Regression (19 page)

Abraham looked stunned. “You’re
right. We’ve been so focused on predicting the disaster itself and
making preparations we haven’t thought about the baselines required
for preserving the unique human populations on the earth.” He
strode away toward the executive elevator, leaving her standing
with a group of people baffled by his abrupt departure.

Adya shook her head, grinning
ruefully. “Wow, when he gets an idea…” Quirky smiles intimated they
were familiar with such behaviour by programmers.

“
When you gotta write,
you gotta write,” one intrepid coder commented before returning to
his cubicle. She continued on her own to make her
goodbyes.

Adya eventually caught up with
Abraham in his office, he dictating to an industriously typing
Jennifer. He acknowledged her with a quick nod and continued his
dictation.

“
Consider phenotype
and genotype. Need to program for each trait. Need to calculate
inbreeding coefficient. Gather racial data including blood
typing.”

“
What about contacting
Peter for his genome sequencing.”

“
Get him here…why
didn’t he think of the bottleneck probability?”

Jennifer ignored what was likely a
rhetorical question. Adya left them to their work, Abraham having
immediately immersed himself into the programming problem of
creating a model to simulate population scenarios for the human
species. She did not resent his dismissal, recognizing the same
passion in Abraham often seen in her husband when a new challenge
presented itself. His work would keep him awake and labouring for
days on end to the exclusion of everything else. It was never
personal, rather a sign of the strength of commitment Daniel−and
Abraham−made to their work. She caught Jennifer’s eye with a wink
and mouthed “Tonight?” Her friend nodded.

Adya’s plan for the evening was
another block barbecue and teaching Jennifer how to grill.
Neighbours were invited to bring their own steaks while she
provided the veggies and grill skill. Abraham’s arrival with
Jennifer was a surprise.

“
I hope you don’t
mind, Adya, Abraham sort of…invited himself along when I told him
you were teaching me how to grill a steak.” She managed to look
both chagrined and elated at the same time.

“
Jennifer couldn’t say
enough about your T-bone of the other night. My mouth was watering
too much to continue dictating.”

“
I do have another we
can throw on. Jennifer did an amazing job stocking the pantry here
when I moved in. What do you like with your steak?”

“
Whatever you’re
already planning.”

“
Here, I’ll show you
my secret to making awesome veggies right on the grill with the
steaks. Don’t forget, the key to success is ensuring you have a hot
grill, never put your steak on too early.” Adya led the way outside
to light the grill and offer them seats on the patio. Mark and Nora
peeked around the corner, blanching when they saw
Abraham.

“
Oh, Adya, I didn’t
realize you were having…company. We’ll pop by later. Stephanie
comes home tonight and we thought you would like to see her.” Nora
eyed Abraham apologetically.

“
I look forward to it,
Nora, Mark. Bring her over whenever you have the chance.” Adya
glanced at Abraham. “I am sure Abraham won’t mind.”

“
Not at all, Nora, not
at all. I remember seeing her playing with you on the children’s
floor, such a lovely little girl. And congratulations on the
impending arrival.”

Nora blushed. “Thank you. We’ll
see you later.”

“
She just glows,
pregnancy agrees with her. Some people are like that, at their best
while pregnant.” Adya couldn’t resist the opportunity to bring up
the contentious issue when both Jennifer and Abraham were present.
Jennifer reddened while Abraham tightened his lips, uttering a
non-committal “uh-hum”.

As each neighbour arrived and
noticed Abraham, they subsequently remembered urgent business which
had been neglected. Adya’s planned block party ended up being a
party of three as even Nora and Mark did not make a return
appearance.

“
Well, that honestly
was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. You weren’t exaggerating
when you said you knew how to grill.” His compliment rang true to
Adya’s ears, Jennifer beaming.

“
I don’t exaggerate.
But, it’s too bad we didn’t get the chance to enjoy the company of
the neighbours. They scurried off before any even got the
opportunity to do more than say hello.”

“
Sorry, Adya, I seem
to have that effect on people.”

“
Not just you,
Abraham, but all of the executive.” Jennifer spoke up, surprising
both Adya and Abraham.

Face ruddy with consternation,
Abraham’s voice was thick. “What do you mean?”

“
I mean there’s a bit
of a…well, not quite hero worship, but a certain amount of
intimidation factor which prevents people from being at ease when
you or any of the others are present outside the office. It’s
different with Adya.”

Abraham looked on the verge of
becoming offended, his spine stiffening. “How so?”

“
She is
so…approachable. She draws people to her without even trying. Not
that you are trying to keep them away, but there is a distance, a
level at which the rest of the executive hold themselves,
precluding normal interactions.”

“
What are you
suggesting?”

Jennifer hesitated, glancing at
Adya before continuing. “Making yourselves more accessible. The
group of you stay on the top floor except the visits to your own
areas. Get out. Adya showed me, over the past week, how good it
feels to be out with other people, people who don’t know the bleak
future ahead. It really recharges your batteries and reminds you
why we’re doing this.” She touched his shoulder. “You work too
hard, Abraham, and deserve to relax.”

“
Relax.” Abraham
stood. “Jennifer, I think you need to spend less time around our
latest arrival.” Turning, he couldn’t see the hurt on her face.
Adya could and sympathetically touched her arm as he continued. “I
expect better from you than talk of trivial pursuits. I hope you
work this out of your system soon. I need to know I can count on
you. Good night ladies.” He left the patio, walking around the side
of the cottage.

Jennifer looked at Adya, tears
filming her eyes. “He really didn’t take that suggestion
well.”

“
He doesn’t have the
perspective you or I have. Give him time to warm up to the
idea.”

“
I’d best be
going.”

“
Don’t take what he
said to heart, Jennifer. Being around people and sharing isn’t
wrong, nor is it a waste of time. It’s the glue that binds
us.”

“
But what he thinks of
me is important to me. I don’t know what to do.”

“
Do what your heart
tells you.”

“
Thanks for the
evening, Adya.”

“
Good
night.”

“
Hi, Dad.”

“
Well, when is the
return flight booked?” Her dad sounded anxious.

“
I haven’t heard, but
actually…”

“
You better come home
soon, place is falling apart without you.”

“
They want me to stay
on longer.”

“
What does that mean
exactly, longer? You’ve been there two weeks.”

“
Well…it isn’t
official yet but I think I’ve got the internship.” She felt
terrible lying to her father. “They should be calling you in the
next day or two to make the offer. I’ll live here, get schooling
here and…”

“
Is that what you
want?” Her father’s voice was soft, disappointed.

Her heart dropped, recognizing how
much time spent with his children had meant to Matthew. “Yes, Dad,
it really is. The opportunities I’ll have working here are
unprecedented. I’ll be one of a very select few who get this
chance. I can’t say no.”

“
But you’re only
fourteen, honey. Can’t this wait a few more years?”

“
There won’t be the
chance in a few more years. They only make so many offers. This is
what I want to do, a dream come true.”

“
I think we need to
talk this over as a family, Adya, like we do all major
decisions.”

“
I don’t know if we
can do that, Dad. I’m on an island. They don’t just fly people out
on a whim.”

His voice rose, “If they want you,
they’ll allow you to take a trip to discuss with your family. If
they don’t allow it, then I’ll come down there and get you
myself.”

She smiled, picturing him on the
other end, shoulders stiff and white knuckles clutching the phone.
“Whoa, Dad, okay. I’ll talk to Mister Fairfield and see if we can
set up a meeting. There’ll be paperwork to sign, agreements to go
over, that sort of thing. But, Dad, you should be so proud of me.
Don’t take this away from me.” Being a minor had its drawbacks, one
of which was not having legal right to control one’s
destiny.

“
Make it sooner rather
than later. I’m worried about you being down there all
alone.”

“
Jennifer has been
like a sister to me.”

“
That worries me,
too…you need a mother, not a sister. Your mother misses
you.”

“
I miss both of you,
but Dad, this is−”

“
I know, I know. You
need to realize we have your best interests at heart. Call back
later, when your mother gets home, in an hour or so. You’re gonna
have to break the news to her, I’m leaving it to you.”

“
Okay, Dad. I love
you.”

“
Love you too, doll.
Love you too.”

Hanging the phone up, Adya gently
stroked the handset, smiling as she pictured her father’s face.
Memories flooded her mind. Her father giving her away at her
wedding, whooping out loud at her graduation ceremonies, spending
time with his grandchildren. She knew she would not live under
their roof again in this lifetime but the knowledge was
bittersweet.

Journal of Doctor Nicholas Weaver

September 21, 98 P. I.

It is so incredibly
frustrating to know I was born just a little too late. Ten years
earlier, even five years sooner, and I could have turned the tide
or made someone listen. Because of my birth date, each timeline
greets me with only months to spare before living Impact over
again. First Adya dies, and with her any chance of Hope. Then,
watching the panic, the famine, the pestilence. I do what I can to
ease their suffering but I must do more. I must prevent it. This is
what drives me, what has sustained me through a thousand years
where I have relived the horrors repeatedly. But I grow weary with
the effort. 

Santino Flores expressed surprise and pleasure to find Adya
fluent in his native tongue and greeted her with warmth when she
reintroduced herself in Spanish her first day on the sixth floor.
She joined him in his office prepared to spend her second week of
orientation. A torrent of Spanish described his efforts in detail,
his pride palpable as he expounded upon the advances made by his
networking and telecommunications department.

“
Without our work,
half the advances in other fields wouldn’t have happened. We allow
communication globally in an instant, like the Internet as you knew
it, but without the crap. As you’re aware, Three Eleven has a
computer lab in every high school and post secondary institution
the world over. We also have terminals at universities we fund,
which give us access to their research and data. All those labs are
connected through the network we have developed, faster than
anything around even in 2011. So, through information sharing which
is years ahead of its time, we have initiatives that are years
ahead of their times.”

“
I certainly wouldn’t
be here if it wasn’t for your telecommunications network. How long
have the computer labs been set up in the schools? How did that
idea get started?”

“
I connected with
Three Eleven fourteen years ago and although there were labs in the
schools at the time, they weren’t networked. The stand alone labs
did give clues to possible regressees because each computer asked
the user key questions like what you encountered. Because there
wasn’t a developed infrastructure to support data communication, no
instantaneous connections were made. My specialty in my last
lifetime was satellite communications. But, let me start at the
start.”

He shepherded her along a wall of
murals illustrating the evolution of telecommunication from the
earliest Morse code transmitter to the technology used for the
current high-speed data transfer. He continued his
monologue.

“
I find it incredible
to think how far technology has come in the past twenty years.” He
gestured at the pictures beside them. “With or without the
influence of Three Eleven these devices would have been developed.
But Three Eleven has taken what we knew existed and built upon
those inventions for the sole purpose of enhancing further
inventions. There has been a snowball effect because technology
breeds technology and I think right now we’re just at the threshold
of the new era. We’ve now developed almost everything necessary to
our survival existing at the time of our regression and from here
on in we can use the next twenty-six years to create new and
completely different inventions. See all the blank space on this
wall?”