(1109 words)
“Arman, did you pack your mask?”
“Yes mom.”
“Did you pack your stabilizer?”
“Yes mom.”
“Do you have an extra tank of O2?”
“Yes m –” the young boy paused and started to
rummage through his bag searching for the compact canister. A large sigh
escaped him as he panned over to his mother who had her decorated hand on her
waist. A soft chuckle escaped the tall woman as she tucked the canister in his
backpack.
“Thanks mom” he whispered.
With a scratch on his head, she strapped
the mask on his face and fixed the goggles on his eyes and gave him a kiss on
his forehead. A heavy and weary sigh left her as she hugged him.
“Mom, I’m just going on a field
trip.” the boy sighed.
“I know sweetheart. It’s just that
the gas levels are really high today...the highest we’ve seen in months.” she
whispered.
“It’s fine. Aren’t you a
scientist?”
“Yeah,” she chuckled wiping her
nose, “Yeah I am. Go on, you don’t wanna be late.”
He waved back at her as he walked
through the elongated glass tube that led to the street hidden by the “fog”.
Closing the door behind her, the holo-phone began to ring blaring Dr. Lance’s
face.
“Hello, Doctor, is there something
that you need?” she asked leaning against the dining table sipping on her
coffee.
“Good morning Dr. Summers. Your
presence is needed at the station.” the wrinkled man commanded. “We may have
found a breakthrough with a potential habitable system.”
“That’s great Doctor, but I was
thinking about spending time with Tyler tonight.” she paused giving him a small
smile. “I promise I’ll be there first thing in the morning.”
“I wasn’t asking doctor. I have
already sent a car for you. Miller and Simms will be there to look after
Tyler.”
“But –” she tried to cut him off.
“That will be all. See you when
you get here.” his hazy face dissipated.
Squeezing the life out of her cup,
she sighed, putting her head into her hands. She dragged herself to her room
and changed into her work clothes. She chucked on her lab coat, packed her
laptop and the portable solar monitor, and headed to the basement to wait on
the National
Cosmos Exploration Association – the NCEA vehicle. Her phone began to buzz with
Tyler’s face showing up on the screen.
She felt her heart drop slightly
as she brought the phone to her ear. “Hey sweetheart, what’s up?”
“Mom why are there men here saying
that I need to go with them?” he said in a soft, confused voice.
“It’s fine sweety. Those are just
some people from mommy’s work.” she paused, taking a deep breath. “I know it’s
last minute, but I have to go into work. But I promised I’ll be back before
bedtime.” There was a long moment of silence that caused her to grind her teeth
against each other.
“Don’t make promises you can’t
keep.” and the line was cut.
“Shit…”
She reached into her back pocket
and pulled out a box of cigarettes. Taking a long drag of smoke, she rubbed her
temple feeling a slight pain in her chest. She really hated upsetting her son.
Disappointment…that was all she
got from him.
She allowed her mind to drift into
slight despair as the roars of an engine approached the guarded gate of the
basement.
“Hey Summers!” the pudgy man
exclaimed.
“Hey Matthew.” She muttered outing the smoke. Hoisting herself into the large jeep, she quickly placed on the breathing helmet, fixing herself into a comfortable position awaiting the bullshit she was gonna hear from her superiors.
.
.
.
“Good to see you Alena.” A wrinkled woman
glided in front of her in a hoverchair.
“Wish I could say the same.” She whispered
under her breath.
They entered a large boardroom with
windows extending from floor to ceiling. The massive glass table that sat in
the middle of the room projected analytics and other stats regarding to Earth’s
atmosphere.
The old woman let out a long sigh shaking
her head, fixing her large glasses on her face. “Arman will understand. He is
just a child. The severity of Earth’s situation hasn’t hit him yet…maybe it
never will.”
“I know, it’s just –” a deep and raspy
voice spoke behind them cutting her off.
“Ah, Summers you’re here. Good.” Dr. Lance
spoke. “Everyone please be seated.” He glided his fingers across the smooth
surface of the table, bringing up a virtual diagram of what looked to be a
solar system. “I am happy to announce that we have made great progress in
finding a new suitable planet for all of mankind. This earth-like planet is in
the Lyra constellation and it is orbiting a red dwarf star. And it is not that
far away from here.”
“And you are certain it’s in the habitable
zone?” one of the scientists asked.
“Yes, we can confirm it is.” Lance spoke
with a hopeful smile on his face. “We can now start our second phase of the
exhibition.”
A twinge of hope danced around in Alena’s
belly at the news. The depletion of earth’s atmosphere has been happening for
the past six years and has been rapidly going down in the past few months.
“Summers, Nickelson and Smith, I need you
three to get started on possible mockups for the vehicles getting there.” Heads
nodded and soft hums echoed in agreement.
“Jameson, Adderley, Fallon and Gordan can
work on creating the modules of calculating the allotted time of space travel
needed to reach this planet.” He paused, taking another glance at his notes on
his tablet. “Uhh…the rest of you, for the moment, can continue to monitor the
rising gas levels and also, estimate the amount of time we have left on this
planet.”
“When would you want an update on all of
this?” Alena asked, glancing down quickly typing down the last bit of
information given to them.
“By the end of the month. That would give
you all about four weeks to just have the rough numbers in. From there we can
go over them, perfect them and begin the trial period.” He let out a long
breath of air, fixing the glasses sitting on his nose. “This is the beginning
of our future. One full of hope for us and our kids and future generations.
Okay team…let us get to some serious work!”
Excitement jumped in her heart at the
events happening in front of her. Soon enough, she and her son will be
somewhere else in the galaxy safe and…happy. Alena couldn’t wait for the next
few weeks…months.
I am attracted by the info which you have provided in the above post. It is genuinely good and beneficial info for us. Continue posting, Thank you. Yeti Competitors and Alternatives
ReplyDelete