One Rotation

Reunited With Juneville

I wake up early the next morning, and I brush my hair out.  I slip on my dress, and put the cardigan on.  I put my belt on, and slip the gun into the holster.  I slip my heels on, and check the clock. It is eight, and it is time to go to the reunion.  I hail a cab at the hotel, and tell the cabbie to drive me to the school.  The man nods, and drives me there in silence.  When we get there I pay him what he is due, and get out.  I walk in the doors of my high school, and look around.  I walk into the gym, and see people that I haven’t seen, or talked to in a long time.  I recognize a few people. But a lot of the people have changed a lot.  A person who I don’t remember comes at me, and hugs me tight.  “Molly,” she says, “its Dana.”  I don’t remember who she is, but I nod and smile back.  She lets go, and walks away.  My old principle walks onto the stage and begins to talk.  “Hello!  I am going to bring up the top five people from your graduating class, and we will see where they are now.  Can I have Alex, Molly, Jane, Luther, and Swarthe come up here please?”  I let out a huff, and walk up the stairs.  We stand in a line, and Alex starts to talk.  “Well, I moved to Illinois after college, and now I am the CEO of the state bank.”  Everyone claps for him, and Jane starts to talk quickly.  “Well,” she says, “I started the new restaurant called Pizza plaza.  It is an organic and all natural restaurant.”  I roll my eyes, and a few people clap for her.  Luther steps forward next, and starts to talk in a quiet voice.  “Well, I was a lawyer, but I just got elected into the Senate.”  I clap to that one, and I realize that he was the first person from our graduating class to do something worth telling everyone about.  Swarthe was the next to person to talk, and she talks with a lot of power.  “I invented the solar car engine, and got a doctorate.” She says, and I know that I am the next person to talk.

I step forward, and start my talk.  “Um well after I graduated high school I went into the FBI and a while later I got injured, so I could no longer be on the FBI team.  I went to college, and became an aerospace engineer. I just finished training at NASA headquarters, and I will be going to the moon in two months.  I am the leader of the mission, which is called Mission Zero, and we will head to the moon in July.”   Everyone claps, and the ground shakes a tiny bit.  The lights flicker, and my ear piece gets a call.  I put my hand up, and the room quiets.  I put my finger to my ear, and talk quietly in Russian.  I talk to Mr. Nostra for a moment, and then say goodbye.  I turn back to the crowd, and start to talk.  “I was just talking to NASA, and we have plunged into a temporary planetary alignment.  The plants will all go past us, and they will be the closest they have ever come to us.  We do not know what will happen, but we will be in darkness for the next three days.  In an hour we will be passing Neptune, and Neptune’s atmosphere is poisonous.” 

I divide the people into five teams, and I give each team a different job.  The teams are gold, red, blue, black, and orange. I call out orders, and everyone listens to me.  “Now I want team gold to stay here with me, and I want team red to go find food.  Team blue will find things for sleeping, and black needs to board up the windows.  Orange needs to board up the doors, and I will assign one person for each team.  I will be in charge of team gold, and I want Alex to be in charge of team red.  Jane is in charge of team blue and Luther is in charge of team black.  Swarthe will be in charge of orange, and go work now.”  They nod to me, and get to work.  I tell my team that we will be getting people from the town to the school where they will be safe.  I tell them to gather people from their homes, and to tell the people to bring food from their homes with them.  Also, they need to be back in thirty minutes to make sure that we are all safe.  I run out of the school, and run to the nearest house.

The sky is dark, even though it is maid-day.  I turn around, and look to the sky.  To the north of me, is Neptune.  It is a bright blue color, and I could stare at it all day, if I had the time.  I don’t have the time, so I turn away from it.  I knock on the door of the first house, but no one answers. They are either gone, or hiding somewhere.  I kick the door, and it flies open.  I reach to my holster, and get my gun out.  People do crazy things, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt.  I keep the safety on, and walk into the house.  There is a staircase right inside the door, and I run up them.  I see a family at the top of the stairs, and they shrink back when they see me.  I put the gun away, and tell them that I am here to help.  I tell them to grab all the water and food that they can, and to make their way to the school.  They nod to me, and thank me, and walk down the stairs.  I run down the stairs after them, and run out of the house.  The next house I see is a large apartment building.  It is two stories, and I should be able to clear it within five minutes.