Pulvirenti Giorgio - Proxima B

“Emily Parker!”

On this occasion, Andrew’s voice was a bit different due to the hour that he had spent scrolling through the list of the one thousand five hundred names on his tablet. The young girl went forth as she tried to conceal a little her emotion as well. She came up to her post, got her uniform and headed for her dormitory. The sorting was over. All the one thousand five hundred members had their own official roles in the project called For the benefit of all!

Each member had two hours to tidy one’s own belongings in his own accommodations, and then the introductory tour to the remaining buildings and structures of the base would start. Each room had been conceived to house two people belonging to the same professional category and, obviously, of the same sex. The structure was a six-story building, one per professional category. The first story was used as the area for engineers; the second story was used as the area for biologists; the third story was used as the area for chemists; the fourth story was used as the area for physicists; the fifth story was used as the area for doctors, and the last story was used as the area for soldiers. The large entry hall was furnished with dark leather sofas that were part of basic furniture that was designed in a modern style. Whenever members needed to reach any floor, they could make use of ten ultramodern and roomy lifts. Still, if someone used to avoid elevators, he could use service stairs as well. Finally, a huge hall that would be used as a canteen was arranged in the basement: every member would have one’s own breakfast, lunch and supper there.

David was busy tidying his own belongings and had already met the man who would be his new roommate throughout his stay. His name was Giovanni Rinaldi; he was an architect and engineer of Italian origin in his forties.

“You were telling me that your son’s name is Leo, isn’t it?” Giovanni asked David while arranging his things on his brand new bedside table. He was nearly finished doing that.

With a smile upon his face, David answered, “Yes, it is! He’s a pest, but I’ve always tried to bring him up quite strictly and I think I finally did.” He had a thick Montana accent. Then he kept on saying, “And what about you? Are you married? Do you have any children?”

“I’ve been married twice, but it was a failure on both occasions. As for children… No, unfortunately I don’t have any, but you know how much I’d like to have some, my friend,” the Italian architect replied in an almost regretful tone.

“You come from Montana, don’t you?” he asked David again. David turned to him and answered, “Yes, I am!” Then he asked him, “How do you know that?”

“Your accent is unique,” Giovanni added. That question stimulated David’s curiosity, so he wanted to take advantage of that moment in order to try to know as many things as he could about the person with whom he would share his room, and not just over the next five months.

“And what about you? Where are you from exactly?” the American engineer asked him.

“It’s a long story, my friend… My grandparents and my parents were of Italian origin, and I was born there too, in Genoa, precisely. I moved to the United States when I was nineteen, that is to say when I finished high school and decided to attend the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Boston. After graduating, I worked several years for a company in Boston, but then I decided to go back to Italy in order to start an architecture firm of which I’m still the owner and that is the top in its own sector and in my own country. Then I was summoned by New NASA Corporate and so, here I am! My ex-wife left me just because I’ve accepted to come back here in the United States to take part in this project.”

While he was uttering these words, he was not tidying his things. He had just finished doing that. “What’s your idea about this mission?” he finally asked David.

David, for his part, was caught off-guard by the question.

“Well, I’ve got to admit that taking such a decision wasn’t easy for me, either, especially due to my family, but, as I’ve already said to you, I’ve always helped save our planet. Unfortunately, I am very much like a drop in the ocean, and it seems to me that this mission is the only way to save our species from a certain doom.”

He had just uttered these words when a knock on his bedroom’s door was heard.

“Please, come in!” Giovanni said. One of the officers of New NASA Corporate appeared on the other side of the door.

“Everybody downstairs in ten minutes!”the bald man said. Then he closed the door.

“These are men each one uglier than the last,” Giovanni added ironically, which got a laugh from David as well, who was pleased in his heart to have met a new friend.

Upper floor, room 103. Jerry was glad to know that Karin, namely the funny Asian biologist whom he had first met during the sorting, would be his new roommate.

They were both arranging their own belongings in their own lockers in their rooms, and after choosing in which beds to sleep, they resumed the discussion they had started shortly before.

“So, how is Chicago?” Korin asked Jerry.

“I guess it’s not much different from the cities in Japan that you know,” he answered ironically. Then he continued by saying, “Tall buildings are everywhere, streets and air space are invaded by all kinds of means of transport. You know, I believe there’s nothing you haven’t already seen. As you told me, you were born in Osaka, weren’t you?”

The young Asian man did not hesitate to answer, and even if his English was not perfect, it was not so difficult to understand him.

“Exactly! But as I was telling you, I moved to England a few years ago in order to pursue my studies in biology in London, where I learned to speak your language as well.”

“And I must say that you speak it very well!” Jerry praised him.

Korin thanked him and asked him, “Do you live with your parents?”

Jerry answered, “I live with my mother. She’s a hyper-apprehensive woman and I had to struggle to persuade her to make me leave and take part in this mission. I think she’ll never accept my decision, but I hope we will meet again on Proxima B!”

“Every mother is like that… And what about your father?” the Osaka biologist kept on asking him. Jerry froze and it took him much longer than usual to answer.

“Unfortunately, he passed away when I was a child.”

Jerry uttered those words just sorrowfully; it was a sorrow that reemerged every time someone reminded him of his dead father. Korin realized that, too.

“Sorry, I didn’t know that,” the Asian guy tried to explain himself.

“Don’t worry. But tell me something about your family,” Jerry encouraged him.

“My dad and my mom still live with my grandparents in Osaka. My eldest brother, Jin, lives in Australia where he runs a domestic robot factory, whereas my sister Akiro, who is younger than me, has just moved to Tokyo in order to attend the Japan Art Academy. Her dream is to issue a graphic novel of hers,” the Asian guy told Jerry.

“I wish I had visited Japan once in my life,” Jerry said almost regretfully.

“You would have liked it, but look on the bright side. We’re going to land on what is our own planet! Can you believe it?” Korin’s voice was filled with excitement while he was uttering these words. “Come on, let’s get ready for seeing the whole complex!” he concluded.

Jerry followed his young comrade’s advice. They both got ready for leaving their room and start the tour.

Michael, Amelia, Abigail and Emily were staying in their own rooms on the upper floors. Each one of them would share it with one new comrade, so the time had come for each of the four people to meet their own roommates.

Michael was so surly and gruff that he felt he had to set him straight regarding who would be in command of that space of 216 square feet that he would share over the next five months.

Amelia immediately made friends with a Russian doctor that specialized in cardiology as well. Just like her, she was single and had no children.

Not even Abigail hesitated to make friends with Gloria, who was a young Spanish chemist that had just graduated with honors.

Emily was quite lucky, too. Just like her, Nicole was a soldier. She enlisted in the National Guard ( Garde Nationale ). Each comrade would be of a nationality other than that of one’s own country. And this was just the first evidence that New NASA Corporate had concocted for new guests, that is encouraging the integration between different people who shared their job, namely the sentiment that no peoples of the Earth had known for quite some time now.

The alarm clock indicated 7:59 AM and Jerry and Korin were still sleeping deeply. A minute later, there it is, on time: the electronic thingy began to ring like a symphonic orchestra and it woke Jerry first, then the young Asian biologist.

“Damn it, Vandcamp! Destroy that thing!” Korin muttered. He was referring to that deafening noise.

“I’ve been here for less than half an hour and I already hate this place!” Jerry exclaimed. He sat down on his bed, trying to understand what was going on.

Ten minutes later, all the members of the expedition gathered in the canteen. A hum was filling the room. People were talking to each other as they all were sitting at the table; a few others, including Michael, were still looking for a seat in order to have their breakfast and talk with their other colleagues.

Michael stood there and held a tray. He was getting ready to occupy one of the last vacant seats near the huge hall. The pilot took his seat at the same table where Jerry, Korin, David, Abigail and two other young chemists were already sitting. He took the central seat, and so he sat down between Jerry and David.

“Oh no! You again! You’re like a persecution!” Michael exclaimed in his usual “gentle” way, as it were, after identifying Jerry, who in return extended a kindly greeting.

“Where do you serve?” Abigail asked Michael with a hint of a smile. The question triggered the curiosity of those who were there, too.

“I am not a soldier!” Michael answered contemptuously while eating his eggs and bacon.

“Well, the patch on your uniform is brown, so you are supposedly a soldier!” Abigail echoed. Even if she knew she had bothered him, she kept on looking at him defiantly.

“It’s a wrong supposition, woman!” Michael replied, mocking her self-confidence. Then he concluded by saying, “I’m a retired U.S. Air Force pilot. Actually, I don’t even know why I’m here.” After that, he swallowed the last mouthful of food, stood up and went away, leaving the other members perplexed.

“Probably that man will have some problems with any other person. It doesn’t bode well,” David stated in his usual calmness before finishing his breakfast together with the other people.

That same morning all the members of the military department had reached their own sectors for a lesson on the equipment that they would have at their disposal during their expedition. The hall looked like a large lecture theater with large windows that let the light in on one side, making the place very bright. Probably this hall was previously used to hold some lectures or give some courses.

“As you have probably understood, our task in this mission is going to be both the easiest and the most difficult one. We’ll have to keep this people alive. We’ll be their bodyguards, their police, and their law. We can’t know what to expect once we’ve got there or what it could happen during the travel, but there is one thing we certainly know: we must be ready for anything!” Matthew cried out in front of his future fellow travelers.