PERIL (4 page)

It’s 8:00AM and Vanessa is on her treadmill. Pushing herself to the limit of exhaustion
, she’s covered in sweat. Holographic images float in front of her recording her speed, heart rate, blood pressure and distance traveled. She is surrounded by a holographic image of a forest with tall trees and the fake dirt path she is running on sends small plumes of dust up with her every step. She’s too tired to continue so she steps off the path onto the grass. Suddenly, the illusion of the forest, trees and dirt path disappear leaving only the image of the floating data. The abrupt disappearance of the forest reveals her apartment. She is home. The holographic display recording the distance she’s ran flashes in red indicating that she has not met her goal. Frustrated Vanessa waves her hand through the image and it disappears.  

She walks over to her sofa and picks up a white towel. She wipes the sweat from her forehead.

“Are you ready for your weekly psych evaluation, Vanessa?” the computer asks.

“No
time, I’ve got to meet the crew.”

Vanessa showers and gets dressed. She picks up her entry card and does her usual obsessive routine of double-checking the apartment’s security protocols. This is a fruitless effort as she has preprogrammed the computer to handle this task; however, it’s a compulsion she can’t resist. Sometimes she’ll even return to the domicile to check it again, unable to resist the nagging temptation.

“
What if I left the door unlocked or left the view screen on?” She would think to herself.

She heads over to the Ares Corp. building to meet the crew. Vanessa arrives and is standing outside the enormous complex. The building is imposing with sixty white wid
e concrete stairs leading to its entrance that is guarded by two large lion statues and the mythological figure of the ram Ares is serving as pillars on either side. It’s patrons bow before entering the massive structure. Vanessa isn’t a follower of Fathomism, however she bows before entering.

Inside there
are many people wandering about. Businessmen, clerics, nuns, scientists and security guards all preoccupied with their daily routines contrast the glass open-air environment, which seems mundane. The building is where they come to work, pray and study all under the watchful eye of The Seeyer.

Vanessa can hear the echo
es of her heels hitting the floor as she makes her way through the building. The sharp sound is often a welcome distraction in this sterile environment. As Vanessa walks down the gigantic halls she passes three women dressed in stark white habits and their faces are semi-covered by veils. This is another example of the merging of religions. Two of the women wore white veils, which means that they have been in the faith for less than ten years. A grey veil marks a transitional period of five years in the faith. A black veil means the woman is a “Supreme Mother,” a high holy figure. A Supreme Mother has been practicing for thirty years or more and she communes daily with The Seeyer. This level of connection is reserved only for Clerics, Supreme Mothers and other high-ranking clergy.

The women pause
and the Supreme Mother in the group bless her by making hand gestures of the cross and a circle.

“Go with in
finite knowledge my child,” she says to her, referring to the MV5 Mission.

Vanessa walks into a conference room and is
formally introduced by General Graham to her crew. She immediately recognizes Lieutenant Commander Leroy Reed who is sitting in the back of the room. He was her drill sergeant years ago. He was especially tough on her and the other female cadets in her unit.

What
started off as a difficult affiliation culminated into a positive nurturing long-term relationship. He is her mentor and father figure; he was instrumental in getting Bains several promotions over the years. Reed can always be counted on to “give it to her straight.” Vanessa is pleased to see him.

The rest of the crew she has never met
. They’re not exactly what she expected––especially, not Lt. Ricardo Corrales Cruise. They seem a bit lax in their appearance––some slouched in their chairs. Cruise has a particular habit of having his feet up on the table. In almost every candid photo of him that Vanessa could find his feet were up. She decides to reserve judgment about the motley crew and immediately heads for an empty chair in the room, but she is diverted from her course. “No sense in prolonging the introductions–––Captain Bains, would you join me please,” General Graham says as he motions her to the podium.

Vanessa takes a deep breath and complies. The mood amongst the crew is less than welcoming. The General introduces her as the crew’s new Captain. A low grumble amongst the group can be heard. Lt. Cruise pretends to be uninterested in the meet–and–greet session. He sits back in his chair with his eyes closed refusing to even look at her. Vanessa takes her position at the podium. She decides to skip the pleasantries and get right down to business. She pulls the octagon shape disc labeled “MV5 Mission Initiative” from her pocket and places it into a slot in the podium. A holographic schematic of MV5 and the habitat appears in front of her.

“As you know this mission requires some of us to undergo several enhancement procedures that have been recommended by Seeyer. Some of you have requested specific alterations to your physical attributes,” Vanessa explains.

An image of Lt. Cruise appears in front of the group.

“Lt. Cruise, you will undergo hyper steroid enhancement and gene optimization therapy.”

The group is amused by the news.

“This will result in increase body strength and overall muscle mass.”

“Yeah, but will he get bigg
er where it counts?” Lt. Amanda Marguder jeers.

“Only one way to find out
, girl,” Cruise retorts.

“Are you finished?” Vanessa asks sharply maintaining her serious composure.

She feels that it is important to establish her role as their new Captain early. Cruise rolls his eyes. Vanessa directs her attention to Magruder. “Lt. Amanda Magruder, Dr. Craig Pierce the mission’s Medical Officer has recommended that you not undergo any of the procedures.”

Dr. Pierce interrupts––“ Ah, yes Lt. Margruder, Captain Bains, Commander Reed and myself will forego any enhancements. Our functions on the mission do not require these procedures. The Seeyer concurs. This should maximize our launch time as the recuperation period will delay the mission.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Pendersen and Nickolette have elected for the Twin Gene Re-sequencing procedure.” Vanessa adds.

The Twin Gene Re-sequencing or the TGR Procedure takes two unrelated people and transforms them into twins. The benefited side effects that were discovered from this operation include intermittent shared thoughts and emotions, accelerated cognitive response and high recovery from man
y pathogens. The Ares Corp. requires that every crew have a set of these twins to enhance mission performance. The downside to this and the other procedures is that the changes are irreversible.

“Lt. Brett Neil
, has opted to undergo the Cybernetic Procedure,” Bains says reluctantly.

The room immediately goes
silent. The Cybernetic Procedure completely disembodies an individual leaving only their head and spine attached. Mechanical limbs and torso replace the discarded body parts. This will allow Neil to endure extremely long work hours on a drilling location.

C
ivilians on Earth also practice the Cybernetic Procedure. It is not something most want to partake in; however, many people in society do as long as they can get approval. It is a general belief that a Cybernetic transformation or electing to discard your human form completely and downloading your consciousness into The Seeyer’s mainframe are like becoming one with God. The Seeyer grants its approval often for this strange activity. The Seeyer, after all, is the epitome of man’s arrogance and arguably the pinnacle of his accomplishments.

Neil has
no aversion to this procedure. He is an avid believer in Fathomism. He had considered becoming a cleric of this faith before joining the military. However, he claims that The Seeyer gave him a divine revelation to follow the military path during a conscious download session. Unbeknownst to him, his high aptitude in terraforming and geochemistry prompted The Seeyer’s recommendation. He is being manipulated. It probably doesn’t matter because, when it comes to Fathomism, Neil is a borderline fanatic.

The group continues
their meeting working out the logistics of the mission, studying star charts, and analyzing the political aspects of the mission. Ultimately, the crew’s main concern is to get paid. The Ares Corporation is offering them a big commission for the large amounts of Beryllium Ore they will excavate and bring back to Earth. This ore will be used to complete the construction of The Dyson’s Sphere. The sphere will harness the power of the Sun. It’s construction began in 2163 under the guidance of The Seeyer.

Of all mankind’s accompli
shments The Dyson’s Sphere is considered to be the most ambitious. For many it represents unity for the species, hope for tomorrow and it will mean that mankind has reached a Type II civilization status; a feat many believed in the twenty-first century would take another thousand years to reach. For Vanessa Bains, this is an opportunity to save the Earth and humanity from their date with destruction. It is unknown exactly how much time the Earth has left, but time is certainly running out. 

Vanessa ends the meeting stating
–––“No matter our personal motivations, religious affiliations, trepidations or discordances we have an obligation to seize this opportunity to survive.”

After the briefing
, Vanessa makes her way to the parking garage terminal excited to go home and unwind. At the terminal is a huge thick glass wall. On the other side, several pod shaped vehicles are stacked uniformly.

As she approaches the glass wall
, a computerized voice is activated–––“Please step onto the activation marker to retrieve your vehicle. Be sure to stand still allowing the optical scanner to identify you and locate your vehicle.”

Vanessa does as instructed stepping onto two footprint shaped markers on the floor. An oval shaped unit attached to a mechanical arm lowers from the ceiling. Vanessa pulls her hair back
from her face allowing a metallic egged shaped object to scan her pupils, irises, and retinas. A neon blue beam of light sweeps across her eyes.

“Captain Vanessa Bains
, identity confirmed. Your vehicle is being retrieved. Once your vehicle arrives the glass door will automatically open allowing you to enter your pod. Please watch your step–––go with infinite knowledge.”

Vanessa’s vehicle arrives and she gets in
to it. She sets the pod for autopilot instructing it to take her home. Suddenly, she feels a sharp pain in her head just behind her eyes. She realizes that something is very wrong. She begins to loose her vision. As the view of the pod’s dashboard begins to blur she remembers the eye-scan.

“I’VE BEEN DRUGGED!
” she screams in horror.

Frantically, she struggles w
andering if the drug’s intent is to be fatal, and if not, to what horror will she awaken. Slowly she looses consciousness watching helplessly as the pod takes flight. Her limbs become limp and she is paralyzed. There is nothing she can do but succumb to her fate.

December 25
th
, 2185–––today the public votes on Proposition 9, not that it matters. The Ares Corporation is fully invested in the MV5 Mission and has no intentions on abandoning it. Still, a public vote is prudent to keep the guise of diplomacy alive. Each Fathom practicing citizen twenty-five and above in age can vote from home or from voting outposts setup in their communities.

On the moon and on asteroid communities non-practicing people known as rebels, traditionalists or non-believers have no voice in what happens on Earth. They can only watch in silence–––a silence that would soon be ended.

In an excavated cave on the moon colony called, “Eternal Hope” many “traditionalists” or followers of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and etc. that live in these ostracized societies are planning a revolution, calle
d
Allah’s Swor
d
. Moreover, they plan to shut down The Seeyer. Such an idea is considered heresy among Fathomists and nearly impossible by everyone else. The Seeyer has been around since it was first transformed from the Internet and some believe maybe a little before that time. Needless to say, its mainframe is heavily guarded.

A counc
il is convening to discuss a plan to derail the MV5 Mission. A Rabbi, a Catholic Priest, an Imam, a Nun, a Vedic Purohit Mandal, a Lama, a Voodoo Priestess and some other religious dignitaries are sitting at a long table before an angry mob of people. The cave is dank and dirty. The inhabitants are literally dressed in filthy rags. The group of people addressing the religious committee demand action. They want better living conditions, more food and water. Suddenly, the Nun at the table slams a metal ball down onto the table, which sends sparks flying––BLAM!

“Silence, your
grievances have been heard!” The Nun says sternly.