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Chapter 6
Zach Croft: 2053
The door opened into the empty office, and Zach’s eyes immediately focused on the man curled up in the corner. Upon seeing Zach in the doorway, the man sat up and ran his fingers through his straight blonde hair. He still looked familiar, but Zach found himself seeking out features he didn’t recognize, something to prove to himself that the man was not who Zach thought he might be.
Zach plucked at the collar of his sweater as he entered the room, permitting a nervous drop of sweat to fall down his chest.
“Harvard, huh?” the man said as he stared at Zach. “Must have been nice.”
Zach glanced back at the guard who let him in, giving a nod that said I’ll be okay. Then he stepped into the room, and the door shut. As he approached the man, Zach said nothing. Lights flickered above them. The stale air in the old office smelled of dust and mildew.
In a raspy voice, the scruffy man prompted, “You need something?” He bit at a hangnail on his forefinger, keeping his shining brown eyes on Zach. His torso rested against his knees.
“Can I ask you a few questions?” Crouching in front of the man, Zach reached into his pocket and pulled out the sheet of questions he and Cora had prepared. He pondered it for a moment before crumpling it up and throwing it aside.
“I have one for you first,” said the man, leaning forward in a borderline threatening way. “Why all this?” He gestured to the empty room.
“They aren’t sure who you are. Or if you’re a threat.”
“Are you sure of who I am?” The man scratched his stubble, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, that’s why I’m here.” Zach cleared his throat, suddenly wishing for a bottle of water. “What’s your name?”
“Ryker James Gagarin.”
A lump formed in the back of Zach’s throat. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-three.”
“Okay.” Zach’s mind swam with all the possible questions he could ask. What would be appropriate? What would he do if the man really was Ryker? “What’s my name?”
“I wouldn’t have recognized you without your badge, but you’re Zach Croft.” The man cocked his head. “You know, I can see the resemblance. You look worse, but,” he smiled, “you’re still Zach.”
Zach coughed at the insult. “If you know me, what did we do at the retreat before Prescott?”
“You forced me to jump in a lake.” The man chuckled at the memory. “I was scared shitless.”
Zach tried not to react to the man’s answer. The lake was something only Ryker would know. He covered up his shock with another question. “Did all the colonists die in Prescott?”
“Oh, come on, Zach! It’s me!”
“Just answer the question, please.”
The man scowled with irritation. “No. The healthy ones went up to the Gateway.”
“And the others?”
“Zach,” the man said, fixing Zach with a hard glare, “you know what happened as well as I do.”
Zach found himself speaking faster, the tension in the room building as the truth became clearer and clearer. “What was the last thing my father said to us?”
The man seemed to be taken aback by this. He looked at the ground. For a moment, he was quiet. Then, he said, “That he’d be there when we woke up.”
The lump in Zach’s throat grew bigger. His vision blurred. His chest tightened. His stomach did a somersault. Then, he looked down at the man’s hands for the first time and noticed a glimmer of something.
A ring.
A silver ring.
With a G engraved on it.
Something burst inside Zach, and he threw himself at the man, wrapping his arms around his best friend. “Ryker.”
Ryker laughed in surprise, then returned the hug. “Whoa there, Zach. Down, boy.”
Zach couldn’t believe it. He was hugging Ryker. He was hugging his dead best friend. Zach laughed, let go of Ryker, and held him at arm’s distance. “How are you alive? They told me you were dead.”
“Oh yeah? And what made them think that?”
“Life support readings. They checked every system on the Gateway, and there were no signs of life. That’s what they told me.”
That’s what they told me. It struck Zach that he had never seen any of the readings confirming Ryker’s death. He had only been told.
Told by Carver.
Never mind that. It was something to worry about later. All that mattered now was that Ryker was sitting in the flesh, right in front of him. Zach wiped his nose and tried to regain his composure. “How did you make it this long up there? It’s been—”
“A long time. I know. We can talk about that later. But I’ve gotta get outta here, Zach.”
“You’re not in any danger. These are good people.”
“Oh yeah? Are they the same ones who told you I was dead?”
Zach hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “I can’t just break you out—”
“Please, Zach. You left me behind once,” said Ryker. “Don’t do it again.”
“Help! I need help!” Zach called out, his hands cradling his best friend’s seizing form. Ryker’s head bobbed up and down wildly, foaming spit pouring from his lips. His hands trembled against his chest, and his eyes rolled back into his head.
The guard appeared in the doorway. He stood over Zach in a confused panic. His eyes darted between Zach and the prisoner. “Should I call medical?”
“Get in here and help me!” He looked back down at Ryker and brushed a messy clump of hair off Ryker’s forehead.
The guard did as he was told and knelt beside Ryker. “What do I have to do—?”
“Don’t scream,” said Ryker as his head flew up to collide with the guard’s in a vicious head butt. The guard fell onto his back, stunned. Zach recoiled in shock. Ryker scrambled up and punched the guard in the jaw, knocking him out cold. Then he grabbed the guard’s keycard and jumped to his feet. “Let’s go.”
Zach and Ryker left the office and set off down the hall. At the end of the hallway was a door. Upon reaching it, Ryker passed Zach the guard’s ID, and Zach flashed it across the reader. The threshold opened into the building’s main hallway. With his hand on Ryker’s back, Zach led them both through it.
They couldn’t go out through the front exit; there were too many guards. They had to use one of the back doors, one rarely guarded and generally ignored by employees. Two lefts and a right later, a service door came into view at the end of a narrow corridor. It led out into an alley decorated with dumpsters and trash bags. On an ordinary day, no one went near it if they could help it.
But today was not an ordinary day.
As he and Ryker turned into the hall, Zach caught a glimpse of a guard walking their way. And not just any guard—it was Jason Greene. Zach made eye contact with Jason. The muscles in his face tightened. Jason’s eyes flitted from Zach to Ryker. A small, almost imperceptible smile appeared on Jason’s lips. His eyes traveled back to Zach. “Just five minutes, huh?”
“Or less,” said Zach nervously.
They stood like that for what seemed like hours. Then, Jason nodded toward the service door, wordlessly giving Zach permission to leave.
Zach exhaled and nodded at Jason in silent thanks. Once in the service alley, Zach pulled Ryker to the side. “My house isn’t far from here. Thirty-nine Hadfield Pass. I want you to go there—”
“No. You’ve already done enough.”
“Ryker, you don’t have any money. You’ve got nowhere to stay.”
Ryker insisted, “I’ll figure it out.”
“At least take this.” Zach removed his wallet and shoved a fistful of cash in Ryker’s hand. “Find a cab, and take it as far away as possible.”
“Won’t the driver realize something’s wrong?”
“There is no driver.”
Ryker’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, there’s no driver?”
“You’ve been gone a long time.” Zach cocked his head. “Now, hit me.”
“What?”
“Hit me, so they don’t know I helped you.”
Without another word, Ryker slammed his fist into Zach’s face.
Ryker Gagarin: 2030
“No, Ryker!” Cage yelled, holding a rough finger out in front of him. “That’s the end of it.”
“But Dad—!”
“No. You can’t go.” Cage pulled on a thick, insulated jacket and fitted himself with an oxygen mask. “Not everything’s up and running, alright? It’s not safe.”
“Cage, you can always put a mask on him. He should see the plant,” Kayla urged.
“He will. Soon. But we don’t even have air running properly over there. God knows what else is wrong.”
“Can I at least go and play with Zach and the other kids?” asked Ryker with a hopeful look.
“There’s construction all over the place…” Cage paused for a moment, looking down at Ryker. “Maybe in a week or two, okay?” After zipping his jacket, Cage approached Ryker and caressed his cheek with one finger. “You’ll understand when you’re an adult.”
“You can remind me again then.” Ryker pulled away from his father. “We’re all still gonna be here anyway!”
Cage and Kayla traded looks before Kayla crouched in front of Ryker and took his hands. “OSE worked hard to get us here.”
“Worked hard? It’s cold, we’ve got almost no food, and we’re sleeping in tents!” Ryker walked to the other end of their quarters, where a cardboard box sat beside three pine-green cots. He reached down and swiped a few silver packets from its surface. “This is what we’re supposed to eat?” He squeezed one, and a cream-colored sludge erupted from the top.
Cage closed his eyes and sighed. “It’s only temporary. The engineers are building all the hab units, and the hydrofarm will be operational soon. We just have to deal with it until then. People are depending on us.”
“But why us? Why’d we have to take one for the team while everyone else sits back on Earth?”
“We’re not taking one for the team. This was our ticket out, honey,” Kayla said. “You had no future there.”
Of course, Ryker had a future there! It wasn’t like they were about to get nuked. What did it matter if the sky lit up every few weeks? At least he’d be looking at the sky he knew. Not the foreign murk he was forced to look at on Mars.
Besides, the Prescott colonists weren’t the only people going to Alpha Cen. Thousands of others were too! Were any of them eating what tasted like glue and sleeping on frigid cots? No! So why did Ryker have to be?
“And I have a future here?” Ryker raised his eyebrows. “Best case scenario, I’m in the mines at fifteen!”
“You have a future on Alpha Cen! Because we’re here, we’re guaranteed a place.”
“And we just have to waste fifteen years of our lives to get it!” Fifteen years. Fifteen years. Ryker hadn’t even been alive that long. And that was how long he had to live on that barren, disgusting planet? “Why didn’t I get a say in any of this?”
Kayla cocked her head and smiled, her eyes glossy. “We’re just doing what’s best for you—”
“Why do you get to decide what’s best for me?”
“Because we’re your parents, Ryker,” said Cage. “It’s no different than back home.”
“But it is. Back home, I could at least go and play!” Ryker bit his lip and vented a deep exhale. “Home. Home. Earth’s not even home anymore,” he said bitterly. “This is.”
Nicolas Carver: 2053
“Explain it to me again,” said Carver, swallowing the angry lump in his throat. “Go on. Tell me again how the only prisoner in this facility escaped.”
Jason jumped into another explanation while Carver breathed in and out, in and out, and suppressed the urge to crush Jason’s skull. He tried to summon a peaceful image to calm his fury. He was on a beach. The waves were crashing behind him—yes. He had his brushes and a canvas and was outlining the palm trees surrounding the bay. Like magic, he manifested a surfer frozen in a stride, with shaggy blonde hair, messy stubble, and a prominent brow—no, no, no! Carver choked.
“… faked a seizure … punched Zach Croft … knocked out the guard … ” Jason went on. “… Zach ran after him … all he remembers … “
Blah. Blah. Blah. The Carver from twenty years ago would have fired Jason and ensured he never wore a badge on his chest again. But today’s Carver was trying to be more understanding, and for that, Jason could keep his job.
” … not on the premises … have people looking … “
“Why did you let someone see him?”
“… doesn’t know how—” Jason looked up. “Huh?”
“Why did you let someone see the prisoner when I told you not to?” Carver got closer, looking up at Jason. “The prisoner could be a biohazard.”
“Sir?”
“He was on the Gateway, Jason, you can’t be so stu—” Carver caught himself. “Naive.”
“Should I call the police—?”
“No. Not yet.”
The prisoner was, in fact, Ryker Gagarin. DNA tests confirmed it. How Ryker had survived for so long, Carver couldn’t say. He racked his mind thinking of how his life could come crashing down if Ryker opened his mouth to the press. If he told anyone what happened to him, OSE could lose whatever meager funding it still retained. And Carver could lose his job.
“I’ll talk to Zach,” Carver continued. “Do whatever you can to track the prisoner down.”
Zach Croft: 2053
Zach looked at the main building just in time to see Cora rush out. Running up to Zach, she grabbed him firmly by the arm and tugged him behind the propulsion lab. “What the hell happened in there?” Cora asked as she reached for Zach’s black eye.
Zach winced away from Cora’s prodding fingers. He debated telling her about Ryker’s escape, about how they had knocked out the security guard, but he decided to leave that out. “You were right,” he said. “It’s Ryker.”
Cora pulled back. “Oh, my god. Where is he? Can I see him?”
“I don’t know.”
“What? How can you not know?” Cora’s face turned to stone, and Zach knew he was about to get the lecture of a lifetime.
“I gave him some money, and he ran away.” Zach left out the part where he told Ryker to punch him. Besides, the black eye was a nice touch for convincing anyone other than Cora that he’d had no role in Ryker’s escape.
“He’s been gone for twenty years, and you just let him go?”
“No, I just—I didn’t have time to think of something else.” That part was true. He just wanted to get Ryker as far away from the facility as possible, as fast as possible.
“He could get hurt!” Her eyes sharpened. “He doesn’t know how bad the flares are now!”
“He’s not a child, Cora. He knows where my house is; he’ll go there when he’s ready.”
Cora’s voice dropped two notches. “If it really is Ryker, that means Carver lied.”
“Or he’s just as in the dark as the rest of us.”
“And how do we figure out which it is?”
“I don’t know,” Zach said, “but I’m going to find out.”
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