Spaced Out

Chapter Five

My eyes processed the information faster than my brain could. After a few mouse clicks, I jumped out of my chair and rushed to look for the printer I had sent the pages crammed with information to. I saw it on a table in a corner. I snatched up the warm papers and ran out of the library, dodging people that were entering the library. My feet carried me to the control room where I saw Lucas walking around, inspecting the panels.
"What are you doing here? Work doesn't start again until nine," I asked suspiciously.
"The better question is what are you doing here?" Lucas turned around and smiled with his teeth.
"Good point." I set down the papers on the desk panel. I stared at the worded pages for a few moments until I spoke up again, "Am I overreacting about this?" Silence followed, as the moment became slightly climatic.
"Not really, but I do suggest you stay away from the information. Knowing can hurt you in many ways." He hesitated, "Do you want to remember?"
"No. I don't. I don't want to know what I've left behind, I don't want to spend entire nights awake trying to obtain what I had once lost. I don't want to die knowing that I will be forgotten and so will everybody else." Tears emerged out of my eyes as I said this.
"Oblivion," Lucas said. "I see your perspective now. Everybody thinks that leaving the place where we have spent our entire lives behind will cause havoc and war to break out. That we won't be capable of adapting to this new world we will be living in, so they chose to hit the restart button. But for some, that restart button doesn't work, some see the flaws in this idea." I heard Sasha speak up in the doorway, "Soon people will become aware of themselves and that this plan isn't so perfect. They'll want their memories back and revolt."
"But if it's worked so long, what makes it different this time?"
"It's only been ten years.
"So?"
"The Gathering hasn't occurred yet."
"Gathering?" I ask confused.
"When everybody is collected from Earth." I sighed, failing to understand all of this new information. I couldn't handle it. I sat down in my chair and started to record the functions and what the ship is going through at the moment.
"I know you're wondering why The Gathering didn't happen just at once," Lucas took a breath to explain, but I already knew why.
"Because the population was too large, so we started off by collecting groups of people, making sure they were young so they couldn't reproduce before leaving. The population got smaller and smaller, each time the age groups that were being collected were increased. For example the first time it was children the age of seven, the next year it was seven and eight, and the next was going up," I kept saying as the words escaped from my mouth.
"Cheryl, I think we should just go back to work," Sasha said, laying a hand on my shoulder before she sat down next to me.
One hour and thirty minutes after work was finished, I located my compartment. Lucas said that a compartment is our living area, like an apartment. My light steps were loud in the silent hallway. I kept walking in deep thought until I reached the door. I felt like there was in some kind of place in my mind that wrapped me in thoughts when I needed to get away. But all of that was vague. Maybe even a memory was trying to slip into the cracks of my mind. But the state of mind I am in at the moment, isn't right to be letting them in just yet. I opened the door by letting the scan machine approve of my hand print, and flipped on the lightswitch. Dimly, the room was lighten so I could see everything.
A mahogany table and chairs to eat were located in the right corner, with a soft brown sofa next to them. My eyes followed a small counter that ran along the right wall, until my sight reached a bed, that could fit two people, and looked comfortable. I walked to the corner where my bed was located, and laid down, letting the mattress swallow me. I slid under the thin quilt and faced the wall, where I saw a small rectangular window the size of one of my bed pillows. I didn't fight off the fatigue as my eyes closed shut, and darkness closed in.

☪

"No way!" I defied, as I scooped a spoon of scrambled eggs into my mouth. Sasha smiled as she looked down at her intertwined hands. She had just shared the wonderful news that she and Alex were now in a relationship. After biting off a piece of toast, I asked, "Well, how did it happen?" She hesitated before replying as if she were crafting some kind of lie.
"Remember a few nights ago on your first day, I had night shift with him and-" just then Lucas came and slammed a stack of papers on the table. My eyes traveled from the papers up to Lucas.
"So what are the papers for?" I asked even though I knew. Lucas got moved up to part time at the neurological ward, where he studied the passenger's brain activity with a team of other people. I slightly envied him, because that was a job I had wanted, but I am also happy for him.
"Some things at the neuro center. Cheryl, I have been paying close attention to your brain function. It seems that you're advancing ahead of some others." He was right. Last night I had a dream about that boy I ran into on my first day. I couldn't remember what it was about, but I knew for sure he was a part of it. I woke up the next morning drenched in my sweat and an empty feeling in my chest. One that I couldn't figure out and remove. I had all of these tangled thoughts and memories, all of which were locked in some part of my mind. No matter how hard I try to unlock it, another lock appears, securing them even more. I glanced towards Sasha, while Lucas focused on the papers. She uncomfortably rubbed the scar on her left arm, which is a nervous habit for her. She had never told me the story behind that scar, I had never asked. Aside from that, I told her about the dream. Apparently it's very important, but Lucas and his group must not know. At least not yet. My watch beeped, telling me that it is time for work, breaking the silence.
We sat in silence, as I watched over the monitor on the desk panel that told us what is ahead, behind, and around the ship. As I looked at it, I felt like something was unusual, but I couldn't quite catch what. At once I noticed the blatant change. It was in front of my eyes the whole time.
"Lucas! Look!" I exclaimed, pointing a finger at the screen, his eyes searched for what I was beckoning for him to look at. When he noticed it his jaw dropped in bewilderment. As soon as this was clearly pointed out Lucas and Sasha immediately started scrambling over the panels and trying to communicate with the captain, as Alex and I just stared over the screen in astonishment, trapped and unable to move. I felt a drowning feeling take over me, my heart hammering against my chest trying to break out. The worst thing was, it was there the whole time.