Another Day, A New Hope

Homes

She dreamt that night about carriages faster than she could believe and people all dressing and acting the same, though these dreams were strange she awoke in a familiar place.

She stood in line at attention, staring straight ahead, until her friend started to make ridiculous faces trying to make her smile. Instead the boy she shared a bunk with stomped her foot setting her straight. The supervisor of their squad stood at the end of the room and reviewed the schedule planned for today.

After their first meal they were to head to the outdoor training grounds and he stressed with great attention that it was not to be outside and that every measure was going to be taken as of they were going outside, after their training they would have a break, in which they were allowed to eat, train or relax, then there would be more training in the gymnasium designated by their trainers and finishing the day, just before they were expected to sleep, they would eat a last meal.

"Hope." Was called out.

"Would you please call me by my professional name?" She begged, "What if someone had heard you?"

They were not supposed to call each other by name, not after they left Earth, it relieves them of the mind that they are different from one another, but she never bothered to learn Hope's number, she thought Hope was a better suiting name than 46,73. Her name was Allison and she has told others to call her Alice, but instead she got 265,95. The first number represents the day of the year each person was born and the second is at what place they joined their main mission.

"Oh, that number, it's not you." She said running to embrace her. "You're my friend, not a number." Alice insisted on the idea since the day they had met, but Hope still returns those feelings.

"It wouldn't matter whether or not we became friends." It may be cold, but they had been bound to each other since the day they had met, when the test results came and they were chosen for this mission. "Our tests matched and we were selected for this mission, if someone else had matched your test we'd end up on different planets"

"If someone else had matched my test I would still be friends with you." That was Alice, whether or not it made sense she would stick with what she liked. "Besides, we met before the results were out. You were stuck with me the moment I borrowed your pencil to finish my mini Globe Theatre."

Knowing it was true Hope decided not to argue, "Why did you even take that test when you love the Earth so much?"

"You know, I'm not really sure, my parents were always so excited about the mission and the new world that they made me try every year until I finally got accepted. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities on Mars, I mean, Earth the Second that I won't miss home as much when we're up there and settled." Alice was speaking in a more serious tone then she would have usually used and wouldn't talk about it more when Hope asked her. It was almost the end of the day so they split to the respective training grounds and worked until the break, once it started Hope searched everywhere for Allison because she knew if she was not told Alice would go the whole day without eating anything, it was one of the strange things that kept Alice, Alice. After looking in every likely place Hope began to worry, she had always been able to find her before even when Allison did not want to be found.

When she was about to give up, Hope heard that an unauthorized person had been seen near the escape vessels. Instantaneously Hope knew who it was. She ran all the way there and did not stop when the break had been adjourned. She was running down the hallway where the escape vessels were stationed when she realized what Alice was going to do. She called out her number, but heard no reply and continued calling Alice's true name through the rows, for as long as she tried there was no reply, then as she neared the end of the rows, sobbing was reverberating through the place and a mass of gray clothing was the source. "Alice! I can't believe you would scare me like that!" Hope was sure yelling was not the best idea, but she was scared out of her mind. "Allison." She calmed herself and held a sobbing Alice. "What were you going to do? We're no where near Earth anymore, you would have been lost in space and who knows if I'd ever see you again?"

"I miss it, I know I couldn't have gotten back alone, but I needed to feel at home again, where I can make mistakes and stop worrying about this." She finished her statement by gesturing to her stomach where a baby-bump had already formed, continuing she said, "I know that you're here for me and that's great, but what if you don't make it? We both know how easily you get sick and the fact that you have no regard for self-preservation means you'll be gone before we even get to Mars. Look at yourself you're a mess!"

Hope looked done at herself and noticed the rips in her clothes from the running she had done and that her own baby-bump was showing out of some of them with scratches all over from turns quicker than she anticipated. "The only reason I'm like this is because I was worried for you, maybe if you thought about that baby a little more and actually fed yourself I wouldn't have been running all over the ship to find you. Why they chose someone like you to carry a child I'll never know, but what matters now is not that baby, it's you. Now either you get on that vessel and leave me here or you stay with me and get out of this rut you've dug yourself into. What's it going to be? Leave and float alone in space or stay and keep me from being alone on that planet with . . . What was his name? Gage. You don't name your kid Gage unless you know it'll be replaced with numbers."

Allison laughed, then sighed and finally stood up. She held her hand out for Hope and said, "I may regret this, but I'd rather stay with you and whoever these turn out to be," She patted both her own and Hope's stomachs saying, "than be another escapee lost in space."

Hope and Allison stayed up in Hope's bed most of the night, joking and finally, after falling asleep, dreaming of their old and new home.