Project 39

I opened my eyes to the soft warm heat from the sun peaking through the window. I got up and braided my hair, put on some shorts and a plain grey t-shirt. Everyone in the camp was probably already up.

“Kora! Are you up yet?” I heard someone yell as they were banging on my door.

“Yeah Yeah I’m up. You can come in.” I yelled back.

“You sleep in so late, you know that.” Said the voice as the door opened.

I knew exactly who it was before I even turned around. It was Jack. He's been my best friend since we were born. I turned to look at him. His hair was half wet, wearing tan work pants and a navy blue t-shirt. His deep blue eyes looked like crystals in the sunlight.

“Whatever, what are we doing today?” I said back annoyed.

“Aw is someone mad I interrupted her slumber?” Jack said laughing as he sat down on my bed.

“Oh shut up.” I snapped back laughing a little.

“But seriously what are we doing today?”

“I was told to come get you, Asher and Lannia are meeting us at the lab, he said he’d tell us there.”

“Okay, did you have anything to eat yet?” I asked Jack, while looking for my throwing knives.

“Not yet, I was thinking we could stop by Mrs. Walton’s. She always has the best food in the mornings.”

“Agreed.”

I put my knives into my belt as me and Jack walked out of my house. It was a small house. It had enough room for my bed, a little cabinet, fireplace, a table with two chairs and some storage trunks. That's all I really needed, that's all anything anyone needed. Everyone in my camp got the same size house. After the meteors hit, natural supplies were shortened. We could only use so much wood at a time so we wouldn't run out. Over time no one really needed a lot of space. Me and Jack walked into Mrs. Walton’s yard.

“Hey kids! Are you guys here for something to eat?” Mrs. Walton asked.

“Yeah we are actually, We have to go into the lab today.” Jack said.

“Oh boy, I hope they don't send you kids on another one of those mission things. Ridickolas they are!” She said concerned.

“It's okay Mrs. Walton, they wouldn’t send us somewhere that they felt would harm us. We will be okay.” Jack said to give her some comfort.

Every kid in the camp was trained to fight any wildlife or people that come along. A few years ago they selected four of those kids to work with the scientists for missions and things that required specific training, Me and Jack were two of those kids. We were used to go past the boundaries to check up on how the earth was doing beyond our camp area.

“Well alright but be very very careful, those wack-jobs don't know what they are getting you into!” She said, handing us a sandwich.

“Thank you. And we will, I promise” I said as Jack and I started to walk toward the dirt road.

The lab was about a mile out of the main camp. It was underground and only specific people were allowed in. It was one of the last government labs still running on earth. All technology, history, data, everything was stored there and protected with people's lives. Me and Jack walked mostly in silence, with a few jokes here and there.

We walked up to the sealed door with four guards standing with guns.

“We are here for Mr. Larson. Kora Bank and Jack Smith. Project 39, code 872241.” I said to the guards.

When we first started working with Mr. Larson on the project he told us to remember that name and code so whenever we came to the door we were told to say it and our names. We don’t really know what it means but we never cared to ask.

The guards said a few words on their walkie-talkies, whispered to each other and then nodded. One guard typed in a code on the door and then opened it, stepping aside to let us in.

“Thank you.” I said, stepping inside.

It always smelled like metal when first walking in. With the light green and grey walls, and the small little circle lights lined down the hallway ceiling. Me and Jack started walking down the hallway, hearing the door we just entered from close and click shut. We walked down 3 flights of stairs and opened the door to the lab.

Asher and Lannia were sitting down at the circle table. Asher’s curly blonde hair brought out his green eyes that were reflecting the hologram on the table. He had on the same type of pants Jack had on, with a dark grey t-shirt. Lannia’s long dark brown hair was tied up into a bun with a few strands out in the front to shape her face. Her hazel eyes were focused on the hologram asher was just looking at.

“Hey Fuckers,” Lannia said, still looking at the hologram.

“Language Miss. Peters” Someone yelled from the back of the room.

“Sorry Mr. Larson.” Lannia yelled back.

Lannia was always very aggressive, she was mostly focused on the projects. She is a hard worker but she would never say that she is. I love her like a sister.

“What are you guys looking at?” Jack asked.

“A rock. What do you think dumbass, you’re staring right at it.” Lannia said, looking over at Jack who was sitting down to get a better look at what the hologram was projecting.

“Wow thanks for the explanation shurlock.” Jack said back.

“Is that our galaxy?” I asked, leaning on the back of Asher's chair.

“Yeah. Notice anything different?” Asher asked looking up at me.

“No, I notice nothing different.” Jack said.

“There's a new planet idiot” Lannia said back to Jack.

“How is that even possible?” I asked looking at the hologram.

“Well Miss. Bank I do have the answer to that question.” Mr. Larson said as we all looked up to look at him.

“It's been there for quite some time and the only thing we’ve noticed is that it messed up a little bit of Mars’s orbit for three months and then it went right back to normal. We have just now named the planet Eleutheromania.” He said as he took a seat next to Lannia.

“Why did you name it Eleutheromania?” Jack asked.

“Care to tell them Mr. Montgomery?” Mr. Larson said, looking at Asher.

“Uh sure. Eleutheromania means a frantic zeal or want for freedom.” Asher said.

Asher was very smart for his age. He was both smart and strong, he works harder than all of us. He tried to memorize everything Mr. Larson tells us. He study’s any government file he can get his hands on. He pushes himself over his limit sometimes but he's very nice and he cares for us like we are his family.

“The planet was discovered 164 years before the meteors hit the earth, we believe that is what caused them to come rocketing into our earth.” Mr. Larson said.

“So this planet basically killed everyone, and you named it freedom?” Jack asked, confused.

“Yes Mr. Smith. And for a very good reason. We believe that this planet will save the rest of mankind. The scientists that originally found sent a rover up six months before the meteors hit. It's survivable as far as we know. We lost contact with the rover after the crash.”

“Save the rest of mankind? How?” I asked.

“Well…” Mr. Larson said standing up and projecting a new hologram.

“We have predicted that the earth will no longer be inhabitable in around 56 years. How you may be wondering. The sea levels are lowering and the tides are slowly becoming uncontrollable due to the moon moving away from the earth at a very slow rate. We believe this is because the earth is slowly falling out of orbit and will eventually break into pieces and will float around the solar system and Eleutheromania will take its place.”

“And you’re telling us this now? Why?” Lannia asked.

Mr. Larson paused for a second. Then turned to the hologram that was just projecting the planet and the mathematics behind it. He changed it to our files. We each got a file when we started working on the program, they basically just held information on us like how we were doing with our tasks, strengths and weaknesses and other things. Our files in the program showed up with our picture next to it, along with a file named “planet x (Eleutheromania)”. All of the files were shown in a group file named “Project 39”.

“We want to send a group of people up to this new discovery. And that group of people being you four.”