The Great Altruist (49 page)

       
    
Val’s demeanor softened and she relaxed in her seat. “He’s clearly in step with the program, isn’t he?” she asked.

       
    
“He is. Still, you’ll come to see his brilliance and it’s important you play along, Val. As I’ve said, everything depends on Archer being kept in the dark about our real goals. Unfortunately, he promised Grant that we would save his wife upon our return.”

           
“The same as your wife?”

       
    
“No, I'm afraid not,” Roger said. “I won't be honoring Archer's promise to Grant. If Archer doesn't fall in line by the time we return, he's being left behind.”

           
“And Grant?”

           
He shoved a photo of James across the desk, which she quickly snatched up and studied. She didn’t look impressed. “That’s up to you what we do with him,” he said with a wink.

       
    
Val smiled. “I don't think so. But if you want me to play along and even seduce him for the sake of the project, I'm at your disposal. I just want to make up for my mistake any way I can.”

       
    
“You needn’t worry too much,” he said. “My wife is a merciful woman. But we are past the point of no return, as it were, and so you’re place in the future society is secure. The role you will play is what’s up in the air.

           
“On a brighter note,” he continued, “now that Archer knows of your existence, you are no longer confined yourself to your quarters.”

       
    
Val stood up, walked around the desk, and kissed him on the cheek as a daughter would her father. “I promise I’ll behave,” she said obediently. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for my attitude earlier.”

       
    
James did not adjust easily to his new life aboard the organization’s vessel. Doctor Archer urged him to leave immediately. James resisted at first. Then the nurses and doctors confirmed the worst: Genesis’s coma was now permanent, and she was in a persistent vegetative state with little chance of ever regaining consciousness. With that tragic news, he made the difficult choice of leaving his wife attached to a machine while he left to find the cure. If Archer failed in his mission, James decided he would spend the rest of his life finding a cure rather than give up on her chances.

           
Eventually, as weeks passed and the deadline for their departure loomed, James was able to sleep through the night. The other participants made efforts to reach out to him - particularly a few of the women - but he remained cordial and avoided any of their attempts toward friendship. For him, this mission had a singular goal and whether anyone else was successful was unimportant. Still, there were aspects of life aboard the
Apocalypse
that upset James. He was not used to a communal shower and so often took showers late at night when everyone else slept. It didn’t take him long to observe the loose morals of the other participants, but since his wife was very much alive to him, he avoided their influence and kept to himself.

           
The day of the launch, on the bridge of the
Apocalypse
, men scurried back and forth in their duties as Archer sat in the captain’s chair. He took a moment to observe all the men and women the organization recruited for the mission, all of them working for a cause greater than money, or so he thought. A smile came to his face. He motioned a hand to a technician.

       
    
“How soon can we leave?” he said.

       
    
The technician smiled proudly. “We can leave now, sir.”

       
    
“Excellent!” Archer said with joy. He picked up a communication device and said: “Roger?”

       
    
Roger's voice screeched out of the device's tiny speaker. “Go ahead.”

       
    
“I've just been given word that we are go for launch.”

       
    
“Godspeed, Dr. Archer,” Roger said with delight. “Let me know when we've arrived.”

       
    
“Of course,” Archer said. He placed the device down and nodded to one of the officers. “You are cleared for launch.”

       
    
Archer buckled his harness and listened to the ship rumble, its massive engines spun up. A few moments later, one of the crewmembers gave Archer a thumbs-up. Archer returned the gesture and the ship drifted away from the moon and disappeared in a magnificent explosion of azure light.

       
    
Instantly, Archer knew they had reached their destination. He called out to one of the crew officers: “Cloak the ship from radar immediately.” Outside the port window laid the deep shadow of the moon's dark side, only in this century, several small settlements could be found on the surface.

       
    
“Are there any signs of life down there?” Archer asked.

       
    
“No, sir.”

       
    
“Good. Stay cloaked anyway.” He reached for the com and said: “Roger?”

       
    
“Go on.”

       
    
“We've arrived.”

       
    
“Good. Carry on the landing parties at your discretion.”

       
    
After a quick toast with the crew, Archer was in good spirits to begin the next leg of their mission. All hundred of the mission participants were led into the conference room for debriefing. James took his place quietly near the back of the room. Around him sat the doctors, engineers, artists, and poets who were along for the ride.

       
    
Archer stood at the front of the room waiting patiently for the last of the crew and security team to exit. As the last of the ship’s crew left, all other chatter dulled first to a whisper, then to silence.

       
    
“We are heading towards Earth now under the craft’s own propulsion. Intelligence gathered before our departure tells us that along with the advancements in medicine and technology, we are also at risk of being detected. Not to worry, the ship is cloaked. Nonetheless, it is prudent we are organized and ready to depart long before we reach the atmosphere. You will all have two months, people, to achieve your primary objective: gather what information you can in your respective fields and get back here in time to transport. The folder in the possession of each team leader will contain all the specific information you need.”

       
    
The group sat silently, waiting for further instruction.

       
    
“One last thing,” Archer begins, “but I want to express again the importance of staying within your groups and trying not to get too involved in events here. The tendency for many of you who have watched science-fiction movies is to let loose and kill whomever you want because it can all be changed by going back in time. If any of you are that anxious to kill a man, then by all means, indulge yourselves; know this, though: if you are put in jail or executed, no one is going to rescue you. We leave as scheduled, and nothing will change that.”
The group remained silent.
“
Any questions?
”

       
    
The room fell silent.

       
    
“Then let’s move out. We transport down in ten minutes.”

       
    
Everyone in the group stood and started loading their gear. James did not have many provisions to take with him except a bag with clothing and the limited food and water rationed between the volunteers. As James strapped his sack together and swung it onto his back, a young woman approached him. She smiled warmly as she tried to enter his field of vision.

       
    
“Hello,” the woman said. “I’m Val, your partner.”

       
    
James looked up and caught Val’s eyes; they were green like Genesis’s. “Hi,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”

       
    
“Likewise,” she countered. “It looks like we’re partners. Funny that they needed charity organizers at all, isn’t it?” She chuckled.

       
    
James smiled. “I thought the same thing once. Still, I couldn’t pass the chance to make a difference. You?”

       
    
“Nut-uh,” she said. “Are you almost ready to go? I’ve never done that transport thing before. Except when we were brought aboard from Earth. The one moment, I was in a facility I didn’t recognize and a few seconds later, I was in a strange ship I didn’t recognize. I wondered at first whether I really traveled anywhere at all, right?” She stopped to take a breath. “But obviously I did because here we are: thousands of miles above the planet…unless that’s just a really cool painting, right?” She laughed hysterically at her own joke. He chuckled politely, although he couldn’t help but think about asking Archer for a reassignment.
Nah,
he thought.
If all I have to do is put up with this chatty girl for two months to get Genesis back, I still come out the winner
.

           
“I’m ready to go,” he said. He and Val followed the rest of the group out of the conference room into the corridor.

           
“Are you scared?” she whispered to James. “I mean, has this thing been tested from space before? What if we don’t make it all the way?”

       
    
“If that happens,” he said, “you won’t be alive long enough to know the answer.”

       
    
Moments later, the group arrived in a storage compartment that was just big enough to hold the hundred and one people, including Archer, going down to the surface. A few minutes later, the team of participants activated their wrist devices and disappeared from the room in a brilliant display of light.

       
    
As soon as the civilian group departed, a separate armed security force entered the room. “We are ready as well,” one of the troops said to Roger, who walked in just behind them.

       
    
“Make sure you leave no traces,” he said. Seconds later, the armored team activated their wrist devices and disappeared.

       
    
Two months later and right on schedule, the ship was again populated with the returning team members. Many of them were dressed in regional clothes from their respective assignments; others were fashioning changes in hairstyle or other cosmetic adjustments. Archer stood away from the crowd to make a final head count of the team. He nodded as he counted the last and allowed everyone to exit the compartment.

       
    
Roger stood outside the room and welcomed everyone as they exited.
James smiled as he passed Roger, but never noticed the exchange of looks between his partner, Val, and their boss. Val again looked a little different
–
her hair was yet longer and she wore more makeup than usual. After the last of them left the room, Roger walked in to greet Archer.

       
    
“So how did things go?”