The automated voice assistant woke me, or was it the voice in my head?
“Hey, heard what happened. Those boys really went on land,” Matt said.
“Are you serious?”
“The smell today is better than yesterday. I wonder if the same could be said for what’s over there.” Matt said calmly
< He only ever spoke calmly>
“Anyway, have you seen Annabeth? “Matt asked.
She is probably looking for cheap thrills somewhere; you know how restless she gets.
“Is it true she tried to rape Jimmy?”
“I can’t say much to that. She was always rather wild. Money, fame, drugs, they all seemed to find her somehow.” Matt replied.
Fuck, a loud shout erupted.
“Looks like someone woke up and decided to give up, talk about starting your day with a bang, I always wondered how long it would take you”, Matt said.
< I didn’t think much of Matt when we first met, just a good-looking guy, I guess. He didn’t speak much, but he stared, he stared a lot. All I can say is he isn’t as crazy as some of the guys here, but he gives me the creeps, he never breaks eye contact, he just stares right in your soul. His green eyes are unsettling. He asked that question in such a mild way.>
“Let’s go look for her, shall we? She can’t have gone far”, Matt said.
“The most important thing to keep is the law, the ones who go against it are the ones you should fear”, Matt said.
What?
‘Nothing”, Matt said.
“236”, said Matt.
236 what?
“That’s how many people live on board this vessel, that are still breathing, that is”, Matt replied.
How do you know that?
He smiled and said, “It’s my job to know that”
“No fear, huh, it's hard to build back society with no fear, although I can say for certain that very soon, this very vessel will be ….” Sorry, he stopped and said that.
“For what”
“Look”, he said will pointing ahead.
What the fuck!
“Must be hard, not being able to find a single man who can get an erection. I guess this isn’t the craziest thing I have seen her do,” Matt said.
“Go on, tell me”
< She was so loud she didn’t hear us coming>
“Having fun?” Mark whispered.
“What do you think?” she growled.
“Another bust!” she exclaimed.
“Wasting all that energy on a dead man, you are gonna make him jealous, you know,” Matt said sheepishly.
Who … me?
“Let’s go. The warden wants to meet us all. Apparently, there is news,” Matt said.
“News …. news of what. The only news anyone wanted to hear was…” she stopped.
“Don’t fuck with me” she stood saying.
“You, your loser law enforcers and that crazy warden…, no, every single person on this ship, all of you limp dick losers can go fuck yourselves, if you can.” She said that mockingly while looking at me, of all people.
“It’s that time of month for her, I guess. Help me throw him off board,” Matt said
“He was heavier than I expected. I thought she would drain him more, I jokingly said
You mentioned the warden.
Yes. News, news is good. It gives people hope. [ Matt]
“Hope cannot die, not just yet, soon things will change. I believe the warden wants to ensure we are ready for that change. Look at that, the most important resource on the planet right now. So abundant,” he stared at the sea while saying that.
He drowned like a stone.
“This vessel was one of 29 built. It was nuclear-powered but not really built to travel. It was built to float, and float it did. They wanted us to wait. After the earth got scorched and the virus spread to the four corners of the world, all green disappeared. The decision was made to move out to sea. We would come here and wait. Those of us not infected, that is. In the middle of nowhere. Floating on our life source, under our life source,” he said that like he wasn’t talking to me, still staring into the sky, which was odd for him to do.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Power”, he said
“What do you mean?”
“The nuclear reactor is becoming unstable. Very soon we won’t have power,” Matt said.
“Huh, that’s, how.. how do you know that?”
“Shhh. Listen, “he said.
“The noise it makes, it used to be way louder, right? “he pointed out.
“I don’t remember, but if I had to say, 3 years, that’s how long we have been on board, this thing was supposed to be able to go on for another 17 or so, right?”
“Yes, I know. That’s bad news for all of us. If the vessel dies, we cannot purify water. If we can’t purify water well”
“Don’t fret, like I said, there is news.”
“What news?”
“Good news”, he said.
“How do you know all this. I thought you were just a law enforcer, and an uninterested one at that”
“How?” Matt said, somewhat surprised.
“If the people on board found out that the reactor was malfunctioning, what do you think they would do?” he asked.
“Lawlessness”, he said.
“There was only one law on this vessel”, he continued.
“Maybe killing the first warden was not such a good idea. What do you think?” he asked me.
“That was two years ago, no? Why does it matter now?”
“Still, I think things would have been much better under him. He was a bit over the top, but at least he knew”
“The warden and his family were thrown overboard, he tried to play God. And all anyone had at that time was hatred for God, they wanted someone to blame for their conditions. The replaced God with another God after. Ironic, isn’t it?”
“They wanted a God they liked”, he said, smiling.
“We agreed that the water will be free. Perhaps that was wrong; it made everyone lame, and soon more and more people stopped working. No one could make them. They couldn’t be bothered as long as they had water for free. This was bound to happen,” he said.
“Why do you say that?”
“Maybe if purified water were made hard to come by, people would be more… “he stopped and looked forward.
“Look at that, all 236 of them. All gathered in one place,” he said
“Don’t you mean 235. I reminded him”
“Nope, 236, you can count”
< I did, and to my surprise, there were exactly 236, but we just threw that guy off, how?>
“She came to look”, Matt pointed at Ann, saying that.
“No, she didn’t”, I joked, and off course it went over his head.
“Where is she? We don’t have all day,” Anna said as we drew close to her.
“Be patient, Anna, she will come”, another joke that went over their heads.
< I hated these guys, I was convinced>
That man, you…..
“I found him dead. So I used him. And he was a disappointment, just like you” She stopped him and said that.
“And ” Mark pressed.
“Fuck off! “Anna shouted, the attention of the room drawn to her.
“So you gonna tell me something about this news or not?” I chipped in.
“Wouldn’t you like that. Unfortunately, I don’t know what she wants to say, but thank you,” he said.
“I don’t like this feeling, life wasn’t all that, but at least we had understanding. We couldn’t eat, fuck or anything but still we, wait thank you for what?”
“Shhhh, she is here”, he stopped me.
She began to speak, “Three years ago! We faced a choice. On this very assembly ground, we passed judgment on a vain, cruel man who couldn’t let go of our past way of life. People who crave power are always blinded by it. His actions were evidence of that. We choose to change; after all, what else could we do? Things have changed, our bodies have changed, and we have lived in peace and in harmony for the last 2 years. We understand each other. Our numbers may have dwindled, but that was no fault of any of you. I am proud to be your Warden. It has been an honor to have served you. But at last we have come to a point in time where we need to make another critical decision. For the better of all of us. Come!”
“Come! Don’t be shy”
“Matt?” She was staring right at him
“Excuse me”
“In light of our situation, I have decided to step down as warden. My time has come. And now, his time has begun; he will guide us on a new path, one I fear we must take.”
“I believe I need no introduction, I am Matthew. And I am your new warden”
“Did you know?” I asked Anna.
She ignored me.
“This man has come to me with hope. We have lost so much these couple of years. Our loved ones who decided to part ways with us. Our old way of life is no more, we have changed, we no longer hunger for food, we have no properties, this miracle running through our veins has brought us this far. But now we need to find a new way. Speak to them, as you spoke to me”
“We are going back!”
“What do you mean back?” Someone shouted.
“This vessel has served its purpose. Now we must go back where we belong. Where can we thrive? Where can we begin anew? Back to land”
“Why should we go back to a barren, poisoned land, which cannot sustain us?” she asked.
“The virus is dead. Why? Cause every living thing on land is dead. They died years ago. The virus was designed to spread through the air and kill every living thing. Its job is done, and because of that, so too is the virus!” Matt shouted, to reach the whole room, he had to.
“How do you know? We are all just supposed to trust you,” She challenged him, and she had every right to
“Yes!” Matt said emphatically
“We lost communication with most of the ships that sailed out with us. Wonder why? Cause they all went back.”
“Back to their deaths maybe”
But Matt replied, “No, we know for sure. They are alive. We established communication with land not far from here. And unless you believe that dead people can do that well.”
“Land safe, land safe. To all ships, land safe” The message was crystal clear.
“You can’t be serious, we are supposed to leave our safety here and go back, because of a tape of a man we don’t know? We were safe until you lunatics destroyed everything.”
“Perhaps we should hear him out”, the once good warden said.
“A great misfortune is upon us. And this tape is our hope,” Matt said
“I had not meant to tell you this. But this vessel is dying!” Matt shouted.
“What?” I heard Anna say, the first time she spoke ever since he began to talk, but I am sure there were a couple of others who said the same.
He looked Grace in the eye and said, “The man you called warden and his cronies did us much harm before their passing. They sabotaged this vessel, ensuring its slow but eventual demise. Someone had informed them of the revolt. Too many people died that day, too many, it could have been avoided if that person had just kept their mouth shut. Before they sunk, they destroyed our communications rig, and fucked with the reactor”
But Anna spoke up. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“What for? It would have changed nothing. When we found out, we tried to fix it, to reach out to the other vessels for help, but none of them answered. But our toil was not in vain, and when we finally got it to work, this message made its way to us. The land is safe, and if we want to survive, we must go to the land. This isn’t a suggestion, it’s our only choice”
Wonderful, I had known about the reactor, but this, this is great news, finally the day we have all been waiting for is upon us. Let’s all work together to go back home.
“This is our way, this is the truth, this is what I offer you. Hope. But I cannot decide for you. You have to make such a decision for yourselves. I am no king here, I am one of you and I am desperate.”
“I think we should go back”, a voice left my mouth. I did not understand why at the moment it did.
< But, very soon, more and more people agreed, did I encourage them? We could make this work. The truth is, everyone here longed for the life they once lived. That was evident, and if there was a chance of having it back, they would take it. For the first time in almost three years, I felt hope. Everyone in that room must have felt it too. We were going back home!>
“Thank you, a small voice said. I was lost in thought and didn’t see him get so close to me.”
Let’s do it.
“Let’s”, Matt said.
“Don’t stress about it. I didn’t know either, or maybe it’s better to say I didn’t care. But land. Interesting,” said Anna
“I don’t think you can find an orgasm there either, though “, I jabbed her.
“I am leaving. You can wait here, but I doubt you can talk to him right now,” she said.
“Thanks again, you really helped me in there”, Matt said.
“Welcome”
“The tape was a long shot; anyone could have made that up. I needed support. I would have liked to keep the reactor out of it, but…, well, all’s well that ends well. We just have to hope everything goes according to plan,” he said.
“What do you mean, don’t tell me the tape was a fake?”
“Hmmm. I guess I should tell you the truth, I trust you. But it would have been stupid to think everyone on board would agree to go on land if I hadn’t used the tape. Some think I am lying even now, which is true, but the reactors really are going to hell. As tired as they are of this place and this way of life, if it were just the reactor going down, they had to deal with, they would never agree to go back,” Matt answered.
< I couldn’t help but agree with him. If the reactor stopped working, we would lose power, and if we lost power, no more water, and no more water meant we could not perform photosynthesis, which was the result of the serum which paved the way for our way of life.>
“How long have you been out here?”
“Hellooo Bartholomew”
“Hey”
“Dude”
“Something is off, I can feel it in my bones”, he said.
“Off? You don’t mean the plan of us going back?”
< It's night, you would not expect to see a single person out here, the sun is out, the moon is in, yet he, for some reason, was always out here, staring into the moon like some werewolf. I knew his name and he knew mine, even though he never called me by it, how hard is it to say Elisabeth, sigh. We would often sit out here together and enjoy the night, as long as we didn’t move too much, it was fine, I guess, a little exhausting but fine. Our bodies could store some of the energy from the sun during the day. It wasn’t recommended to do any physical activity that would be too draining, though. We were like the opposites of vampires; we fed on sunlight and dreaded the night>
“You heard the tape right, if it's safe back on land then…”
“Doesn’t matter”, he cut me off.
“What’s done cannot be undone, the effects of the serum cannot be undone, if the problem is finding clean water, then hoping to find some on land is a long shot.” He spoke
“But that’s assuming the others are not there, we can just use their processing plant.”
“Which means we need to find another ship, not go back to land”, he said.
“What?”
“Why would they go back? There is no point; if their vessel isn’t in a state like ours, why would they? It makes no sense, what's to be found on land for them? Society as we know it cannot be brought back. We can’t just go back and rebuild. Survival drives growth, and here we are, all we need is the sun and water. What do you think would push anyone to do anything? No man can commercialize the sun, maybe the water, but even then, look, the sea, it's huge, all one needs to do is desalinate. Plus, the other ships, there is no guarantee they did the same thing we did,” he said.
“I don’t understand much of what you are saying.”
Chapter 2 – The man with 6 shadows.