Chapter 10 "The Voyager"
"Catherine, can I ask you something?" Simon asked as they sat on a bench together. Catherine raised her head from his shoulder. This get-together at Reed's was in an hour.
"Yeah, Simon?"
"Do you ever think about the us down there?"
Catherine looked at him. He hadn't taken his eyes off the forest so far away. It's been a few weeks since they got on the ARK. The others wondered why they suddenly appeared. They told their story minus the gloomy parts. It was nice to see Simon welcomed warmly.
"Sometimes," she told him. "Sometimes I wish that it was a one-way carryover. That no one had to feel abandoned. I hope we knew that. That everything was worth it. We made it. The ARK launched. Maybe I finally nailed down the coffin on how it worked. You were always a numbskull. My numbskull."
"But what if you didn't? What if you tried but I—he—didn't understand?"
"Simon, I"m sure they're fine. Trust me. They're okay. We're okay. What else is on your mind? That can't be it. I know you."
"What about the people you didn't get to scan? What about them? Theta, Delta, Upsilon, Lambda, Omicron, did you get them? Tau...Did you get Tau? Phi. Jesus, how many people did we have to forget about when we came here? We forgot about the WAU and the dead world. Doesn't that eat away at people? Only us? How come my mind is plagued by this? I don't get it. If we remember by thinking so much then what happens when we don't think? When we just forget it all and moved on with our lives? How can people do that?"
"Simon, listen to me, you're overthinking. That's why."
They looked at the sunset.
"What would I do without you?" Simon remarked.
"Go mad? Lose yourself? The Man Out of Time would forget who he was/ He would cease to be."
"Probably. If I lost you I would do anything to get you back."
"I just hope you learn something."
"Like what?"
"To be."
"What do you mean by 'to be?"
Ross looked up at Simon. They had just buried what remained of Ahab. Astocles still said nothing. Abel couldn't conjure the words to express himself. They had the suit. They had the Structure Gel. They had everything to bring back one life. Even a body. Yet now they were one less. They could mourn later. Now they had to ensure he died for something. He died before something good could happen. People die while great miracles are about to spring up, moments after the passing, and the only thing we can do it carry on.
"To have consciousness. To be aware of your reality that is around you compared to how you see it. That's my way of being," Simon told him.
"I don't know my meaning for it. Not anymore," Ross admitted. "We should start the procedure soon. Now is now and should not be wasted."
"Come on, let's finish our mission," Simon told him. They went back into Omicron and down to the Dive Room. There Ross had Abel bring in the Power Suit and set it in where Raleigh had hers. Ross stared at the Power Suit. He remembered convincing her to do this. She did everything he asked but when the time came the WAU screeched.
She died.
Omicron died.
All because of him. Being here reminded him how much death he caused trying to save them all. He killed them all. How many? What were their names? Carthage's order. Site Alpha. The WAU. How much of him was still Ross? How much was a dead man? Too little? Too much? Had the real Ross died out completely and this was but a memory? He didn't know. When he looked in the mirror he saw the rotted, defiled, corpse of Johan Ross.
I am still me.
My name is Johan Ross.
I am Johan Ross.
I am real.
I am not a copy.
Ross opened the Power Suit. They needed a body. "Go upstairs and grab Julia Dahl's body. She won't be needing it anymore. In the cafeteria, Simon," he told him.
Simon nodded and walked off. He remembered Dahl from when he came here with Catherine. The body wasn't too heavy to drag. As he was passing by a small storage room to look for some tape to hold her onto a chair to make it a bit easier, he heard Astocles muttering to himself.
"You doing okay, Astocles?" Simon called out.
"I'm okay," he answered delightfully. "I'm okay. We'll be okay. Life goes on. The Holy Creator knows the way." The way he said the words gave Simon chills. He brought the body downstairs to the Dive Room. Abel followed with the other tools and materials Ross would need.
"Proph-Simon," Abel spoke.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"I think that once this is all done I will return to the Commune with Astocles."
"That's far."
"We're needed."
"What's the Commune like? You two were trying to take me there originally then the sub crashed."
Abel eased up. "One giant steel ship that submerged completely to the ground floor. I have not lived long to tell you the full history. Astocles was the second-highest among our faith. Devoted to the end. He would kill for the Holy Creator. I've lost faith in what I knew."
"Go on a spiritual journey then," Simon suggested. "Find yourself not in the place you were but in a place you are not."
If Abel could smile he would.
"Let's make the Creator proud," Abel told him.
They set up the corpse inside the Power Suit and placed the Light Drone's optics where Dahl's head should be. He popped open the cortext chip that stored Catherine. He slid it into place gently.
"It'll work, Simon," Ross told him.
Simon held the jar of Structure Gel. The last step. He was almost anxious to what would come next. Would she still be mad at him?
As Simon was about to finalize their project they heard Astocles coming. He was laughing, giggling, to himself.
"Astocles, what's so funny?" Abel stepped between Simon and the Cabal prophet.
Astocles kept giggling. "Shhh…the Creator will watch over you. The machine will protect us. He has guided us! He has lied to us! He is a liar! All the deaths and losses for nothing. The Commune is built on sticks. There is no great coming of Areolar! It is no god! Prime directive! Making the dead for nothing!" Astocles pulled out a chunk of sharp metal and drove it through Abel's head.
"NOO!" Simon dropped the jar and rushed Astocles. They clashed, neither getting the upper hand, pushing the other towards the airlock. Ross rushed to the twitching Abel. The Cabal uttered one word before passing on. Ross got to work.
Simon and Astocles fought in the airlock as it decompressed and let the water in.
"The hell is wrong with you!?" Simon yelled.
"I saw the Creator and I saw the liar behind the curtains! All is a lie!" Astocles tossed aside the chunk. "I will make all its abominations sleep!" His fingers now had small bits of jagged metal on them. He slashed and stabbed at Simon. The metal scraped against the Power Suit.
Simon backed up against the railing far out, the Abyss was now below them, and the metal walkway creaked. Astocles moved faster than he could react. He couldn't fight back without risking his own self. They were at the railing, one fought to overcome the other, and Astocles nearly had Simon over it.
"The Creator's truth must be spread! The Commune is living a lie! No one knows the truth but I! I am his prophet! I am his speaker! You have led us astray! I will lead us back! The false shepherd will die! Die! DIE!" Astocles yelled and raised his finger claws.
Simon embraced this. He got this far. Maybe Ross could finish it and escape. If not then at least they gave life to a dead world with their purpose for a time. He closed his eyes and-
"YEEARGH!"
A wrench crashed into the back of Astocles, smashing his helmet open and he let go of Simon. They shoved Astocles over the edge as the madman cried out before his suit collapsed under pressure.
"Simon! Simon!"
He blacked out.
Simon watched the stars that night. It was...breathtaking.
"Mind if I join you?" Catherine walked onto the flat roof to find him. Everyone crashed after the game of UNO. Catherine was still up, she couldn't get over her old habits of staying up working on the ARK. Now it didn't bother her. The peace and quiet was nice.
"Go for it," Simon told her.
"Were Toronto's stars like this?"
"I'm not sure. I couldn't ever see them when I wanted to and when I could I was distracted. Never took the time to sit and enjoy nature. People said I'm not a nature person but I am. I may not go out all the time but when I do I enjoy it."
"Simon Jarrett? Nature person?"
"You don't believe me?"
"I do! I do! Just used to the banter about the ocean."
"Don't get me started on the ocean!"
They both laughed and held hands.
"I'm glad I got into that car crash," Simon said, "because without it I would never have been copied which means you would never get to start the ARK, we wouldn't meet, and this would cease to be."
"Turn the bad into a good thing because the now would never be without it."
"Agreed."
"Even in the bleakness of impossibility there still can be probability if by the smallest chance, so we need to keep going because there is a chance regardless of odds."
"Simon! Wake up! Simon?"
That voice…
"Simon!"
CATHERINE!
He woke up to see the Omega Power Suit's visor display the face of Catherine Chun. It worked! It worked!
"You...Cath...I-" Catherine cut him off with a hug.
"I know, numbskull," she told him. "I know."
"Astocles!" Simon exclaimed. "I couldn't stop him. He killed Abel...He just snapped after he saw the WAU and the delusions of Akers."
"It's all okay. Now you're going to have to tell me that story of how you figured this out." Catherine looked at her new body. It had been a long time since she walked on two legs, could touch, and could move outside the Omnitool.
"Cath," Simon mustered up the courage, "I-"
"I love you too, Simon," Catherine told him.
"I...uh...you...uhh…" Simon stuttered.
"Simon, I may be an A.I. but I'm a human mind with human emotions. I figured it out."
Ross smiled on the inside as he watched them.
Life went on. Death came and took but here they were still.
"Let's get out of here," Ross told them. "Let's go home. To Theta."
It took them a week to clean Theta. They found that the Proxies died alongside Akers when the WAU screeched for the second time. The power still worked and they managed to repair the majority of the appliances. Now that they believed themselves to be they saw their original bodies from their human days.
Catherine worked tirelessly to do something about the Mind Coral Victims. She could transfer their minds over to new bodies inside Dive Suits, keeping them unaware. They would never know. It took a long, tiring, two months before it was perfected and she had copies of her crew up again.
Simon didn't know how to end this story. What sentence could make it satisfying? A joke? A thought-provoking question? Then, he figured it out and wrote it.
Even when Paradise offers us eternal happiness we must not forget to forge our own on Earth and make our life count with this us that is now.
Eternity among the stars.
The End
(Author's Note coming soon)
