The Experiment by Christopher Costanza Read Free Book Online Page B

eventually straighten it out?”
    “I don’t know… but it’s so strange…”
    Then she rolled her eyes. “I’m glad Horus is so happy about this.”
    We both laughed and I said “Yeah I know… he’sprobably drooling at the chance to study us.”
    Horus sighed and interjected “Alright, as fascinating as this is, the three of us can discuss it later. We have to report to the main deck for orientation. But don’t pay too much attention… It’s revised and edited for those with the least amount of clearance. I’ll have a lot more to tell all of you once we’re in private.”
    He walked away and we immediately looked at each other.
    “What do you think he means?”
    Sara said “I’m not sure, but he’s really high-up in the ACI, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out we’re going to be involved in something highly classified.”
    … He did go out of his way to mention that my clearance would be above the Commanders… I didn’t tell Sara, but it had to mean we were about to be let in on something big.
    She said “Are you feeling better?”
    “Yeah, I feel great now, let’s go.”
    The Sirius was so large, it seemed like half an hour before we finally made it to the elevator leading up to the main deck… I already missed the asirium hall… This ship wasn’t at all like the Aurora at all. There was almost no asirium anywhere. It was completely closed in; there was nothing but metal, bolts, doors, control panels, terminals and some type of strange lighting that actually bothered my eyes…
    I was starting to realize that most of the ship wasactually pretty dreary…
    Sara and I walked side by side the whole way and I wanted to say something… I just couldn’t find the words… This was far beyond confusing.
    It was actually painful to be next to her and not be able to embrace her or show any affection… I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t even know her and it was just a side effect of stasis. Like Horus said, different people experience different things… It wasn’t real…
    Eventually, we were all led into a massive auditorium; the other teams were beginning to show up as well.
    After we found seats, I looked over at Sara and I could tell both of us felt the same around each other now; confused and somewhat uncomfortable. Hopefully this would just fade away and our minds would return to reality.
    I liked her from the moment I met her and I didn’t want this to ruin any kind of relationship we might have. I just hoped she didn’t avoid me from now on or anything like that…
    She touched my shoulder and said “Don’t feel weird, it’s fine. We can’t help it; we just have to remember it’s all in our minds. There’s no need for you to act uncomfortable around me I promise… We were obviously going to become friends anyway. Right?”
    I smiled and said “Yeah I know… Thanks for saying itthough.”
    So maybe I was wrong… I guess I was the only one who felt strange. I suppose it could be that as a scientist she was able to better understand what had happened and rationalize it. She probably looked at it more like something to study… I guess that made me feel a little better.
    Once the other teams all arrived, Horus made his way through the crowd and up to the front of the room.
    “Ok everyone, let’s begin… We are less than one hour away from X-451. Once we have arrived, the Sirius will orbit the planet and scan for air, water, and land quality, along with deposits of chrysos… Once it’s confirmed that the environment is in fact similar to Aeris, we will begin sending the teams down. This will take approximately one day, which on this planet consists of around 24 hours, just like Aeris… Please take this time to explore the ship and settle in. Work begins as soon as possible… Expect long hours.”
    He paused and cleared his throat. “On a more unfortunate note… We have detected no satellites or space stations of any kind, so it’s safe to conclude there is no