‘George,’ inquired Sean in concern. I looked around with clearing vision to see Sean hovering overhead, still humming. Whatever was coursing through my blood stream made me feel as though I was drunk. It was a fuzzy kind of feeling. A thought came to my mind so I asked, ‘Sean why do you always hum?’
‘Because George, it stops the bad times from seeming so bad. So I hum, and I enjoy it.’
I sighed. My head was clearing. I remembered what I was supposed to be doing.
‘Did it work? Can I access the door now, control Ascension?’
‘Yes you can open the door and enjoy a limited control over Ascension but Blue Dawn will countermand anything you do that affects her operational integrity.’
‘Okay Sean, I would like to go now.’ I felt like a child, tired and weak. I climbed down from the bed and shakily got to my feet.
‘George, I am sorry you know...that I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t, you see. I know a little more...and I promise I will tell you. But not now. You must arm yourself and we must find Aeniah and then gather the information from Ascension.’ I nodded but was much too tired to reply. It seemed that most things were beyond me at this moment in time. The scale of what needed to be accomplished was too great, too far reaching. It was too great a task for any man, let alone me. I wished it was Aeniah that was trying to find me. She would have fared far better than I. She would have known what to do. I was willing to wager that wherever she was she was probably doing better than we were.
Standing firmly I moved my way towards the entrance back into the glass cube. As the door opened I saw an image before me. It was a series of shapes, joined together by other polygons, forming a three dimensional structure. Each apex had a line extending from it and at the end of these lines was a description. By the regular shape in the centre the description stated simply ‘carbon.’ Next to others were ‘sulphur,’ ‘fluorine,’ ‘argon’; the list continued as far as I could see. As the image rotated slowly and scrolled itself upwards it revealed even more elements joined to the others. It spiralled and rotated much like the image of my DNA, but I knew that many of these elements were not included in genetic code of a human being.
Turning to Sean I asked ‘I am seeing something Sean, it looks like a chemical structure, but I am not sure.’
‘George, the activation of your genes is going to trigger some -’ he paused for a moment as he considered his choice of words. ‘The only way to really describe it is as memories that are not yours. The Ascension gene sequence is a wonder without end. Even during Ascension’s heyday little was known about it. The architect of the project wanted Ascension to be a shared experience. Genetic memories of each of the citizens were coded into the gene sequence. Over the years thousands of people’s memories were combined into the sequence.’
‘That sounds horrendous.’ I replied. ‘So everybody here could remember the memories of everyone else, as though they were their own?
‘It would be impossible for a single person to see them all George. Instead the idea is that each citizen would get a glimpse of the most important events in each other’s lives. A collection of the best moments. This place could have been the crowning achievement of humanity. A universal world, built upon the power of Ascension, and harmonised by the shared memories of all. Can you imagine such a world? Where everybody was that connected, where everybody shared in each others lives.’
Sean sounded excited by the prospect. I sighed and let the chemical image fall from my mind. It was not important right now. Instead I focussed on the task of gathering strength.
I noticed a crack upon the glass ceiling as I glanced upwards. Curious that it should be there. It was innocuous enough but something about it worried me. I wondered if something had been trying to get in.
With a motion of my hand I made a fleeting signal to Sean and rushed to get out of the biomedical facility but I was stopped dead in my tracks. Something had caught my eye. It was only a glimpse, yet something told me that I had to find out what it was.
I stepped gently upon the ground, desperate not to make a sound. I moved forward slowly.
It had been here. I was sure of it.
I turned my head to my right and was suddenly confronted with an aura of light. I rubbed my eyes unable to believe what I was seeing.
There was an angel to my right. There was no other explanation.
She was adorned in light, with wings pulled back behind her. I walked to where she was, but as I came closer she let out an etherial laugh and walked away.
I ran after her, trying to catch up. But every time I seemed to get closer, she was further away. I kept chasing her.
There was an opening ahead. I made my way towards it and emerged into a room full of people. That stopped me dead. There were no people on Ascension.
Whatever was going on it looked like a celebration. In fact they were celebrating. The room was so bright and cheerful. It look nothing like the Ascension I had come to know. It felt alive.
An tall figure came up and into the middle of the group. With a circling motion of his arm he commanded silence. His face was filled with delight. Just like the audience he was commanding I was captivated by his every expression, his every movement. He had a grace that I could scarcely believe. There was a certain magnetism about him. Like the kind of person you meet that leave you hanging on their every word.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he boomed cheerfully. ‘Today is a great day.’ There was a long pause as he commanded people to measure his success. ‘Today we free ourselves from the chain of humankind. For so long we have been manacled and shackled to this fragile form.’ He raised his hands defiantly. ‘They said it couldn’t be done. They put every obstacle in our way.’ His voice was booming now, throwing itself from his persons. ‘Yet we have defied them. We have proved them wrong.’ He was reaching a crescendo now. ‘Today…we embrace the power of Ascension.’
I moved about the room in confusion. Why were these people here? I wanted to shout at them. To make them all realise. ‘Your station is dead, what are you doing?’ But all around me Ascension was filled with life. I looked behind me at the room from which I come and saw a crowd of happy people holding glasses of champagne and revelling in their success. Gone was the blank eerily quite medical facility. Instead here was life. Here was a fully fledged society.
The gentleman continued his speech. His voice was softer now. I could only concentrate on that voice.
‘On this day fifty years ago we embarked upon a project that all the colonies thought insanity. We attempted to engineer the impossible. There was scorn from every corner of the universe. There was even outrage. It could not be done they said. But, ladies and gentlemen, it could be done, and we build it. Each and every one of you has toiled and sacrificed. But we did build it.’ There was some applause at that.
‘Today we celebrate the activation of the Ascension station and, if all goes well, in a matter of days we will to come to know apotheosis itself.’ There was cheering now but the gentleman raised his hands to command silence once more.
He continued with grave seriousness in his voice. ‘I understand that many of you have had your concerns over modifying so very many of our genes, but soon I will lay you fears to rest. The Equinox program is ready for activation. The final actors in our tale are coming into play. Soon, so very soon, we will show the universe the future. Today humanities greatest day for tomorrow there will be a revolution. There will be a revolution in evolution. And it is all yours, my gift to you.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ascension.’
The room erupted in applause. Glasses were raised in the air. The triumph and the passion washed through me. Their tribulation soared from this room and into the heavens themselves. The applause rose and rose until it became a scream.
Then there was silence.
The once mesmerising scene was replaced by the reality. This was no ballroom this was destruction.
What had once be
en a great hall full of people was now a broken dream. Fire had blackened much of the glass on the walls. The brilliant blue holos displaying images of wildlife and exotic species had ceased functioning long ago. They would never captivate an audience again. Cabling hung frayed from the ceiling sparking and the lights flickered continuously.
The room was dead.
In amongst the twisted metal I saw her, my angel. She looked at me and seemed to bow just a little. I studied her and she studied me. I saw the word ‘Equinox’ written above her breast and wondered if she had been what the gentleman had been talking about in the close of his speech. I moved to call out to her hoping for a reply but she was gone, as though she had never been there in the first place.
I turned from the room, saying nothing to Sean, and made my way to the exit a flight above me.
When we got to the once impassable door after walking in silence I asked Sean flatly, ‘so where is the armoury from here?’
‘It is in the next room,’ he replied in an amused tone, ‘they wanted to make sure that if anything went wrong the closest thing to their research was a gun.’
I moved my hand to the door and pressed it against the access pad. The screen turned green and a synthetic voice announced, ‘access approved.’ Then worryingly announced. ‘Please be advised a quarantine is in effect. It is advised that you seek your designated safe area. A containment team has been notified. Any suspicious activity should be reporting to your nearest peacekeeper.’
Ignoring the advice, Sean and I moved into the armoury and prayed that we could get out of this alive.