Number 30

“Ugh, this again. It has not worked now in over a year. Why do we keep trying?” The voice of a women over his shoulder seems to echo the thoughts of the people in the control room. “Because Grace, we’re all running out of time, and this is the only thing anyone can think of. Unless of course you have a better idea?” As Grace makes an audible groan, she backs away and asks the crewmember to her left, “Who do we have today?”. The crew member doesn’t break eye contact with the screen in front of them, “Subject’s name is Eve. She was one of the last to make the trip before we severed ties.” Grace, clearly not impressed, inhales, and looks around the room. She does not like that only a few of the people in the room have any idea what is going on. And time is not on their side.

Things used to feel calm, but with each passing day spent in failed attempts tensions have started to rise. The plan was simple Grace thinks, how we strayed so far from our objective is beyond imaginable. Trying to pinpoint what went wrong gives her an all to familiar pain on the side of her head, and trying to avoid the oncoming headache, Grace changes her focus to the task at hand. “Alright Mack, lets get this over with.” Mack brings up an operating command sequence on his screen and in front of Grace, the command line ‘Begin reanimation… Y/N’ appears before them. “You know, this might be the one.” Mack says unconvincingly. An unimpressed Grace retorts, “Just enter the commands Mack so we can get on with our day.” Mack enters ‘Y’ on the command window and waits.

The room ahead of the crew lights up and can be clearly seen through the wide window. A container emerges containing a human, Eve presumably. Three of the crew, the ones without guns, walk through the side door of the control room and enter the room where the human is kept. They hook up a couple of cable connections and in front of Mack and Grace, vitals appear on the screen. Looking to her left, Grace asks “How many times have we tried this again?” The crew member, eyes unwavering replies, “This will be number 30 captain.” Grace looks at the monitor in front of her. As she stares at the vitals on the screen, she confirms that the human in the container is Eve and all vitals look normal. Eve seems like another successful candidate that was placed in suspended animation with the promise to be woken up when things were better. Sarcastically, Grace muses ‘I hope she’s not disappointed.’

…

You know that moment when you realize you are dreaming but do not want to wake up? That notion that you are not witness anymore to the unfolding reality floating inside your consciousness but think that you might be able to control the outcome. That is where I was until a swath of pain seemingly came from nowhere and yet was everywhere all at once. I felt my thoughts acting like water being pulled through a syringe. Suddenly, I feel… everything. I cannot see, but I can breathe. My lungs are on fire and my skin burns. I try to scream but there is no sound that comes out. I try harder to open my eyes can get them open a crack. It is blurry but adjusting my vision through my eyelashes I can make out a person moving around. No wait, two people buzzing around. I realize I can hear when one of them calls out, “All clear.” But it is not directed to the other person because they are facing away from them, almost looking behind me. Within moments everything is quiet.

I wake up feeling a little different than before. Immediately I can move my extremities and can breathe regularly. Not to say I am without some discomfort but compared to the last time I think I feel somewhat normal. I open my eyes, easier this time, and see that I am in a room that I do not recognize. There is a screen on the wall but no windows. Thinking more on this, I do not remember much of anything. ‘Who am I?’ seems to be the most pressing question now. I have a bit of a sudden panic and look under the sheets I am in. Luckily relieved, and a little disturbed I see that I am fully clothed. I press my arms down and push myself out of bed. My legs do not agree with this decision as the aches make me realize I probably have not walked for a while. Slowly though, holding onto whatever I can I make my way toward the door and give it a knock.

…

As Mack looks through the monitor at Eve he is surprised she is so mobile already. Normally this takes a couple of days for patients to walk this well. She was however unconscious longer than normal as her biometrics were checked for compatibility. Mack takes a closer look at Eve, triggering something that looks familiar about her. One out of twenty-nine to date, and she is number two. “Grace, our patient is awake and moving.” Grace turns away from her own monitor and looks at Mack’s. She sees Eve banging on the door. “Looks like she wants to talk.” suggests Mack. Grace gets out of her chair and heads toward the door. “Alright, lets see how this goes. Twenty-eight failures Mack, twenty-eight. Let’s hope she doesn’t turn out like the others.”

…

As Eve comes to the realization that no one is coming to the door she motions to sit down. Before she gets there, she hears a low hum. Wait a minute; not just a hum, it sounds like words. Like someone is talking. Thinking she is hearing things she makes her way toward the bed when the sound gets louder, more audible. A low voice speaks, “Eve, don’t be alarmed but can you make a fist if you can hear me?” Eve? That’s right! My name is Eve Wright and I worked as a nurse. Why that piece of information, I don’t really know. Confused, Eve looks around the room but cannot find the source of the voice. Beside her bed she stands still, perplexed at the request but she acquiesces and make a noticeable fist with one had. “Good,” she hears the voice say. “Now relax, I am speaking only to you. Only you can hear me, no one else in the room. We are connected you and I and I want to see you safe. They are watching every move you make Eve, so I suggest not talking to me. Instead, just listen and I will help you escape.”

Escape! What the hell is this place? Suddenly my heart races a little faster. I become light-headed and need to sit down. I can hear voices in my head? That is not good. Then I hear something I know is not just in my head. The door opens and in walks a woman in uniform. The door closes behind her. “Hello Eve, how are you feeling?” I look her over and try to determine if she is a threat or not. The woman walks with confidence and continues, “My name is Captain Sparks but feel free to call me Grace. I am sure you have questions and I aim to try to help you answer those questions.” Almost instantly, Eve asks “Why am I here?” eager to find a purpose for her current situation. Grace also notices she is carrying a small box in her left arm which was hidden from view when she entered the room. The voice in her head comes alive sounding very certain in their assertion, “Don’t trust her.” Grace continues on, “Great question Eve. We do not have much time so I will keep things short. We are here because we have a problem. You are here to help us solve that problem. You see, you carry special genetic markers that made you a viable candidate to survive in suspended animation. Do you remember volunteering for our program Eve?” Of course I don’t remember! I shake my head, and the voice chimes in with, “There’s a needle in the box she is holding Eve. Don’t let her inject you with it.” Eve adjusts her glance and fixates on the box which catches the attention of Grace. “Oh, I see you are curious about this. It is not much, but I do hope you don’t mind if I give it to you. Because you have been sleeping for so long, this will help you better adjust to our current reality.” Grace opens the box and I see a single needle.

Okay, this is creepy. How did the voice inside my head know there was a needle in that box! I have a decision to make. Trust the voice of the person in front of me or the voice inside my head? Sensing some cautiousness Grace takes the needle from the box. “Go for the needle, now!” the voice tells me. Instinctively I lunge at Grace, pushing her to the floor as the needle falls with her. The problem is that my momentum thrusts me on top of Grace and wedges the needle between us. Grace, clearly surprised, looks up at me, “What have you done?” she screams. As I move myself off of her I realize that not only did the needle impale Graces torso, but when I fell on her I also depressed its chemical sending whatever was intended for me into her. I watch as Grace squirms briefly and then closes her eyes. As I ponder what had just happened, I look at the box which has the word fertility inscribed on its longer side. As surprised as I am about what just happened, I think I surprised the voice in my head as well. “Woah, good job! Now go out into the hallway, turn left, and don’t stop running!”

As bits and pieces of my memory start to come back, I do not feel like I have time to stop and take them all in. I was married, and I was… pregnant? A surge of panic overtakes me as I come to grips that I have no idea where I am or where my family is. A door ahead of me swings open and stops me in my tracks. An armed guard falls out into the hallway unconscious and out comes another individual dressed in similar fashion to Grace. With the guard incapacitated, he stands over him and stares at me. I do not see anger in his eyes but instead are those… tears? “Go to him and keep running,” the voice in my heads says. As I walk toward him, he does the same. Taking a heart-shaped locket from around his neck he places it in my hands. I open it and inscribed within it says, “To Mack, from Mom. Never stop looking.” The voice in my head tells me to run but I am overcome with emotion. Mack makes a movement to run, pauses and looks back at me. “Come on mom!”. Grasping the locket, I grab his hand and we run down a long tunnel. As we pass by sections of glass to the outside I can see… Earth? It looks like its in ruins, like rubble from a long-forgotten war. Does that mean we are on the Moon? Mack leads us to an empty hanger bay. Oddly enough there is a vehicle there waiting for us. “Hop on,” the voice in my head tells me. Without hesitation this time I leap onto the vehicle with Mack having no idea what is about to happen and for some reason, this is the most at home I have felt in a long time.