The Eden Project: Humanity's Last Chance by D. P. Fitzsimons Page B

you I saw passing just before the dawn. I thought I was still dreaming. I have seen your boat now for a second time. What wee lass do you call your wee boat?”
    “I call my boat simply Eden and we too are not long for this world.”
    “Ah, it’s ‘we’ you say?”
    Gen scrunched her face apologetically toward Zeke, realizing her mistake. She struggled to answer. Zeke pointed to the screen imploring her to speak. She shook her head and faced the screen. “Yes, me and my cat. Zeke is his name. We have a small boat and few supplies left.” Zeke tilted his head at her, disapproving.
    “You’ve a cat you’ve not eaten?” The DJ said through a chuckle. “Then I call you a dreamer, my young nymph.”
    Zeke and Gen were smiling, amused by the starving man’s strange words, when suddenly the door to AUDIO RELAY SYSTEMS slid open.

-16-
    Adam stood in the door frame. Zeke and Gen turned slowly to face him. He stepped into the chamber and the door closed. He spotted the familiar frequency number on the screen above Gen’s shoulder and the similar, but less familiar configuration next to it on the split screen.
    “Turn it off,” Adam commanded. The sound of his voice made both Zeke and Gen turn expectantly back to the screen.
    “A cat you say? My, what a deep voice for such a small creature,” the DJ’s voice came hoarsely through speakers all around the room.
    Adam staggered forward scanning the dark areas in the ceiling where the speakers were hidden. He too felt the static listening. He was frightened how far his friends had taken this game.
    Adam’s eyes eventually found Gen. His intense glare unnerved her.
    “Isn’t it always the silences,” The DJ whispered, “that make the music?”
    Adam marched between Zeke and Gen and quickly punched out of the feed. The static ended.
    “Don’t act so noble, Adam,” Zeke said, stepping aggressively into Adam’s path. “We were just walking in your shoes.”
    Gen reached out to separate them, but changed her mind and pulled back her hand. Adam met Zeke’s hostile stare. “No. Tuna and I never dared speak to him.”
    “Come on guys, I think we’re all done with this,” Gen interjected, trying to find common ground. “Let’s calm down.”
    Zeke backed off. Adam walked to the door.
    “Adam,” Gen pleaded. “We can all just forget this and move on like it never happened.”
    He turned around to face her. “We can move on, sure, and we can try to forget, but you just let him know we’re out here with him.”
    Zeke and Gen glanced guiltily at each other.
    “Better to ask yourselves,” Adam said, pointing at the screens, “will he move on? Will he forget?”
    The door slid open and Adam disappeared, leaving the intended couple alone with each other and thoughts too dark for words.
    Gen dished up a plate of stuffed cucumbers and placed it on the last tray. “That should be it, Ada. That one’s yours.” Gen wiped her brow as Ada grabbed the tray.
    “What about your tray?” Little Ada said, her eyes twinkling despite her concern.
    “Not hungry. I ate a bit already.” Gen removed her apron and began folding it.
    Ada smiled sweetly before she carefully backed through the swinging doors with her tray.
    Gen set her folded apron on a prep station and exhaled deeply. She squatted down to sit on the floor and rested her back against an industrial oven. She buried her face in her hands and then wiped her fingers down her face in frustration.
    “So stupid,” she said to herself, barely. She let her head fall back to rest against the oven.
    There was a quiet knock on the kitchen door. She said nothing, just waited for the doors to swing open. When Milo and Isaac entered, she was not surprised. She knew why they came.
    * * *
    DOCTOR BECKER SAT in her lab writing with a red pencil in a case folder. She reconsidered what she wrote, picked up an old circular eraser and rubbed out what she had just written. When she picked up the pencil again to rewrite her