I’ve heard it called the
final frontier, the sea of tranquility, the great unknown. I call it solitude.
Destitute.
I’ve told you in my
previous transmissions that I consider myself lucky. When they
caught us, they could have killed us. No one would have known. It was a risk we took, Sandra,
Max, and myself. And when Adam found us, maybe that was luck too. I don't mean him
catching us, of course. But better him than someone else.
I’ve never given you details
about what we did or why we did it. By now you’ve probably figured out most of it.
* * * *
Simon flipped off the video
recording transmitter (VRT) and rubbed his eyes. He continued to shiver even
after his third cup of hot chocolate. He could have drunk plain hot water to
warm himself, his taste buds hadn’t reawakened yet, but he needed the calories.
The hibernation periods drained him. Now that he had awakened for the final
time, he’d need to replenish himself by eating a minimum of 5000 calories a day
until he landed on Kapa1 Ceti VI.
The planet appeared as a
small pinprick on the viewing screen. The star itself burned on the left edge.
Had all the ship’s sensors not told him he had traveled nearly thirty light
years, he’d have believed Kapa1 Ceti the Earth’s sun.
He walked away from the
viewer and the dim yellow light it cast faded from the walls as it powered down. The walls of the ship reilluminated
green as the food generator activated with his proximity.
“Hello, Simon.” The epicene voice hadn’t startled him since his first
waking period. The fog of sleep still hung in his mind when he had first heard speaking
on a space vessel allegedly occupied by a single passenger. When his heart rate
slowed, he had felt completely
awakened. Now, on his third waking period, he knew to expect the various
components of the ship to strike up conversations,
even if
he didn't feel mentally revived.
“What would you like? Another hot chocolate? Perhaps something to eat?”
“Yes. I’ll have lasagna with extra cheese and three pieces of garlic
bread.” With a menu limited only by his own imagination, Simon knew he wanted
his favorite childhood meal to start his rejuvenation before arriving on the
planet. He decided it when the authorities sentenced him. He needed to connect
with the life he had before he knew something was different about himself.
“Preparing one meal of lasagna with extra cheese and three pieces of
garlic bread.”
The soft, high-pitched whine of the food generators electric motors created
a welcome background noise.
While he waited for his meal, he returned to the VRT to record more of his transmission.
* * * *
We infiltrated the
compound by walking through the main entrance. I’m serious. It was as easy as
that. Sandra had a friend on the inside who printed us employee badges. And
they call themselves the Department of Defense? Really?
Everybody knows about the five
floors above ground and the two basement levels. They’re great. Seriously. Even
the western side, which had to get rebuilt after that hijacked plane flew into
it, looks amazing.
I suppose you know about
that. The plane I mean. They couldn’t have erased it from the history books.
Too many people remember where they were when it happened. I remember. My
second grade teacher got called out of the room and returned with tears in her
eyes. I didn’t think anything could soften the heart of that old bitch. What
did I know?
But back to the building.
We didn’t care about the seven floors everyone knew about. Our interests resided
somewhere on the third basement floor. I know what you’re thinking. 'There is
no third basement.' Yes, it does have a third basement. I’ve seen it. And
it’s where you’ll find all the good stuff. Area 51, Roswell, the Kennedy
assassination, Bigfoot, Yeti, you name it. If it exists, and the government
doesn’t want you to know about it, the information is stored in the third
basement.
So the files I wanted to
see. The ones I needed to see. The ones about me. Yeah, they’re three floors down. I
didn’t know Sandra and Max had connections too. I should have figured it out,
but I didn’t.
Most of the stuff I
mentioned, the stuff about aliens and hairy monsters, I don’t believe in any of
it. Even after seeing the files. What I can
tell you is the government keeps files on all of it. I read a few of the files.
They didn’t change my opinion. But I didn’t come to read about them. I came to
see if what I had heard had any truthful merit to it. Did I exist because of
the Cloverleaf Project? And if so, what involvement did I have with it…or it
with me.
* * * *
A high pitched series of
beeps alerted Simon to his prepared meal. His tastebuds watered as his olfactory receptors
started to revive from slumber. He brought the lasagna back to the work
station and placed what looked like a wire hat on his head. Two sharp probes
tightened against his temples, almost piercing the skin. Simon preferred the VRT, but
to ensure he included every detail of his break-in at the Pentagon, he needed to use the
memory extractor
(ME).
His wife’s face came into
focus on the view screen. Even on the day of this image, the final day she would see him as a
free man, she had no idea what he had planned. Should he have told her?
Probably not. They would have come for her too. Her ignorance kept her free then,
and his completion of this mission will ensure she remains free. Or will it?
Can he trust the government to uphold their end of the bargain? For all he
knew, they had arrested her the second his shuttle launched.
No. They’d have no reason
to arrest her. They knew she had nothing to do with any of it. After hooking her to an ME for three days, she didn't have a single private memory left.
He focused his mind. The
image of his wife faded. The long wall of the Pentagon replaced it.
* * * *
Two security guards
stepped onto the elevator. Simon cast a glance at Max to make sure he kept his
composure. Simon thought he looked nervous, but it was hard to tell. Max always
looked nervous. Sandra on the other hand, she could handle anything.
The guards only rode down
two floors. When the elevator stopped on
the first basement, Simon, Sandra, and Max exited.
Simon pointed to the left.
“If we follow this hall, we’ll come to another series of four elevators. We
take one back up to the fourth floor where we’ll find a fifth elevator marked
‘Maintenance Only.’ Our badges should open it. It only goes to the second
basement. A secret corridor not accessible any other way. A few top secret
offices line the hall, and at the end we’ll find a stairway to the third
basement. The one that supposedly doesn’t exist. The offices should all be vacant for
the weekend.”
They followed the maze and
found themselves on a floor clearly not the size of the entire Pentagon.
Most of the small offices contained numerous file cabinets and a small desk.
The offices had no labeling announcing their contents.
“Well, let’s split up and
see what we can find.”
Simon headed into an
office and started browsing through the file cabinets. The first had photos of
world leaders meeting with aliens and transcripts of their conversations. He
randomly selected one and started reading before tossing it aside to focus on
his objective. The next cabinet had photos, transcripts of eyewitness accounts,
and hair samples of tall, apelike men. He didn’t even bother reading these
before moving on to the next file cabinet.
“Third time’s a charm.”
The first folder had a tab
reading Cloverleaf Project. The cover had an image of a four leaf clover. Each
leaf had a different word written on it: Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Luck.
The first sheet in the folder read:
CLOVERLEAF PROJECT
Overview
In an attempt to create the perfect human,
top geneticists from around the world will collaborate to create a genetically
superior human. They will combine DNA from human subjects with extraordinary
qualities in at least one of the following characteristics: strength, agility,
and intelligence. The experiment will also take DNA from individuals with
seemingly unnatural luck to answer the questions: Does luck exist? And if so,
can it pass through genes?
The first batch will consist of six
artificially created zygotes (three male and three female) implanted into
female volunteers all deemed unable to conceive naturally. As an added
precaution, the test subjects, once mature, will be sterile. This will serve
two purposes. First, it will prevent the artificial genes from contaminating
the normal human gene pool. Second, many of the geneticists fear if two of our test subjects
were to reproduce, it may create an F1 hybrid
superhuman.
Tuesday, March 17, 1992
Simon riffled through the
pages to find extensive notes on the process, the specific genes isolated, and
prenatal care given to the expectant mothers. Finally he found the page he
wanted. A list of birth records. Just as he expected, he found his own name,
date of birth, and his mother’s name. He read the remainder of the names.
“No.”
He staggered backward and
sat in an office chair. It almost rolled out from under him, but he grabbed the
arm and secured it. He read the names again.
“No!”
His head spun. Flashes of
his life danced before his eyes. Images of his childhood. College. He knew them
all. He always had. He couldn’t remember a time without them. He read the names
again, first to himself, then aloud.
“Sandra. Max. Julie. Adam.
No. No. Not her too.” He read the last name ten times. Fifteen. Twenty. “Not
Susan. Not my wife.”
He flipped back to the
overview and reread the last paragraph. How they had wanted children. How they
had tried. For how many years? Seven? Nine?
Sandra burst into the
office.
“I thought I heard you
scream.”
He looked at her through
eyes glassed over with tears.
Max came to Sandra’s side
and she pushed on. “What is it Simon? Did you find what we came for? Are you
part of Cloverleaf Project?
Simon couldn’t speak. He
reached across the desk and handed the list of births to Sandra.
Sandra took the list, read
it, and handed it to Max.
Max read the list and
threw it to the ground.
“We’ve got to go. Now.”
The alarm in his voice
instantly sobered Simon. “What? Why?” But as he asked, he sprang to his feet.
“I may have blown
everything. I told Adam you suspected you had involvement with the Cloverleaf
Project.”
“So? You didn’t tell him
our plan, did you? You didn’t tell him we planned on breaking in here?”
“No. But I didn’t have to.
He just knows things. He always has had a way of just knowing.”
They bolted for the door.
Simon jerked it open. A flash of silver and Simon felt the barrel of a gun press against his
head. His instincts wanted to snatch the gun in a swift movement. He knew
he could, but his eyes focused down the hall at the fifteen other guns pointed
at them. A tall, muscular man with dark hair stepped forward.
“I hope you found what you
came for, Simon.”
“Adam, listen, this
concerns you too.”
A single laugh escaped
Adam’s throat. “I know. I’ve seen all the files. They showed them to me when I
took the job. Sure, my badge says ‘Pentagon Security,’ but I’ve only had one
objective: protect these files from anyone else involved with Cloverleaf Project.
We weren’t the only batch of super babies, you know. The project ran for ten
years. Eventually someone would learn they may have been a part of it and want
in here.”
Adam gestured toward the
stairway. “Come along, now, we have a special new punishment lined up to try on
you three.”
* * * *
Simon removed the ME and
rubbed his temples. He placed his plate, utensils, and napkin back into the
food generator.
“Recycling initiated,” said the
not-quite-human voice.
The low hum of the engines
started again, and he returned to the VRT.
* * * *
So we received our
sentence. Sandra, Max, and myself each got sent different directions in space.
Three pioneers to the three closest planets potentially habitable by humans. I
have no idea how much of this you already know. I didn’t say anything in my previous
transmissions. I knew the government would screen them. You’d have never seen
them… Or at the least you wouldn’t get them in their entirety. My only hope for
you to hear this one is if Julie still works for the department. This is the
last message I can send you. I only have one transmission beacon left, and it
has to contain information about the planet I land on. If I fail to send it,
the government will come for you.
If I calculated correctly,
and if the ship’s sensors are accurate, which I’m sure they are—I designed them
myself—you should be about 30 years old now. It’s challenging to conceive, even
for me, since I’m not much older than that myself. But by traveling nearly the
speed of light, my ageing doesn’t progress like yours.
I’ve spent my time between
hibernation periods pondering my decisions. Did I do the right thing? Was it
worth it? I think I did. And it was. I only learned of your existence the day
they sent me into space. By all accounts, you shouldn’t exist. I guess we
really were lucky. My only regret is that I’ll never get to meet you.
Love,
Dad
To be
continued… April 17
Dedicated to Leonard Nimoy
(1931-2015), without whom, modern science fiction would likely not exist.
****
Eric Price lives with his wife and two sons in northwest Iowa. He began publishing in 2008 when he started writing a quarterly column for a local newspaper. Later that same year he published his first work of fiction, a spooky children’s story called Ghost Bed and Ghoul Breakfast. Since then, he has written stories for children, young adults, and adults. Three of his science fiction stories have won honorable mention from the CrossTime Annual Science Fiction Contest. His first YA fantasy novel,
Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud, received the Children’s Literary Classics Seal of Approval and the
Literary Classics Award for Best First Novel. His second novel,
The Squire and the Slave Master, continues the Saga of the Wizards. It is scheduled for an August 4, 2015 release. Find him online at
authorericprice.com,
Twitter,
Facebook, and
Goodreads.
Kai Strand and YA Bound are partnering to send Finding Thor on a week long book blitz. Between April 15th through the 22nd, you will see bloggers all around the interwebs hosting excerpts, interviews and best of all #giveaways to celebrate Kai's newly released young adult romantic suspense. Be sure to follow the blitz and interact with the tour hosts for your best chance to win!
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