The Cartographer Collection

4. Men Are From Mars…-2

“My background?” I snorted. “What background is that; my wonderful cave diving failures or my ability to kick a*s in Guitar Hero?”

Satou shook his head, stepped out of the room and was gone. I was alone with my thoughts inside my makeshift bedroom among my makeshift belongings. The longer I stared at the closed door, the more I believed I had been imprisoned rather than accommodated.

I switched on the computer and watched it start with the familiar Windows jingle. Apparently Microsoft"s dominance in the operating system world extended to space. Familiar icons mixed with the unknown on the screen but it was the desktop wallpaper that caused a lump to form in my throat. It was a picture of me flanked by my parents during a trip to Corpus Christi last year. My father had his arm around me and I was frozen in an eye roll between him and my mother with the Gulf of Mexico providing the backdrop. It was one of the rare times that my overly busy parents had some free time and decided to take me on vacation. Although our relationship wasn"t the greatest, I still felt a warm wetness rim my eyes, and fought to beat back the tears.

I wiped the blurriness from my eyes and stared at the screen. One icon stood out among the rest: Helios Protocol. I clicked on it and watched paragraphs and diagrams splash across the screen. Despite the enormous amount of data, it was only the first section that interested me.

Helios ProtocolEvacuation Protocol

*INITIATION

-In the event of invocation of Helios Protocol, the source planet must be deemed total catastrophic loss. Upon initiation, repopulation of indigenous species is priority one. Consortium High Prince to be advised of situation. Defense Fleet and Explorer"s League will be dispatched for reconnaissance, protection and relocation of assets. Direct interference in events on the planet surface is prohibited unless absolutely necessary to fulfill mission. Always verify compatibility of host planet to make sure assets will adapt and survive.

-In the event of invocation of Helios Protocol, the source planet must be deemed total catastrophic loss. Upon initiation, repopulation of indigenous species is priority one. Consortium High Prince to be advised of situation. Defense Fleet and Explorer"s League will be dispatched for reconnaissance, protection and relocation of assets. Direct interference in events on the planet surface is prohibited unless absolutely necessary to fulfill mission. Always verify compatibility of host planet to make sure assets will adapt and survive.*RELOCATION

-As soon as the host planet is identified, relocation of source assets will begin immediately. The Science Unit, under the direction of the Head Ambassador, will work with assets in establishing a functioning culture, basic survival skill training, insertion of wildlife/flora and rudimentary industrial skills. The Science Unit is responsible for making sure any DNA samples exhausted are replenished and stored following proper storage protocols.

-As soon as the host planet is identified, relocation of source assets will begin immediately. The Science Unit, under the direction of the Head Ambassador, will work with assets in establishing a functioning culture, basic survival skill training, insertion of wildlife/flora and rudimentary industrial skills. The Science Unit is responsible for making sure any DNA samples exhausted are replenished and stored following proper storage protocols.*MAINTENANCE

-Once relocation has been completed, Engineering will establish monitoring hardware, software and transceivers to allow Consortium follow ups as necessary. All follow up maintenance will be under the direction of the Lead Engineer. Portals only allowed under Commander of Explorer"s League approval.

-Once relocation has been completed, Engineering will establish monitoring hardware, software and transceivers to allow Consortium follow ups as necessary. All follow up maintenance will be under the direction of the Lead Engineer. Portals only allowed under Commander of Explorer"s League approval.“Evacuation protocol?” I whispered at the computer, as if I expected an answer. “That must have been what happened with Mars.”

I closed the file and flipped through more programs, and immediately recognized some—Solitaire, Minesweeper, chess—games that were meant to keep me entertained during the voyage. I dug further and came across a game I played many times at home. Seeing the familiar logo brought a smile to my face.

“Awesome, they have Angry Birds.” The game popped up on my screen, with the red bird loaded and waiting to be launched.

I stared at the screen in amazement and thought the computer had read my mind by starting the game for me. I closed my eyes and let images of chess float around in my mind, concentrating on the queen blocking the king for checkmate and opened my eyes. The red bird was still on the screen, waiting to be launched. I scratched my head in bewilderment but the red bird continued to stare at me, begging to be launched at the snickering pigs.

“What the heck?” I rubbed my eyes in frustration before a thought came to me. Could the computer be voice activated?

“Chess.” No sooner had I said the word when all of a sudden I stared at the black side of a chess board. Your move, read the screen.

Your move“That"s pretty neat.” I cleared the screen, and once again stared at the sea of icons. My feelings of unease ebbed, and for the first time since I woke up in Satou"s strange lab, I relaxed. I was about to shut off the computer when a program piqued my interest. It was just two simple words, but it"s uniqueness among the other programs made it stand out and grab my attention.

The Map.

The MapI expected something resembling a map to pop up on the screen. Instead I came face-to-face with a question.

What is the most luminous object in the universe?

What is the most luminous object in the universe?“What the hell?” I muttered.

The cursor on the screen flashed at me, waiting for me to type in the answer. I scratched my head and rubbed my eyes. The only thing I thought of was the sun.

I typed in s-u-n but hesitated for a moment over the enter key. Wait a minute, that"s not right, I thought, and deleted the word. My tongue poked between my lips in a comical imitation of thought. I keyed in another word.

s-u-nenterWait a minute, that"s not rightQuasar.

Quasar.I hit enter and waited. The computer hummed as the hard drive processed the answer.

Congratulations. You have level one clearance.

Congratulations. You have level one clearance.The screen momentarily went black and I leaned forward with concern. I wondered if I"d broken something but then a sentence splashed across the screen.

The desert eye that can be seen from the sky. This Richat Structure cannot see, but is located here.

The desert eye that can be seen from the sky. This Richat Structure cannot see, but is located here.I placed my hands on my head and leaned back in the chair. I may have scored a 2200 on my SAT and could outthink most of the kids in class, but this particular brain teaser was on an entirely different level. Waving my hands in exasperation, I typed the first thing I could think of.

Sahara.

Sahara.More vibrations sprang from the bowels of the computer as it processed the information. I assumed I was incorrect and reached over to switch off the computer but stopped when another message flashed across the screen.

Level two complete. Welcome, Cartographer.

Level two complete. Welcome, Cartographer.The message vanished and was replaced with a map. It resembled no map I had ever seen, however. When I glanced at the symbols and locations, I soon realized it was much different from a map of New Mexico, New York or New Zealand.

It was a map of the universe.