Chapter One: MISSING OXYGEN TANKS

7:4:3001

1600

Watson’s Quarters: Section 2A

2 weeks from Landing

The air in my living quarters was growing thin.

I felt it every morning when I woke up and every night that I tried to sleep. I could see the effects of oxygen deficiency in everyone. I could hear it when my mother wakes in the middle of the night unable to breathe for a moment or two. I could see it in the pale faced children that walked along the hallways and sat in the cafeteria; barely strong enough to lift their daily meal to their mouths. That was another one of the problems that Apollo was dealing with; starvation. But the oxygen issue was a more pressing matter, as it has become such an issue that we were starting to see fatalities in it. With our end date so close the council had decided against using what little resources we have left to try and fix the problems and instead oxygen tanks were distributed to sections and units, allowing the population of Apollo to have at least a little bit of air. But it wasn’t working and we were dying.

My mother, the chairmen of the council and on the ballad for the thirty oh two election, has been making sure that all units of Apollo were getting what they needed. But just like oxygen, everything was running thin. Food rations have been cut in half and for a lot of people that meant spending hours upon hours in hunger pains, waiting for a protein pack or a broth based soup to digest. I was among them and I found my stomach howling in the dead of night as I tried to sleep. We didn’t have enough of anything really and it only added to the fact that we had no air.

I lived with my mother in Section B, unit A. Apollo had four sections, all with two units to divide. The sections that made up Apollo were vital to the social structure of the ship and it helped with security measurements. A high section meant that you had a higher political stance. It used to mean that the higher section you were in, the better of a person you were. But that died with the older generation, with my grandmother and the people on the ship that had grown up on Earth. These days, it was more of a way for people to work and to live. I lived in the second section, which was the political one. It’s where the families of politicians lived. The first was meant of the President and then the Captain of the ship.

The third was for our doctors and professors, one of our most valued professions because it helped pave the way for our survival on the ship. This was also where a lot of our Defenders come from – or guards, as we sometimes call them. They are the police of the ship and help keep peace and harmony across the sections.

The fourth and last section was dedicated to one of our most hard working people – the laborers. They worked in our kitchens, our labs, even swept the hallways of Apollo. They helped take care of the ship in more ways than I can count and we were forever grateful for the work that they do. My work duty was assigned there and if I were to live on the ship for longer I would end up moving down there to work. But instead I lived in the second section with my mother.

Growing up with a mother on the council meant I was entrusted with information that I probably shouldn’t have been. But in small quarters, even for a high council woman, secrets were passed between the two of us like the black market items in section four B. I knew most of the issues regarding the oxygen scrubbers and the unfortunate issue of no food. I knew everything that she did; there were no secrets between the two of us. My mother and I had always been very close and after the sudden passing of my father a decade ago, we’ve always been inseparable.

Life on Apollo wasn’t always easy. In the early years, I suppose it had been. My grandmother boarded Apollo over five hundred years ago, escaping what remained of the war zone that inhabited the country we came from. I only vaguely remember her from my childhood, but my mother always told me that I looked like her. Either way, she boarded Apollo pregnant with my mother and had her nine months after they woke from cryo-sleep. My mother always told me stories about my grandmother; and I grew up under the pressure of never being able to live up to the brave woman I resemble. She was a strong character that fought in the war; she was someone I looked up to. My mother followed in her footsteps and that is one of the biggest reasons as to why my mother went into politics and then become the head councilwoman. My grandmother would be proud of her. I always wondered whether or not my grandmother would be proud of me. I fell far from the tree when it comes to my mother; I didn’t have a bone for leadership.

Instead, I studied food. When I was younger we had it. The food that was meant to help Apollo adjust after landing or even in the days before landing, only lasted a few years. I remember vividly the taste of genetically engineered meat. It was tough but it had a flavor to it unlike any other. It was salty and chewy and if I thought hard enough, I could almost taste it again. That was silly – it had been over a decade since I last tasted it. I was very young but I remembered. But food was something that I always loved. My mother would tease me from time to time, and my boss at my work assignment would tease me as well. They said that I was obsessed with it because we didn’t have it. They could be right; maybe that was why I liked it. But it wasn’t as much as the actual food, even though I found myself day dreaming of the sugary sweets that were created by the human race.

It was more the story behind it. I loved learning about how important it was to us and the value behind it. Centuries ago people were still only learning about how food helped the human body and mind – it has been the provider for mankind. In the very early ages of human life, it was protein that helped us evolve. The value food has to us goes much further than the taste; it was the one thing the human needed to truly life. Everything else didn’t matter.

So I studied it in school, took all the classes about it. In our Vea Study classes I always read as much as I could about the food that grew there. When I was old enough to get placed into our Work Assignments it made sense that I was placed into the cafeteria. I enjoyed my work there more than anything else – even if it did mean I was reminded daily on how little food we had.

Either way, life was harder now. There were people that were desperate to live and to help other’s live. There were people that would do anything to ensure their safety, regardless of others. In the stress of it all, the council started losing some of their control on the population. We were landing so soon and with the excitement of stepping on solid ground for the first for our lives was enough to take away the control of it all. Unfortunately that meant that people were taking drastic measures to ensure that they did see Vea. Two weeks before we were scheduled to land a bomb went off in the hospital unit of the Flighter. Thirteen people were killed in the incident, including one of our finest trained doctors. Dr. Andrews is one of the only remaining doctors, and his silver white hair proved how little time we had left with him. My closest and deepest friend Melody is training with him and is studying to be a doctor when we get to Vea. Hopefully within a few years’ she will have a proper job in some hospital. But for now, we mourned the loss of thirteen people. Everyone forgot how little of us there were left.

The bottom level of the ship, just under the fourth section, was where the cryo bunks were. It was where nearly two thousand humans slept for five hundred years. But somewhere along the way an unpredicted asteroid slipped past our defense barrier and hit one of the solar panels that were built to power the bunks. Unfortunately the hit caused one of the tanks carrying our most vital energy to leak and it caused a power outage. Nearly a thousand human lives were lost and only seven hundred remains. My grandmother was one of the lucky ones to live through it and now here I was. But the lost lives came from civilians that fought their way onto the ship from a burning nation. We never forgot them and their deaths affect everything that the council does or will do. There weren’t many of us left, and with the colony on Vea silent, we weren’t sure how many have already inhabited the planet.

We just hoped that there was.

※

I was sitting in the cafeteria, slowing eating a protein packet and licking the remains off my finger. It was a small dining area with cold metal tables and matching stools. The walls were metal just as well, all but one. The outer wall was mostly made up of thick glass that looks into space. It was a beautiful view and despite seeing it every day, I always loved it. It was every changing, especially now that the ship has started to slow down and we could see planets and stars as we passed. I always loved to look out the windows and whenever a comet was passing us or we were passing something, the council would put on gathering’s to watch. We would sit together all over the ship and watch the beauty before us. Space truly was beautiful – I couldn’t imagine not looking out and seeing thousands of twinkling stars.

“I can’t believe that we are landing soon. I didn’t think this day would ever come.” It was Melody that spoke. I looked across the table to my best friend and met her dark eyes. Melody had been one of my closest friends since we were younger. She had the thickest and darkest hair, with tan skin to match. She says that her blood line went back to an old nation named Puerto Rico, but nobody knew for sure where they came from. Earth was one of the only places that we knew for sure.

Before I could add to the conversation she begun, a loud siren began to ring out. It rang in my ears, echoing around the room. It bounced off the metal walls and I felt a pain in my head from the noise.

We both stood from the table at the same time and as directed by every Defender in the room, started making our way back to our sections. We split up as the hallway formed a Y and I walked up the few steps to where the councilmen and councilwoman lived with their families. The familiar dark number was marked into the door with my last name printed onto it as well. I held my thumb up to the scanner and waited a second before a screen propped up, asking me for my eye. It scanned my cornea before the door slid open, disappearing into the wall and creating a whooshing sound.

The metal door closed behind me and I heard the automatic click of the lock, signaling that I wouldn’t be able to leave until the President released me. The low humming vent showed that there was even less oxygen in there than there was yesterday and I could already feel the slight burn in my lungs with each breath.

My feet moved slowly towards the small table that was centered in the room. I sat down carefully, conserving my energy. The chair was cold against my legs – everything was cold in space. With my hands clasped together, I waited patiently for my mother to come.

Our quarters were small but larger than most other’s among the units. Our two beds were pushed on either side of the walls, council issued blankets were neatly made on the bed and a single pillow sat at the front of the bed. A dresser sat between the two beds that were filled with our issued clothing and a few family heirlooms that were passed down to my mother. The table I was sitting at was the one of the only other furniture in the room, with the exception of a small couch that was pushed against the wall and an old hologram that managed to make its way to us. Our unit shared it and it was our week to have it.

Under the floorboard of my bed sat a few things of mine; an old story of what used to be illegal in Henosis – the country my ancestors came from - and an old stuffed animal of a bear, one of my favorite animals. I only hoped I would get to see a picture of one. I’ve never known what a bear looks like or even a rabbit. I longed to be able to, but the human history was restricted and only Council Elders were able to get access. My mother didn’t have it.

I must have waited for hours, staring at the metal walls of my quarters, when finally the door opened and my mother walked into the room. She was dressed in the same attire I had on; dark gray cargo pants and a white long sleeve shirt. Her blonde hair and green eyes sparkled in the light and I could never ignore just how beautiful my mother was.

“What happened?” I asked my mother, my voice low even though no one else was in the room.

“The bomb was a diversion. Oxygen tanks that were meant to be distributed to those in need were stolen.” She sat down across from me and I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. My mother was a strong woman and I knew that her job meant everything to her; she was a woman of passion and serving her people meant everything to her. But sometimes the job was too much for even my mother, especially during these times.

“How many were stolen?” I finally asked as my thoughts disappeared.

She sighed and my heart ached for her. “Nearly twenty. There were a few damaged in the bomb. That’s twenty people that might not make it to see Vea.”

“Did you guys find them?” I asked my mother. With a shake of her head I knew the answer and I sighed myself, leaning against the chair. “Is there anything I could do to help?”

“No, there’s nothing anyone could do. The Defenders are on the lookout and are going door to door. All units are on lockdown until they are found, so hopefully we will find them soon. Have you eaten yet?” She asked me, moving to stand up.

I nodded and felt my empty stomach, wishing that there was more food to go around. She ran her hand along my cheek and kissed the top of my head. “We will be home soon, Zoe. Why don’t you get some sleep, we won’t be released for a while anyway. There are over a thousand units; we’ll likely be in here tomorrow night as well.”

My bed was cold when I let my body relax into it, the thin sheets doing little to protect from the cold. I slept in my clothes that night, as most people have started doing in the past few months. To conserve on energy, the units have been switching off the ventilation system and we were left in freezing temperatures. We were doing everything we could to make sure that we would make it to Vea.

When I awoke the next morning my toes were numb and my fingers red. Somehow I ended up in my mother’s bed, cuddling to keep warm. There were often nights when we would sleep in the same bed to conserve our body heat and it helped for the majority of the nights – but there were times when even that weren’t enough.

The unit was warmer when I pulled myself from the covers and I could tell that the unit had been looked through. The Defenders must have come sometime during the night and checked the place. My mother was folding the sheets on my bed and when she noticed I was awake, she grimly shook her head.

“They found them. They were sold on the black market to an older couple that had been struggling. Their execution was earlier this morning.”

“That’s terrible.” I told her, setting my feet on the cold floor. Even through the wool socks I could feel how cold it was. “It’s getting colder, mom.”

“I know.” She sighed. “I’m trying to fight for it. Oxygen is something out of our control, and the food rationing is to ensure we have some until our stomachs adapt to what we will be eating on Vea. But we can’t live in these freezing temperatures during the night.” She sounded upset and I knew she must have heard other news than the elderly couple being executed.

“How many last night?” I asked.

“Another two.” She was quiet and I could tell that she was upset. “I need to get to the council meeting to discuss the oxygen tanks. Try to be cheerful today, okay?” Her sentence was cut off by coughs and I worried. She’d been growing sick lately and I had to believe it was because of the cold.

I only nodded, not being able to say anything. She left the unit and I pulled on the issued shoes that looked more like slippers. I then left the unit myself, heading towards where I would meet Melody. We always met in the morning before our classes – we were both enrolled in the higher education, as many children of the council were. Others couldn’t afford the ration of going to the school – something that my mother had been trying to fix for a decade. But the fact remained that our teacher’s needed to be paid and most of the lower quarter citizens couldn’t afford it.

My pretty brown haired friend was standing by the entranceway, holding something in her hands. She smiled brightly when I approached her and grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the lavatory that was meant for the education wing. Younger boys walked out as we walked in, not noticing their looks.

I waited patiently as Melody looked under the stalls to make sure that no one was there. Finally she came over to me and wrapped her skinny arms around my torso. “Happy birthday, Zoe!” She cheered.

“You’re kidding me, right?” I rolled my eyes. Birthdays were mundane here; a tradition that ended centuries ago during the last legs of the United States reign. We’ve never celebrated them – but Melody loved the idea of it. She loved most things that involved past human culture.

“You’re twenty today, that’s a huge step.” She smiled, handing me the thing that she held in her hands. I only shook my head as I took it, carefully removing the brown paper from around it. My eyes widened as I saw the gift in my hands, a book that I had only dreamed of owning, as well as a leather bound notebook filled with unused paper. I looked at the book first and slid my finger over the title, already growing excited about reading this book.

I started shaking my head as I looked up at Melody. “How did you get these?” I asked her.

She shrugged sheepishly, “I asked my father.” Her father was the director of Human Intelligence – which meant that he had access to a lot of artifacts and trinkets that belonged to the human race. He had access to textbooks that dated back to centuries ago. Melody’s father knew that I loved things like this and I’m sure he was too excited to get me these things. Her father also served on the council with my mother and I’m sure that he was able to help get me this thoughtful gift.

“Thank you.” I told her, reaching over to give her a hug. “Really, thank you. I don’t know what I’m going to use this for but I promise you it will be special.” I told her.

“Maybe you could write about me in.” Melody dramatically said. I laughed and shook my head.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. Come on, we need to get to class.” I laughed and put the two books into the bag. We left the bathroom together and walked into the small classroom that was slowly filling with students. I sat down in my usual seat in the front, and Melody took hers behind me. There were talks amongst the classroom and I could hear the hot gossip of Apollo – who stole the oxygen tanks and the lockdown last night. I imagined how fun it must be to discuss it when you don’t know what truly happened. So I stayed quiet, leaning against the back of the chair as I waited for the professor to walk in.

Our old friend Peter walked into the classroom next and I met his eye as he came to sit in front of me. He turned back to face the two of us and greeted us with a tired smile. Peter was only a few years older than us, but he only entered Higher Education this year. He had spent his weeks training to be a Defender since he turned eighteen and was able to train. He had grown up in Section Two A, which is where most of our Defender’s come from. Peter wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and rightfully so, he’s almost at the end of his training.

We had been friends since we were teens. When we were in General Education we were placed in the Cafeteria for our work assignments. I introduced him to Melody and after that the three of us had been very close friends.

“How are you two on this fine morning?” Peter asked his voice deep and full of sleep.

“Hungry.” Melody told him, leaning forward on the metal desk.

Peter nodded, “Aren’t we all.”

Before anyone of us could add anything else to the conversation, the older woman came into the room and moved to sit at her desk. “Alright class, let’s begin.”