After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 Page 4

  She slid her scrub shirt over her head and tightened the band around her scrub pants. Avalon touched her necklace and recalled her father’s message before heading out to the cafeteria where she grabbed a granola bar on the go.

  As she grabbed the plainly marked granola bar, she saw Elena. On her way out of the cafeteria, Elena blocked her way. When Avalon moved right, Elena moved right. When Avalon turned to the left, Elena turned to the left. Elena’s group of friends stood a few feet behind her scowling.

  “Watch where you are going Fulcio,” Elena said with a laugh.

  Avalon rolled her eyes, and turned to the left. Elena deliberately bumped her shoulder and knocked the granola bar out of Avalon’s hands.

  Avalon’s face turned red as Elena and her gang of girls laughed.

  Elena obviously wants a rise out of me. Probably wants the guards to come over and attack me.

  “Stop,” Avalon said.

  “Stop,” Elena mimicked.

  “Please, grow up. I don’t even know you,” Avalon said.

  “You don’t have to know me. I know I don’t like you,” Elena admitted.

  “Why? I haven’t done anything to you.”

  “You don’t have to,” Elena giggled, her icy blue eyes like sharp knives and her teeth like a venomous snakes.

  “I don’t want to start anything,” Avalon said and stooped down to pick up the granola bar. But just as she stooped, Elena kicked it further away.

  Avalon balled her fists up.

  “Hi, Elena, how is it going?” Kael said, coming up behind Elena.

  “Great, how about you?” Elena said in a different tone of voice than she had used with Avalon. It was almost awe-inspiring how quickly she could turn from venomous to sweet.

  Kael, with his strong physique, led Elena and the gang of girls away from Avalon. Somehow, Avalon didn’t think it was a coincidence.

  What the heck is her problem! Avalon picked up the granola bar and discreetly placed it back on the rack, while grabbing another one that was less broken.

  As she left the cafeteria, the standard issue black combat boots were a bit too big, and rubbed her skin raw, despite the socks she wore. Ignoring the slight irritation, Avalon waved to her teammates as she entered the work station and tried not to contemplate the hundreds of questions on her mind after seeing the holographic message her father left.

  Skylar strode over to where Avalon stood and said, “Today, I am going to train you on how to use and analyze the systems. It is a huge responsibility and something we take very seriously. All of our survival is at stake, so I trust you will take this seriously as well.”

  Avalon nodded her head as Skylar continued, “Sometimes, it takes a minute for the system to become acclimated to how your particular neurons are configured.” As Avalon stood upon the round circle in the floor, it emitted blue light as it read her biosignal and loaded up the training program.

  “Welcome, Avalon,” the AI spoke in a pleasant female voice.

  After demonstrating to Avalon how to open folders and perform various operations for thirty minutes, Skylar left Avalon to her own devices.

  “Once you complete the training mode, you will be able to work on the real stuff. Everyone has access to only certain areas of the mainframe,” Skylar informed.

  “Skylar,” Avalon said.

  “Yes?”

  “Can you fill me in a bit more on everyone? Everyone seems so quiet.”

  “Xin is very serious and meticulous. He does not allow chatter,” she said. “But yes, I will tell you briefly about everyone. Xin’s brain is wired in a way that is rivaled only by the highest artificial intelligence in his cognitive and analytical ability. He became the first human competitor to beat a machine at chess in over fifty years. He won twice, as the developers believed he cheated the first time.”

  Skylar’s head turned towards Brody next. “Brody is here because he worked with a professor to introduce the trillion exoflops per second computer.”

  Avalon looked at Brody with new appreciation for his talents.

  “And yours truly developed a pill with nanobots which could change your hair color, and I did it at age 14,” Skylar said. “Women around the world could thank me for ending the hair dye industry. Now, all they had to do is pop a pill to stop grey hair.” Then she frowned, “Of course, it only stayed on the market for two years, before we had to come here.”

  “That’s quite impressive,” Avalon said.

  Skylar smiled until she glimpsed Xin looking at her with his lips pressed hard together. “Well, I will let you practice doing it yourself,” Skylar said as she returned to her blue workstation.

  They must wonder what I did to warrant my presence. I am sure they just think I am only here because of my dad.

  After a few hours of writing and executing code, the others took their fifteen minute breaks.

  “Avalon you are a coding queen! Come take a break!” Brody yelled, seeing Avalon had reached 60% completion of her training mode already.

  “I will soon, guys. I just want to finish training today and I will join you all afterwards!” she answered.

  “Nobody finishes training in one day. It takes from three days to a week. Xin has the record at three days,” Skylar added.

  Avalon smiled and said, “Ok, thanks!”

  Once the room cleared, Avalon sped up and blazed through the remaining training courses. She had slowed down in front of her teammates so as not to appear too smart. She had to work hard and fast enough that people respected the fact that she belonged on the habitat for her own merit—not just for her last name or connections. Yet, she didn’t want to be so smart that she became isolated.

  Yet, her name was now prominently displayed as number one on the training scoreboard, with completion in six hours.

  There goes my popularity. O well. Might as well have some fun!

  Avalon searched through files on her own and happened across a folder labeled Confidential. Normally, such folders would be restricted by biosignal. However, a small timer icon hovered next to the folder. The timer represented how many minutes the President had left to secure the folder as being Confidential.

  Avalon glanced over her shoulder. Biting the side of her bottom lip, she double tapped the folder. It looked like a video.

  A male, roughly around age eighteen, appeared on the screen. The footage was from his helmet camera. Why is he wearing a helmet?

  The short video continued to play. The young man in the suit said, “Yeah, there is nothing outside. Just this sea of red.”

  A second voice on the young man’s ear comm said, “Just as we suspected. Area is a wasteland as predicted.”

  The young man sighed. “At least I got to go outside for a little while.”

  “True. But since there is nothing outside you are not to mention this to anyone, just as we agreed.”

  “Roger,” the young man replied.

  Then the young man walked around with a Geiger counter type apparatus the size of a small credit card. While the radiation levels were at levels too high to sustain plant or animal life, microbial life might have survived.

  “Although, I don’t understand why some of the stuff isn’t here anymore. Like all of that razor wire and the big concrete wall when we entered the habitat,” the young man said.

  “I believe the sandstorms buried it,” the voice on the other side said.

  The young man nodded his head as he continued to walk, surveying the land using a map in his helmet.

  “Everything just looks so different. Very similar, but somehow different.”

  “That is to be expected,” the man on the other end said.

  “I know. But I can’t explain it. Something doesn’t seem right.”

  “Perhaps, you should come on back then, son,” the voice on the other end said.

  The young man nodded.

  “I think I will. My oxygen is getting low.”

  Right as the young man turned around to return, he saw something ou
t of the corner of his eye.

  “Hey….I think I saw something,” the young man said.

  “What?” the ear comm voice asked.

  “I think I saw…a person…”

  “Like you mean a face in the sand sort of thing?” the voice on the ear comm asked.

  “No. I mean a person’s face,” the young man answered.

  “You must be imagining things,” the ear comm voice reassured him. “Maybe it is the radiation levels and different atmospheric pressure affecting you somehow despite your suit. Please return towards the habitat now,” the voice commanded.

  The young man pivoted and made a few steps towards the habitat. As he did, the footage shook.

  “What the—” was the last thing he said before the video feed cut out.

  The audio feed, however, remained. The young man screamed and cried. Then the audio feed ended as well.

  What the heck was that? Did they run an expedition without telling anyone? And who is this young man? I don’t recall seeing him in the habitat. He would have to be awake…

  Avalon was still thinking when she was startled by the sound of chatter outside the door. Quickly, she snapped out of that folder and onto the current task at hand just as her colleagues returned. Her heart pounded as another person emerged from behind her teammates. Natural bronzed skin dressed in purple scrubs with a mop full of curly blonde hair could, only be one person— the President’s son!

  Chapter Four

  Avalon’s mind raced as the President’s son entered the room. What is he doing here? Did he notice anything? None of the scenarios her mind envisioned ended well.

  “You finished training in a day!” Skylar shouted with astonishment.

  “No— in six hours,” Xin corrected with a tinge of jealousy.

  “Are you a prodigy?” Brody asked.

  Avalon smiled as Brody mispronounced the word prodigy. Brody provided much needed comic relief, often unintentionally. He had a kind, salt of the earth heart and polite manners. With Brody hailing from a wealthy established family in Virginia, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

  Skylar bristled at the compliments Avalon received.

  Kael walked up to Avalon and extended his hand for a shake. “Don’t be shy. My father has told me all about you.”

  Avalon had trouble listening to the words coming from his mouth as she stood frozen in her steps. The warm sensation flying through her hands as her cheeks turned redder than the tomatoes she used to help pick with her grandmother distracted her from what she wanted to say.

  “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kael,” he said in his New England accent.

  “Nice to meet you,” Avalon said. He may be an Accipio but he seems friendly. Of course, appearances can be deceiving.

  “I am conducting inspections, but I can see that everything is in good hands here. Keep up the good work,” he said with a dimpled smile which sent a shiver through Avalon’s spine.

  With a wave and one last glance towards Avalon, Kael exited the room.

  Skylar and Avalon sat in silence for a few moments before Skylar blurted out, “Can you believe he talked to you?”

  “Yeah….” Avalon answered stretching out the syllables.

  “Ugh. You just don’t know how lucky you are,” Skylar said, staring off into space.

  Avalon shrugged and smiled before taking her lunch break. Her overprotective father ensured her inexperience with being the center of a boy’s attention. So Avalon relished in the flutters in her stomach when she thought of Kael’s smile.

  Someone tapped Avalon on the shoulder as she stood in line to get dinner that night. Avalon swirled her neck around to see Ilium. Avalon smiled at Ilium, while gazing behind him to see where Kael sat. There he is! And then her smile turned into a slight pout as four buxom girls sat down next to him. Figures. He can have any girl he wants—of course he wouldn’t be interested in a Fulcio.

  “How did your first real day go?” Ilium asked.

  Avalon snapped her attention back towards Ilium. She thought of telling him of Elena and that crowd, but thought better of it. He could have had a bad day. No need to burden him with details.

  “Well, I think it went pretty well. Thanks for asking.”

  “She’s being shy,” Brody said. Brody was a little bit ahead of them in line but still listening to their conversation.

  “Really?” Ilium asked, glancing at Avalon with a simper.

  “Yeah, she is fast as lightning man. She finished training in six hours,” Brody said.

  Ilium wore an expression of amusement mixed with admiration.

  Avalon took a bite of her toast. It wasn’t that bad. Then she looked at Ilium and decided to ask him a question which had been on her mind.

  “Can you tell me some more about Dexter?”

  “Sure,” Ilium said. After he took a sip of his smoothie, “What do you want to know?”

  “Well… what was he like?”

  Ilium looked upwards as he remembered. “Cool kid. Quiet, smart.”

  Avalon nodded. “What did he look like?”

  “Whoah now. I don’t look at dudes that hard. I guess he was average height if that’s what you mean,” Ilium said.

  “He had brown hair and brown eyes,” Skylar added.

  “Why do you ask?” Ilium asked looking at her intensely.

  Avalon broke her eyes away and answered, “No reason in particular. Just curious.”

  I think Ilium knows more than he is letting on. But I won’t press him in front of other people.

  Instead, she sipped her water and surveyed the room.

  A strange sense of unease washed over her. She looked to a table where Elena and Viggo sat.

  Why is she talking to him?

  All the quiet chatter in the cafeteria ceased. Avalon turned her head around. Six men entered the room wearing long purple robes. They were obviously members of the Council. But why would everyone stop their chattering?

  The group of six moved in unison, and they stopped square in the middle of the cafeteria.

  All six looked eerily alike. Their heads were shaved bald, and their eyes were icy grey.

  “Yesterday a disturbance occurred in the cafeteria,” the one in the middle announced.

  No one moved.

  “As you know, you are constantly being monitored, not only by the guards but also by cameras,” he continued.

  “We cannot have such dissonance and discord in such a small habitat. It will not be allowed.”

  All eyes were on the Council members.

  “Those Compatios, or any of you really, would do well to know that those smartwatches attached to your wrist are more than fun pieces of metal which allow you to videomessage. They track you. And they cannot be removed.”

  As the one in the middle spoke, the other purple robed men stared blankly into the crowd.

  They can’t be removed? They didn’t attach themselves into the skin. They weren’t implants. I don’t see how they couldn’t be removed.

  Avalon tugged against the watch to see if it would budge. After several attempts, it did not budge. The thing had formed a solid circle of metal, which could not be undone.

  “They can also be used to inflict pain, should the need arise. We do not wish to utilize our influence this way, but as you all know peace must be maintained at all costs.”

  The other five robed men repeated the words, “at all costs.”

  Then the man in the middle decided to provide a demonstration of the power for good effect. A chorus of cries emitted from those in the Compatio sector.

  “Consider that punishment for the disobedience of Michelle yesterday.”

  With a wave of his hand, the cries diluted. Blood trickled from the ears of the Compatio people. Their ear comms had emitted a blaringly loud noise.

  “Consider this your warning. Farewell,” the robed man in the middle said as the six of them sauntered out of the cafeteria.

  Avalon, Brody, Ilium, and Skylar turned and looked a
t each other in shock.

  “What the heck just happened?” Avalon asked no one in particular.

  “Just grab your tray and sit down,” Ilium told her. Avalon did as told and sat down at a table.

  “Seriously. What was that?”

  “We can’t say much because everything they said is true.”

  Avalon leaned over to Ilium and whispered, “My father did not plan on a dictatorship or plutocracy. It was supposed to be a democracy.”

  Ilium did not answer her, but instead sipped his smoothie. The others ate quietly as well.

  “Did you know that the smartwatches had that capability?” she whispered.

  Ilium subtly shook his head.

  Avalon pivoted her gaze towards the table where the Compatio sector sat. All of them were in pain, holding napkins to their ears. Tears formed down their faces, but they dared not yell out.

  “You’re going to have a lot of patients in the morning,” Avalon whispered to Ilium.

  “Meet me later,” he whispered back.

  Avalon caught the hint and ate the rest of her meal in silence as she added Council to her list of things to avoid in the habitat.

  Ilium and Avalon entered the storage room. Ilium memorized the hours that the janitors would visit the room. It was a relatively small place filled with shelves and tons of large cardboard and metal boxes. Robotic vacuums and other objects were spread around. One wall was made from the side of the mountain. His main reason for selecting it was that it was safe from the purview of the cameras.

  “So, tell me what I want to know,” Avalon said as soon as she entered.

  “You are quick to get down to business aren’t you?” Ilium smirked.

  “Well you don’t have much time either. You have to play cards with Raleigh tonight.”

  Ilium sneered.

  “I do believe I detect jealousy in your tone. You are more than welcome to come join us,” Ilium said.

  “Jealous?” Avalon laughed. “Tell me what I need to know so I can leave.”

  Ilium took a step towards her. “You are correct. The Compatios have been coming down with a virus.”