Who:
David Roth
Relevant:
@LeaT
When: Time: June 10th 2046, Shortly before the destruction of the
Resolute:
"You must be David." The pretty older woman said with a smile as she extended her hand. David hated initial contact. The small talk, the awkward getting to know you stuff. He just sucked at all of it and never knew what to say about himself. Ms. O'Donnell introduced herself as one of the engineers that designed the Jupiter landing and habitation ships. That was exciting to him as that kind of Engineering was where art and hard science seemed to collide. Nodding his head, with a boyish modesty he answered, "Yes." The idea of learning how the ship was constructed and designed was thrilling to David, as well as how the ship worked and its various systems.
Walking through the ship, especially the more nut's and bolts areas, what his father would have called
the guts of the ship, David took it all in without saying a lot. He considered everything she was telling him but a part of him couldn't help but think how he might draw some of the areas that had interesting looks. Since he was young, David had been lucky enough to have an eye for composition.
Then she suddenly went stiff. David hadn't noticed whatever had taken all of the color out of her face. Then the alarms started going off and the rest was chaos. The next thing he knew he was in the cockpit with Ms. O'Donnell. Quickly getting into a seat just to be safe, he could now feel the explosions, the concussion hitting him hard enough that he was glad that he was sitting. It was like an out of body experience, his chest felt hollow and his stomach felt like it had a brick in it. Nothing bad was supposed to happen and yet...
"What's your jupiter number?" She asked him and in that moment he honestly couldn't remember what the number was. It seemed ridiculous that he couldn't remember the number, he'd only been drilled on that number a thousand times. There was no reason for him to forget it in that moment and he felt embarrassed.
"I-I don't..." He started to say, his mouth feeling dry and his voice seeming far away.
She told him that she was going to notify his parents that he would be evacuating with them and all David could manage was to nod his head and move to the chair she had indicated. The last thing he wanted to do was get in the way when something as serious as a call to abandon ship was going on. As he strapped in, David's fingers seemed to fumble and shake. So few thoughts were going through his head beyond the need to do what he was told. Once he was secured to the seat and there was nothing to do but wait, that was when the real fear hit him. Would he see his parents again? Would he survive all of this? David closed his eye tight and tried to control his breathing. Focusing on that rather than the crazy situation they were in.
Then there was a feeling of weightlessness and he nearly puked from both fear as well as the sensation but it was nothing compared to when the shockwave hit them. A yelp escaped him and in the moment he wasn't at all worried about being judged. He had been clinging to the the straps holding him to the chair so tightly that his hands were starting to hurt. David knew he should ease his grip or risk cutting his hands but couldn't will himself to do it.
Everything after that was a blur as the adults did what they could to land the ship. It was only when the ship touched down and the engines were powering down that David seemed to breath for the first time since everything had happened. He had slowly unbuckled himself from the harness and then had felt aimless and unsure of what to do next. That was when Ms. O'Donnell told him that his parents very likely didn't make it. So few had, sadly. There was no shame when he clung to her and sobbed his eyes out.
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June 20th after Breakfast
That morning David had been trying to decide how he was going to fix a sketch he had gotten wet. Perhaps placing the paper between two rather heavy objects would take the wrinkles out and he could save the simple drawing. It had been of his new family and he had hoped to give it to them as a thank you gift. While he could recreated the piece, the idea of starting over from scratch especially when his art supplies were rather limited did not appeal to him.
Ms. O'Donnell came in and he greeted her with a smile.
What came next was more than a little shocking. She explained the plan and that he would be paired with someone for the purpose of breeding. There weren't words to describe how David felt in that moment. It seemed crazy to think that at any point in his life an adult would approach him and tell him that he needed to impregnate someone. David's jaw was on the floor and he barely heard the rest of what she said.
Girls were not his strong suit. It wasn't that he thought he was ugly or had nothing to offer them, it was just that girls his age usually were caught up in popularity contests and he had never won anything like that. A social butterfly, he was not. The idea that he would suddenly be in the room with a girl who would expect him to...oh wow...
"Do you have any questions?" He suddenly heard her ask and he snapped out of it.
"Only a thousand." He said, confusion plain on his face. "I mean...mechanically speaking I don't have any questions, it's that...I mean, do I get to, that is...With who?" There wasn't but maybe two or three girls his age that he could think of but there were a few other boys in the group. Surely she wasn't implying that he would be paired with an adult?
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