Connexion : The Atlantis Project, Book.1 (21 page)

“But, we’re not under the ocean floor?”

“No, of course not! You do have some strange
questions. Don’t you remember arriving at the space center?”

Charlie felt quite disoriented by what she
had just said. He was positive he was in the cave where he had been
taken millions of years later by Giuseppe’s team. He thought back
to his geology classes and remembered that the Earth’s surface had
been significantly modified over time. Maybe it did not look
anything like it had in the past. Or maybe it was simply not the
same base after all. He decided to fall back on the excuse of
amnesia to save himself again.

“As I said, I’ve forgotten a whole part of my
life. My memory is only just starting to come back.”

“How did that happen?”

“I don’t know. I think I must have had a turn
shortly after arriving at the space center. When I opened my eyes,
I was alone and couldn’t remember anything.”

Emma did not pursue the matter but she seemed
intrigued by the idea of a sub-marine base. Victor claimed he had
forgotten everything, even his own identity, so why would he be so
surprised? What reason could he have for thinking that the base was
under the ocean?

“Do you really not remember me?”

Charlie hesitated a moment. Her face suddenly
reminded him of something. It was a feeling of déjà vu that he
could not put his finger on.

“That’s odd!”

“What’s odd?”

“I can’t remember anything at all about you –
or about anything else, if it comes to that – and yet, your face is
familiar to me. Actually, I’m sure we’ve met somewhere before.”

“Victor, we spent several years of our
childhood together! I’m Emma Sleitz, your cousin!”

Charlie felt a strange sensation. Ideas and
images rushed through his mind at a sickening speed. It was as if a
door had been unlocked. The memories came flooding back; memories
that were not his own.

“Emma!” he said, feigning pleasure at
recognizing her at last.

He did remember her, but these memories were
from Victor’s perspective, not his. Even so, he felt genuine
affection for her and really enjoyed talking with her. The flood of
memories was accompanied by an intense, incoherent emotional
exchange but he was not the only one responsible for his attraction
to this young woman. From the beginning he had been at ease with
her. She had rescued him and been extremely gentle with him. He had
felt safe with her straight away.

“At last, you remember me!”

“Yes, Emma, and I can’t tell you how relieved
I am,” he said with a sincere smile.

Emma took his hands and squeezed them
warmly.

“I’m happy too. I haven’t seen you for
years.”

“Not since you went away to study in Irignia,
unless I’m mistaken.”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“How did you end up here?”

“It was your brother who talked me into it.
He was already working on a project for an interstellar voyage. Of
course this was before the Exodus program began. At the time we
were still carefree and I found the adventure exciting.”

“You always did enjoy a challenge. You were
passionate about politics and you were always sure that if you were
in leadership you would know what to do to resolve the most
disastrous situations. And now you’re a Councilor! How did that
happen? Senec didn’t tell me anything about this. I know he’s not
exactly talkative, but even so!”

“Well, it’s a little complicated. If he
didn’t tell you anything about me, it’s for good reason.”

She paused for a moment and looked away. She
seemed to be organizing her thoughts before launching into a
detailed explanation of what could be classified information.

“At the end of my studies the Assembly
proposed that I put my skills to use on the construction project of
this subterranean base. I had thought I would be working in the
administration of public affairs but as I told you, Senec convinced
me to accept the proposition. A year ago they elected me as
Councilor.”

“You’ve done very well. Senec and you were
very different, anyway. I’ve always known that. Studying was never
difficult for you. In any case, I’m happy for you.”

“That’s kind of you, Victor, but you know, I
have some important things to tell you. Can I trust you? What I’m
about to say must not leave this room.”

“Of course! I have no intention of betraying
a childhood friend – even less my own brother’s friend and
colleague. Don’t worry about that – I can keep a secret.”

“Actually, Senec and I don’t have absolute
confidence in the Exodus project’s chances of success, for many
reasons; primarily scientific, but also political and human. We
think the probability of the project failing and wiping out our
whole race in one fell swoop, is much too high for us not to have
an alternate solution. However, the Council has always refused to
go down that track. I think they’re afraid of sowing doubt in
people’s minds if they did. If it were publicly known that they are
unable to fully guarantee the project’s success, it would probably
set off a protest movement, or even a revolt. Then there would be a
risk that religious or extremist groups would gain some
credibility. They could exploit the panic such an admission would
generate and the irrational behavior that would inevitably
follow.”

“Aren’t they partially right?”

“Yes, of course, and that would reduce the
project’s chance of success even further. You saw as well as I did
the workers’ reaction when we told them that the Navigators would
not all be ready in time. In the face of death, God only knows what
a living being is capable of doing to save stay alive.”

“But I thought they preferred to double their
efforts to finish the vessels.”

“No, Victor, they were prepared to make a
decision with disastrous consequences! They wanted to carry on,
with their heads buried in the sand. That choice is totally
irrational, governed by fear loyalty to the group. All
possibilities have been assessed by our technicians and
statisticians and if that solution was viable, we would have said
so.”

“But, what to you and Senec plan to do, then,
if your specialists have found no other viable alternative?”

“Well, that’s just it. There may be another
one, and we have been working on it for over two years, in utmost
secrecy of course, so as not to arouse the Council’s suspicion, but
also for the reasons I have just explained. We don’t want to
compromise the official project’s chance of success, either. Our
project is only a complementary alternative and in any case, it
cannot include the whole population. What’s more, it’s not the only
alternate solution. As you know, the Council itself has
unofficially begun building subterranean bases to house those
excluded from the program. These bases are a good enough solution,
but they have significant issues and the long term survival of the
population involved is far from certain. To tell the truth, apart
from the fact that we do not know whether hibernation produces
harmful effects on the body in the long term, the main pitfall
stems from the fact that both projects are inextricably linked.
That means that if the Exodus project fails, nobody will ever come
to rescue the population that stayed on Earth. And there is another
much more complex problem to take into account.

“Supposing the passengers of the Navigator
fleet win their bet… In other words, suppose they find a planet
suitable for settlement, in an area not too far from our solar
system. Suppose they manage to found a sustainable colony there and
rebuild a society that is sufficiently advanced to launch a rescue
mission. Suppose hibernation and the living conditions in space
don’t alter their fertility to the point of jeopardizing the
survival of the species. What would they find when they got back to
Earth?”

“You think they wouldn’t manage to find the
subterranean bases, or get to them?”

“That’s a possibility too, but beyond all the
technical issues, there is one which is much less obvious and yet
very real, which the Council refuses to take into consideration. It
could take at least hundreds, if not thousands of years to overcome
all the technical problems. Who will be in charge by then? Won’t
they prefer to convince themselves that it’s too late to rescue the
hypothetical survivors back on Earth? I’m not convinced otherwise.
Lastly, we have to take evolution into account. The two groups
would be worlds apart. One of them would have evolved independently
in a new environment and a new society, while the other remained
unchanged, inert, and unaware of the passage of time. They’d be
worlds apart, you see? They would have lost their bearings and
would find reintegration incredibly difficult.”

“Isn’t that better than death?”

“Maybe. But we see things differently.”

“So what do you plan on doing?”

“The Council thinks that Senec is linked to
Project XK207. That’s why they’ve put him in solitary confinement.
They think they know all the ins and outs of this alternate
program, but the reality is that their informers only know the tip
of the iceberg and nobody here, apart from you, knows that I’m part
of it. You understand why, in revealing this to you, I’m putting a
lot more than my own fate in your hands.”

“If you only knew…” murmured Charlie.

But Emma did not seem to hear. He would have
liked to tell her all that he knew about the future and the role
that he was playing here now, but that would not be sensible.
Intelligent, attractive and likeable as she might be, Emma did not
exist and Charlie was aware of that. She was only a phantom
straight out of the mists of time; the phantom of a young N.H.I
that Victor had once known. If she was here with him, talking to
him, it was only because her presence could help them – Victor and
himself – to gather and assemble essential information stored in
his memory, which he could not access yet. The scene he was living
out in this reality driven by convergence was, in some way, a
dream. Nothing could happen here that did not stem directly from
the memories, the imagination and of course, the desires of both of
them. But this dream was pleasant and nothing could have persuaded
him to break the spell. The desire to do so would have been enough,
but he did not want to.

“Why are you giving me this information?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I trust
you.”

It doesn’t matter, thought Charlie. She may
not have any particular reason. If she’s giving this information to
me, it must only be because I’m looking for it. What role can I
play in a story that belongs to the past, apart from observing and
analyzing what I am allowed to see? He might as well reassure her
about that. It would not cost him anything, and he wanted to.

“You’re right,” he said in a reassuring tone.
“I’ll do everything I can to help you if I can be useful in any
way.”

He knew perfectly well that such an assertion
made no sense either but it added to the coherence of the
conversation, and therefore to the dream itself. However, he was
already aware of beginning to distance himself from the situation
and if that did not stop soon he would jeopardize the continuity of
the dream. Emma’s face was still clear, but the décor was starting
to blur slightly and time seemed to stretch so that he could now
pay attention to his internal thoughts without Emma noticing.
During the moments when Charlie separated himself off from the
conversation, she remained frozen, not speaking, and only began to
talk again when he turned his attention back to her and what she
was saying. He was a little like a dreamer who wakes up for a few
seconds in the middle of a very pleasant dream and must concentrate
not to let it escape so he can find it again when he falls back to
sleep. He concentrated as hard as he could on Emma’s words. Her
voice seemed to be the common thread of the dream. All the rest was
merely a construct gravitating around that. Emma was the driving
force, the vector that allowed him to access the multiple branches
of meaningful information rooted in Victor’s memory. With relief,
he felt himself coming back in touch with her. She was talking to
him, and in future he would try not to let himself wander too far
again.

“We must get Senec out of that cell. The
latest news I heard concerning the work’s progress was not very
good. They absolutely need Senec. He’s the architect of the XK207
City. Without him they will never manage to complete such a
technologically complex project. He is indispensible and the
Council members know it.”

“Why are you talking about a city? Isn’t it
more of a subterranean base? How could a city resist the impact of
an asteroid shower?”

“It’s not strictly speaking a city like
Irignia or Sivitz, which both have over 50,000 inhabitants.
Actually, we should be talking about an inhabitable subterranean
base, but the name “city” was chosen for its psychological effect.
We want to recreate a small underground town where around 10,000
people can live – not merely survive – until the effects of the
cataclysm have passed.”

“You’re not planning on hibernating?”

“No, Victor! That’s exactly what
differentiates our project from that of the subterranean bases
developed by the council. We don’t want to hibernate. We want to
continue to live and develop, whatever the risk. None of us wants
to go to sleep without knowing if – or where – we will wake up
again one day.”

“But how is it possible? Where would you find
enough food and air to ensure the survival of all those
people?”

“The city is being built in a very deep
natural cavity, located in the immediate proximity of an enormous
underground freshwater lake. This endless source of water will
provide drinking water and oxygen, not only for the people, but
also for crops and livestock.”

“But what about light and energy sources? How
will you produce those?”