Fusia

Chapter 4

Once we get to the mess hall we find empty seats to occupy. A few minutes later the door opens and we all stand as High Honor Rowe takes center stage. After he scans the room to see all attending besides those taking care of the children, who will have a meeting after ours, he lifts his left fist signaling for us to sit.

"My fellow colony citizens. It's been over a month now since we witnessed the unthinkable. Earth is gone. . . along with all those that stayed behind to fight for our home. It is with great sadness that we have all lost so much. Our planet, our homes, our family members, your spouses. We have already held a ceremony for the lives lost. I want to thank you all for not panicking, for trying your best to adapt to our new lives. As you all know we weren't the only colony. Some colonies went into chaos, destruction, violence and mass suicide. None of the colonies were prepared for long term which sent a lot of other colonies into a frenzy. I want to thank all of you for staying strong and for understanding why our rations were cut after Earths destruction. We have been keeping in touch with the surviving colonies and Global Official Leaders to formulate a plan. Some of the colonies have gone missing due to communication malfunction, some to their own destruction and unfortunately a great deal due to the unknown aliens that attacked Earth. This morning the settlement on Mars that we were headed to was conquered by our unknown enemy." A collective gasp and oh no's filled the room. High Honor Rowe lifted his left hand to silence the room. "Hush please! I understand this is unsettling news but please understand that the Global Officials are trying to keep you all safe. Last night the Leaders have contacted the remaining colonies with a plan. The Leaders have decided to separate the colonies into looking for planets that are safe for human to inhabit. While we are searching we will also be looking into keeping life sustainable on the ships. Our agriculture department is already looking into maintaining and expanding produce. Unfortunately we don't have the room to expand livestock but we might be able to expand the count on chickens. We may need to adapt to a more vegetarian lifestyle as meat is very limited after we run out of REI's. We only have a few months worth of REI's left. As you all know each of the cots in the unit loungings are equipped with cyrosleep technology that was installed for emergencies. A great majority of this colonies citizens will undergo cyrosleep at the end of the week. We are asking for volunteers to stay awake. Any volunteer that chooses will be expected to help with the agriculture sector, maintaining the ship, or help with the search. Volunteers with children have a choice to pick guardian for the children and put them in cyrosleep or keep them awake with you. It may be years, or generations before we are able to wake the citizens but we do need some children to stay awake so they can take over our mission in case things take longer. Which why we are initiating cyrosleep in a few days. The night cyrosleep will be initiated we will have one big colony meal. The recreation hubs will all be open until 2100. All citizens undergoing cyrosleep needs to turn in leftover rations before our shared meal and be in their cots by 2130. Those with babies, the babies are allowed and safe to cyrosleep on your chest and toddlers on your side. There will be a team going down each corridor to initiate cyrosleep to each cot. Those that will stay awake will move loungings so they don't have to hare with those that are sleeping. The reassignment will be made the night before. Any questions?"

Holy s**t!! Cyrosleep? I look over at Leon and he seems somewhat surprised but not really at the same time. Leaning over me to whisper to Leon, Liz whispers, "Umm, you don't look completely surprised big bro. Are you part of the awake team or. . .?"

"We will talk in your loungings after we get the kids!" Leon whispers back as he grabs Maria's hand and motions to leave.

"You know we might have to watch Gareth tonight so them two can have some alone time!" Liz tells me in a sing-song tone. Rolling my eyes I nudge her to leave with me. "I guess we'll talk to Rowe later then!"

Liz and I make way to our loungings as Leon and Maria get the kids. We both stay silent for awhile as we move along the corridors. I'm stuck thinking about the Eden I dreamed of a few hours ago. I wonder if that's another premonition or just me hoping we don't get stuck living on a ship until we die. Should I talk to Leon about it? Only my siblings know of my cognizant. Well our parents did too but. . .

Siting on my cot I'm shaken out of my trance when Ashlyn jumps on me. "Hey baby girl, did you have fun at the rec corridor?"

"Yep!" She says with a big smile as she tries to tell me all about her fun with some words and some gibberish. Oh she melts my heart. I look up to see Alaric looking far off. Sometimes I wonder if he's cognizant as well.

"Hey buddy, what do you see?" Leon says as he crouches down to look Alaric in the eye.

"A waterfall and some weird birds!" He says then looks to me. "Momma, did you see them? They're really pretty." Leon turns to look at me with wide questioning eyes.

I nodded and with a smile replied, "Actually I did. I saw them in my dream. Y'all were playing in the water with huge smiles."

"Yea, it looks like a lot of fun momma, Maria had a huge tummy." Laughing he looks to Maria. "I think we are going on a trip and you and uncle Leon will become a mommy and daddy." At this comment both Maria and Leon blushed. Liz, Wye and I all burst out laughing.

Leon gets up, walks over to Maria, embraces her and gives her a kiss. "That sounds good to me!" He says with a boyish smile. She bats at his arm and tries to hide her face. Our shared lounging is covered in laughter at this point.

Once we all settle down we start discussing the whole cyrosleep ordeal. "No Liz, I am not part of the awake team. I will be going into sleep because when we wake they will need a Medic. As there's only four Medics on the ship, my second and third will be awake. Myself and the fourth will go to sleep. I was a bit surprised because, as far as I knew, it was all just suggestions until Rowe announced it this afternoon. Rowe will also be going to sleep. Some of the older orphans will be required to stay awake and train to carry out the mission. I was told to ask you three to discuss with Wye if he wants to sleep or stay awake."

Maria, Liz and I all look towards Wye. He looks as lost in thought as we are about all this.

"While y'all were in your meeting us older kids were also told a bit of what's to happen. Some of the guys are talking about staying awake and some of the girls are considering. We were told that those that stay awake will train to take over and that we might not get to see humanities new home but our grandchildren might." He fell into silence for a few moments. "I don't know if I want to sleep with you guys or stay awake. Y'all have become more family to me than I've ever had but at the same time . . . what if I can help save the colony?"