Human Again: A Dystopian Sci-Fi Novel (Cryonemesis Book 1) (3 page)

“The Purists gave people seeds and also arranged the bartering between families and groups. They controlled the market place and the knowledge in a world of growing chaos and looting. People knew that the Purists would take care of them and keep them safe while all they needed to do was let them handle the exchange between different farms while taking a commission. It all worked well for awhile because they were too small for anyone to supervise, and especially because the world governments and police were crumbling. There was too much going on. No one cared about a bunch of farmers talking about how technology corrupted mankind and how any development is a sin against humanity.”

I started feeling heavier in my bed. I was involved in something even bigger than I thought.

Isaac sighed. I could tell he knew he had to tell it all as it was, no more half truths.

“The world split into two: the few who had and the many who hadn't. The poor were the ones who fought each other like savanna animals. When it became impossible for the Purists to farm, they had to find another way to provide for the people who were depending on them. So they used the sin card and started to raid technological institutes in the name of Purity. When they could steal green technology they claimed it was only for survival means, and that once the atmosphere changed again they’d dispose of it. Every other technology was destroyed and with it the people responsible. Their food was of course looted.”

“So they started killing scientists?” I asked.

“Scientists, technicians and associated investors and businessmen.”

“And no one stopped them?”

“Who? By the time they started to cause trouble there was no real governing force to deal with them.”

“And you still wanted to go under the freeze knowing that they’d try to destroy this place?”

“It was the only safe place to be. They hadn’t even finished building it but I knew there was no other place.”

He paused for a moment.

“It’s not that I was defrosted here by accident. I care about this place. It saved my wife and me. I won’t just assimilate without knowing that I can trust who I leave behind.”

He went inside his bed and closed the lid. I felt my eyes go heavier and heavier. The burden of knowing too much wasn’t as heavy as my tired body.

I entered the simulation and had to relax. I wanted a beer. I immediately had a perfect pint of amber beer in my hand, which I didn’t even have to specify. Cold and refreshing. I thought about the simulation shooting bug juice or recycled pee in my mouth. I resisted the urge to vomit and got used to blocking the idea. After I chugged the beer, I wondered where to put the glass, but it just disappeared. Then I wanted to get some air. I looked at my feet and saw them rise above the ground inch by inch. I was hovering slowly, just like I did with Isaac. Now I was the one controlling it. I looked to my left and hovered left. I looked to my right and hovered even faster. I looked up and launched myself 10 feet in the air. It was so cool. I could actually feel the wind in my face. Then I took off again. I flew up as fast as I could through the clouds, diving into and circling them, creating new shapes with every pass. I wanted to scream out of joy. What if somebody was listening or monitoring my brain? I screamed anyway. I felt such a relief. I didn't care if I died or not. I could fly. I could shoot a rainbow out of my belly and ride on a flying unicorn if I wanted. Shit. It actually happened. I forgot that it wasn't just a metaphor in my head. I found myself riding unicorn with a rainbow coming out of me. I stopped that idea immediately because I didn't want someone to see it.

I wanted to go on the ground somewhere. It's easier to control the situation with a sense of gravity. I looked down and saw how the sea was far away. So I thought
What if I imagine myself there without flying’.
After a beat, I was there. It was like turning your head sideways really fast. Your eyes follow slightly slower and suddenly you find yourself standing on a beach. The weather changed a bit; it felt warmer. The waves crashed on the shore. Seagulls flew over my head. I could see some people from afar but they felt like part of the setting. So I sat down on the beach and imagined myself in a bathing suit. There I was, watching the waves on my own private beach. It was so peaceful, but I had one thing missing so I changed the color of the sun to be redder, like the sunset. I took a deep breath. Waves are the kind of things you could look at for hours. Just hearing the soothing sounds of them recede after they lost their energy is meditative.

Fire-gazing is the same. I used to love having campfires outside with my friends. What happened to my friends?  I started to remember my last day before dying. I was on a beach like this one, with my two friends. We were sitting on a blanket drinking cheap beer and venting about the army until the beach tennis ball hit me. Beach tennis is a common Israeli activity and a very boring one if you ask me. Instead of trying to score point against each other, you're supposed to bounce the ball to each other and keep it from dropping. Pointless. I turned in its direction and saw a beautiful blond girl running towards me with a smile.

“Sorry, did I hit you hard?” She was tanned and sweating. She had colorful Indian beads tied to her hair.

“No, I'm ok.”

I threw the ball to her and she bounced it with the racket and turned away.

“Idiot, you should've asked for her number in return for the ball.”

I turned toward my friend Noam, who was looking at me disappointed.

“She should have given you her number in return for YOUR balls,” said Dan.

Noam and Dan were my best high school friends. I knew them for four years, after I had moved to the new school. Now we barely saw one another because we each had different weekends off from the army. Sometimes you stayed for two or three weeks straight and your parents came to visit. Sometimes they were not allowed. Sometimes you were there a whole month until another unit came to replace you.

“Screw it,” I said. “I don't have time for a girlfriend anyway.”

Was it me saying that? Was that what I said on that actual day? I couldn't remember but I let the simulation lead me. It must have dug into my memories and was showing me how I remembered it.

“You’re such a pussy, always with those excuses,” said Dan.

“Dude, did you even get laid since you broke up with Hadar?” added Noam.

Hadar, she was my ex. I didn't want to think about her at that moment, there was too much anger and regret involved in that process. I just wanted to relax on the beach.

There was a moment of silence. We all sipped on the beer and looked at the waves. We also looked at the blonde girl. Then Noam said something. I can't tell if he
really
did or if he was just saying that in my head, but it felt like a memory.

“If I die I just want you to know you were my best friends.”

“Shut up, you're not going to die,” I interrupted.

“Let me finish,” he stressed. “If I die, I want happy music at my funeral. Like reggae or something. I don't care if it's against the army rules. You're going to play reggae and people are going to dance.”

Dan and I looked at each other.

“I'm serious; you have to promise me that. And if a news crew comes to interview my parents after the funeral, I want you to play Reggae there too. I don't want those terrorists seeing my mom crying on TV.”

“If you die, people are allowed to be sad,” said Dan.

“Not at my funeral, I'm sick of sad funerals of dead soldiers. Everybody is crying like it was a big surprise that soldiers die in this country. They prepare us from kindergarten to acknowledge that death is possible. So I don't want hypocrisy at my funeral. It was my life and it ended so I want you to celebrate my life. I don't want the terrorists to see you cry and feel that they have won.”

I might have said something back to him on that day but suddenly it felt like he had a good point.

“And one more thing,” he added.

“What else, you freak?” said Dan.

“I want you to fly to Amsterdam together and smoke a giant ass joint in my memory.”

“Let's just say that we’ll be here after we're finished with the army, ok?” I said. But I felt like I couldn’t talk anymore. My eyes started to get wet and I didn't want them to see it. So I stood up and let the wind dry my eyes. I will never fly to Amsterdam with them. Not in reality at least.

“Sit down, you're blocking the sun,” said Noam.

“I'm going to pee,” I said.

“Go pee in the water.”

“I don't feel like it, do you want another beer?”

“Sure,” they both said.

I took my wallet and headed to the bathroom. It smelled as if it hadn’t been cleaned for days. I should have peed in the water. It’s filled with other people's pee anyway.  It's like a common fact that you're allowed to pee in the sea because the salt disinfects your pee, or maybe because pee is salty anyway.

Then I realized I can't pee in the simulation and that I'll have to change my memory and go straight for the beer. I remember being pretty drunk that day and it felt similar in the simulation, that tipsiness. I bought three more beers. Even in the simulation's beach kiosk they ripped me off. When I got back Noam and Dan looked worried. I could see them arguing and packing our stuff.

“What happened? I asked.

“They just kidnapped two more soldiers in Lebanon,” Dan said.

“First Gilad Shalit and now these two; we're going to war.”

“Stop playing with me,” I replied. Little did I know, back then.

“Dude, you had like three calls since you left.”

I took out my phone. I had three missed calls and a text message. Before I could open it, the phone rang again. It was my commander.

In the simulation, I jumped forward in time to when I drove to the Wiseman Institute where my father used to work. He was a scientist researching genome stuff that I didn't understand. So If I had anything to do with cryogenic freezing it must have been his idea. I called my mom, who was an officer in the nearby air force base.

“Hi mom, what's up?” I put her on speaker and tried to be as calm as I could, knowing it’s not a good time to stress her with thoughts about war.

“Hi, where are you? They're calling everyone in, did they call you?”

“Yeah, I'm on my way to dad, he'll take me to Tel Aviv.”

“Listen, I hear that this time it's going to be big. I can't talk on the phone but there's more action than usual.”

“I know, we can't sit quiet after two kidnappings in two weeks.”

“Right, don't be a hero, ok? Be safe.”

“I will,” I said, realizing that that is the exact opposite of what I was expected to do. My unit mates
were
the heroes; we
were
the stuff you see in movies. Go in, do the job, get out; clean and silent. Nobody knew we were there. Invisible.

“I got to go hon, talk to me when you can.”

She hung up. I didn't tell her I loved her, nor even thanked her, and didn't even say goodbye. She was called on a job, and I also had a job to do. I didn't think about death in those moments. I was filled with a mixture of adrenaline and fear. This was the real deal, the stuff I was training for, for almost two years. I hate to say that but I was somehow excited that shit was going down and I would get some real serious action. I believed it was going to be the same as all the small operations and surveillance hideouts that we used to do. Maybe even slightly bigger and more important. We might even find our soldiers alive, although we rarely do.

I was wrong of course. I went home, showered in like two minutes. Put on my uniform and picked up my M-16 and my army duffle bag and drove to pick up my dad. He waited for me outside the main gate. I let him drive because I was too nervous to drive any more than I had to. He was wearing his overused checkered blue shirt and had his reading glasses in the front pocket of the shirt. He wore green Crocs sandals. He usually didn't talk much but I could see he was uneasy. We started driving to Tel Aviv where I was supposed to get on a bus that would take me to the base next to the Lebanon border.

“Did you call mom? She’s worried.”

“Yeah I did but she had to go. Everyone is preparing.”

“This time it’s the real deal.”

“I know.” We were so used to having small incidents we didn’t think of them as real.

We kept in silence for a few minutes until we got on the highway. I didn't know what to say that wouldn’t sound too dramatic or too scared. He turned on the radio. The news said that the Air Force had started to attack in Lebanon, and that Hezbollah was firing rockets at northern cities. Then he turned the volume down and started talking after a long sigh.

“When will people stop fighting over imaginary inventions like borders and nations, and start fighting for the actual development of the world?” He asked.

My dad was a soldier like the rest of the Israeli men and women, and wasn’t a pacifist. He even fought in the first Lebanon war of 1982. But ever since he got into studying genes he had changed. He always reminded us about how tiny and insignificant our daily lives were in comparison to the potential of our evolution, and how we should appreciate our lives more.