OBLIVIOUS

CHAPTER 4 - A Pleasant Surprise

On the sofa, in the commons room—with six rectangular windows back-lit by a warm blue glow—I move to the edge of my seat after Abraham mentions I won't go to Earth alone. Since my awakening, with so much to remember and learn, I've been fine with only Abraham. But he won't accompany me to the surface.

My pulse jumps at the idea of someone else to talk to while I'm down on the ground. Whatever type of work testing the waters requires, I can't imagine doing it by myself. No, I'll need help. Two are better than one. Besides, one person won't cut it for establishing a presence for humanity on the virgin hills and valleys of a replenished Earth. It makes sense I would need help, but who might this person be?

If I'm a planetary scientist for NASA, I wonder what kind of education and skills from a past life this person might bring to a new world? Did I work with this person before stasis over a century ago? Did I know this person at all?

Abraham shares a few more important details about how and why the global ocean covered all the dry land, even the highest mountains. Knowledge flashes through the synapses of my brain. In my mind, I see a snow-crested peak jutting into a brilliant azure blue sky. Mount Everest. The second tallest summit in the solar system. The highest is on Mars. Mount Olympus. I know this from the memory transfer I received earlier. This I'm certain.

"The global ocean covered Mount Everest?"

Abraham nods solemnly.

"And global warming caused the worldwide flood?"

"That's right. You'll need to remember all this so you can share this information with the person who accompanies you to the surface." He crosses his legs on the sofa and leans back, his hands clasped on a knee. "The deepest ocean water is more dense. The water molecules became packed together. Over time, after the polar ice caps melted—which added more water to the equation—when the shallower water heated from global warming, the Gulf Stream dispersed the waters throughout the Earth. The super current dove and disturbed the dense water in the depths of the ocean. The disturbance broke loose the fountains of the deep. For one-hundred-and-seventeen years, the water molecules expanded and filled the Earth. Then, naturally, the process reversed itself. The weight of the entire ocean compacted the molecules again. Those molecules returned to the deepest depths, and the dry land reappeared."

I gnaw on my bottom lip, my head nodding with understanding, my eyes staring off into space as I consider the future. For the first time, I'm excited about it. I'm excited about this brave new adventure.

But I need to work hard to remember my skills as a scientist, or get Abraham to give me another memory transfer.

"Now," he says, "make yourself at home while I awaken your companion."

My eyes flit up to his. Companion? A coworker or a friend? Or both? Or something else?

An eagerness to meet someone other than Abraham fills me with jittery nerves. When he departs from the commons room, he leaves me alone to my thoughts.

When I think of going down to the surface, I can't help but get up from the sofa and wander over to one of the large windows. I prop my elbows on the bottom frame and lean forward, my forehead pressing against the polycarbonate view port. One of my boots clicks up from the floor, balancing my foot on the tip of my toe. My gaze roams over the circle of the planet. What I see surprises me, but it shouldn't. The land mass has changed. Now, an enormous swath of dry ground presents itself to me. Instantly, I know I'm staring at the continents of Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia. We're orbiting the Earth at a high rate of speed, coming full circle about every ninety minutes. That means the land masses I saw when I first woke up were the North and South American continents.

Maybe my memory is coming back to me? Or the transfer Abraham gave me is just now taking effect? Either possibility seems plausible. After all, I had the flashback earlier. More of my past knowledge could be coming to light, or the strange memory helmet could have a delayed effect, the downloaded information seeping into my brain gradually. I'm not sure which, but at the moment, I don't care. Earth's panorama of rich brown terrain, sprinkled with verdant vegetation, surrounded by deep blue oceans, mesmerizes me, pulling me into an awe-inspired trance.

After my eyes have sifted over every inch of the globe, I notice my reflection in the window. I see short-cropped hair, the color of desert sand. My eyes appear dark in the glass, but I remember them as grayish blue. My chin takes a sharp angle as it connects to my jawline. According to what Abraham said about my university education and work experience, I determine my age somewhere in the mid-twenties. Then, like a jolt, I remember. I'm twenty-six years old. That's how old I was when I entered stasis. Nothing has changed since.

As I lose track of time, I sense close to an hour has passed since Abraham left. A few minutes later, the sound of gravity boots clanking up and down the corridor perks my ears. I listen intently and realize I hear two sets of boots. The clicks and clacks fall in line with each other, harmoniously drawing near the commons room.

Abraham rounds the corner in view of the archway but steps aside for the other person to enter first.

At first glimpse of her flaming red hair, the hardest lump wedges in my throat and refuses to go down. For a few heart thumping seconds, I can't help myself. My eyes follow her hair as it spirals past her shoulders. Light freckles sprinkle the fair skin of her lower arms where the sleeves of her gray jumpsuit stop. Her hazel irises—pale green with splatters of earthen brown—strike me with the most fragile look of innocence.

Her eyes widen as she senses my lingering gaze. Long lashes bat against each other, and her mouth parts. She glances down, and around, and over at Abraham before she looks at me again.

She's unaware of what I see.

Having just awakened from stasis, she's yet to grasp the who, what, when, the where and even the how of why she came to be here.

As if to help me with my awkward moment, Abraham facilitates the introductions. "Noah, I'd like you to meet Eve. Your wife."