Contagium The Way We Were

  Chapter 6 No Turning Back

  After arriving at headquarters Shoab reported to the launch site. Lisa the head geneticist was reviewing the launch checklist one last time with the team as they were strapping themselves down. As Jeth walked by he looked over at Lisa "Are you ready for take off? This ship has a pretty hard thrust."

  Lisa smiled back at Jeth "I can't wait to feel it's power." Shoab thought to himself, I don't think they were talking about the launch.

  As Shoab, Mosh, Cynda, and Lisa strapped themselves in as they counted off the launch checklist one last time. Jeth sent a message out to the whole crew "One minute until take off." The ships propulsion units roaring. His heart racing Shoab gripped the arms of his chair. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. Jeth "30 seconds until take off." Shoab turned to look out the window. Sitting on the 444th floor of the ship he could see ships floating far out in the eastern ocean. Jeth "Take off in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

  The ship resonated violently as the propulsion units fired at full speed. Shoab could feel the Gs begin to pull down on his body fixing his feet onto the floor. The ship began its ascent into the unknown. Shoab looked out the window again, he could see the entire DASPA complex and all of Newark. The ship climbed at an exponential speed passing the sound barrier. The horizon continued to curve as the transport ship made it out of the planets gravitational pull until the full sphere of the planet could be seen. Shoab thought to himself there's no turning back at this point.

  One month after launch. The military style sleeping quarters where pretty cramped. Shoab started to grow weary of Mosh talking in his sleep. One night as Shoab laid in his bunk he could hear Mosh again mumbling "No no no…Matilda!" as he awoke with a sudden gasp of air. Shoab watched Mosh sit up from his bunk and look out the window. He noticed Mosh whiping his eyes from whatever pained him. Shoab closed his eyes not making Mosh aware he was being watched

  Later that morning the transport ship was about to make entry into the black hole. Everyone knew there was no turning back once they hit the event horizon. Shoab looked ahead and could see the large blank empty abyss in the distance. Reality and doubt started to set in, Shoab thought, this could be it, what if I was wrong? Shoab forced himself to continue looking ahead trying to maintain a stoic appearance. He knew the crew members were glancing at him in an attempt to see if they should be nervous about what was about to take place. As the ship passed over the event horizon stars started to fade, and stretch around the edge of the black hole forming a ring of light. As Shoab looked behind the ship the ring suddenly merged to a single point of light that seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye. As a planned safety measure the navigation team turned off the propulsion units until exiting the black hole.

  All was black, nothing appeared in front nor behind. With the propulsion units off complete silence fell over the ship. One minute turned to five which turned to ten. Panic started to set in. Everyone sat glancing up at the clock thinking the worst. As Shoab looked around he thought, Was my theory wrong? Are we going to be trapped forever? While wiping sweat from his forehead, Shoab was suffocating with anxiety as he contemplated never returning home to Julie and the kids. Just then, in front of the ship, a single point of light emerged in the distance. The light began to grow in size splitting in many directions until suddenly they were out of the black hole surrounded by stars. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thankful they made it out alive.

  Twenty days after exiting the black hole, their destination was in sight. The small blue marble increased in size until large green land masses could be seen. Surprisingly, most of the planet was covered in water. Jeth instructed the navigation team to circle the planet to determine the best location to make observations. After much conjecture they decided where to set up headquarters.

  After landing the team setup their observation station at the edge of a thick jungle. Shoab began logging his observation journal to document the team research. "Day 1, Animals and plants on the new planet are very diverse and abundant. One species in particular are a lot like us but very primitive. Their physical features are similar to what our species was like 250,000 years ago. This species appears to be peaceful with their surroundings and animals that live among them. Their diets consist of a variety of berries, nuts, and different herbs. The primitive species live in large groups mostly foraging, sleeping, and playing throughout the day."

  Shoab's observations went on for a couple months. One day Shoab was on another observation run with Lisa. Shoab was curious why Jeth was going with them. He rarely cared about scientific research. Lisa had a specific location she wanted Jeth, and Shoab to conduct the days observation from. Lisa turned to Jeth "Right there is where we planted the Sophia tree."

  Shoab dismayed at what he just heard "you did what! We were given strict orders from General Milson and the board not to alter their DNA! This is going to spoil our test samples."

  Jeth smiled at Shoab "Keep it down buddy, your going to scare the poor little bastards."

  Lisa continued "As instructed we added a couple gene manipulation sequences to speed up the growth of their prefrontal cortex."

  Jeth gave a thumbs up "Nice job Lisa, just like I wanted."

  Just then a female and male couple emerged from the thick dark tree line. They stopped and stood up to get a closer look at the large red fruit hanging from the tree. The female stretched her hand up high to reach for the fruit. The female could only touch the bottom only enough to make the fruit barely move. The male gently pushed the female aside, and with a low gruff leaped into the air swatting the round red fruit to the ground. Both the male and female raced on all fours over to the where the fruit landed. The female picked up the fruit and took a large bite then handed the fruit over to the male who also took another large bite. Chewing away they devoured the fruit.

  After five minutes both the male and female started to groan grabbing at their heads as they fell to the ground. Their eyes widen in amazement as the gene manipulation sequence overloaded their pre frontal cortex with a violent storm of neural activity. After gaining some composure the female and male crawled over to the trunk of a fallen tree pulling themselves up to a standing position. They stared at each other as if for the first time, looking at each other's bodies. Both started grunting and screeching in a feverish high pitch. The male ran over ripping a branch hanging from the Sophia tree. He ran back over to the female trying to cover her with the branch.

  Jeth gave out a deep laugh "They realize they're naked!"

  Shoab deeply disturbed by the events unfolding couldn't understand why they were doing this. These poor creatures don't understand what is happening to them. They didn't ask for this. He thought to himself.

  Jeth looked over at Shoab "Let's tag these two so we can track their movements and behavior." Lisa and Shoab sedated both the male and female. They tagged the male with code A001, and the female E001 and took baseline measurements of their cranial circumference, body weight, arm length, leg length, and height.

  After Shoab and Lisa made it back to the observation point Jeth spoke up "Great work! Lets keep an eye on these two."

  Lisa "Will do Jeth. Do you want to proceed with propagating the sequence with trees, plants, and fungus?"

  Jeth "Absolutely, make it your top priority."

  Shoab boiling with anger decided not to say a word as they ascended back to the transport ship. After docking Shoab waited until Jeth was alone. Furious he stormed up to Jeth "Why are you going against General Milson's orders!? I want some answers now!"

  Jeth "Whoa Shoab! General Milson's not hear is he? Let me remind you I'm running this entire fleet. I think its time you put on your big boy pants, and realize you've got a job to do. Do you want to be part of this team or not?"

  Shoab "You can't comprehend the damage you're about to cause this planet."

  Jeth taking a step closer staring down at Shoab "You're not privy to everything
at DASPA. I'm following direct orders from upper management. I know exactly what I'm doing. Now get out of my face and do your job." Shoab turned his back as he walked to his sleeping quarters, thinking of the two creatures who's lives would never be the same.