Jessica and Vau were sitting in slightly elevated seats, staring at a large round table with thirteen empty chairs. Soon, several individuals entered the room and took their places at the table. Jessica recognized Evelyn, Ori, Jordan, Professor Raziel, Carlos, and Gabriel. She was surprised to see Silas there as well. Jessica didn’t recognize the other five people seated around the table, but they were all chatting among themselves. Jessica could feel the air get tense as Aja walked into the room and took the final seat.
At that moment, Jessica felt a sharp pain in her forehead, followed by a steady throb. She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands, hoping to dull the pain. Jessica opened her eyes to a flashback of being in the woods late at night. It was chilly, and she was stumbling, trying to run.
“It’s great to see everyone.” Aja’s voice brought her to the present. “I know it’s been a while, but as we are getting close to the next major event, we thought now would be a good time to update everyone as to where we are and what we will need to do moving forward.” Aja looked around the table. “Evelyn, do you want to get us started?”
“Sure,” Evelyn said. “You should have received communication from me confirming that the next major reset will come in the form of a coronal mass ejection. As you all know, we can never be sure of the exact timing of the event, but we know that it doesn’t occur long after being discovered.” What appeared to be tablets rose out of the table in front of each person. Jessica leaned in to see if she could make out what was on the screen. Vau tapped her on the shoulder and pointed up to the ceiling. Suspended above their heads was a large screen for spectators to view.
“That projects whatever is on those screens,” Vau whispered.
Evelyn continued speaking. “Here before you are the details of the universe at the forefront of the CME. This will be the existence within the multiverse that takes the first devastating blow.”
Jessica saw a series of letters and numbers: 7.83HZ-25921-7.819.774.981.
“As you can see, this planet Earth resonates at seven point eight three hertz. It takes them twenty-five thousand nine-hundred twenty-one years to move through the Great Year, and their current population is,” Evelyn quickly referenced her tablet, “let’s just say over seven billion, eight hundred million.”
Vau leaned over. “That just means that between Earth’s crust and the ionosphere, which is the upper atmosphere, there’s seven point eight three hertz of electrical power.”
“What kind of electrical power?” Jessica asked.
“There are thousands of lightning strikes that occur each second, somewhere on Earth.”
“What’s the resonant frequency of the human mind here?” Aja asked.
“It’s all over the place,” Ori said. “But the majority operate on the beta wave, somewhere between fourteen and thirty hertz. About five percent of the population can shift their minds to function at alpha and theta waves.”
“That’s concerning,” Aja said.
“Why is this the existence at the forefront?” Silas asked.
“It’s the version of Earth with the largest population of people. These resets start there and then work their way down through every version of Earth in the multiverse.”
“How prepared are they?” Aja asked.
Evelyn looked around the table. “Let’s give a quick update on where the population is today.”
“I’ll begin,” Carlos said. “This humanity is divided into roughly two camps. You have half of the people afraid of going missing, catching the virus, being homeless and hungry. Then you have the other half, who are not concerned with any of that. They are concerned about their freedoms being taken away. Some people are using chaos and uncertainty to seize power and wealth. This does not bode well.”
“Silas?” Evelyn prompted.
“As you know, large-scale conflicts have calmed. The move away from using oil has given us hope that conflicts in the Middle East will decrease further. But,” Silas nodded in Carlos’s direction, “like he was saying, we still see divides and land grabs for power in both developing and developed nations.”
“You’ve come a long way, Silas,” Aja said.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Silas gave a smile and a nod.
“Ori, what do you have?” Aja asked.
“If you add the health toll of the virus on top of the discord Carlos and Silas mentioned, I don’t see how they’ll be able to get the mental space to develop a solution to protect against the CME.”
“Then so be it,” Gabriel said. “Are we forgetting that they chose to be in the situation they are in by either their action or inaction? It’s not our job to come in every time they get themselves in trouble and bail them out. If they can’t survive the solar flares, then so be it.”
“So what exactly is your recommendation then, Gabriel?” Aja asked.
“I say we let them figure this out on their own,” he said. “They’re already employing a solution.”
“Which is?” Aja asked.
“They are using the plasma of the asymptomatic and immune to create an antidote to the virus. This is just until they can find a more sustainable vaccine, of course,” Gabriel said.
“Have they successfully reduced the spread of the virus?” another council member asked.
“They’ve gone through waves of reduced physical and social interaction up until now. They will need to continue with this, limiting direct interaction further and mainly communicating through various technology,” Gabriel said.
“You’re talking about allowing them to slip back to the second growth phase?” Aja asked.
Jessica felt a sharp pain in her forehead again. An image flashed in her mind of electrical currents being injected into a tree, causing the leaves to tremble while the branches remained still.
“It’s the only way for them to get beyond the virus without our intervention,” Gabriel said, bringing Jessica back.
“That will never work,” Jordan said with passion. Ori and Evelyn both shot her a glare.
“Oh, it won’t?” Gabriel replied indignantly. “Ori, what do you think?”
Ori was silent for a moment, his head down as if he was collecting his thoughts. He finally spoke, “This solution will help contain and control the virus until a cure is discovered. This is assuming that mankind, as a whole, can develop and maintain a level of discipline that it hasn’t had to have for centuries.”
“See,” Gabriel said, “we need to let them dig themselves out of this mess.”
“However,” Ori continued, “what Gabriel fails to understand is that this approach of collecting plasma from the healthy to heal the sick is a very slippery and dangerous slope. This could escalate to an alarming situation quite quickly. It will be hard for the best and brightest people to imagine the technology that will save the planet from the solar flares if they are too busy trying to keep their freedom.”
“That is unfortunate,” Gabriel said. “But again, it’s their world, not ours.”
“You’re right,” Evelyn said. “However, there’s something else you’re forgetting.”
“And what is that?” he asked.
“Mankind’s ability to survive the solar flares is one thing, but Earth’s survival is another. It won’t be able to survive, not this time.”
“What do you mean?” Gabriel leaned in as he looked at Aja.
“She’s right,” Aja said. “Humanity’s deforestation efforts have been so devastating that the tree canopies aren’t large enough to keep the planet cool, not on their own. We need mankind’s creativity to come up with a solution.”
“You mentioned that this is one of the universes, correct?” Silas asked.
“That’s correct,” Evelyn said.
“Well, what happens if this version of Earth gets destroyed? Will the others still exist?” Silas asked.
“What happens in a frontline existence will trickle and spread throughout the other existences. Each at different speeds, of course, but the spread will happen. It’s just a matter of time,” Ori said.
Evelyn continued, “And this version of Earth is leading all others in deforestation, desertification, animal extinction, homicide, genocide, and the list goes on. This is the version that we need to turn around.”
“Ori,” Carlos said, “you had a plan. How’s it going?”
“We did have someone, Zach, who was slated to come up with a way to coexist with the virus. But he was incapacitated before he was able to share his knowledge broadly. He and Jessica were close.” Ori pointed to the stands, and Jessica rocked back in her seat, surprised to have all the attention turned to her. “She lost some vital memories, so we have her here until she can regain them.”
“How long has she been here?” one council member asked.
“She arrived a couple of days ago,” Ori said.
“That’s a long time. Is she aware of the risks?” the council member asked.
“She is,” Ori said, “but she has decided the upside is worth it. Also, the virus has been mutating faster, and as discussed, if that isn’t handled, there’s no hope for confronting anything else.”
“She can’t stay past Match Day,” Aja said. “If she does, the effects will be irreversible.”
“Understood,” Evelyn said.
“With Zach out of play,” the council member asked, “now what?”
“We found a recruit,” Ori said. “His name is Malik. His genius was the only one that accepted the task. He has been developing a solution.”
“That’s great news,” Aja said.
“His solution alone doesn’t have the necessary scale though. There’s no way he can get to almost eight billion dosages in the needed timeline,” Ori said. “Plus, we have been getting reports that there’s an increase in interference around him.”
“What do you need from me?” Aja asked.
“We need your support for a faster way to get the antidote to more people,” Evelyn said.
“Also,” Ori continued, “we will need to make sure that no one stops this young man’s process. We need the approval to do whatever is necessary, without causing serious harm, of course.”
“Allowing this crew to intervene in public will cause even more issues,” Gabriel argued.
Aja stood up, walked toward the crowd, and lifted her gaze in Jessica’s direction. “Professor Raziel, how important is this Malik?”
“He’s the only one with the necessary background to pull this off,” the professor said.
Aja was silent for a moment. “If my sources agree that the young man is worthy, then we’ll figure out a way to get the antidote to more people.” Aja turned and addressed Gabriel. “They’ll do whatever is necessary to keep him out of harm’s way.” Aja then looked to Ori. “Please keep it discreet.”
“Thank you,” Ori said.
“Is there anything else?” Aja asked Evelyn. “If not, I need to get back to Match Day preparations.”
“That’s it,” Evelyn said.
“This meeting is adjourned,” Aja announced.
Gabriel stood up and stormed out. A couple of other council members followed. The crowd filed out, and the room quieted. Vau indicated that they should stay seated until the rest of the crew seemed ready.
Jessica saw that Carlos was lingering, and he caught Ori’s attention. She could just hear their voices.
“Ori, you know you have my support, yes? Just let us know what you need,” Carlos said.
Ori gave an appreciative smile and nodded. “Will do.”
Carlos continued, “Few have done what you’ve done. You deserve it.”
“How’s she doing?” Ori asked.
“Jackeline is tough, she’ll be all right. Her new identity is helping her through it.”
“Nicolas was a tough one to recruit. She did all she could do,” Ori said. “Her role is never the easiest, either. Seems like she’s been making great progress.”
“I have told her the same thing,” Carlos said. “I think what is bothering her is that she didn’t know you were involved.”
“Please tell her that she wasn’t meant to know. If she had, then that means I failed somewhere,” Ori said. “Will she be ready for her next assignment?”
“She’s incredibly motivated,” Carlos said.
“That’s very good to hear.”
Vau then stood up, and Jessica followed his lead. They walked toward Ori, Jordan, and Evelyn, who met them halfway.
“Well,” Vau started, “that could have been worse.”
“I thought it went pretty well,” Ori said.
“We got what we wanted,” Evelyn said, “for the most part.”
“What about Jessica?” Jordan asked, nodding in her direction. “Match Day is on Saturday. That’s two days from now.”
Jessica felt her heart beat faster. Jordan continued, “We all heard what Aja said.”
“You worry too much,” Ori replied. He made eye contact with Jessica. “Everything will work out. Your memories are coming back faster, aren’t they?”
“I—I think so,” was all Jessica could offer.
“See,” Ori said. “Let’s go grab some lunch.”
As the team left the meeting room, Jessica asked, “What’s Match Day?”