lab yet; we can video call him from the cabin. He can take it or leave it.”

  Kane grumbled but didn’t say anything; Hadley shot him a look before saying, “I still hate you.” A wave of anger rushed over her. The colour drained from Kane’s face as he fiddled with his hands and the small metal band that wrapped around his finger on his left hand.

  “I know,” Kane said miserably.

  They walked back to the cabin, in silence for the following hour. Inside, Hadley went to the bathroom. She showered off, taking her time.

  “Hadley, it’s been 20 minutes, Hemmer is getting impatient.”

  Hadley turned off the shower and grabbed a towel, starting to dry her hair.

  “Let him wait.”

  “You’re impossible,” Pax laughed from the other side of the door.

  “Pax, you’ve known that for years,” Hadley joked, smiling to herself.

  She grabbed a thin dress off the hanger, which was almost transparent and worked perfectly with her tanned skin tone. She pulled it on and walked out into the humid, almost ancient cabin. The wood that built it was decaying and it was built into the trees.

  Pax and Kane stared.

  “Where’s the holo?”

  “All set up for you.”

  Hadley grabbed the sensors and stuck them to either side of her head. She pressed call on the small box sitting on the counter and was transported into Hemmer’s office. She was slightly opaque and went to sit in the chair in front of him.

  “Hemmer, you wanted to see me,” she stated plainly.

  Hemmer looked up from his computer and smiled. “Thanks for taking the time Hadley, I know you’re on vacation.”

  “This couldn’t wait until I was back?”

  “Maybe it could, but I was looking at the initial findings of your research before you left and was too excited to wait.”

  “It’s not finished yet Hemmer, and it might not be.”

  “It would be a revolution though Hadley, change the world, for the better.”

  Hadley scowled at him. “That’s the plan.”

  Hemmer spun a rock on his desk that acted as decoration. “Can I have your passcode to see the rest?”

  “No Hemmer, not now. Maybe when it’s done.”

  “Maybe?” Hemmer glared at her.

  “Yes, maybe. If I think it’s worth it to you.”

  Hemmer stood up and leaned forward. “That’s not your call Hadley! Maybe you don’t understand how this works, but I have every right to every piece of research that happens in this facility.”

  Hadley just looked at him indifferently. “Hemmer, I’m not my mother. I’m not going to let you do what you did to her to me.”

  “I told you, you don’t have a choice.”

  “We’ll see Hemmer,” Hadley said, smiling.

  Hemmer’s blood was boiling, Hadley could see it, but he took a deep breath and said, “We will revisit this as your research progressed; until then I look forward to reading your lab reports.”

  “Thank you Hemmer,” Hadley said as she ended the call with a press of a button on her head.

  Back in the cabin, Hadley was fuming, she immediately ran at Kane, viciously like an animal. He took a step back and Pax grabbed her around the waist.

  “How dare you! After everything, you gave him my research specs?”

  “It’s my job.”

  “Fuck you Kane!”

  Pax stepped between them and looked Hadley in the eyes. “Had, you know he had no choice.”

  “But after what happened with my parents? With my mom? How dare he!”

  Pax nodded towards Hadley and looked back at Kane who was staring sheepishly at his shoes. “I think you better go man.” Pax shrugged.

  Kane nodded and left, feeling worse than he already did. Paxton held Hadley in his arms as she cried.

  Chapter Ten

  The lights were bright; she could feel the harsh warm light through her closed eyelids and could still feel the visceral pain from the memory. She blinked them open and all she saw was the large beams of light above her head, and instinctively closed her eyes.

  After a moment she reopened them. She turned her head from side to side and saw she was in a perfectly square white room, with grey faded tiles on the ground. She tried to sit up but her arms, legs and torso were strapped down to a cold metal bed.

  A door opened somewhere above her head and she craned her neck back to see what was happening but she couldn’t get her head back far enough.

  “Who’s there?” she coughed, suddenly realizing how dry her throat was.

  “Hello, Hadley,” a sickeningly sweet woman’s voice said.

  Hadley thrashed around trying to get up. The woman suddenly appeared above her. She was older and friendly looking with yellowing teeth which she had set into a forced smile.

  She looked at Hadley and said in her high pitched voice, “Lay still and this will be over soon enough.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Dr. Emily; I am in charge of pinger health and need to do an initial assessment on you, since it’s been so long.” She smiled more.

  Dr. Emily walked to the side of the room and pressed a series of buttons in a panel on the wall and as she did so a large machine descended from the ceiling. It was large and rectangular, exactly the same size as the bed Hadley was laying on, who watched amazed.

  The machine descended and clicked into place around Hadley, encasing her in a steel box. Hadley’s palms started to sweat and she tried desperately to wipe them on her clothing.

  Then the lights started, and Hadley watched amazed as an image of her body appeared before her. She didn’t feel anything as small lights scanned her whole body. She watched as the red lights flashed back and forth over her, scanning every minute detail. It was terrifying to see the inside of her body appear in full three dimensions in front of her, but she couldn’t help but grow more amazed.

  Hadley saw a blue circle in the middle of her forearm. Her pinger, she assumed. There were red circles around all the places she was bruised. She saw black lines across her ribs and nose and assumed they must be broken.

  The majority of her bones appeared in a steel grey with a few scattered in a soft pink. She looked at her stomach and lower abdomen, which appeared in a dull purple, significantly distinct from everything else.

  The metal box lifted itself off of Hadley and the 3D image of her body projected into the center of the room. The restraints unclipped themselves and Hadley pushed herself to sitting, continuing to study her body, which was standing before her.

  “Hmmm,” Dr. Emily exhaled out loud, a puzzled look spreading through her forehead as she walked around the scan.

  Hadley raised an eyebrow, “What is it?”

  Dr. Emily walked over to one part of the scan and put her hand over it. “You haven’t had all you
r bones replaced with titanium. It seems strange they would leave a few.”

  “Titanium?”

  “Yes, over the years we have integrated as many technologies as we can to make you untouchable… immortal if you will, or as close to it as we can get,” she said as a matter of fact, she tilted her head to the side staring, “and this is strange.”

  “What is?” Hadley fidgeted becoming uncomfortable.

  “I haven’t seen this in a very long time, not since the Family First Act of 2066.”

  A brief glimmer of a memory flashed across Hadley’s mind. The name of the act made her think of her parents, always hunched over a computer typing furiously, making notes. She gave her head a shake.

  “Oh well, must be nothing, I’ll send it to the lab for further analyses along with your blood samples.”

  “So we’re done here?” Hadley exclaimed almost too excitedly.

  Dr. Emily smiled softly. “Sadly not, just a couple more things.”

  A tray emerged from the wall on a set of wheels; it roved its way towards Hadley and stopped by her left arm. Dr. Emily quickly grabbed an alcohol swab and rubbed it furiously against Hadley’s arm.

  “You’re right handed correct?” Dr. Emily asked as she grabbed a large syringe filled with a cloudy grey liquid.

  “I think so?”

  “Good because this one causes tenderness in the arm in which it’s administered.” Dr. Emily shrugged as she dug the needle into Hadley’s arm and started slowly pressing the syringe.

  Hadley winced trying not to move. “What is it?”

  “A healer for your broken bones and other injuries also will probably make you feel drowsy for the rest of the night.”

  Hadley felt the warmth crawl through her arm and into her chest. It made her start coughing uncontrollably. She waited as it ran through her whole body as though she could feel its pathways through her blood. The holographic image started to change and she watched as everything became a shade of pale green. The black lines on her ribs and nose started to fade. It made her feel numb and helpless.