The World Above Us

Chapter 6

Anthony

After a twenty-minute wait, two agents found him in the lobby. They both had silver hair and dark sunglasses that made it impossible for Anthony to see their eyes. They were burly men with muscles that looked like they were carved from solid rock. Their hands tapped on their laser guns in anticipation.

The sight made Anthony gulp slightly. They were waiting for him to run so they could test out the range on the military-grade weapons in their hands.

The agents wore crisp, white uniforms that looked like they were sealed to their skin around their torsos. The material was stretchy and had a slight sheen to it. Anthony wondered what it was made of.

His palms were sweating and his whole body was shaking as he slowly got to his feet. The agents beckoned him forward. Their combat boots clomped on the over-polished floors. Anthony's heart pounded in his chest as he followed the agents to another set of metallic double doors. The Novae Terrae logo was printed on both of them.

The hydraulic doors gave an ominous hiss as they slid smoothly open. Maryanne Holland sat behind her large, dark oak desk. She was tapping out commands on a hologram that was projecting from a screen embedded in her desk. He could see her moving around files slowly and carefully as if she was putting the finishing touches on a painting.

The CEO was a small woman with long dark brown hair. Her cold brown eyes were focused and calculating. Her naturally-red lips were pursed, exposing the faint wrinkles around them. Her eyebrows were knit together in concentration, revealing a wrinkle in the middle of her forehead. The CEO had to be in her late 30's, early 40's, but it was almost impossible to tell. She wore a crisp, white blouse and starched grey pants along with high heels. All her clothes had to be imported from Earth. They were too high quality to be anything but.

"Anthony Hale," Holland said without looking away from her hologram. Anthony's heart felt like it was beating in his back and his lungs seized. "Yes, Dr. Holland," he stammered. All his attempts to keep the fear out of his voice were failing. Miserably. He expected the CEO to show some emotion, but she didn't. Instead, she merely tapped away the hologram on her desk and leaned forward on her desk.

Anthony was sure his face was turning red and his body was shaking.

"You're probably wondering why you're here," the CEO began. Her voice was flat and emotionless, but he could hear the calculating tone behind it. She had an agenda in mind. Anthony hoped with all his being that it wasn't to have her agents kill him and leave his body in the desert.

"The government has informed me of your...situation, Mr. Hale. Selling illegal passports. That's one I haven't seen before," the CEO said, sounding faintly amused. Anthony felt like he was going to pass out. His blood pressure was probably through the roof by now. He felt a bead of sweat drip from his forehead. "What of my wife and kids?" he found himself blurting out.

The CEO pressed her lips together, clasping her hands in front of her. She tapped her long nails on the desk in front of her. Anthony was on the verge of hyperventilation. He jumped slightly as one of the agents took a step forward.

"Grace, Hope, and Kristen Hale are waiting for clearance. The government is still sorting out the details," the CEO replied. Anthony felt himself let out an involuntary sigh of relief. He thought of his wife's smile and the day he had first held their children in his arms. He remembered the day he had met his wife. He had been instantly taken with her. His whole life flashed before his eyes.

His family would finally be reunited.

"It could be months, even years, before your wife and kids finally get clearance to set foot in this colony. What if I told you there was a way I could speed up the process?" The CEO asked after a long silence. Anthony furrowed his brows. His heart rate picked up. His foot jiggled underneath the chair. "What can you do?" he found himself asking.

"I'm the founder and CEO of the most powerful corporation on this world and on Earth. All I have to do is send a message to the Pentagon through my holo and have Grace, Kristen, and Hope Hale bumped up on the passenger list," Holland replied.

"What do I have to do?" Anthony asked. He had been sent here to do manual labor. He would clean the floors of the Novae Terrae headquarters all day nonstop if it meant he got to see his family again. His heart beat hopefully in his chest. He leaned forward in anticipation.

"Life in space is hard, as I'm sure you're discovering, Mr. Hale. Surely you've felt how hard it is to be separated from your wife and kids. The loneliness and the isolation are all part of the price we must pay for discovering the universe, I'm afraid," Holland replied, beckoning one of the agents forward. Anthony froze in his seat as the agent moved past him.

"McGregor, the vial," the CEO instructed. McGregor pulled out a vial filled with a clear blue liquid from his pocket. The vial was a small glass tube capped on both ends by shiny, polished metal. He could see small bubbles rising and sinking in the liquid. It was almost as if it had a current of its own. It glowed faintly like it was radioactive. Anthony knew it wasn't since McGregor was handling it with his bare hands.

"This is a little concoction my labs created. We've been perfecting this technology for years. How this works? You ask? This is called Icarus. What it does is it stimulates the part of the brain responsible for happiness. All the loneliness, anxiety, whatever else you feel, gone, just like that," the CEO explained, snapping her fingers.

Anthony stared at the vial in McGregor's hands. His heart thumped nervously. He studied biology for years. He always knew that substances that altered the mood often did irreparable harm to the human body. The brain's chemistry was delicate and not to be messed with.

"I know you're skeptical, Mr. Hale, but rest assured, Icarus is perfectly safe. Like I said, our labs have been working on this for years. You're hardly the first person to test it out," she persuaded when she noticed the look on Anthony's face. Anthony fiddled with his hands behind his back. He knew he wasn't brave enough to refuse the person who held the fate of his wife and kids in her hands.

"Think of Grace, Kristen, and Hope, Mr. Hale. All you have to do is feel happy for a day and I'll send some messages and have them here within two months. It's better that they're in my hands instead of the hands of the U.S government. The last people who crossed the Pentagon wound up dead. They're still scouring the Earth for the survivor, I hear. Is that really what you want for your wife and kids?" Holland asked, leaning forward in her desk again.

Anthony felt all the color drain from his face. He'd heard about the Mitchell case through his illegal passport work. Every single one of them except for one had been murdered by the FBI because they pissed off the wrong person. He didn't want to hear that Grace, Kristen, and Hope had been shot and left for dead somewhere by bureaucracy. He couldn't afford to be selfish this time. He would do whatever it took to get his family back.

"I'll do it," he said at last. The CEO grinned as she leaned back in her chair. "That's wonderful to hear, Mr. Hale. It's an honor to be chosen for this program. Your work will not be forgotten."