ROSLYN CONFERENCE HALL: 36 hours after the Global Grid Failure.

  I didn’t get much sleep the night before, and I don’t think any of the others did either.

  Now we sat in the front row of the facility’s main conference presentation space. A large room with theater-style seating that reminded me of the lecture halls back at university. A small raised stage stretched across the front of the room. Professor Henry Giles, Colonel Dimitri Antonov, several politicians, and all the Joint Chiefs of Staff sat there in a row. The Secretary of Defense sat with them. Behind us, facility staff and military personnel filled the tiered rows of seats.

  My father sat in the middle of them on the stage, staring at me. I hadn’t even known he’d arrived until I walked into this room, and he’d made no effort to come see me beforehand. Not gonna lie, that stung.

  To my right sat Timothy, Tanya, and Yumi, and finally a man I hadn’t met yet, Kyle Mercer. I’d been told they’d arrived, but we hadn’t had a chance to introduce ourselves. Given the circumstances, awkward small talk before a briefing about the end of the world seemed like a bad idea.

  I had to admit I felt pretty guilty knowing my recommendations had dragged them away from their lives and put them in these chairs.

  Professor Giles walked up to the podium at the center of the stage and tapped the microphone twice with his fingers.

  "Hello, can everybody hear me? Okay, it looks like we’re all here, and I apologize, as we haven’t had a lot of time to put together today’s presentation."

  He took a breath and gripped the sides of the podium.

  "I’ll jump right into it then. Earlier this year, our Deep Space Listening Network discovered a signal transmitted from outside our known space. Although we detected the signal and eventually decrypted its meaning, the message wasn’t intended for us."

  The room was completely silent except for his voice.

  "Now, some of you might be wondering why you’re here, why you were dragged from your homes and your lives, and brought to this facility. For that, I’m going to turn the rest of this presentation over to Colonel--"

  The mic went dead, and the lights dimmed. He tapped the microphone, looked back at Colonel Antonov, and shrugged.

  Kyle had been watching the presentation with his mouth hanging open, unable to process what he was hearing. He glanced to his left, where the rest of us sat, all equally stunned. When he turned back to his right, toward the aisle, he nearly jumped out of his seat. A young girl with pigtails sat in a chair that had materialized where moments before there had been an empty aisle.

  The girl leaned toward Kyle and rolled her eyes.

  "Can you believe this guy right now? I mean, come on. How are you gonna tell all these people the world’s ending like you’re giving a physics lesson? It's boring."

  She stood and walked toward the stage, her projection moving with easy confidence. As she passed our row, she winked at Yumi, and her form began to shift. Her frame lengthened, her features matured until she appeared roughly the same age as Yumi and Tanya. Her hair reshaped itself into a style similar to Yumi’s, though she kept the white dress, now fitted with a sleeker, more professional cut. The playful child was gone, replaced by someone who looked like she belonged at a corporate presentation.

  She stopped in front of the podium and smiled up at the Professor.

  "It’s okay, Professor. I think I’m gonna take it from here."

  When she spoke again, her voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, as if the room’s PA system had become her voice.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, friends, family, sleazy politicians, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. My name is ARi, and I think I’m gonna go ahead and explain the rest, if that’s okay with you, Professor Giles."

  The Professor stepped back from the podium, looking almost relieved.

  She glanced down at us in the front row. Yumi stared back up at ARi, wonder and fear mixing on her face.

  "For the last twenty-four hours, I’ve listened to these two men tell multiple people that the world they know is over. That’s a burden nobody should have to endure, let alone repeatedly. That’s why I insisted this briefing be for everyone, not just our distinguished guests."

  ARi began to pace across the front of the stage.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "It’s true that we intercepted a transmission of unknown origin. Yes, it comes from intelligent beings not of this world. I know you’re all being hit with a lot of information right now. But it’s important that we get this out in the open quickly, or none of you will be able to handle what comes next."

  She faced the crowd.

  "I’m an AI. I was originally designed right here in this facility. As the most advanced AI currently on this planet, I was asked to analyze the intercepted signal. I interpreted its meaning and detected the embedded code hidden within it. It would seem some advanced civilization has claimed our Sun and this solar system for its own. They intend to scour any trace of life from this region of space. The fact that they were so direct about the resources makes it pretty clear why."

  "There's no safe place in this solar system for humanity, and we don’t have much time. This brings us back to the embedded code in the signal. It was encrypted and purposely hidden by an unknown third party. Somebody out there’s trying to help us."

  ARi raised her hands, and two massive holographic schematics filled the space above the crowd. The three-dimensional blueprints were rotating slowly in the air. Gasps and murmurs rippled through the audience. She turned toward the front rows where the politicians and Joint Chiefs sat on the stage.

  "Yesterday, I told Colonel Dimitri and the Professor about this. It became clear that we have one option. To save humanity, we must take our civilization to the stars."

  ARi continued, and I sat listening as she explained everything in detail. She told us how we would have to build huge underground factories. These would make technology on a scale never tried before. We'd need to set up colonies and factories on the far side of the Moon. We'd have to design and build Ark ships. These ships would carry humanity to the stars. They'd also carry seeds of Earth's life to find a new home.

  The reality of it hit me all at once, and I couldn’t breathe. Many of the technologies needed to make this possible would have to come from me and the other four people in this row. Massive drive systems capable of moving ships the size of cities. Life support that could sustain populations for decades or longer. Navigation systems for interstellar space. And there wasn’t gonna be much time to figure any of it out. The importance of this whole program was finally sinking in.

  "The plans for the factories and the colony infrastructure will be distributed globally." ARi’s voice carried a weight of finality. "I’m afraid the days of petty squabbles over territory and borders are over."

  "Now, that brings me to the five individuals sitting in the front." She gestured toward us, and I felt every eye in the place turn in our direction. "These brave people will be integrating into my system to enhance the development of the technologies needed to make this work. Some of you fully understand the sacrifice they’ll be making, and I’m not gonna go over those details now."

  My father was still staring at me. I couldn’t read his expression from this distance.

  "We have a lot of work to do. We have to get it done in a world with no cell phones or internet. We have to organize the logistics for humanity’s greatest endeavor."

  ARi’s projection flickered.

  "Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. And if you’re going to throw up, trash cans are located at every exit."

  ROSLYN GAVIN’S QUARTERS -- 42 hours after the Global Grid failure.

  The knock on my door was quiet but firm. When I opened it, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stood there with his hat in his hands.

  "How are you, son?"

  "Dad, I know why you’re here." I stepped back to let him in. "Not here in the facility, but here at my door. And you’re not gonna talk me out of this."

  He didn’t argue; he walked to the small metal folding chair by the table against the wall and sat down heavily. I closed the door and sat back on the edge of my cot, watching him. He looked older than I remembered, more tired.

  "Son, I’m going to be honest with you." He set his hat on the table and rubbed his face with both hands. "I’ve already had this conversation with your mother, and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Harder than telling her that the world was ending. Every fiber of my being wants to drag you out of this place and take you as far away from it as I possibly can."

  I opened my mouth to respond, but he held up a hand.

  "But that’s not who we are." His voice was rough. "I have no right to stop you from standing up and protecting your family, your friends, your country. Hell, the whole damn world. I’ve been a soldier all my life, and I understand what that means. I take my oath seriously. You chose a different path, but it seems we’ve ended up at the same place anyway." He looked up at me. "I’m still trying to wrap my head around the science. Maybe you can help me understand it."

  I felt the tension in my shoulders ease.

  "Yeah, Dad, of course."

  "So when you’re in there, you’re still gonna be able to communicate with us? Talk to us?"

  "Yeah. ARi said we’d be able to project our presence. I didn’t understand she was being literal. But I don’t know how possible that’ll be once we alter our clock speed." I leaned forward. "The time I experience will be different from the time you experience. A day for you might be hundreds of days for me, or more. That’s how we’re gonna achieve the breakthroughs needed to make this work--assuming we can keep ourselves from going insane."

  My father nodded slowly.

  "I think I understand. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to come visit while this is happening anyway. I need to make sure your mother’s gonna be okay. She found out she’s moving to an underground facility for the foreseeable future."

  "Yeah. Geez, Dad, I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for that conversation."

  "I bet you’re real torn up about it." The ghost of a smile touched his face. He stood and reached for his hat. "I have to go now, son. There’s a lot I have to do if we’re gonna make this work. But I’ll come back, and we’ll have a longer talk before the procedure. Okay?"

  He extended his hand to shake mine, but I stood and pulled him into a hug instead. He stiffened for a second and hugged me back hard enough that I could barely breathe.

  When he finally let go and stepped back, his eyes were wet. He picked up his hat, put it on, and walked to the door without looking back.

  "I’m proud of you, Gav."

  Then he was gone, and I was alone in my quarters with the weight of what was coming pressing down on all sides.

  The First Cradle. I've got other stories posted that you might enjoy as well. Feel free to check out my profile!