Future Findings
9

I slept straight through the night. Once morning came, Eddie woke me up by gently shaking my arm. I stirred slowly, and he handed me some clothes to change into.

“Does this mean I have to shower?” I asked as I looked at what he had given me. Eddie laughed lightheartedly, and responded.

“It sure does. Go on, the meeting is in half an hour. You can pick up something to eat afterwards if you hurry.” He headed to the door, and was soon out of my sight. I sat up and stretched. The room looked deserted, yet I had the feeling that Donnie was somewhere back in the darkness of the room. I slipped off of the bunk, and headed for the bathrooms. The hallways were about as empty as usual-- I occasionally saw a person and gave a friendly wave or “hello”. I made it to Beck’s workroom and found the owner to be working inside it.

“Hey sleepyhead!” she said amiably. She was in the corner, tinkering with something.

“Hey,” I responded. I briefly considered asking her to give me a tour, but decided against it. I was hungry, and short on time. I made my way to the bathrooms, and discovered that there was someone in there. A woman, washing her hands.

I was shocked, and stopped dead in my tracks. I turned on my heels and began walking back out. “Wrong bathroom,” I muttered as I headed the way I had came. Then, a laugh erupted from behind me.

“It’s quite alright. There’s only one bathroom here, ya know. We just have to share it,” the woman washing her hands said. Oh, yeah. I was blushing at this point, and slowly made my way back in.

“Right,” I said. She had finished washing her hands, and was now drying them. Then I realized that it was Eddie’s girlfriend. I offered her a smile, and she returned one. She exited the bathroom just as I entered the shower stall. It was a warm shower, but I had to make it quick. The meeting would be soon. So I cleaned myself as well as I could, and dried off with the towel Eddie had given me along with my clothes. After I was dry I put the clothes on. There was a light gray button up, a pair of blue jeans, some underwear and a pair of socks. Pretty basic, if you ask me. I knew I didn’t have enough time to bring my dirty clothes back to the Living Quarters, so I simply left them in the bathroom. Either I would come back and get it later-- or somebody would take care of it for me. I hadn’t seen a laundromat so far, and wondered if people had to journey outside to clean their clothes.

I made my way to the office, assuming that it would be where I would talk with the elders. To little suprise, I was right. I opened the door, and my teammates were already sitting at the round table that made up the center of the room. I guess breakfast would have to wait until after. The Elders were sitting on the opposite side of the table. There were three of them here, though I assumed that more were in the base. They didn’t say anything when I entered, but I could feel their eyes glued to me as I approached.

Silently I took a seat to the left of Eddie. He smiled at me as I sat down. But it wasn’t his typical smile, I could feel some sort of fear in it. We sat in silence for a good while, and I was about to ask when we were going to start when an Elder spoke up.

“So the scouting mission was a success?” a definitively male voice inquired.

“Yes, sir,” Eddie responded. He was squirming nervously in his seat. This was nothing like the laid back Eddie I had seen when he had a private talk with The Elders. Something had changed.

“Yet one member of AMO was caught and interrogated?” the same voice said in more of a statement than a question.

“Yes,” Eddie said.

“Would he please stand up?” a different voice, a feminine one, asked. It took me a second to realize that they were talking about me. But once I did, I hopped to my feet as quickly as I could.

“What did they ask of you?” the female asked.

“They uh… they just wanted to know who I worked for and what I was doing. I told them that I was solo-- that I didn’t belong to an organization. I just wanted to break in and see what was inside. She let me go with a warning,” I told The Elders. Nobody responded. They just stared ahead from beneath their cloaks. I had the odd feeling that they were communicating with each other somehow, in a way that nobody else could hear or comprehend. What are they? I wondered.

“I see. We know how to get in now. Infiltration and shut down will take place within a matter of days. Be ready,” the male voice said. With that, my teammates and I were sent out of the room. Beck and Angus headed to the Living Quarters, but Eddie walked in the direction of the cafeteria. I followed after him.

“So what really happened?” he asked, taking me by surprise.

“What?”

“What happened when you got caught? You were obviously lying in there, even if The Elders couldn’t tell.” How did he know? I took a deep breath, and told him. I could trust Eddie.

“They’ve got a time machine, Eddie. Laura Baker wanted me to be the first to use it-- to go back in time to when they froze me. It was a secret, so I could live my life as if nothing had ever happened. The other me would live on frozen in the cryogenic chamber, and I’d live out the rest of my days,” I told him.

Eddie screwed his face up, a little confused. “But Abid, Laura died hundreds of years ago. Unless.. she froze herself! But that doesn’t explain why they’d ask you to do it…” he trailed off. But I had the answer he was searching for.

“She asked me because she knew I’d be willing to do it,” I said. “I’ve got the chance to leave all this desolation and pollution behind me. Or rather, ahead of me. I could go back to my time and live peacefully, even if I’m bored out of my mind. But I wouldn’t dare do it, I’m here to help you guys now.” Eddie smiled, understanding now. I had set his mind at ease, and it made me feel good inside. We entered the cafeteria, and sat down at a table on the left side of the room.

Matt soon found us, but when he did I let out a gasp. His face was that of a dead person. I wanted to get up and run away, but nobody else seemed to be freaked out.

“Christ, Matt. I’m sorry about that,” Eddie said and grimaced. I wasn’t following.

“It’s whatever, Eddie. Everyone’s gotta die someday, right?” he returned. Matt set the food he’d brought out with him onto the table, but I was no longer hungry.

“What happened?” I asked. Eddie smiled and Matt made a horrific gesture that could be considered a grin. His eyes were surrounded by black, and his curly hair was somehow dampened and thinner than usual. Is arms and hands were far too skinny to be healthy, and the skin of his lips were pulled tight across his yellowing teeth. He had his glasses haphazardly shoved into the pocket of his apron.

“It’s the Monster Mutt,” Eddie said. As if that answered my question. Then, he continued on. “It’s short for Monster Mutation-- it’s a disease that runs through the population. There’s no known cure, and nobody really knows where it came from. Though many people speculate that it’s a form of population control created by the government or a technology agency. Whenever someone in the city gets it, they’re sent away to die. But here, we stay with them until they’re gone.”

“Is it contagious?” I asked, looking at the food Matt had just set down.

“Not that we know of,” Eddie replied. “And even if it was, everyone gets it eventually. No point delaying the inevitable.” Jesus. Maybe heading back wouldn’t be so bad. I knew it was a bad thought to have, but I couldn’t help myself. This world just seemed too sad. It was corrupt and dirty and dangerous and ugly. Sure, it was beautiful. But it was horrible as well. I truly didn’t know if I wanted to be here anymore. I felt sick to my stomach.

“Excuse me, I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” I told Matt and Eddie.

“Everything okay?” Matt asked me through his sickening grimace.

“Yeah, just a little stomach ache.” I was able to keep myself composed until I got out of the cafeteria. But once I was out of their sight, I broke into a sprint. I was going to be sick. I managed to keep it in until I reached the bathroom. But once I got in there, all hell broke loose. I leaned over the toilet and wracked my stomach with terribly strong tremors. As I was vomiting, all I could think of was the way Matt tried to smile at us. Sure, his lips curled upwards. And his smile lines were visible. But he had death on his face and pain in his eyes. How could somebody live like that? And they said that everybody, or almost everybody got it eventually. What’s to say that I wouldn’t get it in the next month, or even week? Nothing.

God, it was so horrible there. I wanted to go home in that instant. Loneliness and boredom was better than this god forsaken planet. Men and women sat about waiting to die, in the ruins of old cities and even in the new ones. Laura’s offer didn’t sound so bad anymore, even if I was mad at her. But I had an obligation to AMO. I was part of them now. Briefly, I wondered what would have happened if Eddie hadn’t found me. Odds are, Laura would have gotten ahold of me. And she would have offered me the same deal. Odds are, I would have taken it. Even though I hadn’t seen the horror in this world at that point, I didn’t have anything tying me here either. Just like before. I had nothing to tie me down, so I took the deal. I hoped that I had the strength to resist Laura if she was ever able to ask me again.

When I was done losing my food, I sat there for a good while. I sat there staring at the floor, thinking of everything at once. I thought of Donnie and Eddie and Matt, of Laura and going home, of the Baker complex and helping this Earth. There was so much swimming around in my head that I barely noticed Eddie walk in.

“Abid?” a voice said quietly, startling me. Eddie was outside of my stall, looking down on me. In my rush to get to the toilet I had not closed the door to the toilet.

“Yeah?” I questioned, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I felt downright gross.

“The Elders just announced. Our infiltration is in a matter of days. There’s five of us going this time.”

“Oh? And who would that be?”

“You, Angus, Beck, Donnie, and me,” he responded. “But maybe you shouldn’t go, Abid. You need some rest.” But I needed to go. I needed to carry out the mission. It was my responsibility.

“I’ll go.” I said definitively.

“You sure?” Eddie asked, but I nodded my head vigorously. I had to stop, because the movement just made me queasy again. “I’ll be around the place, buddy. Just let me know if you need anything.” And with that, he left me alone in the restroom. After a while of sitting there and staring at the floor blankly, I rose to my feet. I would go to my bed, and nap until it was time to leave again.

So I headed out of the room, and shuffled my way back to the Living Quarters. But before I got there, I was stopped in the dim hallway by someone in a cloak and hood. An Elder.

“Come with me,” the man’s voice said. He led me past the office, and ushered me into the room that had emitted that bright light-- the one I had barely been able to distinguish from the wall surrounding it. . He then shut the door behind himself, and made his way to the other Elders in the room.

Inside, I saw. It wasn’t a computer that was creating that light. It really didn’t look like it was meant to exist in this realm. It was something altogether out of this world. Not technological. Not mechanical. Spiritual. It wove in and around The Elders. It floated in the air in between them, connecting each and every one of them like a spider web. It had no weight, but moved throughout the air like a fluid. It was awe-inspiring.

“What’s this about?” I asked, too focused on the moving light to keep my eyes on the people in the room.

“We know what you’re going to do,” a woman said. I couldn’t tell which hood her voice came out of.

“What?” I asked, but somehow I already knew what she meant. I had made up my mind. They knew I was going to talk to Laura. They knew I planned on heading back tonight. But if they knew, what were they going to do with me?

“You’ll leave. We see that.” one of the cloaked figures said. “We won’t stop you. But, we would like to show you something before you leave us. As the newest member of the AMO, you have done quite a lot in your short time here. It is customary to show you our true form before you leave us.” I had just noticed that Matt was in the room with me, yet The Elders seemed to be solely addressing me. Matt was looking intently at them, and I realized that he must be hearing something different than I am, though I bet the part about leaving was very similar. Matt’s time here was dwindling, and so was mine.

“True form?” I asked. Wouldn’t they just be normal people underneath those clothes? The Elders, or at least the three that were in the room with Matt and I, began disrobing. Soon enough, they were completely naked. They were nothing like us-- there was nothing human about them. You could call them angels, monsters, demons, or something entirely out of this world, But regardless, they were beautiful.

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