The Island swayed left and right, or was it in a circle, perhaps it wasn't moving at all; but I could feel the pressure.
The air was cleaner, purified, earthlier out here in the darkness, however it was ironic how a man-made island felt earthlier than what was already there. the continents had over flowed; with what you may ask, well isn't it obvious, the parasite that had already infected the world, homo-sapiens, or as we know each other humans.
It felt good breathing in the natural air of the earth, it was more trustworthy. After the incident in 2021, wars had broken out and it was chaotic, the body count was soaring during the periods of 2025, when we had exceeded the earths limit of plastic, well that had happened in 2020, but only after America drowned did the other nations snap their eyes open. Later on, all the countries formed a new allegiance in which scientists, engineers, doctors, politicians and almost everyone had dedicated their efforts to restoring balance to earth, as well as, forming plans on how other planets can become habituative. Eventually, a plan was made and at first people had to travel by spaceships to reach the other two planets, known as habitat 1 and 2, otherwise known as Mars and Jupiter. However, as time progressed and us, humans advanced, these huge tunnels formed and fast-moving trains were made that run on the energy of plasma. It was a scientific breakthrough, and who else to succeed with such a discovery then the man himself, Mr. Fane Munteanu. Mr. Fane Munteanu was a widowed father of one son, Lucian Munteanu; his wife, Bianca, had passed away on a mission to domesticate Jupiter. Thanks to her sacrifice we managed to invent a cure on how to make Jupiter a suitable place for just us. On the other hand, the moon was formed as the headquarters for space, or rather a command central for everywhere. Not to mention the fact that; Venus was also being explored, but Venus is too close to the sun; heating a planet was no big of a deal for the scientists, though cooling a planet now that was harsh.
"Miss Martin, Mrs. Rozalia Canmore will see you now", I snapped out of my memories and started to walk towards the gigantic cream-colored building in front of me.
Mrs. Rozalia was the scientist in charge of the sanctions on Earth. Meeting her was an honour and almost impossible, anyone, that had ever left this building had always left with a promotion.
The clicking of my heels against the marble floor was making it seem like a dream. A sweet sweet dream the charcoal walls gave a sense of dread, after all, I was meeting a world head, perhaps that was the reason for the intimidating bodyguards one foot apart from one another and the elongated hallway. And a single marble door at the end. Once I reached the end, I realized there was no doorknob, I examined the door a whole but I had no idea on how I was supposed to open it. I looked at the guard that was dressed in full white.
"Umm excuse me Mrs. Canmore is expecting me" I whispered unsure if she had cancelled our appointment. The guard nodded and raised his hand onto the door and the door hummed lightly then a tiny scanner appeared. He nodded in its direction and I carefully placed my light hand onto the scanner, the usual green light came up and scanned my hand a little screen appeared at my eye level and words started appearing.
Miss Veronica Martin, head scientist of the southeast wing of habitat 2. Sorry for the delay you may enter once you have gone through a full physical scan to ensure you carry no virus that may mutate within this facility. Do you agree with the scan?
Unsure, I nodded.
"You have to speak" a grumbled voice spoke it had come from behind. Shocked I turned and saw a man around my age, he had blue eyes and brown hair and looked remarkably familiar. he gestured to the screen with his hand and waited for me to continue. I wasn't aware that Mrs. Rozalia was expecting people other than me. Shrugging I confirmed my approval again this time verbally, all the while thinking on who that man was and how he was so stealthy. Once the door opened, I walked into an empty room with two simple boards in the middle parallel to one another ran big enough for a person to fit into, I immediately recognized from my facility, it was a scanner, so this is a physical, on my habitat, it's known as a scan. There was a screen on top of the scanner, and as I read the text, I felt dread, as I realized that the only this scan was going to occur, if I was nude, at least on my facility you can be fully clothed. Not to mentions the fact that I had forgotten about this tiny detail and wore one of my professional dresses. Well, this is going to take time.
Once the scan was finished and I finally managed to zip my dress up a door opened up showing yet another elongated corridor.
After cursing my heels and myself I finally reached the door with yet no handle. Just as the guard had shown me, I carefully laced my hand onto the door and yet another text appeared.
Miss Veronica Martin, head scientist of the south east wing of habitat 2 you are late for your appointment with Mrs. Rozalia Canmore. Due you take full responsibility for your tardiness
"No", I scoffed. First, they have the stupid corridors, then the scan and now it is suddenly my fault.
It had been a full minute and the door finally opened. I was starting to worry that I had said something wrong, maybe I should've just said yes.
Finally, entering the room, there was a table in a corner with a secretary. I carefully walked to her. She gave me a tablet with a contract which I had to sign. I scrolled to the bottom and signed, it was a simple contract that simply stated that I was invited and that I came here willingly, it was company policy for any habitat and facility, every guest had to sign it. I handed it back to the pretty lady sitting there, she was pretty, ginger and green eyes, and a name tag saying, Cassandra Manuel. I immediately recognized the name and felt the colour drain from my face, as she updated the system. She looked up at me a bit confused.
"The door is that way" her voice kind though, considering her previous employer. I nodded and headed off to the wall, and placed my hand, but this time the door opened right up. I took careful steps into the room. It wasn't like the others, it was warmer and had an ocean aesthetic, with the brightly colored blue floor and the darkness of the sky it felt like I was on the beach n a cold winter night.
"So why were you tardy Miss Martin?", it was an icy tone that sent chills down my spine.
I carefully turned, to see Mrs. Rozalia staring into my soul, she seemed pissed. Her chocolate colored skin appeared a bit flushed, her brown curly hair was open, and her black eyes, were just as dark as the black abyss of space.
"Well, it seems we've come to an agreement Mrs. Canmore, until next time", said the familiar voice it was the man that had told me about the door. He seemed to be leaving through an open door to the far opposite of mine.
Without lifting her eyes off me she nodded and spoke, this time with a kind and warm tone "it seems we have Mr. Munteanu "
I was astounded to hear that name, but Mr. Munteanu was over 50 years old, so this was his son. He nodded in, my direction and exited.
Mrs. Rozalia icy tone had returned "you didn't answer"
"Pardon" I whispered fearing for my life, my voice was shaky and wimpy.
"I asked then why were you tardy"
She had received the message great. "Oh, umm it was because of scan and the corridors, I wasn't aware of the place" I argued.
She took a breath, then looked down and looked up at me again, and uttered the few words that turned my life upside down.
"Your fired" she stated in a calm and unfazed voice. It felt like someone had knocked the air out of me, but why that was my question. Before I could utter a syllable, she continued.
"The reason for your unemployment in not your tardiness, but the fact that you allowed an unsupervised tier 1 operate the tunnel leading from your sanction to the northern one. If my son had not been amongst the scientists, we would have lost a lot of world leaders. I understand it was because you were busy with a scientific breakthrough, fazing. Fazing through space will save us a thousand light years and you will be rewarded, but your methods were a bit primitive, it is understandable that at the age of 25 you wish to accomplish a lot. Yet, you could've destroyed the whole of habitat 2, with your last experiment. We move people, not planets. Jupiter would nit have survived that jump, and yet again if my son had not turned the machine off it would have been catastrophic." She took a pause and looked at me, looking for a reaction. I did not give one.
"However, we will not leave you unemployed, you are being offered a job at the Fane University. You can train the minds of the young and perform miniscule researches with me allowing. And you will stay here on Earth, as we cannot allow you to return to your home planet, until a psych evaluation and residency here for at least 3 years, Miss Martin do you agree to the job?"
I simply stared at her and nodded.
What choice did I have?