The Mendelssohnian Theory: Action Adventure, Sci-Fi, Apocalyptic ,Y/A (11 page)

Adam was taken aback by the sound of human commotion that rose to
his ears upon entering the dining room. Jewel selected a side table and sat
down. Adam hurried to sit in front of her. Like all the tables in the spacious
dining hall, their table included two standard Dryfood printers (Dryfood Inc.
©). Adam had gotten used to the processed food and even learned to appreciate
it. In fact, the last time he had eaten a different type of food, apart the
time he was running away and had to steal food, was as a child in the Jewish
Reservation and the time that’d passed since then seemed like an eternity. He
typed his order on his hand, a mixed dish of beef, sautéed vegetables
and noodles. The printer nearest to him immediately began to operate. Jewel
ordered her own dish and they both waited for the printers to finish their work
and for the food to be served, hot and fresh. Meanwhile, Adam examined the
dining room without lingering with his gaze on the diners, not wanting to
arouse their suspicion or disturb their privacy. His senses and sensors
gathered information and cataloged their findings, just as he’d been trained to
do during the first two months of his stay in the England training facility.
Elizabeth had dedicated the first few weeks of his training for the teaching of
filing methods and memory improvement in his brain processor, now he applied
the knowledge he’d received with ease. Behind them sat two men who appeared to
be mining laborers, judging by their dress and their coarse hands. Three
software engineers sat next to the nearest table, staring at Jewel. Adam felt a
pang of anger, but a sense of pride snuck its way into his heart and melted his
rage. After all, he was the one sitting with her, while they could merely look
from afar. Like all other passengers, those next to him protected themselves by
activating an anti-brain spy software (Brain’s Spy Block ©) that blocked
information theft or loss. Each of the ones present had his own reasons to
prefer anonymity and they all respected each other’s wishes. Adam fluttered
with his sensors over the entire area, something that the other passengers in
the hall must have been doing as well, but did not try to interface with any of
them. Elizabeth had explained to him that the lower level was called the John
Doe Level, or the information blockers level.

One of the engineers leaned toward his friends, pointed at
Adam and Jewel’s table and whispered something that his companions found to be
funny. It seemed to Adam that their laughter was wicked and demeaning. He
frowned at them, but that only served to bring about another round of giggling.

“You need to learn some acting skills,” said Jewel, drawing
him away from his suspicions.

“Acting?” Adam wondered, “why acting?”

“If you think you’re fooling anyone by pretending to be
indifferent while being tense and constantly checking your surroundings, think
again.” Adam was surprised by the ease with which Jewel was able to read right
through him. Was he really that obvious?

“I’m not tense,” he said and attempted a smile.

“No, you’re not,” laughed Jewel, “and I’m the leader of the
Ku Klux Clan.” Adam searched his memory to discover who the Ku Klux Clan was,
but before he was able to locate the entry in the database, Jewel told him:
“Look, I can give you some basic lessons if you’d like.”

“Lessons? Acting lessons?” he asked, unsure of her intent.

“Yes,” Jewel explained, “I’m an actress, or used to be one,
before they sent me here on a one way trip,” a shadow passed over Jewel’s face,
but she immediately regained her composure and emanated a forced smile at Adam.
“This is a lesson in ‘I don’t give a fuck’,” she said and gave the finger to
the engineers’ table who immediately turned serious and grouchy. Adam calmed
down and laughed.

“So you were an actress?”

“Yes,” answered Jewel.

“Really?” Adam was impressed, “and you’ve acted in real
movies?”

Jewel seemed elated, Adam’s admiration of her profession
flattered her ego in the way only the love of an audience can flatter actors.
“What you call ‘real’,” she explained, “is actually high budgeted movies, but
there are other movies, with a lesser budget. It’s a bit difficult to explain,
but I’ll try. You have the Movie Corporation, which produces many high-quality
movies with a large budget. They also dominate the movies that are distributed
on the web. Aside from that, there are the corporate and private web-games and
the independent movies that are being produced in almost underground conditions
and with very low budgets.”

“Which type were you in?” asked Adam and Jewel smiled again,
happy with his interest.

“The corporate movies hardly have any human actors in them,”
she said, scorn dripping from her words,” I acted in real movies.” Her words
sounded mysterious to Adam, but he did not insist on receiving further
explanations. She will elaborate if she wants to. Without noticing, he pecked
at the remains of his food with his fork. Jewel fascinated him. She was
different and mysterious, more so than anyone else he had met in his life. She
emanated a sense of self-assurance mixed with a fine sense of self-humor. At
first, he thought she was about his age, perhaps slightly older. Now he felt he
needed to reevaluate her age through the engineering screen that changed the
chronological number of the years she had lived. “Let’s get out of here,” Jewel
broke their silence. “I’m tired of the looks the Neanderthal wise guys at the
table next to us are giving me. These engineers who spend their entire days
dealing with numbers can bore you to death.” Adam was happy to learn she’d
recognized them as boring software engineers as well. He tried to find further
information about her on the web, but couldn’t come up with anything for some
reason. He assumed she did not want to be found and ceased his searching. Jewel
got up and began to walk toward the exit of the dining hall. Adam watched her
while she walked, aware of the many other stares that followed her, admiring
her upright posture and her gazelle-like gait. He rose to follow her and with a
tranquil air exited the hall as well, not in any hurry to catch up with her,
certain she would wait for him in the hallway once she was finished with her
runway show. He knew she was toying with him, but couldn’t guess what game she
was playing. Surprisingly, that only served to increase his attraction to her.
In the same natural way that surprised him time and again since he’d met her. Jewel
held his arm, slightly leaning on him and, at the same time, trapping him lest
he escape. The thought of escaping did not cross his mind. Goosebumps covered
his skin beneath the protective suit and he hoped she would not sense his
trembling, but at the same time wanted her to sense it. They wandered slowly
through the corridors, appreciating the perfect silence. When they returned to
the cabin, they discovered Don had already closed his wall partition. Jewel
went into the bathroom and Adam opened his bed and lay on it. When she got out
of the restroom, she drew nearer and sat beside him. He moved aside and made
some room for her on the narrow bed. “I didn’t act in movies. I acted in
reality,” she said quietly.

“I don’t get it,” said Adam, “what kind of game are you
playing?”

“The most dangerous one,” answered Jewel, and Adam sensed
that she could hardly speak, “I played with people.” She lay next to him, her
back touching his chest, her face turned away from him. He clung to her and she
sent a hand to hold his body. Excitement began to well within Adam. He did not
dare to move and tried, unsuccessfully, to breathe as little as possible, not
wanting to disturb the intimate moment. Gently, as if this wasn’t his first
time, he raised his arm and wrapped it around Jewel’s body, placing his hand on
her belly and caressing it through the layers of clothing. Her muscles tensed
when he had touched her, and then yielded to his caresses. Jewel turned his
hand and tapped his arm-screen. The floor partition rose and sealed them from
the world.

When Adam woke up, he was lying in bed by himself. Jewel was gone
and the side partition was partially open. She must have tricked the
partition’s BDNA mechanism and left while he was sleeping. He rose from his
bed, lowered the partition all the way to the floor and discovered Jewel’s
partitions to be hermetically sealed. An incomprehensible feeling of loneliness
and sadness passed down his back. Don’s partitions, on the other hand, were
wide open, and so was his bed. He was not in the cabin and Adam was grateful
for that. Something in the veteran military man intimidated him and he couldn’t
yet figure out what it was. In any event, he preferred not to meet him and went
into the cabin’s restroom. A few minutes later, when he got out and saw that
Jewel showed no signs of coming out of bed, he decided to go and explore the
corridors just as he’d done in all the previous days.

The path he’d selected led him to a large windowed hall, the
only place in the passenger level from which space could be viewed. The windows
and recognition lenses system (Recognition Lens©) allowed passengers whose
heart desired it, to follow the course of the shuttle and recognize this or
that heavenly body as it approached the spacecraft. When Adam entered the hall,
which was also called the Great Hall of Mirrors (The Great Hall of Mirrors ©),
the place was empty. Since the shuttle wasn’t currently flying next to any
heavenly body, the passengers did not show much of an interest in watching the
empty depths of space. Based on the flight plan etched in his memory, two more
weeks would pass before they will approach Mars and almost seven additional
weeks before they’ll be docking Europa Space Harbor. Adam sat in one of the
armchairs facing the shuttle windows and watched the great darkness peering at
him from beyond the acrylic glass. He thought of Jewel and of the sense of
fragility that had passed from her to him, as they lay embraced. He recalled
how he didn’t even dare to move so as not to disturb her and how, when he was
finally able to fall asleep, he was happy and carefree. Jewel’s body had warmed
him and he felt at ease for the first time in ages. Of course, once he’d woken
up and found himself alone, doubts returned to plague him.

“One can become addicted to the sight of the black mirror,” a
voice was heard behind him. He smiled and waved his hand in a motion that
combined a greeting with derision.

“Do you normally sneak up on people?” he asked Don, who had
emerged from the shadows.

“That depends on what I have in store for them, good or ill,”
answered Don and a cold smile flickered on his lips.

“I saw your reflection in the large window,” Adam remarked.

“Well then, surely you can guess how I feel about you,”
answered Don and approached him. Adam turned and faced him. “You need to
continue to watch your back,” Don added, “This ship is not what it appears to
be.”

“Really?” asked Adam, “it appears very real to me.” Adam
didn’t trust Don but believed his words. If Don wanted to take someone down,
that someone wouldn’t sense the danger until it would be too late.

“How does it look to you?” asked Don, “I always wondered how
the ‘big black’ influences space greenhorns.”

“It looks black,” Adam said sarcastically, “and big.”

“Yes,” Don repeated his words, “black and big.” He turned
around and was about to leave Adam when the youth turned to him and said
defiantly:

“Why should you care what I do? And besides,” he added,
assuming an air of indifference, “why would anyone try to hurt me?” Don stopped
in his tracks and turned to face the youth in what appeared to Adam as a
dance-like movement.

“For the same reason you’re on this shuttle and on your way
to Europa. For the same reason you’re using the name of a musician who’s been
dead for the past three hundred years or more and for the same reason I’m
here.”

Adam retreated slowly, finally bumping against the opaque
window. “Are you here to capture me?” Don laughed in a hoarse voice that
sounded to Adam like that of a predator.

“Chappa said you’d be suspicious,” said Don, “Good, you need
to be. It’ll help you in life, keep you out of trouble.”

“Chappa?” asked Adam as if he wasn’t familiar with that name,
“who’s Chappa?”

Don didn’t answer. He stood in front of the youth,
expressionless. Adam straightened his eyes at him. He tried to process and
decipher everything Don had just told him. “They know you’re here,” Don said
after a while, “and they won’t hesitate to try and harm you.”

“How do I know you’re not one of them?” Adam was unwilling to
commit yet.

Don laughed again, “You don’t. But that’s good. Watch
yourself from me and from anyone else you come in contact with.”

Adam directly thought of Jewel. ‘Was she trying to harm him
as well?’ He immediately chased the bothersome thought from his mind.

“You really think they’ll damage the space shuttle just to
get one person?” Adam asked skeptically. “Nobody’s worth that much.”

“You’re worth much more than that to them,” said Don harshly,
“they wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the entire shuttle if it pays off for them.”

Adam was shocked. For the first time since he’d begun to run
away from the corporation agents, he stopped to think about the enormous amount
of money invested in the chase and about the various means used against him.
“Do they know I’m here?”

“I suppose so,” answered Don, “they have agents here, on this
shuttle. They have agents on every human shuttle.”

“Is Jewel related to them?” Adam finally dared to express his
concern. Don did not answer right away. His face became grim and he directed
his gaze at Adam.

“I hope not. However, I still don’t have enough information
about her. She’s a coincidence that’s too good to be true in a world without
coincidences. But get this, you can’t really know who to trust. Everybody’s got
interests and each coincidence can become dangerous given the right
circumstances.”

“And what’s your interest?” Adam fired from the hip.

Don laughed out loud. “Me?” he asked, “let’s say I have a
score to settle with them.”

“You were one of them once, weren’t you?” Adam had deduced
from the veteran’s answer.

“If you live long enough, you’ll discover that sooner or
later everyone is or will be one of them. But yes,” admitted Don, “for almost
twenty years. That doesn’t really matter now. Take care of yourself and don’t
trust anyone.” He turned toward the corridor and was gone. Adam returned to sit
in front of the darkness of space, trying to guess who it was that Don had
referred to by saying ‘anyone’. Was he referring to himself alone? Or perhaps
there was someone else? He was tired of running and in his heart materialized
the realization that sooner or later he would have to confront the danger face
to face. He knew this would happen and was actually craving to reach the moment
in which he would finally be ready to fight them, avenge all they had done to
him, for hurting him and his loved ones. “They’ll pay for it all,” Adam swore.