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  “My apologies Miss Harper for leaving you in the dark for so long,” Tom said. “I wanted to be the one to explain it all to you. Unfortunately, I was held up with the test flights of Omni-4. Are you familiar?”

  “With the Omni. Yes,” she said. “It’s the space craft of the Corp.”

  “Brilliant crafts. You know the design has been around for decades, even before the shuttle. Something that generation only saw in science fiction movies. Every time I see one land or take off, I think of our heroic shuttle astronauts and how they would be in awe of our program today. It hasn’t really been that long.”

  “No, it hasn’t.”

  “Okay, so … the reason you are here. You are well aware of the dire circumstances of the earth. The first order of business is to save humanity. To save the species. The best way to do this is to find a new home. We needed ideas, hence the essays.” He handed her a photo. “This is a prototype.”

  Rey looked down at the picture of a large ship. It looked more like a cruise ship, only gray. Rectangular in shape, narrowing in at the bottom like a boat.

  “That is one of eight being constructed in the United States. Other countries are constructing similar ones,” he explained. “On the positive side, these will house nearly six percent of the United States population. You and I, however, won’t be around to see the completion. More than likely, those who aren’t even born yet will be the passengers. They are decades away from completion and the propulsion system could take as much as forty years. The plan is to have them in space fifty years from now.”

  “Fifty years. I see why you said you and I won’t be around.”

  “Even if we were, I doubt we’d get a seat. It would be a waste to take anyone older than sixty or even fifty. And those chosen would be those who could highly contribute. The plan is to evacuate and relocate those who remain. All in hopes that those who stay behind will somehow beat the odds.”

  “Life finds a way,” Rey said.

  Tom smiled slightly and nodded. “A famous quote. And you used it in your essay. Remember.”

  “I do.”

  “You also mentioned the ARCs, such as the ones we are building, along with the selection process. To paraphrase your essay, you spoke about the ARCs being in space until the Androski Wormhole opened up. It opens up every twenty or thirty years, stays open for a couple months and closes. You theorized that it would take the ARCs to another part of space where they could find a new Earth. You were much more specific, but basically that’s what you wrote.”

  “Androski believed that the wormhole he discovered was large enough for a space craft,” Rey said. “Typically, wormholes are tiny and would crush whatever tried to pass through them.”

  “The reason you won was because not only were you right about the ARCS, and the wormhole, you were right about your theory about there being another habitable planet just on the other side.”

  Rey sat up with interest. “Is there?”

  Tom pushed a tablet her way and swiped his way through to the pictures. The images were that of a planet. Very little cloud cover. From the images it appeared to have one large land mass and several smaller ones around it. “These are satellite pictures taken of the actual planet. Sixty-two percent of the planet is comprised of water. The land mass is about twenty percent desert, and the rest looks pretty fertile, almost untouched. While we are not seeing signs of life, we are seeing the possibilities of a previous civilization.”

  “Where is it?” Rey asked.

  “We don’t know.”

  “How is that possible, you have satellite photos, which means you can tell where …”

  Tom shook his head. “In 1993, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration launched the number thirteen satellite. They lost contact with NOAA Thirteen a couple of days later and assumed it was destroyed. Four weeks ago, it returned out of nowhere, and transmitted these photos. That’s when we confirmed it was by the Androski Wormhole. We believe the satellite went through the wormhole and was unable to return pictures to us until it was pulled back out again.”

  “So all those deep space probes and it was a weather satellite that discovered another planet. N-O-A-A. Noah.”

  “Yes, and if you think about it, the name fits everything. The ARCs, the starting over … the planet. But because of the weather satellite, our information about this planet is limited.”

  “I would think.” Rey looked at the pictures again. “This is amazing.”

  “What’s amazing is, with Androski, we have the ability to go there. To see if it is a viable option. We have located Androski.”

  Slowly, Rey lifted her eyes to him. “You know where it is?”

  “And it is in the same place Androski theorized. Everything he theorized is true. The slow closing. According to our calculations, the daily decrease will leave the wormhole impassible in about three months. So … we are sending a crew there in two weeks aboard Omni-4.”

  “You don’t know how far inside the wormhole the planet is located.”

  Tom shook his head. “No, we don’t. We can only hope that it’s close. Close enough to allow a scouting crew to land.”

  “And I get to be witness to all of this,” Rey said. “Thank you.”

  “You’ll be more than that,” Tom told her. “You’ll be part of the crew. Congratulations. You’re going to Noah.”

  FOUR

  “Paradise, this is Omni-4, making atmosphere approach,” Curt made the radio call, reaching above him for the controls.

  “Copy that, Omni-4, you are clear, make your approach. Over.”

  “Making approach, final landing before Noah,” said Curt.

  “Heat shields up,” Aldar stated.

  “Heat shields up,” Curt repeated. “Switching to full auto. Music on …”

  “No.” Aldar reached up and stopped him. “Please. No. If I have to listen to ‘Fox on the Run’ one more time.”

  “It’s a great landing and takeoff song,” Curt defended.

  “So why play it when flying?” Aldar asked.

  Curt shrugged. “It’s a great song.”

  “I like the original better.”

  “Ha!”

  “Gentlemen.” Ben Vonn turned his chair slightly. “Please don’t tell me the Noah is going to be like this the whole time.”

  “There will be a balance.” Curt looked at him. “Those remaining three chairs will be filled. Speaking of which … what’s she like?”

  Aldar groaned.

  “What?” Curt asked. “Why the reaction?”

  “Just seemed to me to have subtle ‘should I hit on her?’ tones,” Aldar commented.

  “That’s hysterical.” Curt laughed. “Seriously. No. We’re going to be spending two weeks with her, I’m wondering.”

  “Quiet,” replied Ben. “Very quiet. I don’t know if that’s her personality, or she just didn’t have anything to say. I don’t know much about her. She didn’t volunteer that info.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough.” Aldar indicated with a nod of his head that they were making their approach.

  He made sure they were locked in, heat shields working, and they headed into Earth’s atmosphere.

  <><><><>

  “Decades ago, NASA began the design of the IXS Enterprise,” Tom explained to Rey as they walked through the hanger. “They actually started building it.”

  “Enterprise. Like Star Trek?”

  “Yes. It bore a resemblance. It was the hope that by now, we’d have warp drive.”

  “Unless I’m wrong, something like that isn’t needed for this mission.”

  “You’re correct,” Tom said. “For this we need sustainability if a suitable second planet is not found. The IXS was bulky, relying on the ‘spin’ factor to simulate the gravity you see in sci-fi movies. The Omni, however, is quite different. It’s a smaller deal, made for short exploratory missions. It’s not bulky, its propulsion system is fusion, and drive is ionic so it doesn’t need those large tanks. You still have to
go through that phase of training for weightlessness and the pressure of takeoff.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “I’m sure you are.” Tom led them to the airfield. “And if you are also ready … you’re about to meet the pilots of the mission. Colonel Finch and Captain Henning.”

  “The Clutch.”

  Tom smiled. “The Clutch.” He gave Rey a pat to the back as they stood staring at the horizon, waiting on Omni-4 to land.

  She had not seen a picture of either of them, nor had Rey heard much about Finch and Henning, other than seeing The Clutch in the news.

  But she knew instantly by their demeanor which man was which. And that came before they spoke a word.

  As the three men walked her way, she immediately eliminated Ben Vonn. She knew him from class.

  The other two men were both taller than Vonn, the same height, and about a decade apart in age.

  One man walked confident, almost cocky, with a smile on his face, the other reserved and strong.

  With hair clipped so close to his head he appeared almost bald in the sun, the tall man extended his hand and said, “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

  Finch.

  Rey guessed he was Colonel Finch and she was correct. There was a strength about him. In his handshake, his eyes, and the sound of his voice.

  The other man flashed a boyish grin when he removed his cap. His light brown hair was a mess and with a simple, “Hey there,” as his greeting, Rey knew he could be none other than a man they called The Clutch.

  “And you know Major Vonn.” Tom pointed to Ben. “He’s been guiding you on electronics. The other two members of the crew are Captain Sandra Anderson, our Medical Specialist, whom you met, and Dr. Gale, who is out in the field and should be here tomorrow.”

  “Bet you’re excited,” The Clutch said.

  “Nervous. Scared,” Rey replied.

  “Well whatever you need to know,” Finch said, “we’ll be happy to help. I read your essay. It was amazing, ma’am.”

  “Rey. Call me Rey,” she said.

  “Like the sun?” Clutch joked.

  “Really?” Finch looked at him.

  Tom cleared his throat. “Now that the introductions are over, Miss Harper will be joining us in the debriefing before her training gets tough today. I expect you gentlemen to assist her as best as possible,” he said. “And of course, for the love of God … behave.”

  FIVE

  Rey tried to determine if not eating was detrimental. At least if she had eaten, she would have had something to throw up after weightlessness training.

  They told her it was a bit more extreme than usual, but she’d appreciate the torturous drill after it was all said and done. She didn’t see how that was possible, she could barely walk. Everything spun and even the medicated patch they gave her didn’t help.

  Colonel Finch told her that it would take a couple of hours to recover. Rey thought she’d lay down before the meeting, but that made things worse. Her bed moved worse than after any night of drinking. She was just glad the debriefing had been before the training. It was rather boring to her, with the exception of the talk about the wormhole. Somehow, in her mind, she never imagined a wormhole could be seen. It wasn’t like it was some black hole. But The Clutch called the sight of it, “Dangerous.”

  “You can’t see it,” Clutch explained. “Not from a distance, and you can only see it from a certain angle.”

  “So there’s a chance of missing it?” Tom asked.

  Clutch shook his head. “No, we know where it is. We won’t miss it.”

  “So why is it dangerous?”

  “Because we have no idea what’s behind it,” he replied. “I’m not talking after we go through. I’m talking about now. What’s behind it? What could be behind it? Right now, it’s like a wall in space. When that thing disappears, what will appear?”

  “Fortunately,” Finch explained, “space is infinite and vast. That wormhole is miniscule in the scope of things, so the probability of an object making an Earth approach, right there, behind it is extremely low. But Captain Henning brings up a valid point and one that future generations should consider when it returns.”

  Rey wasn’t a rocket scientist or an astronaut, so she asked, “It’s a wormhole. Did you guys not go behind it? I would think, yes, it’s a wall, but I would think a thin one.”

  “You would think, Ms. Harper,” Finch replied. “But we tried. It’s like a dead spot that has created a density in space which we couldn’t get by. Think of it like a funnel, yes you can go through the opening, but you can’t get into the funnel by the sides. It’s complicated; when you see it up close, you’ll understand. Pictures don’t do it justice.”

  That conversation at the debriefing stayed on her mind. The pictures taken by the Omni showed an area with a slight rippling, that was it. The thought of it was frightening, and the more she thought about it, the more questions she had.

  “There is a reason all of you have been chosen.” Tom paced around the oval table in the meeting room. “I’m talking beyond the qualifications you have.”

  Aldar Finch watched him pace then looked about the faces around the table. Curt kept fidgeting in his chair, swiveling it left to right. Reyanne took notes, or rather, was ready to. Ben Vonn was like Finch. A company man, no nonsense, and the best damn engineer he knew. If anything mechanical were to go wrong, he wanted no one else but Vonn on board.

  He was about as familiar with the woman Sandra as he was with Rey. A no-makeup kind of woman, with a physically strong build, wearing her dark brown hair tightly pulled back. She was an army physician, and as far as space experience … she had only been in the simulator. Aldar understood the reasoning for her presence on the mission. They were about to possibly step foot on another planet, a foreign terrain, medically they needed to have everything covered.

  That left Nathan Gale; Aldar knew him well. Nathan had been instrumental in the mission before it was even finalized, before even Aldar himself knew about it. He was a brilliant geologist and physicist, who had also done extensive work in archeology. He had a folder before him, and no doubt there was something in there vital that he was going to share. His fingers fiddled with the edges of the folder anxiously as if he was just waiting for the moment to flip it open.

  “Each of you were also chosen because …” Tom continued. “Your lack of emotional responsibility here at home.”

  A strange thing happened in the after second of Tom’s statement. Four people at that table, Sandra, Rey, Ben, and Nathan all slightly lowered their heads, looking down in thought, maybe even loss. All of their faces screamed as if they were all saying, Yeah, well, no emotional responsibility? We didn’t really have a choice.

  “For several of you,” Tom said, “I am sorry about that. It is vital though that emotional attachments and responsibilities be at an absolute minimum.”

  Curt mumbled slightly audibly. “Yep. If no one cares about us, there’ll be no one to miss us if we don’t come back.”

  It was a hard truth that Aldar knew well.

  Tom cleared his throat. “That’s rather harsh, but we’re confident that isn’t the case.”

  “Not to make anyone doubtful,” Curt said. “I’m going no matter what. However, what about Naamah?”

  “Naamah?” Sandra asked. “Biblically that’s what they say Noah’s wife’s name was.”

  Tom nodded. “Because the project is called The Noah, we named a satellite Naamah. We sent it into the wormhole six weeks ago and lost contact. Which … would theoretically be normal considering we don’t know to what part of the universe that wormhole will take us. It hasn’t returned as programmed. And just like we are not in communication with the satellite, we will not be in communication with you after you pass through. Once you go through, you are on your own. But in the capable hands of Colonel Finch and Captain Henning. They’ll get you there, land, and get you back.”

  Aldar spoke up. “I am confident in the abilities of the Omni to
handle it. It’s just the landing, and where we will land. Yes, the NOAA-13 took the photos, but we don’t know how far into the wormhole it traveled until it arrived. We could run right into the planet or not see it at all.”

  “What if it’s not there?” Rey asked. “Then what?”

  Ben answered, “Meaning no disrespect to the colonel, but it has to be close enough to the wormhole that it is visible. Enough that the NOAA was pulled to it. If it’s not visible, we will need to turn around and come back. There’ll be no way to gauge where the wormhole is again if we venture too far away.”

  “It’s there. It’s close, I feel it,” Nathan said. “The only problem I see, is what side of the planet we see on arrival. Is it day? Is it night? And as far as landing, I have a good idea on where we can land. I have been working extensively with these satellite photos.”

  “And he has more photos than we’ve shown,” Tom said. “What we are about to discuss, what is in those photos is highly classified. Even upon your return there is information you cannot divulge. Nathan?”

  Nathan opened the folder. “We believe at one time the planet not only had inhabitants, but a highly advanced civilization. There are no clear-cut cities or ruins on the photos …” He began to pass them around. “But I have circled what I believe are structures emerging from the ground. Buried. They have to have been big. It’s hard to say how long ago this civilization went extinct, but whatever happened, happened fast. I mean … days. Buried as fast, and perhaps deeper, than Pompeii.”

  “If we let it out that an intelligent life existed on another planet,” Tom said, “it could hit the morals of a lot of the population.”

  “Doubt in God,” Rey added. “People believed God created life here on Earth. If there’s life elsewhere, that faith could be shattered.”

  “Lack of faith …” Tom lifted his shoulders. “Lack of repercussions for actions. With a world slowly dying, fear of God and what will happen in the afterlife controls a lot of people. No fear of a hell, who is to say what could become of law and order while we’re trying to save mankind.”