Reconception: The Fall

Reconception:

Llumina Press

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Reconception: Book I - The Fall

Published by Llumina Press

© 2014 Deborah Greenspan

ISBN: 978-1-62550-158-5

Smashwords Edition

CHAPTER 1

East USA Habitat: 2128

Garret Walker stopped in the middle of the quad,
turning to Evelyn Chandler. “Is it really our only chance?” he
said, his eyes dark with anger as he took hold of her
shoulders.

She gripped his biceps, her frightened eyes on his.
“Garret, we're the best there is; we've turned this inside out, and
we're out of options. We can't stop him.”

Grabbing her hand, Garret pulled her forward,
resuming their rush across the quad toward their lab, past their
friends and colleagues lounging on the couches, using the
computers, eating at the tables—all unaware of what was at stake.
The time for questions had run out, and they both knew it. Time
wasn’t their specialty, but it was now all they had. As New
Scientists, they had desperately tried to turn back the clock on a
venture that had reached a dead end, and now there was only one
possibility left.

In the year 2128, science was holistic and creative
rather than reductionist, and for the last eighty-three years it
had had only one goal—the restoration of the earth. Science and
technology had destroyed it; it was fitting that science and
technology return it to its former beauty and diversity. As Garrett
quickly unlocked their lab, Evie studied the strong lines of his
face and body. She’d always depended on Garrett. How fortunate
they’d been in having been born only two months apart.

Now, as she stepped into the lab after him, driven
by the catastrophe that was about to be unleashed on the world,
terrified by what was coming but gratified that there might be
something they could do to stop it, Evie had to stop and breathe.
It was all happening too fast.

“Garrett,” she said, leaning against one of the lab
tables. Her hands were shaking, and her mind was going in seven
directions at once. “Garrett, please.”

He turned from the large glass-fronted refrigeration
unit containing experiments: plants, spores, genetic material—the
products and results of years of work. Evie saw reflected in his
eyes the same turmoil that was tearing her apart. “We don’t have
much time,” he said.

A tear slipped down Evie’s cheek as
she nodded her agreement. He was right about that. Time had run
out. Pulling herself together, she went over to the gene gun and
wheeled it toward the table that Garret was setting up. While the
instruments were powering up, she squeezed his hand, and leaned
into him, smelling him, feeling his strength and devotion, perhaps
for the last time. His arms enfolded her, and he pressed his
forehead to hers. “If he’s right,” Garrett said, “there will be no
pain. None of this will have ever happened.
We
will have never
happened.”

“I know,” she whispered into his neck. “But we were
wonderful, weren’t we?”

His lips sought hers. “Yes,” he murmured, wanting to
drown in her. “Yes.”

Fast friends nearly from birth, Evie was a brilliant
little girl who would have astonished her parents and teachers from
the day she was born had she not been bred to be exactly what she
was. Her father—that is sperm donor—had been a world famous
physicist before the Fall, and her mother was a writer of essays
and scientific papers whose knowledge and talent were widely
admired. She was, additionally, an unspoiled child with a sweet
disposition and a beautiful face—the darling of East USA.

Intellectually, she and Garrett
were equals. Their good-natured rivalry spurred each of them on to
greater and greater achievements, and they secretly laughed that no
one could ever best them. They were a team. They were the
crème de la crème
.

Garret and Evie had a secret. Once,
in their eighth year, they'd been studying food production and had
taken a walk over to the 4th quadrant where the food vats were
located. Here, genetically altered microbes went about the business
of producing amino acids, vitamins, carbohydrates, essential fatty
acids and other nutrients out of petroleum and the waste products
taken from the water and air. Once the microbes' task was done, the
resulting green mush was processed into various foods and made to
look and taste more palatable. It was called Petrofood, and it had
once been the only hope in a starving world, which in its haste
to
do something,
ignored the fact that Petrofood was a new source of
CO
₂
and
methane

As the children studied the workings of the food
processors, they talked about the system and how it related to the
main work of the city, for, as the wastes of the inhabitants were
recycled in these vats, so had the earth once been able carry on
the sequences of life.

They knew that the major area of study was the use
of microbes to restore balance to the atmosphere and the water.
They also knew that success was a long way off. It was one thing to
recycle the wastes in a small city where anything that could not be
restored to use could be vented to the outside or buried, and
another thing altogether to recycle the wastes of a planet, so that
everything was utilized and in balance.

Although the two children knew how the operation
worked, they'd never been there before, and after a while, they
began to explore the workings of the vats, interested in the
machinery itself.

"Here's something!" Garret called out. They didn't
have to worry about adults because everything was automated here,
and people rarely wanted to look at or smell the slimy mess that
would become their food. Behind one of the enormous vats Garret
found a door. It was tucked into a nook in one of the stainless
steel walls, barely noticeable. Not waiting for Evie to arrive, he
turned the handle and pulled.

"What is it?" Evie asked as she came up alongside
him.

"I don't know," he said, tugging at the massive door.
She added her wiry strength to his, and they succeeded in pulling
the heavy portal open. In awe, they studied the rock tunnel that
was revealed. It was unlighted and darkened into impenetrable
obscurity.

"Wow!" The exclamation came from both of them
simultaneously.

"It must be an Exit," Evie said. "It must go to the
surface."

"Didn't they tell us that all the exits have been
closed off?"

"Yes, Susan told us that. She said that all the exits
were sealed so that no one could get in."

Garret thought a moment. "Maybe this one is closed at
the other end," he said.

"We need a flashlight."

"Let's go get one."

Quickly, they pulled the door closed, and turned the
wheel to latch it. Then, giggling and excited, they ran back to
First Quad to find an electric torch.

Evie's mother was not in their quarters, so she had
no trouble getting the necessary equipment. Trying not to look like
they were up to something, they walked nonchalantly through the
public areas of the quad, smiled at the people they were supposed
to smile at, and greeted those they were expected to greet.

As quickly as they could, they got through the first
quadrant and into the fourth. Here there were fewer people, and
they began to run. Arriving back in the food processing plant, they
paused to catch their breath and think through what they were
planning.

"What if the air's bad in the tunnel?" Evie
wondered, "And what if we get to the end, and it's not sealed? Then
what? We know the air's bad outside."

Garret shrugged. "We know it's full of toxins, but
they can only hurt us over time, not immediately. We could probably
stay outside for hours without any ill effects. I'm more worried
about the ultraviolet rays."

"I want to see Outside," Evie cried passionately.
"Let's do it, Garret. Let's go!"

Once more opening the door, they shined their lights
into the dimness and could make out a short tunnel, the end of
which was lost in the shadows. Cautiously, they stepped into the
murkiness, smelling the dampness of the rock walls and feeling, for
the first time, the closeness of their surroundings.

Garret took a few short breaths, sniffing the air,
trying to discern any difference other than the smell of dampness
and mold. He looked at Evie questioningly, and this time, she
shrugged. "Let's just do it," she said quietly.

Pulling the massive door closed completed their
sense of isolation. The darkness surrounded them, and only their
feeble lights separated them from the gloom. Their hearts beat
fast, and perspiration coursed down their little bodies as they
boldly stepped into the unknown.

At the end of the tunnel was another door, the same
type as the first and, as before, they turned the wheel and
struggled to get it open. As the first rays of light showed through
the crack, Evie squinted her eyes. The brightness was overwhelming.
In all their lives they'd never seen the sun, never imagined its
brilliance or heat. With some effort, the door opened, and they
stood Outside, their hands shading their eyes, and looked about
themselves in awe.

It happened to be spring, and even though the Earth
was dying (from the human standpoint) it was the most beautiful,
wondrous moment they'd ever experienced. Life! Life was all around
them. They could feel it. They could see it. They could taste it
and smell it. They felt as if they'd been dead and had suddenly
come alive.

Evie fell to her knees in the scrubby grass and her
mouth dropped open as she took in the little blue flowers running
down the hillside, the green of the stunted trees, the ridge of
rust colored rock and the enormous blue distances. It was obvious
that some plants were able to survive and flourish despite the
excessive ultraviolet.

She was literally stunned by the beauty before her.
It didn't have the rich, lush variety that it once had had, but it
was still magnificent. The heat of the sun on her skin seemed to
melt her very bones. Looking at Garret, she saw that he was
similarly moved.

In fact, Garret had moved beyond his first emotions
on encountering the dazzling scene. In one instant he'd felt his
oneness with the planet and in the next he'd felt his loss. For
Garret, his whole life was suddenly explained and completed. He
knew what he had been missing all his short time on earth. He knew
why he was angry, and he knew that, no matter what, he would find a
way to reclaim the world, to be part of it once more. Evie was in
ecstasy, but Garret was in despair.

She noticed the tears running down his face and
understood their source. She knew in that instant exactly why she
loved him. In fact, in that moment, at the tender age of eight, she
knew that their destiny was tied together as completely as the
earth was tied together. They would be great New Scientists, and
together they would solve the puzzle and weave themselves back into
the tapestry of life.

Six and a half billion people inhabited the world by
the year 2000; by 2030 it was 10 billion; by 2045, it had risen to
almost 15 billion starving souls. There was no way to feed them and
no way to stop the wholesale death caused by global warming and the
resulting famines, droughts, wars, plagues, floods, hurricanes,
acid rain, heavy metal poisoning, polluted air, and excess
radiation that was still to come. By 2100, fewer than a hundred
million especially hardy people had survived the holocaust.

In 2030, the rich and powerful had decided that it
was better to devote their energies to protecting themselves and
their posterity in case of the total failure of earth’s resources
than to continue to support a languishing ecosystem. Giant
corporations and governments would provide for their top
executives, scientists, and their families. To this end, they began
the building of the underground habitats that were to become their
permanent homes on June 17, 2045, the day the doors were sealed,
never to be opened again, ever after known unofficially as “the
Fall.”