Gwen was fuming as she paced from one side of her new room to the other. Her dad had left a minute ago to head to the main radiant back at the engineering block, and left her at their new place to unpack her things and put her room in order. Which she was not planning on doing right now, not at all. She needed to vent first.
It was all that Akin guy’s fault. Not only had he called her a brat and implied that she was clingy and annoying, no. He had also spent an obscene amount of time mocking and laughing at her, right at her face. And who the hell even calls her Gwendolen? No one! That might actually be her full name, but literally no one used it, and she hated it with a passion. She didn’t understand what her parents were even thinking when they chose it.
She paced around the room a couple more times, her hands pressed into fists, until she finally came to a stop and took a deep breath. She should probably talk to Jenna, one of the few friends she would actually miss. It would do her some good. She brought up her arm and flicked her wrist, unlocking the band. It was 15.46 hours ARK time, which supposedly used its own time zone but in practice followed the Hawaiian one, where the UEG headquarters were located. That meant that the time in New London was… 02.46, damn. Taking another deep breath and finally making a decision, she walked out of her room and trotted down the stairs, then headed out of the house. She supposed that, if she couldn’t talk to Jenna right now, maybe exploring the town would help her clear her head.
The town itself had a relatively simple design, with a large part of it being dedicated to residential areas. Each block consisted of ten terraced houses, five to each side and all of them with two floors and a flat roof that doubled as an outdoors terrace. It was a type of town design that fell out of favor centuries ago, in favor of arcologies where buildings were laid out vertically and the surface areas were all dedicated to green spaces. Here though, that kind of vertical construction was impossible. If the edification got too tall, the upper floors would experience a noticeably lower gravity compared to those closer to the ground.
As she was walking across the various streets, occasionally passing by other people, she spotted someone standing at the edge of one of the roofs nearby. He had dirty blond hair, fair skin, probably fourteen or fifteen. He was looking up to the sky, and Gwen, intrigued by the strange behavior, followed his gaze. She squinted her eyes and furrowed her brows. If there really was something up there, she couldn’t see it. The only thing she could see was the town and surrounding landscape on the other side of the cylinder.
“Hey, the one on the roof. I’m down here.” Gwen half said, half shouted at the boy. He looked down to the street, slightly startled, and then he spotted her. “What are you looking at?”
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Liam was startled by someone rudely shouting from the street. As he looked down, he quickly spotted a girl, a bit younger than himself, waving at him. She had dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail, slightly tanned skin and a slim build. She was wearing a pair of black shorts and a tight-fitting white t-shirt.
“What are you looking at?” The girl asked.
He was bewildered for a couple of seconds, until he caught a black smudge quickly flying overhead through the corner of his vision. By the time he looked up again, the bird was already gone. Damn, he’d missed it again.
“Hello?” The girl insisted.
Letting out a long sigh, he looked down at the girl again. She looked quite persistent, it might just be easier to let her join him than to shoo her away. “Come up here, you’ll see.” Liam said.
“Up there? Isn’t this your home?” The girl asked doubtfully.
“The door’s unlocked.” Liam said.
The girl just shrugged and headed for the house. Half a minute later, he heard the door to the terrace opening and the girl briskly walked toward him. Now that she was closer, he noticed her bright green eyes and bright smile. She was cute, he thought.
“So, what’s the deal?” She asked. “Name’s Gwen by the way.”
“Liam.” He nodded in acknowledgement, then pointed up following the line of the city, at the space between the buildings and the central shaft above. “There’s a bird, an eagle I think, flying laps around the cylinder at surreal speeds. There, look.”
Just at that moment, an eagle blasted past them at an altitude of about one hundred meters, disappearing just as quickly as it came. “Did you see it?” Liam asked.
“Was it flying in reverse?” Gwen asked back, her eyes squinted.
“Yup.” He nodded in confirmation.
They stayed in silence for a few seconds, with Gwen apparently processing what she just saw. She eventually turned to Liam and asked a pressing question. “How?”
“Well…” Liam scratched the back of his head. He did have the answer, he really did. But people tended to lose interest quickly when he got too technical. Looking at Gwen’s piercing eyes full of curiosity, he just couldn’t resist it and started explaining.
“We’re inside a rotating cylinder with a diameter of five hundred meters that rotates at roughly 1.3 revolutions per minute, right?” He saw Gwen nodding, so he continued. “This means that the ground we stand on is not actually still, but it moves horizontally at roughly two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. But what about the air inside the cylinder?”
“What about it?” Gwen asked.
“Well. The air close to the ground is mostly dragged along, just slightly slower than the cylinder itself. That’s why we have a soft breeze down here. But as you move up, closer to the central shaft, the air quickly slows down.” He paused to let her picture the whole thing, then continued. “At the altitude the eagle is flying, the air is almost still already, like the eye of a hurricane.”
“To us, it looks like the bird is flying backwards at great speeds, but it’s actually slowly gliding forward. Were it to turn around and fly in the opposite direction, then it would look like it moves forward, even faster than now.” Liam concluded his explanation. He could practically see the gears in Gwen’s head turning. Then her face lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Wingsuits!” Gwen exclaimed in excitement.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. How did any of what he had just explained lead in any conceivable way to wingsuits? No, wait. If one were to jump from the central shaft with a wingsuit, with the air circulation inside the cylinder… Liam’s eyes opened wide in realization.
“You’re a genius.” Liam factually stated.
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Gwen smiled and scratched the side of her head. It felt good to be praised, but truth be told, it wasn’t her idea at all. “Actually, it was Yousef who told me about the wingsuits, I just didn’t understand what he meant back then. He’s a friend I made on the space elevator on my way up. He and her sister are on the ARK-5.”
They spent the next fifteen or so minutes watching the eagle fly around the cylinder, until it eventually flew away toward the forests outside of town. Then she shifted the topic of conversation to more grounded subjects. It was now the twenty-seventh of August, and classes would start for them soon enough. The ARK only had one school, which meant that they would both attend there.
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“So, eagle boy.” Gwen mockingly said to grab his attention. “What grade will you be in this September?”
“Tenth. I’ll be in group two.” He said.
“So you’re fifteen, huh? I’ll be attending eighth grade, first group.” Gwen said back.
“We’ll see each other there then.” Liam nodded in acknowledgement and paused for a moment. “I’m actually already wanting to finish this last year and start my apprenticeship.”
“Physics or engineering?” Gwen asked.
“None.” Liam chuckled. “I’m more interested in computational sciences. Simulation of complex systems, artificial intelligence, algorithmic optimization, these sorts of things. I’ve actually landed an apprenticeship with one of the lead scientists in the team processing the data incoming from HD-164595 d and the ARKs external sensors array.”
“I’m trying to apprentice under Dr. Hawa Simao, the lead scientist from the molecular biology department.” Gwen visibly deflated after saying this. “But there’s been no luck so far.”
“You still have three years.” Liam waved his hand dismissively. “Speaking of molecular biology. Any leads on the CROSS? The government propaganda paints it as the be-all, end-all computational system, but I’m honestly having a hard time believing it.”
“Sure I do.” Gwen grinned from ear to ear. “Turns out it’s all true. An acquittance of mine ran some tests on it already and verified it. He even cracked the thing’s protections. Aram is also a programmer, you might want to talk to him.” Gwen brought up her band and unlocked it, then looked for Aram’s contact and swiped it towards a now astounded Liam, who mechanically raised his own band and checked the contact.
“You mean Aram Lacroix?” Liam eventually said, barely managing to peel his eyes off the band’s screen with great effort. “The one that’s going to be on-board ARK-2? The one that singlehandedly coded the AI for the scout probes, the most advanced piece of software to date? That Aram Lacroix? How do you even know him?”
“He and dad are good friends.” Gwen nonchalantly explained.
She spent some more time talking to Liam before making her way back to her new home, now much more relaxed. Once there, she spent over an hour unpacking things and putting her room in order, until her dad arrived at 18.30. After cooking and having some dinner, they kept unpacking for a little while longer, until nine in the evening. That would be eight in the morning in New London, so Gwen decided to finally make that call to Jenna.
She walked upstairs to her room and sat on the desk to the left of the door, where her glass terminal was sitting on top of. After instructing the terminal’s assistant to call Jenna, the screen switched to video-call mode and the image of a blond girl with chin length hair appeared a handful of seconds later.
“Gwen!” Jenna excitedly said through the screen. “You sneaky fox, when are you coming back from those holidays? Don’t you dare get into that ARK before dropping by my place first.”
“Right…” Gwen looked to the side, not sure how to explain this to Jenna. “Well, you see… we’re already on the ARK.”
“What?!” Jenna exclaimed.
“Calm down please.” She said, trying to placate Jenna by waving her hands. “It’s a bit of a mess, but we were kind of forced to do it this way. All of the ARK crew members took, or are going to take soon, random leaves at some point during the month prior to the departure with one excuse or the other and embarked their respective ARKs in small groups.”
“But, why?” She now looked crestfallen.
“To avoid alerting the press.” Gwen explained. “It’s by far the biggest project in human history, and potentially the most important ever if it succeeds. Can you imagine how packed with journalists the Midpoint and ground stations would have been if word got out of the embarkments? It would be total chaos.”
“You’re right.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m actually surprised you’re coping so well. I thought you’d already be on your way to a nervous breakdown with all the text messages they must be sending you.”
“No way.” Gwen waved dismissively at the idea. “Aram set my messaging inbox up months ago so that everything that came in was automatically flagged as spam unless it was a message from the UEG or one of my contacts.”
“That’s possible?” Jenna asked with surprise.
“It’s Aram we’re talking about, so yes.” Gwen said with a shrug. “More importantly, how’s everything down there? Any new developments I should know of?”
“I kissed Eric.” She said, furiously blushing.
“You kissed him?” Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Anyway… so how are you liking the ARK?” Jenna expertly dodged.
“Don’t change the topic.” Gwen said.
“We’re not having this conversation. We kissed, end of story.” She resolutely said. “So, the ARK?”
“It’s actually very nice, in a simultaneously futuristic and old-fashioned way.” Gwen started explaining. “You have this town built in the style from before the Great Filter in the middle of the wilderness, and at the same time you can see the curving landscape looping around full circle, with the high-tech engineering block covering the whole back of the ship and the artificial lighting from the central shaft.”
“I’ve actually seen an eagle flying at ridiculously high speeds while going backwards, can you imagine?” She added.
“An eagle.” Jenna deadpanned. “You… never change. What about the CROSS?”
“I’ll tell you once it activates, it takes a while.” Jenna started explaining the process. “I got it ten hours ago. The cells first have to multiply to critical mass in the bloodstream and then it’ll start learning my neural patterns. It’s supposed to take a couple of days.”
“Hey Gwen, I’ve got to get going. I’m meeting with Ivy in an hour. Talk to you this evening?” Jenna said.
“Sure. I’m going to bed myself. I’m dead tired from the jet lag.” Gwen waved her goodbye and closed the connection.
She then walked to her double bed and flopped down on it, staring at the ceiling. It was nice to have a big bed again. And gravity. Sleeping on the space elevator had been fine to start with, but having to strap herself the last couple of days so as not to fly out of the bed had been annoying. Now, back on a real, comfortable bed and with gravity, she realized just how tired she was. Before long, she was already fast asleep.
The next morning she woke up surprisingly early. The central shaft still was at minimal illumination, creating the illusion of a dark moonless night. She had a shower and change of clothes, then headed downstairs to the living room area, where her dad was whipping up some breakfast for both of them as the early morning light was starting to make itself known. She sat at the table and was soon joined by Adam, who was carrying two massive plates of Ulster fry.
“And… bon appetit.” He said, placing the plates on the table.
“Wow dad.” Gwen said, raising an eyebrow at the plate sitting right in front of her. “What’s the occasion? Or are we testing whether the CROSS can really save you from strokes and heart attacks?”
“Well, we’re obviously celebrating our first day on the ARK.” He said, then started cutting a sausage. “Any plans for the day?”
“Well, I was planning on visiting Dr. Simao. Now that we’re on board I can finally meet her in person.” Gwen said while soaking some toast on the eggs, then continued on a lower tone. “I just hope her husband isn’t there.”
“He seemed like a good man to me.” Adam commented, then switched topic. “We’ll start with the systems checks this morning. The UEG has already tested them many times, but you can never be too sure. Plus, it’s more for the team to get some hands-on experience with the ARK’s systems than anything else.”
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Hawa sleepily walked down the stairs of their new home still in her nightgown, attracted by the smell from the kitchen. There she found her husband preparing some coffee, a small plate of sandwiches and nuts already at the table. Gods, she really needed that coffee. Heading to the table, she kissed him on the cheek and grabbed an egg sandwich.
“Good morning.” Akin said.
“Morning.” She answered, her eyes still half-closed, her hair disheveled. “Remind me again, why the hell is the ARK using the Hawaiian timezone when Midpoint delta is literally on the same fuse Nampula is at?”
“Politics, of course.” He immediately answered.
“I hate politics.” Hawa groaned.
The coffee finally ready, Akin prepared two servings. A strong, black one without sugar for her, then joined her at the table. “I checked the aeroponics farms yesterday. Everything is in order. The crew members that came on-board early already have it running and have been harvesting for two weeks already.”
“Good.” Hawa nodded in approval, finally taking a sip of her coffee, immediately sinking into the chair in satisfaction. “There’s no crisis requiring a molecular biologist as of yet, so I’ll be focusing on research for now. Just tell me if you’d want my help with something.”
Just then, a loud knock was heard from the door, startling Hawa and making her slightly jump on the chair. She raised a questioning eyebrow toward Akin, who shrugged noncommittally in response. Who in their right mind would go knocking on other people’s homes at… she checked her band. Six thirty in the morning. She got up and walked to the door, then took a deep breath and opened it, ready to rain hell on the interloper.
“Good morning!” A kid with dark brown hair and bright green eyes chirpily said with a smile way too bright for this time of the day. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person. Do you have a minute?”
Hawa narrowed her eyes. To finally meet her in person, she said. Did they know each other? The girl did look familiar, but she couldn’t quite place her right now, not before finishing her coffee at least. Then it clicked, her eyes widening in realization. It was the brat that had been pestering her for thee months now with video calls, trying to apprentice under her. And now that she was on-board, what? Would she be coming in person every other day?
“Get lost!” Hawa half-screamed, her face scrunching up. “Send a text message to my inbox like a normal person instead of randomly calling me for fuck’s sake.”
Then she slammed the door in her face.