Chapter Forty-Three

Evata and Rosa stepped back into the living area, gathered the rest of their items for their trip, and took inventory. They continued by hauling them outside and loading them into the van.

Edmund demanded they come to a Halikkon site, where construction of the ark was underway. They were to check on the progress and assess the design.

“Bye, hun, we love you. We’ll be back in two days. Are you sure you don’t want to come and tour the ark with us? It may do you good to get out.”

“Yes. I’m sure. It’s too cold, and I want to keep warm now. I’m feeling a lot better, and with CLEFF and Noxx close by, I’ll be fine.”

Noxxor and CLEFF monitored Viktoriya and relayed updated scans to her parents and Dr. Bravermen every thirty minutes.

Rosa and Eva journeyed to the ark configuration site, remaining quiet for the first half of the trip, one not wanting to be the one to step into the conversation that they both knew they had to talk about.

“Do you think we should call another therapist?” Eva asked. “If I didn’t know better, I would say she’s having some sort of dementia, or something… A divergent experience. I don’t know.” She could not bear the thought anymore.

“I don’t know. Perhaps it’s too soon. Children have imaginary friends, and fantasy escapes all the time. They tend to go away when they get older.”

“Maybe. But you see the way she clings to that android like he’s human. She has no human friend, save Choe. I don’t want that kind of life for my child.” She tore her gaze from him.

She glanced at the city, watching the buildings and roads covered in snow.

During past winters, children would typically play in the snow, build snowmen, have snowball fights, and create the most astounding snow angels. But in the extended winter of the Frost, it was different.

The streets were lonely as if everyone was shielding their children from an awful fate. The once-bustling metropolis they knew had faded into an almost abandoned city.

Everyone wanted to escape from the reality of the problem. Some desired to spend more time with their family, or at least the time they had left. Earth was dying to the world’s population, with everyone in it. And those who had not made peace with that reality worked tirelessly to solve nature’s last riddle of demise. Others, who had found a pathway to their peace, now lived their lives fully, as though every day would be their last.

People didn’t venture too far from their homes unless they carefully listened to the local news and understood there would likely not be an earthquake or Frost spike.

The sources would announce safe zone probabilities with each event, and anyone who traveled long distances would map out the appointed time and safe zones to make sure they were clear from catastrophe.

But even with all the preventative measures set in place, there was no way to guarantee a safe place was indeed safe when it struck. The victims, unfortunately, became prey to the severity, which was gravely underestimated most of the time.

Earthquakes were now taking down entire sections of districts that had older infrastructure. And the relentless Frost spikes froze people solid in the blink of an eye in the most problematic areas.

The two sat in silence through the rest of the drive, Rosa pondering on his girl’s face and her look of betrayal by the people she trusted the most. He could not help but feel like a failure. In failing Viktoriya, his greatest fear had come true.

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The van pulled up in front of the compound, then waited for the security verification before the gate slowly slid open, and they made their way inside.

The compound was a gigantic building that stretched upward until they almost lost the top in the cloudy fog. In the front field were two huge steel rods holding anemometers, showing the variation of the severe winds.

Men and women dressed in HyperVolt attire, engineering suits, and yellow helmets hauled technology, machinery, and tools from various buildings. On the east side, a group gathered, mixing concrete into a platform. At the same time, beside them, a welder continually fit steel sections together, all under the blanket of warmth provided by the grid heaters.

“Rosa. Evata. Just on time,” Edmund said, removing his helmet as he approached them with two others of Team Halikkon. They exchanged pleasantries. Then, they continued their scrutiny of the place.

They scanned from the pinnacles of the building down to the other edges and farther to the uninhabited lands covered with frozen leaves.

“Well. What do you think? Amazing, right?” Edmund asked.

Rosa turned to him. “What? Is this a test or pilot ship? This will barely hold a small city, let alone a whole country. This is a joke, right?”

“Come on, Rosa. We cannot save the entire world. You already knew this and planned for it. Only selected people based on their health status and fertility. This will only be temporary to keep those people alive, as they are our priority. They will be the saviors of humanity. And if something goes wrong with the ark during the journey, we have at least a hundred years to figure it out before we run out of supplies,” Edmund said, reaching for Rosa’s shoulder.

“Are you kidding me?” Eva jumped in. “The selected few? We are not building an ark for a corrupt set of government officials and their families to travel safely to another planet while the world’s citizens starve and freeze to death. That’s if this damn planet doesn’t tear apart before we can even leave.”

She pressed her gloved fingers to her mouth in disbelief of what she had blurted out.

“Eva, we are not stopping people from getting in. As long as the resources are adequate to support even the cats and dogs, we will do so by all means. That’s why we agreed, why we have placed all logistics in your care. You will decide and control everything,” he continued, “but you must run the final list through us before passing decisions.”

Of course, it was their way of saying whatever you want to do, we will still do what we desire, but let’s pretend you have the authority to make the call.

Edmund tapped the couple on their shoulders with both hands, then strode away, leaving both standing in awe of what had just happened.

They had again become puppets in a game they would rather not participate in. If it were possible, they would go home, turn back to their family, and live out the rest of their lives as happily as they could with whatever time they had left.

But they could not.

If not for them, Earth was as good as frozen, and the end of humanity was upon them. Eva reached for Rosa’s hand just as he reached for hers. Their hands united firmly, something they had not done for a while but were more than willing to do now.

They were a team, and they would stand together against it all. They would be each other’s support system until the very end.

Both turned to one another and forced a smile, which only served the purpose of revealing how exhausted they were.

They made their way into the ongoing construction, retrieving hardhats from the arrays on the carbon-fiber table inside.

After taking an unimpressive tour of the ark, they completely lost heart. That the ark was perhaps not going to be enough to make a difference.

The ship seemed so small. How could the hopes of all the world rest on such an insignificant, small trinket?

“Okay, your room is here in this cozy building, all set and heated. Let me know if there is anything you need. We’ll also have a dinner meeting this evening at eight o’clock in the Jacob Bunker,” Edmund explained as he stepped away to take a call.

Eva began to get upset and, as the tears welled up, she pressed her lips with her fingertips again.

“Rosa, I want to go home. I need to see Vik and spend time with her. I want our daughter to be happy. I need her to know that I love her and enjoy being with her, with whatever time we have left,” she said as she wept.

“She needs us to understand her better, and we are not giving her what she must have. That is so important to her. We’ve been too enthralled saving the planet that we have failed our own daughter. We’re doing a great job—at failing her.”

“Hun, I was thinking the exact same thing. Let’s go.”

Edmund returned from his distraction and continued, “Rosa? Eva? What… Where, where are you going? Hold on! I saved the best news for last! We are very close to solving the genetic sequencing problem for freezing embry—”

“Where are you… going?”