After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 (3 page)

“They say some sort of virus. But there are rumors,” Skylar said. Brody gently kicked her underneath the table.

“Rumors like what?” Avalon pressed.

Skylar’s face scrunched up. Brody stared at her.

“You know what I miss?” Brody said, changing the subject.

“Wait Brody. I want to hear what Skylar was about to say,” Avalon answered.

Skylar took a sip of water. “Well. Rumors say he was killed. That something
happened t
o him.”

“That’s why I tried to change the subject,” Brody said with a roll of his eyes. “There is no need in scaring the girl time she wakes up.”

“They
are
only rumors,” Skylar insisted. “She deserves to know, regardless.”

Killed.
That is a strong accusation.
Unconsciously, Avalon touched her necklace.

“Who would do such a thing?” Avalon asked, her eyes wide.

“I miss the warmth of the sun on my face. Not just the rec room VR stuff, but the real sun. Haptic technology has come far, but it is still far from a perfect simulation. What about you Avalon? What do you miss?” Brody asked.

Avalon wanted to know who or what killed Dexter. Even if it was just a rumor. But she also didn’t want to rock the boat. So Avalon chose to think of all the things she missed. Her family. Her friends. Church. School. But stating any of the above would lead to an uncontrollable crying session, so she chose to talk about food.

“I miss homemade Mac and Cheese.” Several groans issued amongst the group.

“Man that’s a good one. Why’d you have to bring up food? My grandma was the best cook,” Brody said.
“Best cakes too. She would carry those cakes to everything. Cake cured almost all ails.”

Avalon nodded her head in agreement noting the slight mist in Brody’s eyes at mentioning his Grandma. Avalon missed her grandmother too. Her sweet Nana used to bake her cupcakes on the weekends. She didn’t see her that often, because she lived in the Deep South. She mainly visited during the summers. The hot, humid, sticky summers that were rescued by the cold sweet tea. A smile formed across her face at the memories. Avalon was grateful her grandmother passed on long before the asteroid threatened the Earth.

“How do you eat that potato without any sour cream or cheese?” Avalon asked Ilium.

Ilium laughed. “You will learn how to do without a lot of things we had on the outside in due time,” Ilium said.

Avalon took a bite of her protein bar. After chewing for a long time, she swallowed. It did not taste too bad. Avalon’s eyes wandered to the Accipio table and she noticed how much healthier they looked than the other classes. Avalon asked, “What exactly do the Accipios do here?”

“Their tasks are mostly managerial in nature,” Brody informed Avalon. “There is no monetary system for remuneration here. We all receive rations for the basic necessities and barter for anything extra.”

Managerial. Seemingly the AI could handle that task.
Avalon finished her protein bar and laid the empty wrapper down on her tray.

The holographic wall screen lit up in front of Avalon and the whole cafeteria. Everyone became quiet as the Presidential seal appeared on the screen, followed by a close up of the President sitting in front of his large wooden desk.

“Good afternoon,” the President said.

“Good afternoon,” everyone replied in unison.

“I apologize for the interruption, but I have some unfortunate news.” The President folded his hands and leaned in towards the camera a little more. “Effective immediately, new work hours will be instituted. The Accipios will continue to work six hours a day, and the Fulcios will continue to work eight hours a day. However, the Compatios will need to work ten hours a day. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Remember, the work we do is not only for ourselves, but for the very survival of humanity itself,” the President’s steady and monotonous voice announced.

Silence filled the cafeteria like helium fills a balloon. The President signed off, leaving the different groups to mumble about what would cause a change in work load when one Compatio stood up and shouted in protest.

“I have had enough of working all the time! Working my hands to the bone while no other group pulls their weight!”

“Shut up, you stupid Compatio!” a blonde Russian girl named Elena Romanov yelled.

“Yeah, nobody cares. Crawl back to whatever rock you came from,” a tall African girl said who sat next to Elena.

“I will not shut up! That is the problem. We don’t make noise. We just sit here and take whatever is doled out to us. Well I have had enough!” she said, slamming a hand on a table. “My friends get mysteriously abducted in the night, and yet nobody mentions anything about it. We all just act like nothing is happening!”

Elena and the trio of girls who sat at her table laughed at the words coming from the Compatio girl as they whispered the word “crazy” amongst each other.

A muscular guard, previously posted against a wall with his hands behind his back, made his way towards the slender Compatio girl and struck her back with a baton that sent strong electrical pulses coursing throughout her body. The girl’s body fell down, rigid, as tears flowed from her eyes. Her emaciated body held several bruises and scabs against copper toned skin.

Stay out of this Avalon. This is not your fight
, Avalon thought. The guard with the huge biceps struck the crumpled body again, and this time no sound escaped the girl.

Still not satisfied, he raised his arm with the baton above her again.

Darn it! I can’t just sit here.
Avalon ran and stepped between the guard and the girl’s body.

“Step away from the girl,” the guard said with a low growl.

“Please, please! I believe she has learned her lesson for the day,” Avalon pleaded with her arm up as though she could shield the girl on the floor.

A quiet descended over the entire cafeteria as the guard scowled at Avalon and then at the Compatio girl’s crumpled body she protected.

“You are interfering with the administration of justice. That carries a penalty of a strike. As you know, after three strikes, you are expelled from the habitat.”

“I’m sorry, but I am not trying to interfere. But we can’t use this Compatio girl anymore if she is dead. She is no longer speaking, so you succeeded in shutting her up.” Avalon put her doe eyes to full effect on the guard. However, he did not budge.

Ilium ran and stood beside Avalon. “She is new here. I will let her know how things work.”

The guard stared first into Ilium’s face and then into Avalon’s. Avalon’s blood ran cold as she did not want Ilium in harm’s way for her sake.
Why is he so nice to me? We just met, and yet here he is throwing himself on the line.

“Humph. You better, and this better be the last outburst I hear from any of you, or else you will ALL be lined up and punished,” the guard said as he lowered his baton and walked away.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Avalon slowly stepped away from the girl on the floor. Avalon looked straight ahead towards her cafeteria table and tried to ignore the stares she received.
This is exactly what I didn’t want. To stand out.
After a few moments, subdued muttering began.

“Who does that new girl think she is?” said a coffee colored guard with a buzz cut who stood against the cafeteria wall with the muscular guard.

“I scanned her face. She’s Avalon Adams,” the muscular guard answered.

The other guard’s eyes widened. “You mean Dr. Adams kid?”

“In the flesh,” the muscular guard answered.

“That explains a lot. She probably thinks she runs the place just cause of her last name,” the coffee hued guard said.

Avalon turned to face Ilium.

“You didn’t have to help me,” she whispered.

“I know,” he answered.

“Thank you,” Avalon said as they returned to their seats by the others. She detested being the center of attention, but she could not continue to stand idly by and allow that guard to injure that girl anymore.

“Why would you help that girl?” Skylar said as Avalon sat down.

“I just couldn’t sit here and allow him to continue to injure her. But I believe we were talking about the stuff we missed before being frozen?” Avalon said, redirecting the conversation.

Judging by the look on Skylar’s face, she wasn’t used to someone else directing the conversation. Prior to Avalon, all the rest of the group probably followed her lead as to the topic of conversation. The air was thick between them, but she tried hard to engage the others, hoping to win Skylar’s approval eventually.

After a while, the chatter resumed and once everyone finished eating, they slid their trays down the end of the table into a vacuum slot which led to a dishwasher.

“That was awesome how you handled that situation. See ya tomorrow, newbie!” Brody yelled before entering the corridor.

Ilium pulled Avalon aside as they sauntered out of the cafeteria. “You really can’t do what you did today.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Standing up for that girl like that. You could have been hurt,” he said with eyes full of worry.

“I did what was right, Ilium.”

Something churned inside of Ilium’s stomach at the sound of his name coming from Avalon’s lips. He forced his lips into a tight line so as not to betray his budding feelings. Strange, slightly uncomfortable, but overall wonderful feelings. “I understand that. But things work a little differently here. Those guards are not our parents. They are callous and not afraid to maintain order at any cost,” he said.

“I get it. They aren’t here to protect us. They are here to help control us,” Avalon said.

Ilium nodded.

Avalon’s eyes narrowed as she said, “Explain this three strikes thing to me.”

“If you commit three strikes, you get expelled from the habitat.”

Getting expelled from the habitat would be disastrous. The oceans were believed to have evaporated due to the asteroid impact, and the new atmosphere was practically non-existent. The temperature would be too cold outside to support human life. Some scientists called these effects impact winter.

“And what do you have to do to deserve a strike?” Avalon asked.

“When you get back to your room, search in one of your drawers. It should contain a book that explains the rules.”

“Thank you,” Avalon said.

Ilium whispered, “You are welcome,
”
as she walked away.

Later that night, Avalon returned to her dorm room. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she read through the list of rules in her drawer. The list was short and to the point. Most forms of direct insubordination, theft, etc. could earn one a strike in the habitat. Avalon doubted, however, that the President would actually utilize such severe punishments. As it got late, she dimmed the light in her room and climbed up to her capsule bed.

Whereas she initially enjoyed having a room all to herself at first, now the room was beginning to feel smaller. Claustrophobic even. She couldn’t pinpoint what was off, but it made her uneasy.

Something wasn’t right.

Probably just home sick. Silly me.

And she closed her eyes, completely unaware someone else was watching.

Avalon dreamt of her last days before entering the habitat. Her father had asked for months what she wanted to do on that important day—

perhaps, the last night of her life if she never woke up again. With such high stakes, she contemplated a trip to Tokyo or China, or gambling with friends in Las Vegas. Even a trip to Disneyland in California. Thoughts of nature also occurred to her, like hiking through Yellowstone National Park. In the end, she settled on something simple.

Her father feared friends would become jealous of her “saved” status, so friends weren’t allowed over. Whatever she wanted to do on her last day before entering the habitat, it could only involve her father. She had all of the clothes, shoes, purses, and gadgets a girl could ever want, and she would not need such material things in the habitat, which made a trip to the mall unnecessary. So, she opted for a father and daughter day with a trip to the local pizza parlor they had frequented every Friday for years.

On that particularly frigid day, Avalon wore black knee high boots, a black cashmere scarf, a tan Burberry trench coat belted at the waist, and black leather gloves. Her nose and cheeks were red, but her ears were protected by black earmuffs. Clouds formed and twisted overhead, casting a dreary grey shadow on everything, but at least the weatherman predicted no rain. The smell of pizza wafted into the street. Her mouth watered as her father held the door open as they entered Papa Al’s Pizzeria.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” her father asked.

“Yep,” she answered, taking off her scarf and laying it down on the booth seat.

A college age male waiter with tattoos walked up to them. “Welcome to Al’s Pizzeria. Will you guys have the usual?” he asked.

“Yes.”

The waiter ran to the back of the store to put in their order.

“So dad, are you sure the AI in the habitat won’t go haywire like Hal 9000 on us?”

He chuckled. “You have quite the imagination. I am quite sure.”

“What if there are human androids present that are planning a mutiny, like on Battlestar Gallactica?”

“I suggest you befriend Boomer and stay away from any cylons named Six then,” he said with a smile.

The waiter returned shortly and placed a meat lover’s pizza before them. They were the only customers there. Only about three waiters walked around, and they were all the owner’s children. Biting into a slice of pizza, she eavesdropped as some of the waitstaff spoke Italian in a corner by the cash register. Avalon was fluent in three languages, the third being Japanese, so she understood what they were speaking.

“Perché stiamo ancora lavorando? Non dovremmo essere a casa con le nostre famiglie ?” ( Why are we even working? We should be home with our families.)

“Ti sto dicendo, questa cosa asteroide è solo una bufala. Stiamo chiudendo presto.” ( I am telling you, this asteroid thing is just a hoax. We are closing soon.)

Her father paid the bill and as they headed out of the shop and onto the busy sidewalk, he paused. He hugged Avalon tightly. As they embraced, she inhaled his woodsy scent. A tear rolled down her face as she realized again that this would be one of the last times she would smell him.

“I love you very much. You mean the world to me. I will always be with you. Always,” he said.

“I love you too,” she said as her bottom lip trembled.

She awoke from her dream the next morning and yawned. She felt the sheets, and for the first time in a while they were not soaked with sweat. Her heart ached from the memory of her father. Of the world outside.

Inside the cold walls of the habitat, she had not met any androids. But she
had
met some people who behaved robotically.

The wallscreen in front of her emitted light in phases perfectly timed to her circadian rhythm so she awoke with energy. Rubbing her eyes, she planted both feet on the floor.

How the alleged guards treated that poor girl in the cafeteria still did not sit well. The government had gone through a lot of trouble to ensure their survival. She understood the need for control, especially in an enclosed environment full of young adults and hormones. However, she disagreed with their methods.

There’s so much going on here. Dad’s message left on my necklace. Then Dexter being killed. Of course, that is probably just a rumor. But still. And this virus thing. It doesn’t make sense. We all took the universal shot…

She slid her scrub shirt over her head and tightened the band around her scrub pants. Avalon touched her necklace and recalled her father’s message before heading out to the cafeteria where she grabbed a granola bar on the go.

As she grabbed the plainly marked granola bar, she saw Elena. On her way out of the cafeteria, Elena blocked her way. When Avalon moved right, Elena moved right. When Avalon turned to the left, Elena turned to the left. Elena’s group of friends stood a few feet behind her scowling.

“Watch where you are going Fulcio,” Elena said with a laugh.

Avalon rolled her eyes, and turned to the left. Elena deliberately bumped her shoulder and knocked the granola bar out of Avalon’s hands.

Avalon’s face turned red as Elena and her gang of girls laughed.

Elena obviously wants a rise out of me. Probably wants the guards to come over and attack me.

“Stop,” Avalon said.

“Stop,” Elena mimicked.

“Please, grow up. I don’t even know you,” Avalon said.

“You don’t have to know me. I know I don’t like you,” Elena admitted.

“Why? I haven’t done anything to you.”

“You don’t have to,” Elena giggled, her icy blue eyes like sharp knives and her teeth like a venomous snakes.

“I don’t want to start anything,” Avalon said and stooped down to pick up the granola bar. But just as she stooped, Elena kicked it further away.

Avalon balled her fists up.

“Hi, Elena, how is it going?” Kael said, coming up behind Elena.

“Great, how about you?” Elena said in a different tone of voice than she had used with Avalon. It was almost awe-inspiring how quickly she could turn from venomous to sweet.

Kael, with his strong physique, led Elena and the gang of girls away from Avalon. Somehow, Avalon didn’t think it was a coincidence.

What the heck is her problem!
Avalon picked up the granola bar and discreetly placed it back on the rack, while grabbing another one that was less broken.

As she left the cafeteria, the standard issue black combat boots were a bit too big, and rubbed her skin raw, despite the socks she wore. Ignoring the slight irritation, Avalon waved to her teammates as she entered the work station and tried not to contemplate the hundreds of questions on her mind after seeing the holographic message her father left.

Skylar strode over to where Avalon stood and said, “Today, I am going to train you on how to use and analyze the systems. It is a huge responsibility and something we take very seriously. All of our survival is at stake, so I trust
you
will take this seriously as well.”

Avalon nodded her head as Skylar continued, “Sometimes, it takes a minute for the system to become acclimated to how your particular neurons are configured.” As Avalon stood upon the round circle in the floor, it emitted blue light as it read her biosignal and loaded up the training program.

“Welcome, Avalon,” the AI spoke in a pleasant female voice.

After demonstrating to Avalon how to open folders and perform various operations for thirty minutes, Skylar left Avalon to her own devices.

“Once you complete the training mode, you will be able to work on the real stuff. Everyone has access to only certain areas of the mainframe,
”
Skylar informed.

“Skylar,” Avalon said.

“Yes?”

“Can you fill me in a bit more on everyone? Everyone seems so quiet.”

“Xin is very serious and meticulous. He does not allow chatter,” she said. “But yes, I will tell you briefly about everyone. Xin’s brain is wired in a way that is rivaled only by the highest artificial intelligence in his cognitive and analytical ability. He became the first human competitor to beat a machine at chess in over fifty years. He won twice, as the developers believed he cheated the first time.”

Skylar’s head turned towards Brody next. “Brody is here because he worked with a professor to introduce the trillion exoflops per second computer.”

Avalon looked at Brody with new appreciation for his talents.

“And yours truly developed a pill with nanobots which could change your hair color, and I did it at age 14,” Skylar said. “Women around the world could thank me for ending the hair dye industry. Now, all they had to do is pop a pill to stop grey hair.” Then she frowned, “Of course, it only stayed on the market for two years, before we had to come here.”

“That’s quite impressive,” Avalon said.

Skylar smiled until she glimpsed Xin looking at her with his lips pressed hard together. “Well, I will let you practice doing it yourself,” Skylar said as she returned to her blue workstation.

They must wonder what I did to warrant my presence. I am sure they just think I am only here because of my dad.

After a few hours of writing and executing code, the others took their fifteen minute breaks
.

“Avalon you are a coding queen! Come take a break!” Brody yelled, seeing Avalon had reached 60% completion of her training mode already.

“I will soon, guys. I just want to finish training today and I will join you all afterwards!” she answered.

“Nobody finishes training in one day. It takes from three days to a week. Xin has the record at three days,” Skylar added.

Avalon smiled and said, “Ok, thanks!”

Once the room cleared, Avalon sped up and blazed through the remaining training courses.
She had slowed down in front of her teammates so as not to appear too smart.
She had to work hard and fast enough that people respected the fact that she belonged on the habitat for her own merit—not just for her last name or connections. Yet, she didn’t want to be so smart that she became isolated.

Yet, her name was now prominently displayed as number one on the training scoreboard, with completion in six hours.

There goes my popularity
.
O well. Might as well have some fun!

Avalon searched through files on her own and happened across a folder labeled Confidential. Normally, such folders would be restricted by biosignal. However, a small timer icon hovered next to the folder. The timer represented how many minutes the President had left to secure the folder as being Confidential.

Avalon glanced over her shoulder. Biting the side of her bottom lip, she double tapped the folder. It looked like a video.

A male, roughly around age eighteen, appeared on the screen. The footage was from his helmet camera.
Why is he wearing a helmet?

The short video continued to play. The young man in the suit said, “Yeah, there is nothing outside. Just this sea of red.”

A second voice on the young man’s ear comm said, “Just as we suspected. Area is a wasteland as predicted.”

The young man sighed. “At least I got to go outside for a little while.”

“True. But since there is nothing outside you are not to mention this to anyone, just as we agreed.”

“Roger,” the young man replied.

Then the young man walked around with a Geiger counter type apparatus the size of a small credit card. While the radiation levels were at levels too high to sustain plant or animal life, microbial life might have survived.

“Although, I don’t understand why some of the stuff isn’t here anymore. Like all of that razor wire and the big concrete wall when we entered the habitat,” the young man said.

“I believe the sandstorms buried it,” the voice on the other side said.

The young man nodded his head as he continued to walk, surveying the land using a map in his helmet.

“Everything just looks so different. Very similar, but somehow different.”

“That is to be expected,” the man on the other end said.

“I know. But I can’t explain it. Something doesn’t seem right.”

“Perhaps, you should come on back then, son,” the voice on the other end said.

The young man nodded.

“I think I will. My oxygen is getting low.”

Right as the young man turned around to return, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey….I think I saw something,” the young man said.

“What?” the ear comm voice asked.

“I think I saw…a person…”

“Like you mean a face in the sand sort of thing?” the voice on the ear comm asked.

“No. I mean a person’s face,” the young man answered.

“You must be imagining things,” the ear comm voice reassured him. “Maybe it is the radiation levels and different atmospheric pressure affecting you somehow despite your suit. Please return towards the habitat now,” the voice commanded.