Camp IX | ✓

2

     The briefing room could be heard long before Griffin and I turned the corner. Shouts and scuffles echo down the long, gray halls bouncing around and chasing each other like the teens that gave life to them.

     Griffen and I walked side by side, feet noiselessly moving across the floor, carrying us towards that ruckus den of noise. The dull, gray walls slid by us, once in a while being broken up by doors. The doors themselves looked like blank eyes, all the same, and promising no life behind them. In this part of the ship, those doors most likely led to evacuation pods. The ceiling above my head illuminated everything. It gave off a soft, white light that was soaked up by the darker colored floor and walls.

     Turning the corner, the noise coming from the only open door in the new hallway increased. Loud whoops and hollers came spilling out of it.

     "They're not excited are they?" Griffin laughed.

     I quickly glanced up at him and he was wearing his smile that he wears when he says anything sarcastic.

     "Definitely not," I said, my smile matching his.

     We reached the door and entered. I led the way to the only two open seats in the room that were near the front. I took mine and turned to start talking to the girl that was seated behind me, Lena. She asked me the question that was heavy on everyone's mind at this point: Where do you think they'll assign you? I gave her the same answer I gave Griffin just five minutes earlier but also told her that I'd be happy with anywhere. Lena nodded and tucked a strand of her curly silver hair behind her ear and I noticed that she was shaking slightly. I realized she's nervous, we all are. In most cases, however, the excitement was far outweighing the fear.

     "Settle down!" Barked a voice from the back of the room.

     The door slammed and an older gentleman started making his way through the tables to the front of the room. Once there he surveyed the room checking to make sure we were all there and apparently we were because the next thing out of his mouth is a greeting.

     "Hello, Berkely," we all echoed.

     We'd spent more time with Berkely and each other in the past nine months getting ready for this mission than with anyone else we knew. According to Berkely, as he made sure we knew in the first meeting we ever had with him, he was a part of the very first camp sent to Earth. That made us listen. Some of us could remember those days, we'd barely been children when teams were sent to the surface to gather information on the humans. At the time, the Andromedic race thought we could learn about the humans and their weaknesses and take over them like we had so many other planets before. Earth held the greatest reserve of Nastrus, the resource we used to create and run our society, that we'd ever found.

     In those days, however, the early camps ran into a problem. While the cloaked Andromedics moved among the humans, gathering anything and everything that might prove useful later on, they learned that the intelligence of the humans was too great. We wouldn't be able to take over their planet in our usual way, they'd fight back until the last one of them dropped. And then what would we do? Harvest the Nastrus ourselves? That's funny, no that's what the humans are for which is why we didn't want them dead.

     This problem was identified by Camp III and every camp sent down since then has been to gather information to build the perfect sleep cells. That's where the fifteen of us come in. We're the sleepers.

     "So as many of you have guessed already," Berkely said, his matter of fact voice grounding us in the seriousness of the situation. "You're finding out where you'll be assigned today."

     A hushed whisper ran through us and I poked Griffin under the table. He gave me a sideways glance and quick smile before poking me back.

     Berkely held up his hand for silence and we gave it to him. "However this meeting is not going to be all fun and games. We've had some last minute changes."

     I furrowed my brow, what could have possibly changed this late?

     "The launch date hasn't changed, you'll still be leaving the day after tomorrow. The time you'll be staying on Earth hasn't changed either, it's still going to be six months. It's the manner in which you'll be entering human society that has slightly changed," Berkely paused a second before continuing. "Shortly after Camp X returned from the planet, we began developing a procedure. One month ago we ran the final, successful tests. It allows us to manipulate a person's memories, to create something that wasn't there, to change an already existing belief, and when needed remove whole memories so the person doesn't remember a thing.

     Many of you have been preparing to assimilate into society with all your memories of your Andromedic life intact. Much deliberation has lead to the conclusion that to make sure this endeavor that all of you are participating in as successful as it can be, we will be removing your Andromedic memories and replacing them with human ones. This way there is no possible way you can slip up and reveal yourself and the operation to any humans."

     "So what you're saying is you don't trust us enough," Griffin broke in.

     "To know your enemy, you must become your enemy," Berkely said slowly, letting us ponder every word he said. "That is why we're doing this, so that this mission, which is the first of it's kind, is not a failure. You don't want to be part of a failure do you?"

     Griffin ducked and shook his head until Berkely turned his attention back to the whole room.

     "Any more objections?" We all shook our heads.

     "Good," Berkely's voice softened a bit. "Now for the fun part. Who wants to see where they're being assigned?"