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Once Andrew was back in front of the group, he picked up a tablet, and then he said,
“Well, gentlemen! You’re going to hear your name now, and receive your uniform! After hearing your name, move forward and go towards Mr. Carter and the girls that are handing your own uniform over to you. All the uniforms are exactly the same except for their patches, whose color differs according to the professional category to which you belong! Engineers are going to wear yellow patches! Biologists are going to wear green patches! Blue patches are for chemists and physicists! Doctors are going to wear red patches! Soldiers are going to wear brown patches! Let’s start with the group of engineers! James Miller!”
From the group standing to the left of Andrew, a tall and slender man went forth. As the manager suggested, he walked towards the post where some men were waiting for him and were ready to hand his uniform over to him and show him where his accommodation was. About five minutes later, it was David’s turn.
“David Garcia!” Andrew cried out. He was on stage and was scrolling through the list of the names on the tablet. David took a few steps forward and did exactly what any other of his comrades had already done. He walked towards the officers and picked up his new uniform.
“This way, please. You can go,” a uniformed girl said to him, gesturing for him to walk towards the building that looked like a hotel.
Once the whole list was read, it was the turn of the biologists. Everything was carried out very quickly even on this occasion: all the new members got their own uniforms with their patches.
“Jerry Vandcamp!”
When Andrew uttered the name of the young biologist from Chicago, the latter went forth, as is normal, and he, who was very excited, received his uniform, too.
“That way, please,” the officer told him; she was actually a nice girl, and Jerry did not hesitate to wink at her. But she replied with a kind of ironic laughter. Among the biologists, Korin was called, too; just like Jerry, he went to his accommodation after receiving his own uniform.
Then it was the turn of the chemists and the physicists, and Abigail belonged to this group.
“Abigail Sanders!” Andrew cried out, and the woman went forth, trying to conceal her emotion mixed with tension.
“You can go, please,” the girl in charge of the delivery of the uniforms said once again.
“Thank you,” Abigail replied with her usual gentleness.
Then it was the turn of the doctors, and so it was Amelia’s turn. Her name was uttered after about thirty names.
“Amelia Fisher!” Andrew shouted. He was certainly used to a role as an orator, since his voice was as fresh as it was twenty minutes earlier. The surgeon from San Diego was asked to go forth, and so she did; she was given her uniform with the red patch on, then she walked towards her accommodation.
Finally, it was the turn of the soldiers. Both Michael and Emily belonged to this category. Michael was the second to be summoned, and even he took his uniform with the brown patch on and headed for the building used as an accommodation. Emily was one of the last soldiers to be summoned.
“Emily Parker!”
On this occasion, Andrew’s voice was a bit different due to the hour that he had spent scrolling through the list of the one thousand five hundred names on his tablet. The young girl went forth as she tried to conceal a little her emotion as well. She came up to her post, got her uniform and headed for her dormitory. The sorting was over. All the one thousand five hundred members had their own official roles in the project called For the benefit of all!
Each member had two hours to tidy one’s own belongings in his own accommodations, and then the introductory tour to the remaining buildings and structures of the base would start. Each room had been conceived to house two people belonging to the same professional category and, obviously, of the same sex. The structure was a six-story building, one per professional category. The first story was used as the area for engineers; the second story was used as the area for biologists; the third story was used as the area for chemists; the fourth story was used as the area for physicists; the fifth story was used as the area for doctors, and the last story was used as the area for soldiers. The large entry hall was furnished with dark leather sofas that were part of basic furniture that was designed in a modern style. Whenever members needed to reach any floor, they could make use of ten ultramodern and roomy lifts. Still, if someone used to avoid elevators, he could use service stairs as well. Finally, a huge hall that would be used as a canteen was arranged in the basement: every member would have one’s own breakfast, lunch and supper there.
David was busy tidying his own belongings and had already met the man who would be his new roommate throughout his stay. His name was Giovanni Rinaldi; he was an architect and engineer of Italian origin in his forties.
“You were telling me that your son’s name is Leo, isn’t it?” Giovanni asked David while arranging his things on his brand new bedside table. He was nearly finished doing that.
With a smile upon his face, David answered, “Yes, it is! He’s a pest, but I’ve always tried to bring him up quite strictly and I think I finally did.” He had a thick Montana accent. Then he kept on saying, “And what about you? Are you married? Do you have any children?”
“I’ve been married twice, but it was a failure on both occasions. As for children… No, unfortunately I don’t have any, but you know how much I’d like to have some, my friend,” the Italian architect replied in an almost regretful tone.
“You come from Montana, don’t you?” he asked David again. David turned to him and answered, “Yes, I am!” Then he asked him, “How do you know that?”
“Your accent is unique,” Giovanni added. That question stimulated David’s curiosity, so he wanted to take advantage of that moment in order to try to know as many things as he could about the person with whom he would share his room, and not just over the next five months.
“And what about you? Where are you from exactly?” the American engineer asked him.
“It’s a long story, my friend… My grandparents and my parents were of Italian origin, and I was born there too, in Genoa, precisely. I moved to the United States when I was nineteen, that is to say when I finished high school and decided to attend the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Boston. After graduating, I worked several years for a company in Boston, but then I decided to go back to Italy in order to start an architecture firm of which I’m still the owner and that is the top in its own sector and in my own country. Then I was summoned by New NASA Corporate and so, here I am! My ex-wife left me just because I’ve accepted to come back here in the United States to take part in this project.”
While he was uttering these words, he was not tidying his things. He had just finished doing that. “What’s your idea about this mission?” he finally asked David.
David, for his part, was caught off-guard by the question.
“Well, I’ve got to admit that taking such a decision wasn’t easy for me, either, especially due to my family, but, as I’ve already said to you, I’ve always helped save our planet. Unfortunately, I am very much like a drop in the ocean, and it seems to me that this mission is the only way to save our species from a certain doom.”
He had just uttered these words when a knock on his bedroom’s door was heard.
“Please, come in!” Giovanni said. One of the officers of New NASA Corporate appeared on the other side of the door.
“Everybody downstairs in ten minutes!”the bald man said. Then he closed the door.
“These are men each one uglier than the last,” Giovanni added ironically, which got a laugh from David as well, who was pleased in his heart to have met a new friend.
Upper floor, room 103. Jerry was glad to know that Karin, namely the funny Asian biologist whom he had first met during the sorting, would be his new roommate.
They were both arranging their own belongings in their own lockers in their rooms, and after choosing in which beds to sleep, they resumed the discussion they had started shortly before.
“So, how is Chicago?” Korin asked Jerry.
“I guess it’s not much different from the cities in Japan that you know,” he answered ironically. Then he continued by saying, “Tall buildings are everywhere, streets and air space are invaded by all kinds of means of transport. You know, I believe there’s nothing you haven’t already seen. As you told me, you were born in Osaka, weren’t you?”
The young Asian man did not hesitate to answer, and even if his English was not perfect, it was not so difficult to understand him.
“Exactly! But as I was telling you, I moved to England a few years ago in order to pursue my studies in biology in London, where I learned to speak your language as well.”
“And I must say that you speak it very well!” Jerry praised him.
Korin thanked him and asked him, “Do you live with your parents?”
Jerry answered, “I live with my mother. She’s a hyper-apprehensive woman and I had to struggle to persuade her to make me leave and take part in this mission. I think she’ll never accept my decision, but I hope we will meet again on Proxima B!”
“Every mother is like that… And what about your father?” the Osaka biologist kept on asking him. Jerry froze and it took him much longer than usual to answer.
“Unfortunately, he passed away when I was a child.”
Jerry uttered those words just sorrowfully; it was a sorrow that reemerged every time someone reminded him of his dead father. Korin realized that, too.
“Sorry, I didn’t know that,” the Asian guy tried to explain himself.
“Don’t worry. But tell me something about your family,” Jerry encouraged him.
“My dad and my mom still live with my grandparents in Osaka. My eldest brother, Jin, lives in Australia where he runs a domestic robot factory, whereas my sister Akiro, who is younger than me, has just moved to Tokyo in order to attend the Japan Art Academy. Her dream is to issue a graphic novel of hers,” the Asian guy told Jerry.
“I wish I had visited Japan once in my life,” Jerry said almost regretfully.
“You would have liked it, but look on the bright side. We’re going to land on what is our own planet! Can you believe it?” Korin’s voice was filled with excitement while he was uttering these words. “Come on, let’s get ready for seeing the whole complex!” he concluded.
Jerry followed his young comrade’s advice. They both got ready for leaving their room and start the tour.
Michael, Amelia, Abigail and Emily were staying in their own rooms on the upper floors. Each one of them would share it with one new comrade, so the time had come for each of the four people to meet their own roommates.
Michael was so surly and gruff that he felt he had to set him straight regarding who would be in command of that space of 216 square feet that he would share over the next five months.
Amelia immediately made friends with a Russian doctor that specialized in cardiology as well. Just like her, she was single and had no children.
Not even Abigail hesitated to make friends with Gloria, who was a young Spanish chemist that had just graduated with honors.
Emily was quite lucky, too. Just like her, Nicole was a soldier. She enlisted in the National Guard (Garde Nationale). Each comrade would be of a nationality other than that of one’s own country. And this was just the first evidence that New NASA Corporate had concocted for new guests, that is encouraging the integration between different people who shared their job, namely the sentiment that no peoples of the Earth had known for quite some time now.
The alarm clock indicated 7:59 AM and Jerry and Korin were still sleeping deeply. A minute later, there it is, on time: the electronic thingy began to ring like a symphonic orchestra and it woke Jerry first, then the young Asian biologist.
“Damn it, Vandcamp! Destroy that thing!” Korin muttered. He was referring to that deafening noise.
“I’ve been here for less than half an hour and I already hate this place!” Jerry exclaimed. He sat down on his bed, trying to understand what was going on.
Ten minutes later, all the members of the expedition gathered in the canteen. A hum was filling the room. People were talking to each other as they all were sitting at the table; a few others, including Michael, were still looking for a seat in order to have their breakfast and talk with their other colleagues.
Michael stood there and held a tray. He was getting ready to occupy one of the last vacant seats near the huge hall. The pilot took his seat at the same table where Jerry, Korin, David, Abigail and two other young chemists were already sitting. He took the central seat, and so he sat down between Jerry and David.
“Oh no! You again! You’re like a persecution!” Michael exclaimed in his usual “gentle” way, as it were, after identifying Jerry, who in return extended a kindly greeting.
“Where do you serve?” Abigail asked Michael with a hint of a smile. The question triggered the curiosity of those who were there, too.
“I am not a soldier!” Michael answered contemptuously while eating his eggs and bacon.
“Well, the patch on your uniform is brown, so you are supposedly a soldier!” Abigail echoed. Even if she knew she had bothered him, she kept on looking at him defiantly.
“It’s a wrong supposition, woman!” Michael replied, mocking her self-confidence. Then he concluded by saying, “I’m a retired U.S. Air Force pilot. Actually, I don’t even know why I’m here.” After that, he swallowed the last mouthful of food, stood up and went away, leaving the other members perplexed.
“Probably that man will have some problems with any other person. It doesn’t bode well,” David stated in his usual calmness before finishing his breakfast together with the other people.
That same morning all the members of the military department had reached their own sectors for a lesson on the equipment that they would have at their disposal during their expedition. The hall looked like a large lecture theater with large windows that let the light in on one side, making the place very bright. Probably this hall was previously used to hold some lectures or give some courses.
“As you have probably understood, our task in this mission is going to be both the easiest and the most difficult one. We’ll have to keep this people alive. We’ll be their bodyguards, their police, and their law. We can’t know what to expect once we’ve got there or what it could happen during the travel, but there is one thing we certainly know: we must be ready for anything!” Matthew cried out in front of his future fellow travelers.
“What a loudmouth! He can’t be more than thirty, and he tells us these things!” Michael said to himself in a barely audible tone of voice while he was sitting in his seat some rows behind him.
“Bring them there!” the General told two girls holding some duffel bags just behind him.
“Thank you! So, yesterday we saw some procedures under regulation as for facing any hostilities. Today we’re going to see what to use when we have to face them,” Matthew kept on saying. He pulled a weapon out of his duffel bag. It looked like a little, light and black Glock pistol.
“This one represents the first piece of your equipment, a Junker 15! It fires mid-range beams of light and it is perfect for point-blank shots but it is not recommended for long-range shots. Its frame is extremely lightweight thanks to its carbon fiber construction,” the General explained as he leaned the pistol near the duffel bag on the counter.
“Gentlemen, here it is, Baiman 3! Thanks to its high fire power, it looks like an old-school assault rifle. It fires extremely powerful mid to long-range laser beams. After fifty shots, the gun magazine is empty and you have to replace it. Ah, I was forgetting to say that, without exaggeration, an inch of steel could be clearly cracked by shots fired at a range of sixty-six feet! Not bad, I’d say.”
Then Matthew leaned the rifle on the table and noticed a hand raised out of the corner of his eye.
“Please, Miss Parker!” he said after seeing the girl who had raised her hand. It was Emily, who was sitting in the front row on the right.
“It’s all very interesting, Sir, but… well… I was wondering why all these weapons for a mission of colonization. Is there something we should know, Sir?” the girl asked without leaving her seat; she looked at the General and pointed out, “Sir, it’s more like an offensive military mission than a mission of colonization!”
“Soldier, these weapons will do what you want them to do!” Matthew exclaimed. Then he turned to the rest of the group and kept on talking.
“We are going to be hundreds and hundreds of miles away from here. More than one thousand people will have left their loved ones, their wives and children by that time. It’s a one-way travel!” he pointed out. Then he paused for a while, looked into Emily’s eyes. “None of us can know what we are going to come across up there!” he resumed. “It’s up to us to be ready for any situation, even if it were the most dangerous or the strangest one. Some might go crazy! Some others may argue among themselves. Some riots or uprisings may occur, and we have to be prepared for anything, soldier! What we have to do is keep these people alive, don’t forget it!”
These were Matthew’s words, and then he continued with the explanation of the onboard arsenal.
It was at the same time that, in the nearby building, the group of chemists was preparing to face its fifth day in the training, which did not take place in a high-tech hangar, as at first sight it appeared.
“Where do you think we are being taken to?” a young chemist asked Abigail while walking down a hallway together with the other members of the group.
“I have no idea,” the woman answered frankly while she kept on looking around.
At the end of the hallway, under the guidance of a member of the team, they approached the entrance of the hangar, which was a shed on the side of the building and whose roof was covered with photovoltaic solar panels that not only absorbed eighty percent of the sunlight, but could also become clear-glass, allowing light to filter and leaving the visitors of the hangar amazed as they enjoyed the blue Colorado sky. It really looked like a crystal structure.
“And who has ever told that functionality and ecology can’t go together?” The question was made by a high-pitched female voice. It was the voice of a woman in her fifties whose hair was copper red and whose silhouette was slender. Abigail had been appointed as member of the group whose training that woman was in charge. Her name was Lisa Horn.
“Hello, everyone, my name is Lisa Horn! I’m here to supervise you during your training period as well as to be with you during your mission! I hope we will achieve great things together!” she exclaimed, introducing herself to the whole group while some of them were still intrigued by the strange honeycomb crystal structure surrounding them.
“Follow me! If you’re here today, it’s not to watch the structure, but to accomplish the duty that is crucial to the whole mission: to terraform Proxima B!” the chemist said as he led the group to an area where there was a weird gray and white cylindrical machine that was about sixteen feet in height and five feet in width.
“What you can see here is a plasma gasifier,” LISA explained.
“Excuse me, are you saying that we are supposed to… you know… make that planet similar to ours? I mean… weren’t we supposed to live in structures with an airtight closure or something?” a girl in the group asked with puzzlement.
“Not specifically, darling! What we’re going to do is recreate an environment where life is, you know, alive!” LISA answered. Then the red-haired trainer added immediately, “The process is going to take some time, of course, but that’s what we’re going to do. In three steps, in fact.” Finally, she pointed at the machine and began her speech.
“What you’re seeing behind me is only a scale replica of one of the thirty plasma gasifiers that are going to be established along the Equator of the planet,” LISA was explaining when suddenly a young Chilean chemist interrupted her, asking her, “Doctor, can you tell me what these machines exactly do?” Diego Felisao's question aroused the curiosity of all the other members.
“I was about to tell you exactly what these gasifiers are for. So, they aim to recreate a hospitable environment for algae and plants, but… not for us, by exploiting some elements that are in the soil and the subsoil of the planet in order to create an environment with high carbon dioxide levels, which means “greenhouse effect”! Later, our fellow biologists and their genetically modified algae will create an environment with oxygen, but that’s another matter. Let’s get back to the point: a gasifier is only sixteen feet in height, as you can see, but what matters is how it works. The one we are building and use on Proxima B is going to be almost one hundred feet in height and entirely powered by photovoltaic panels, just like the ones that you can see above your heads,” LISA clarified as the members of the mission took notes in their own electronic devices.
“Excuse me, doctor, how long would this procedure take?” Abigail asked while she was holding the e-pen that she would use to take notes.
“It would last about fifty years!” was LISA’s straight answer, which left those who were there petrified.
“So, tell me if we get it: how long are we staying on board that ship? Fifty years?!” Abigail asked a little scared to hear the answer.
“No, it isn’t so… We are not staying the whole time on board the mothership… We are living in orbit inside it until we move inside the structures that are installed on the surface of the planet. And only when a favorable environment is recreated we can live out of those structures!” the doctor paraphrased.
“Come on, look at your screens. We have sent you all the data regarding the instruments at your disposal and how to set the gasifiers. Study them! And if you have some ideas how to improve them, you will be welcome!” Lisa Horn concluded. Before leaving, she said to all the male chemists taking part in the mission,
“What we shall face won’t be easy at all. We can get over those difficulties only if we work together, not as single members with one’s own objective to be achieved, but together as a whole species. It is the last chance we have, my dear ones! It’s time for you to leave, now! Everything is in your own hands!” After giving them her order, she concluded, “Study!”
Finally, she withdrew by disappearing through one of the four exits of the hangar.
