It was unusual for Garrett to be up during the early hours of the morning, but he was unable to sleep. So he had showered and starting cooking breakfast when he was interrupted by his sister.
“Mom!! Get a camera, quick! Garrett is cooking breakfast!” she yelled down the hallway as she slid into the kitchen with a smile across her face. She half stumbled, half slid as she made her way across the slick wooden floor in her socks to give her older brother a hug. Garrett brought her small frame into his side with his left arm while he continued stirring the diced potatoes with his right hand.
“Just because I don’t cook doesn’t mean I can’t.” He said keeping her pinned against his side till she had to push her way out of his grip. Even then he kept her trapped, forcing her to use more strength in her effort to free herself. Suddenly he let her go. She fell backward, her feet uselessly sliding on the wooden floor. Her arms flailed out, trying to take hold of anything that would keep her from hitting the ground. Garrett quickly grabbed her arm and Serenity latched onto him, digging her nails into his forearm as he yanked her up.
Finally able to get traction with her socks, she glared at him with gray green eyes and gave one final squeeze with her nails before letting go of his arm.
“You’re an ass Garrett.” She huffed as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice.
“I just saved your life Serenity, you could have hit your head and died.” Garrett retorted while he finished the potatoes and eggs.
“I wouldn’t have hit the ground that hard.”
“No but Mom said that if she had to take you to the hospital again because of those socks, she would break you in half herself.” They both laughed as they set the table and started to dish up the food.
“I may not get the chance to punish you again for wearing those socks Serenity, because seeing Garrett up this early AND cooking breakfast means I must have died last night in my sleep.”
Everyone was laughing between bites of potatoes and eggs, but the laughter quickly died when Tasha mentioned the children’s father.
“There is some mail that came yesterday for you Garrett. It looks like its from your father.”
Garret quickly turned cold when his mother mentioned his fater. The man may be his father, but it was years since he was acknowledge as his son. None the less, he knew the man that raised him during the early years of his youth, before he had become more devoted to work than family. He remembered the patient man that showed him how to interpret DNA sequences and that would go out into the woods to study the animals. The few trips they went on together were some of the fondest memories of his father. A sincere, gentle and respectable man. It was for the possibility of getting that man back, which urged Garrett to accept the letter.
Garrett pushed away from the kitchen table, ran up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. As soon as he entered he began giving verbal commands. “Adele, recieve encrypted message from Awaken.”
“Message has been recieved.”
“Play message.”
“Redondo Pier, five thirty am. December fourteenth, Twenty Twenty. End of message.”
“Adele, play the full message.”
“Redondo Pier, five thirty am. December fourteenth, Twenty Twenty. End of message.”
“Are there any attached files?”
“No.”
“Nothing else?”
“Nothing else Garrett. Would you like me to begin your ‘Dreadful Times’ playlist?”
“Thank you Adele, volume nine please.”
“Of course Garrett. First song is ‘Climbers Touch’ by Broken Stone. Adjusting lighting and sound.”
Garrett sank into the chair next to the window. He gazed out into the forest beyond the glass as the blinds turned to dim the room. Adele was in control of them as well as every other electronic device he owned. Garrett was apart of ‘Gen One’ the first test subjects to be imprinted with an artificial intelligence. It was because of Garretts father that he was accepted into the program. Without his father’s presence in the scientific community, he would never have been imprinted with Adele. Without her, he would be lost.
“Adele, display Galaxy Delta 92648.”
“Galaxy Delta 92648 displayed in real time. What would you like to focus on today?”
As Adele spoke, the room dimmed even further till complete darkness. All of a sudden, pin pricks of light with waves of magnificent color were displayed in the center of the room.
“Focus on the Mid-way sun.”
The pinpricks exploded, flying off to the edges of the room leaving one small solar system left in view. The system housed two dozen planets circling a brilliant blue sun. Garrett watched the eigth planet as it slowly spun in place, clouds swirling over the dark blue and green surface.
Mile 29 