“Why do you think I recruited you? Not many could understand what might need to happen. Let alone have the ability to follow through.”
“I honestly don’t know if that’s a compliment.”
“More of a statement, Percy. Nothing more than that. You’re my security guy. I trust you to do the job.”
“I’ve got a few guys—ex-military like us. I think they’d be a valuable asset.” Percy leaned closer and spoke more quietly. “If it came down to it, they know how to pull the trigger.”
Liam considered. Somehow this conversation made a turn into a topic he knew must be discussed, but wasn’t prepared to have that discussion here and now. He thought about telling Percy to schedule a meeting in his office Monday, but instead leaned in close as well.
“We are talking about murdering our nation’s own. There could be children in that crowd. If it even came down to that of course.” Liam suspected it would, though. Desperate people were dangerous. After the lottery, things would go downhill quickly. There would be riots at the gates. People would be attacking the convoys transporting assembly pieces to the shuttle pads.
“It will, Liam. We both know it. My guys know the score. The fate of the species is at stake and if it comes down to stopping a few bad people trying to hitch a ride to ensure nothing happens to that mission, they know what to do.”
“Yeah, I get it. Bring them in next week. I want to meet them. If you’re on the STS payroll you get a seat on a ship and what an incredible privilege that is. I want to make sure they’re up to the task.”
“I’ll bring them in. The lottery is in six months. After that, all bets are off. We will be ready.”
The two friends changed the subject to a new, happier topic. Ann came and went several times, Liam kept drinking his water, and Percy made three or four stops at the open bar. Meanwhile, something was itching in the back of Liam’s mind. Just out of reach of being able to scratch. He tried not to think about it.
The sand squished underneath his feet as he ran over it. Waves crashed just feet away on his left, the rising sun reflected on the water. Seagulls flew overhead and a light breeze cooled his skin. For Liam, nothing beat an early morning run on the beach. He found it relaxing and it was one of the few times he had to himself. Sure, he could be running through a forest or a city park, but something about the beach kept him coming back. It reminded him of simpler times, though he had conflicting feelings toward past generations. He envied them that they could enjoy environments such as these, and he hated them for being so careless with it.
A tap on his shoulder.
He stopped running and shut down the virtual reality system. He removed his visor and gloves and turned around to face Ann who held out a fresh cup of faux-coffee. Real coffee wasn’t a thing anymore except for the rich. He never had the pleasure of drinking real coffee so he lacked the knowledge to know what he was missing out on, but rumors circulated of bringing back real coffee on the STS ships in the farming sectors if they could find the space to plant the beans. He hoped it was possible just so he could try it.
“You’re up early,” Ann said as she handed him his cup.
“Needed to clear my head. What’s your excuse?”
“No reason. Body does what the body does. Come sit on the porch with me.”
He followed her through the house. They moved in together officially six months ago. There was quite a disagreement about who would move into whose house. His was bigger, but hers was closer to work. He compromised by moving into her house. She did let him set up his VR-Trek in the spare bedroom which suited him fine.
It was only six in the morning so the outside temperature was still relatively decent compared to how high it would rise in the afternoon sun. Birds chirped announcing the rising sun as a jogger ran by on the street outside. Liam didn’t know how they did it. Not everyone could afford a VR-Trek, he supposed. Although people hadn’t used fossil fuels for energy in five decades, the air was still too polluted for him to run outside. He watched the jogger round a corner and run out of sight.
Ann motioned for him to join her on the porch swing. Careful not to spill his hot faux-coffee on himself, he sat next to her. Sometimes she would start swinging as he came down causing him to fall on his ass. Thankfully, his ass was safe this morning.
“I’m proud of you, Liam,” she declared with a serious tone. She rested her hand on his knee. “I really am. Yesterday there were plenty of chances for you to take a drink, but you stayed away.”
“Well, I did promise you, didn’t I? It would be a lie to say I wasn’t tempted, though.” And he had been. The bottle had been a magical cure-all for numbing his mind after he returned to the States from overseas. Too often he found himself thinking about the horrors he faced. Too often he silenced those thoughts the only way he knew how.
“You did promise. And I know I shouldn’t drink in front of you. I did yesterday, and I’m sorry about that.”
“My problems shouldn’t be your problems.”
“Yes they should. A relationship is about sharing the burdens. I’m afraid I tempted you and I apologize.”
“No apologies needed. It’s fine, really.”
She laid her head on his shoulder and squeezed his free hand. Orange light painted the eastern horizon as the sun continued its daily ascent. The two took a moment to soak it in and drink the steaming liquid caffeine.
“I’ve been thinking of going to see my dad,” she said. “You know he hasn’t been feeling well lately, and everyday we’re getting closer and closer to finishing The Hawking. I just feel like I may not have another chance if I keep putting it off. He’s already so lonely.”
“When would you go?”
“Soon. Maybe tomorrow. He sent me a video message overnight. I watched it while you were exercising. He looked weak.”
He turned to face her and saw the concern she held in her eyes. She cared deeply for her father. Her mother passed away years before she and Liam met and ever since her father lived alone in eastern Tennessee. He knew Ann wanted to visit more than she could, but work kept her too busy. “Don’t waste time on me, you’re saving the world!” her father would tell her.
“No reason to wait until tomorrow. It’s Sunday, we have nothing planned. I can get you on a hovercopter in an hour and you’ll be at your dad’s in no time. Surprise him, he’ll love it.”
“I can’t ask you to arrange that! That’s too much.”
“It’s no trouble. We always have pilots on standby—there’s a few currently on shift and probably watching movies on the base. One phone call and you’re on your way to the smokies.”
“I love you. Thank you so much. You’re too good to me, Liam.”
“I could always be better,” he said, thinking about the last night he drank. His eyes shifted downward. Ann noticed.
“No, don’t think about that. We’ve put it behind us, okay? You’ve been sober for how long? Neither of us want to go there again.”
“Okay. You’re right.” He put two fingers to his temple and floated them away. “Out of mind. And I love you, too. I’ll go make that phone call.” He kissed her hand and stepped back inside the house.
The screen door closed gently behind Liam leaving Ann alone on the porch. She turned her eyes back to the sunrise, the sun climbed a little higher since last she looked. What were you thinking, she wondered, drinking in front of him yesterday? That wasn’t the first alcoholic beverage she consumed after his last time drinking, but it was the first she’d done so in front of him. How quickly he forgave her. She could see the strides he was making in his recovery—especially after the explosion that almost killed him.
He’d been trying so hard to make amends for that one night, and here she was knocking back drinks—taunting him, so she thought. The STS commission banned alcohol on the fleet, so at least they both knew they could put that chapter behind them for good once they were outside of its earthly reach.
She needed to put those thoughts out of her head. In an
hour or so she would be on her way to visit her father. She grew up in a small town in eastern Tennessee, right in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains. As an only child she often found herself hiking alone in the mountains marveling at the beauty of the forest and all it had to offer. She was close with her parents—only having a minor rebellious phase in her teens where she didn’t speak to them for two weeks. Sometimes she felt guilty for having such a happy home while millions of families around the world struggled day-by-day to find food and water.
During a particularly dry summer in her college years, an enormous fire engulfed the mountains near her childhood home. Luckily, their house was spared, but millions of acres burned to the ground—not to mention the numerous farms in the nearby area that also caught ablaze. The fire, in a way, inspired her and she became devoted to studying plants to ascertain which of those could survive the coming years and in what extreme conditions. She changed her major from engineering to botany so she could help change the world.
After graduation (the fourth to the last graduating class ever) she stayed at the university and worked as a lab assistant studying the environmental effects of plants native to the land between the two tropics if they were moved to regions above fifty degrees north and south latitude. The goal was to create nature preserves where these plants could be seeded in climates not natural to their native environment and note which could thrive in what conditions. Her work led to several small breakthroughs, enough to eventually secure a grant to lead her own team. She had an idea to create a chemical that could be injected into the plants that would enable certain species to survive in climates where they could not before. She recruited a chemist and a biologist and within three years they had a proven compound that worked for sixty-eight percent of plants. The injected plant could live in a colder climate and its seeds would grow and adapt with no need for a chemical injection.
It was this remarkable breakthrough that got her noticed by the STS commission. She oversaw the transplant of hundreds of plant species to temperate climates before she left the university for good and moved to Orlando where she became the lead scientist in the botany department for The Hawking. She hoped to seed at least a thousand Earth-native plants in alien soil if the Proximian environment could sustain them. But for now, it was time to return home. She must see her father.
Liam rejoined her on the porch several moments later, standing in the doorway. “I secured you a flight. It leaves in an hour and a half.”
She stood and embraced him. Her head rested on his chest. “Thank you.”
An hour later she zipped shut her suitcase, ready to go. Liam offered to drive her to the base and soon her home faded away in the rearview. The home she would never lay eyes on again.
Chapter 3
“THANK YOU AGAIN for coming in. We’ll see you tomorrow. Be sharp.” Liam escorted the final candidate for Percy’s security team out of his new office. The man thanked him for the opportunity and left the room. He returned to his oversized desk where Percy occupied one of the two chairs on the other side.
“That’s a good team you brought in. I sensed no hesitation with any...potential job requirements they may face.”
“I told you my people are good,” Percy said. He grabbed a pen off Liam’s desk and started tapping his knee to a beat in his head. “But, listen. If I’m going to be the lead man on this commission-approved mercenary security team, there are things I need to know; places I need access to. My badge only opens half the doors on this campus. I can’t secure the other half if I can’t even get in.”
“That is an excellent point, my friend. I’ll check into raising your clearance level.”
“Great. Where’s Ann? Maybe the three of us could grab lunch?”
“She’s out of town. Her dad in Tennessee isn’t doing so well so she’s taking some time. Flew up there yesterday morning.”
“Oh, bachelor pad at your place then. Party? Strippers?”
Liam laughed sarcastically. “You wish. I’m afraid my party days are long behind me. Somehow I became an adult with responsibilities. Not sure the suits on the commission would appreciate me slacking on those responsibilities.”
“I hear you. You can never please the big wigs. But remember, to me in my position, you are the big wig.”
“Scary thought there, Percy. Can you believe people let me be in charge of anything?”
“You kiddin’ me? Are you forgetting what kind of leader you were back in the day? How many times did you save my ass?”
“Same amount of times you saved mine. And Foster saved us both. And on down the line. We watched each other’s backs out there. Now your job is to watch mine, and everyone else’s here. You and your team. We’re the guinea pigs for a new security plan. If our ideas succeed here, the commission will implement them at all the other campuses. Spotlight is on us—on you in particular.”
“The pressure! You’ve got me, my eight guys, and the twenty-three security guards already here. We’re going to retrain them to step up. My eight will be thirty-one in no time. We’ll be a damn strong force.”
“Ideally, we won’t have to find out how strong.” Liam’s stomach growled. “Come on, let’s find some lunch. I know a good place down—” He was interrupted by the phone on his desk ringing. He held up a finger signaling Percy to wait. The screen displayed a Columbus, Ohio area code. The White House. He pressed the answer icon on the screen.
“Hello, this is Liam Donovan.”
“Mr. Donovan, this is Todd Blake.”
Liam met the Secretary of Defense on a few occasions whenever he had commission business in Columbus. Blake had been on the commission for the better part of the last decade.
“Secretary Blake, what can I do for you?”
“I need you to gather all of your department heads into a conference room. There’s been a...development that must be addressed. Once you’re all gathered call me back.” Blake gave them the number to reach him. “Don’t make me wait, Mr. Donovan. You have twenty minutes.”
“I will get right on it, sir.”
The video went to black. “Well, Percy. How about we up your clearance level right now?”
Several hundred miles away Ann brought a ham sandwich to her father, Gary Caldwell. He was even weaker than he had appeared in the video call. Hardly able to climb out of bed, he looked nothing like the man she grew up with. Already a scarce commodity in this poorer area of the country, food was hard to come by for her father in his weakened state. The first thing she did after the hovercopter dropped her off in the front lawn was borrow her father’s truck and go shopping. She bought him two months’ worth of food—easy things to prepare after she left, like soup.
Miles away from any semblance of civilization, the one story house sat alone off the side of a rarely used road. It was a small, modest home with only two bedrooms. Her parents remodeled it in the 2090s, but it remained largely untouched since. In the backyard a small garden once grew that backed into the tree line at the bottom of one of the Appalachian Mountains. The neglected garden hadn’t seen a fresh vegetable in at least a decade. If she had thought about it she would’ve brought some seeds with her, but she doubted her father’s capability to tend to them after she left.
She sat at his bedside and handed him the plate, placing his glass of water on his nightstand table. He took a slow, deliberate bite savoring the taste. She couldn’t help but pity him.
“Thank you, Annie. It’s delicious.” He patted her leg before bringing the sandwich up for another bite.
“It’s nothing. Your pantry is more stocked up than it has ever been. I had to hit up three stores, but you should be good for a while. And don’t be afraid to get someone over here to help you cook if you need it. You look like you haven’t eaten in a week. Who knows what could have happened if you hadn’t called.”
“I would have been fine. I always am. Like I said, you didn’t need to come up here on my behalf.”
“You’re stubborn is what you are. And o
f course I did.”
“You know,” he said, changing the subject, “that young man in town was asking about you last month. What was his name? Marvin? Marty? No, it’s Martin. Anyway, I told him next time I saw you I’d pass on that he said hello.”
“Dad, you know I’m still with Liam. Why’d you go and get the poor boy’s hopes up?”
“I’m just the messenger. Don’t shoot.”
She laughed it off, but wondered if her father had an ulterior motive like wanting her close by more often. He had always been a hard man to read, so she wasn’t sure. Instead she changed the subject. She caught him up on all the research her and her team had accomplished while preparing for the STS mission. Their most recent development involved the altering of a lady fern’s DNA to potentially thrive in the type of soil they were guessing was present on Proxima. It was their first successful test in growing an Earth seed on alien soil. There was always the strong possibility that their guess of the soil compounds on Proxima were way off base, but re-engineering the DNA made for good practice nonetheless.
Moments after her father finished his sandwich, her cell vibrated in her pocket. “One minute, Dad. Liam’s calling.” She excused herself and stepped into the hall. “Liam? I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until tonight. I barely have a signal up here, so if you break up I’ll call you back. How did your interviews go with Percy’s guys?”
“Ann, I just got a call from Secretary Blake. Something is up. All department heads are needed for a conference call in fifteen minutes. Call in to this number.” He relayed the number that would connect to the conference room.
“Any idea what this is about? Was there another attack?”
“I’m with Percy. He’ll be representing our security team for this call. And we don’t know anything, yet. If there was an attack, I’m sure we’d already be aware of it.”
“You’re right. This is strange. Has he or anybody else on the commission ever scheduled a conference call on such short notice?”
Proxima Page 3
