The End of the Beginning

“I told you this man was unstable,” Andrew said angrily. “He had one thought of commanding again and he had a panic attack right in front of us. He’s not fit to lead a rock. You heard what the doctor said; he is obviously suffering from PTSD. He’s got way too much baggage for this job. Do you want someone like that in this organization, helping others? He can’t even help himself, for Christ’s sake!” Andrew lowered his voice. “What if he is on a mission with someone’s life literally in his hands and he has a panic attack because a damn light is too bright and he remembers a freaking nuclear blast. I will bring up my concerns with the commander and the people in San Francisco. You know that, right?” Andrew continued to blast Roger, who just stood there waiting for him to finish his rant outside of William’s hospital room.

“I don’t trust him,” Andrew continued, waving his hands about. “Emerson may have been a war hero and a great rescuer, but what is he now? A panicked ex-soldier who hasn’t done anything but hide for six years! You saw the place we found him in, a hut in the woods, alone and unwilling to do anything. I did some independent searching. He hasn’t held a job for more than twelve weeks in the last five years. How much commitment does that show?” “He came with us, didn’t he?” snapped Roger, annoyed with Andrew’s tirade. “Doesn’t that show that he wants to rejoin society, to do something with his life? Captain Emerson was the best of the best, and we need him, Andrew. You know what this organization is trying to do. It’s trying to save the whole goddamn world. That’s not an understatement.” Roger pointed to the wall on his right. “Beyond those walls, things are falling apart. We need all hands on deck for this to work, even if they are the hands of an ex-soldier with unresolved issues. We have people that can help him with that. Now, he has the med-bracelet on so he’ll be treated and, in time, he’ll be okay. I know you will bring this up with our superiors, but I also want it to be known when you talk to them that the man in there was one of the first people this organization saved. We are giving him a second chance,” he spoke passionately. “We are giving everyone this organization touches a second chance. He will fight this; he’s not a quitter.” “Oh, please,” Andrew scoffed. “Stop with the second chance bullshit; it’s getting old. For all this to work, we need clear heads that can work under pressure in the field. I mean, Jesus, you saw how severe that attack was. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t been suicidal to boot; you know what he went through over there.” “Even more reason to help him then!” Roger yelled, causing Andrew to take a few steps back. “People that have been at the brink often make the best candidates for new beginnings because they have nothing left to lose. That’s William. It’s either this or that cabin in the woods, alone with his horrors. I’m pretty sure anyone is willing to leave that behind, even him.” Both men looked away from each other, catching their breath. Several people in the long white hallway were staring at them, overhearing their elevated exchange.

Finally, Roger said softly, “Give him a chance. Andrew, I have known you for a long time. If you don’t trust him, trust me. You know, one day, billions of people will look back and judge what we did here, what we did wrong and what we did right. This will be seen as the right thing to do. Saving one is like saving the world.” Andrew pushed Roger aside with a huff as he walked away. Roger let out a sigh as he turned and entered William’s hospital room.

William had awoken to the sound of Roger and Andrew arguing outside his room’s door. He could not really tell what they were saying but he heard enough to know it was about him. Embarrassed, he turned and looked to the north, outside his room’s floor-to-ceiling glass wall into the Florida night.

The base was beautiful at night. Lights clung along the corners of structures and illuminated fountains danced in lakes around the hospital. Aircraft flew across the dark sky, their warning lights blinking away. The stars were not visible with the amount of sky glow though.

Back in Canada, William had grown accustomed to the night sky being rich in starlight. Every night was a light show that would move across the sky, only to be seen again and again. Sometimes he could even see the Aurora Borealis. But here, only a few stars were visible and certainly not the aurora. He didn’t even see the moon. It made him feel lost, adding to his overall feeling of dread and embarrassment of letting himself succumb to his emotions and fears in front of his new employers.

A small light blue object caught his attention. He looked down to find a bracelet encircling his right wrist, something he had not been wearing before. He studied it, wondering what it was. Roger walked in quickly, startling William from his close studies of the bracelet. He seemed flustered but tried to hide it as he approached William’s bedside.

“Captain!” Roger exclaimed, as he clapped his hands together. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I guess, I guess it was a little too much excitement for one day. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in this kind of environment… I guess any kind of environment with people, that is.”

“It’s okay, Captain. The doctors say you have had a severe panic attack. Other than that, you’re fine. They took a full physical while you were sedated. Have you had these before? Because we can give you things for them, you know?”

William had had them before and for many years now, but he thought if he told Roger it would jeopardize his chances of joining the organization. “No, not really,” he lied. “This is the first one I can really remember.”

Roger was not convinced. “Captain, you need to be honest with us. We know a lot about you, remember that. I am going to be honest with you. Whether you realize it or not, you have PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder. The doctors here have confirmed that and frankly I believe this panic attack was not your first one. You know what PTSD is, right?” William nodded.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We can help you, give you things for it. If you’re going to be a part of this organization, we can’t let you continue on like this. You are going to start seeing someone, for your own good. The base has several counselors trained to help with traumatic events. Don’t try and get out of it; I’ve already made you an appointment for next Sunday and every Sunday after.” William just smiled and thanked Roger for his help. He knew he needed to see someone, that this issue needed to be resolved before he could take his command position. Besides, it was tiring having to live like this for so long. For six years he had wasted away, never once looking up to see what he was missing. In some ways, though, his depression was also a sort of comfort to him. It gave him a reason to stay the same, to not have to change or seek out and interact with the world. It meant isolation, something he had wanted for years. Change was scary because of all the unknowns it could bring with it. All his life, change had brought him nothing but hardship and pain of both the body and the soul. It was only a natural doubt.

William believed everyone hated change. He thought of the organization around him. Its very existence was a product of man’s unwillingness to transform. And now, faced with total collapse on the horizon, man struggled to change in time to meet this new world, one that it had created through its fumbling and indecision. Comforting as it all may have been, he was now ready to step out of his norms and explore into the beyond. William didn’t want to collapse, to fall. It was time to take action, to change, to begin the geoengineering of his own mind.

After a visit from a very nice doctor, he was instructed on what to do to start his treatments. He was to rest his first week on base and adjust to his new surroundings, meeting people and going places as he pleased. As Roger had already explained, he was to see a counselor within a few days to talk with and have weekly appointments thereafter. Then came the fancy bit, the sort of thing he had come to expect from UNIRO.

The bracelet on his right wrist was something the doctor called a med-bracelet. It would, in conjunction with his glass tag, monitor his body’s anxiety and stress levels through his pulse, temperature, hormones, and even skin tension. Based on these readings, the glass tag around his neck would instruct the bracelet to inject serotonin inhibitors directly through his skin and into his bloodstream that would eventually reach his brain. These inhibitors would in turn help to regulate any oncoming panic attacks or bouts of possible depression by increasing his brains naturally occurring serotonin, the brain’s “happy juice”, the doctor had called it.

At 10:30 p.m., he was discharged from the hospital with Roger. They caught an automated cab to William’s new home, the converted shipping container. Even at night, most of the base was busy and filled with people as around-the-clock construction was attempting to finish the base and its many assets on time. The roads were filled with construction vehicles, and areas all across the various sections were lit up with temporary light towers.

After riding an elevator three floors up, they emerged in a long, dimly lit hallway. They arrived at his room, an end unit numbered 317, where a fingerprint scanner lock prevented them from going inside. William held his thumb to the pad and after a few seconds, the door clicked open and a rush of cool air brushed across their faces.

Upon their entering, the lights automatically came on. A hallway the entire length of the forty-foot container ran along its right side. A side room three feet in to the left turned out to be a kitchen with a compact, tabletop growing station with seed packs next to it surrounded by stainless steel appliances. The next room was a living room with modern furniture and a workstation with a glass tablet connected to a rubber keyboard, then in the back was a storage area with a washer and dryer.

William gleefully inspected each room with care. This was by far the nicest place he had ever lived. Finally, he got to the end of the hallway, which opened up into a subtle white and blue bedroom. A flat screen television was on the wall across from his bed and a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, like his hospital rooms, made up the containers east facing façade. Gray carpet met his tired feet and soft LED lights set into the ceiling calmed the space. In the left-hand corner of the room was a bathroom and a closet. William put his things down and sat on the memory foam mattress. He sank into it and felt like he could sit there forever.

“I know it’s small but I think it’s nice and I hope you do too,” encouraged Roger. “It’s been stocked with everything you’ll need for a while including food in the fridge; you’ve already seen the seed packs, which you can grow yourself, towels, toiletries, your own new tablet, and your casual on-base uniform with some other basic clothes. Some paperwork is in the kitchen that you’ll want to read. Your username and password to access UNIRO’s secure network, and your new email address, stuff like that. Umm,” he said as he looked around the room. “The channel guide can be found on your TV if you wanna watch it, and your earpiece is in that drawer. Wear it everywhere. It’ll put you in contact with whoever, just enter who you want to call verbally.” William found it in the nightstand drawer, where Roger had said it would be, and put it in his ear. He pressed it into his ear canal and said, “I haven’t watched TV or used a phone in six years. Kind of afraid to turn them on.”

While checking that the earpiece was in place, he walked over to the glass wall and rolled back the blue blinds. As he looked out across the base, a sense of gratitude rushed over him. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he croaked out, “Mr. Wood, I can’t even begin to thank you for giving me this, this chance… um, this opportunity.” The words were heavy in his throat; he had not talked to someone like this for much more than six years. Roger stood in the bedroom entrance with his hands in his pockets, smiling. After he wiped his eyes, he turned around. “Thank you for the second chance, sir. I wish I could give you more, something else, but I have nothing.” “Captain, you can thank me by using your talents to help others and make this organization work. Make that long trip up to Canada worth it for us,” Roger teased, taking his hands out of his pockets. He rubbed his temple, getting serious again.

“We still have poverty. We still have thirst. We still have anger. Yet, many government suits still think this whole endeavor is a big waste of money. Prove them wrong. Make the difference you’ve always wanted to make. I don’t have what it takes to rescue people from a helicopter or face a disaster head on. I’m just a desk guy, the messenger. I never joined the Air Force and helped save lives during the war, you did. You’re who we should be thanking, really. You can do this.” Roger reached out his arm and shook hands with a humbled William.

“Sir I, I... Umm, thank you, sir,” was all William could say back.

“Captain,” Roger said, disappointment evident in his voice. “I will be heading back to New York the day after tomorrow, and it’s very unlikely I will see you tomorrow, so I guess now would be the best time to see you off. It has been an honor to bring you here and show you around. I will return in three months once this place opens, and I will return to you with a command of your own.” “Thank you, sir. I look forward to that. I’ll try not to let you down. Maybe when you return you can join my squadron. It would be nice to have a guy like you out there.”

“No, no, Captain. I could never do that; I’m not the rescuer type. I’m just a geopolitical analyst. You want a 2,000-page report done in two hours with no Wi-Fi and no power for your laptop about any country on the Earth? Done. I’m your guy, but not for what you do.” “Hey now,” William said with a laugh, “don’t sell yourself so short. Like you said, this is a second chance for everyone.”

“Maybe, Captain, maybe. Just focus on yourself for now. Your training begins in a week.”

“Yes, sir. So long.”

William stayed awake for hours after Roger left, just thinking and contemplating the months ahead. He unpacked several of his things; there was not much…

When the levee burst, my home was destroyed in seconds. All of my belongings were lost, except for one, a picture of all of us all together. Through the years it was all I ever had to remember my grandparents by. This lone memento had been with me through everything, even over Incheon, and now I needed its presence now more than ever… A charred and water damaged picture of his grandparents in a brown wooden frame found its way onto his nightstand. He gave the picture a quick wink as he placed the UNIRO pin Roger had given him down next to it.

He strolled around his container home, examining his glass tablet, getting a snack from his new kitchen, and even venturing over to his television remote. One of the last images he ever saw on a television was the smoldering ruin of the Korean Peninsula. He hesitated to turn it on but in the end thought it best; it would help with his reintegration into society. Something he had been taught in the Air Force was that knowledge was everything. Knowing current events and what caused them could affect missions and the outcome of battles. A little television wouldn’t hurt.

The dark room was suddenly illuminated by the events of the world. William became captivated in the programs he flipped through, most of which bringing him back to the reality the world was facing. There was currently breaking news. The US state of California was threatening secession from the Union in the face of dwindling water resources and what they thought was a lack of federal aid.

“California governor James Sax issued a plea to the federal government today in an effort to bring in more money for more desalination facilities that would - ”

He changed the channel to another news outlet, which there were many of, more than he had remembered there being.

“Food riots shook Istanbul today as - ”

“Russia warned that any further escalation in the Arctic would prompt new naval blockades of - ”

“The new Miami Coastal Defense System was completed yesterday that will protect the city behind its - ”

“Private space company SpaceX is preparing to launch their first crewed mission to the red planet atop their Falcon Heavy rocket - ”

“Environmental terrorist group Terra Nova bombed yet another pipeline in eastern Saudi Arabia claiming more attacks would follow should Earth’s governments continue to fund the oil, coal, and gas industries. The price of oil climbed further to - ”

“... out of control wildfires traveled a further fourteen miles today and are now only twenty miles outside of Sydney, Australia, only adding to the hottest fire season ever recorded in the land down under. City wide evacuations are in effect until - ”

“The first test of a Japanese Boeing-built orbital solar energy collection platform is set to begin tomorrow as the country struggles to adapt to homegrown renewables in the wake of further setbacks with its nuclear facilities - ”

“Not much has changed I see,” William sighed solemnly. “The world is still as lost as ever... Like me.”

At three in morning he realized he had received an email, two in fact. One was a confirmation email welcoming him to the UNIRO network. The other was from a Rescue Officer Nancy Lewis. She was requesting that William meet her out front his building at o-nine hundred that morning promptly and to be dressed in appropriate attire, his casual on-base uniform. He was going to be taken to Umoja Tower, to meet an Alice Hammond, base commander.