Ark-13: An Odyssey (13 page)

“But why… why do all of this?” Jake’s shock seized his every word.

“First off, we needed to test the effect certain technologies would have on society. The armports and holographics for instance. We needed to know how the public would react to having technology be a part of their physiological make up.” Jake saw that Cyrus did not have an armport. “But of course that was not the ultimate point to all of this madness. The objective was to find you…”

“What?” Jake, still lost in his shock, tried to follow.

“We needed to find someone capable of carrying on the torch of my company. Someone to shepherd this world into the future. A custodian of limitless possibility and power…”

“What about the others…” Jake turned a concerned eye toward the monitors, showing the other colonists in hyper sleep across the Ark.

“The others… they won’t remember this at all. They will go home with a headache and a small block of amnesia. The world will think they were in Haiti building houses with Alliance,” Cyrus explained, simply. Jake’s mind wandered to Meredith Jones and how she couldn’t remember anything and how her vitals indicated that she was erased of the last twenty five days.

“But you can’t do that to people. It’s…” Jake’s eyes aimlessly searched the floor before him as the truth gained traction.

“Wrong? See you have a sense of right and wrong. One I no longer have.” Cyrus paused a moment. “We have collected countless terabytes of data on each colonist’s vitals, looking for a specific model of action and reaction. One that would revolt the injustice we embedded in the simulation. One that would plan each action logically. One that would not be afraid to act on what they knew to be the right thing to do, no matter the possibility of failure. One that can lead others to become better versions of themselves. I’ve been looking for you, Jake.”

“Me?”

“Why do you think I took particular interest in you? I flew down to your little town and met you in person. I appointed you as a councilman. I spoke to you the night before the Ark trial began… It’s because your father assured me that you were the one. He knew that you were the most noble. The most just. The most moral man he had ever met.”

“My father signed me up for this…” Jake’s eyes lowered along with his tone as the harsh realization gained traction in his head.

“Yes, he did… but you’re acting like that is a bad thing. What we have done here is not right, but it has been necessary for the greater good. This is bigger than you, me and everyone else. You have no clue what great power and technology GENESIS has behind closed doors. This is about who will hold the fate of the world in their hands.”

“The ends don’t justify the means.”

“They do for scientists… and that is why I need a noble man to carry on my legacy.”

Cyrus got to the point.

“What I need to know from you is… do you want to be the most powerful man in the world?”

“No… I don’t…” Cyrus nodded approvingly. A wide smile crept on his face.

“That is exactly why you must be.” Cyrus and Jake locked eyes for a long moment. There was a brew of emotions boiling behind Jake’s eyes, but he was able to logically follow Cyrus’s proposition. As Jake searched Cyrus’s eyes he found guilt, sadness and contrition but a glint of hope shown through.

And then Cyrus nodded and pressed another button on the console.

The door opened and Jake’s father walked in with a file and short smile.

“Dad?...” Jake asked through thinning breaths.

“I am so proud of you son.” Jake’s father opened the file on the console before Cyrus and pulled an ink pen out of Cyrus.

“The necessary changes have been made?” The top of the page read ‘The Last Will and Testament of Cyrus Holder’.

“Yes, they have,” Jake’s father answered him. With a swiping of the pen, Cyrus signed his name on the page.

“Very good… Congratulations, Jake. You are now my official successor as owner and CEO of GENESIS Enterprises.
”
Cyrus offered a nod and shook Jake’s hand with a short bow. He then turned to Jake’s father and offered his hand.

“Congratulations, Cyrus.”

“Thank you for bringing him to me, Walter. The world will become a much better place with Jake at the helm of innovation.”

“Yes it will.” Jake’s father beamed at him with pride. Cyrus walked to a small alcove in the wall and retrieved two respirators.

“Now, an event like this will leave you traumatized and forever a changed man. A man filled with hate, skeptical of his very surroundings. You would go mad from such an event as this. You would no longer be the man we need to lead. Your father will get in touch with you at the time of my death and execute my will, which now gives you full control of Genesis Enterprises. ”

Cyrus handed the respirator to Jake’s father and together they fastened them over their faces. Cyrus then pressed a button on the command console, causing the crimson hyper sleep gas to flow from the vents and fill the Bridge.

Cyrus continued, now with words filtered through the respirator.

“You may not have agreed to take on this responsibility… but once you awake from this hyper sleep with no memory of the Ark or anything, you will take on the responsibility when you are called – it’s the type of man you are,” Cyrus explained plainly as the gas billowed up through the room.

“You don’t know yet… but you very well might have saved humanity here today…”

And then the gas came over Jake. He inhaled and was consumed by the darkness.

June 30
th
2038

Have you ever had a blank space in your life? You know you did something but you can’t recall specifics. You don’t think that you went on a crazy bender, but everything still blurs together. I returned from Haiti not too long ago, where I had apparently been for a month.

Evidence would say that I helped Alliance, a non-profit, build homes down there. But as a lawyer, I can’t help but wonder if the evidence was planted or tampered with because I can’t remember one damn thing about it.

I’m lost. I’m confused. I don’t know what’s real anymore. For some reason I don’t trust anything or anybody. My therapist says that journaling is a good coping mechanism and may help me recall things. I have been able to recall some things, but none of it makes sense.

I have a recurring dream that would freak out anyone that I told. But however absurd it may be, it still feels so real. I was on a spaceship. We were floating out to space when an asteroid destroyed the earth… There was a girl… I don’t know what her name was, but I can vaguely make out the face. And then there was a fight. And the sun…

My therapist told me to start from the beginning – so here it goes.

I remember the first time I woke up from that dream. I was in my bed and I was alarmed by my surroundings. No matter how familiar they were to me, they still seemed unfamiliar. I didn’t know how I had gotten there. I looked over and saw my clock it was a quarter till ten. But I didn’t even know what day it was. After checking my phone, I saw that it was Monday, a fresh start to the week. I had no recollection of the weekend or really anything before that.

I took a shower, got dressed and started my morning walk. I untangled my headphones from my pocket and did the strangest thing. I tried to plug them into my arm. At first, I didn’t realize what I was doing – it just happened. I shook my head at my apparent lunacy but then saw something on my forearm. It was a circular scar. What is it from? I have no idea... Could have been an injury from Haiti, but like everything else… I didn’t know.

After plugging my headphones into my phone, I cued up Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind” and started my morning stroll. I got coffee from Earl at the corner café and found my bench by the harbor. There I sat for some time, trying to piece together the puzzle that was my apparent amnesia.

I found my journal in my pocket and jumped at the opportunity to find any clues to the past month of my life.

But when I opened it, there was nothing but little stubs of paper in the spine of the book. The first twenty or so pages had been torn out. But what was on those pages? Would it help jar my memory?

And then I noticed something…

There was still an indentation on the first page from where my pen had written the last page. I turned the page so that the light caught it right. I could make out impressed letters across the page. I grabbed a pencil quickly and started shading over the area lightly to bring out the letters etched into the paper. It was my handwriting and I couldn’t believe what it read. It said:

We had a front row seat for the end of the world – but nobody wanted it. I was going to have to rely on a fellow colonist like Meredith Jones to help get me through it.

“Meredith Jones?” I remember thinking out loud. The name sounded familiar but distant, as if it were locked in the bank vault that was now my memory. A small moment of clarity recalled the face of the girl on the spaceship. For some reason it seemed to match.

My next thought was, ‘what the hell is a colonist? Are there colonies in Haiti?’

The whole bit about ‘a front row seat for the end of the world’ oddly matched the dream I‘d had.

The world had obviously not ended though, so I shrugged it off, at least for the moment.

That day I awoke in a world of mystery. There I was on that bench, the same bench I had sat so many times before, but this time I was not relishing the fabric of life but questioning it.

Then my confusion was broken by a thought. I pounced on it immediately – moved by an impulse deep within me.

“Nora…” I exhaled over a labored breath. My body was on autopilot. I reached for my phone immediately and dialed her number. I noticed that my hand was shaking as I punched the buttons on my phone. I impatiently waited for her to pick up. It took five rings and then her voice came. It was clear, healthy and bright.

“Hey Jake! How was Haiti?”

And then on pure impulse I broke down. I wept like I never had before in my life. It was the oddest cocktail of emotions and it stirred within me. Her voice pierced my heart, as it always could.

“Jake?” she asked again.

In that moment I was completely mired by the mystery that was my life, but after hearing her voice, I was assured of one definite fact – I was loved and not alone.