Twenty Seven Years Later

Opening my eyes revealed the same monotonous slab of concrete. The dim halogen lights of the morning settings protested and blinked incessantly as they powered themselves up. Ben did say we had to stretch them as far as we could... My thoughts drifted as the sluggishness of sleep disappeared. With a groan, I flung my feet off the side of my bed and rubbed the last bits of sleep out of my eyes.

The plain cube of existence that was my assigned room really left a lot to be desired. Bed, dresser, desk and a simple bathroom. A smile crept onto my face as my eyes roved over the only truly colorful feature of my room. The shimmering glow of the crystal and mineral stock of the Wildwood Bunker. From simple clear quartz to a head sized split geode of amethyst, they illuminated their little corner of the room the brighter the overhead light became.

"Ronan! Get your lazy rock loving behind in gear," a familiar voice called from down the hall.

"Daniela, I really don't think it's our business to bother Ronan on his off day," a meek voice echoed behind her.

"I will damn well do what I want, Sam. Why don't you go back to the Garden, my business is with stubborn head over here."

"Guys, you know I can hear you both from here, right?" I said, standing and going to wash my face and teeth.

"Good! This'll be the first time I haven't had to drag your butt out of bed," Daniela said as she thrust her face into my small bathroom. "We have business to attend to."

"Wah wouhd gah bii?" I asked around my toothbrush.

"She has it in her head that they are going to be ready to test the implants today," Sam called from over her shoulder. The lanky blonde panted from the dash I was sure he'd endured at Danny’s hands. Even with her short stature, she was the fastest person in the whole complex. By a full two minutes, if our mile times were any indication.

"I know they are. I snuck a look at my mom's progress records and they say the Metier wavelengths are stable!" she said, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

I paused as I processed what she'd told me. If the docs on the lower level had been able to stabilize the Crystal shards, then they could leave. We could leave the Bunker. With a loud splat, I swished water and pushed the duo out of my room. Moving faster than I remembered ever moving I changed out of my sleeping clothes. A breath later I was outside. "What are we waiting for!?"

Daniela shot me a knowing smirk while Sam shook his head, but they both followed right on my heels. Seconds ticked as we passed two dozen other rooms whose occupants weren't as inclined to awaken. After several flights of stairs, we arrived at B-5 and were standing in front of the research half of the Recreation floor. Three ever-present individuals were at their usual stations. Danny's mom, Ava, crunched out health stats on the whole population of the Bunker and her rat test subjects. Elias' wrinkled face frowned at several documents while simultaneously checking over readings on a display beside him. Last but not least was Alan. The self proclaimed heir to the knowledge on Metier Radiation. The savant was a few feet from Elias as he used several tiny robotic limbs to fit a Metier Crystal into one of three titanium devices.

I didn't even realize I was holding my breath as the iridescent rock the size of my pinky nail made contact with the device. With a flash, and a diminutive cloud of smoke, the Crystal bonded itself to the first of three devices. The implants.

"Woooo!" Danny shouted loud enough to set my ears ringing. The moment she did, however, she also alerted the three researchers to our presence. Ava strode through the automatic doors out into the hallway that divided the Recreational floor of the Bunker.

"Daniela Carmen Vegas. What in the apocalypse do you think you are doing shouting near the lab? You should be up on Housing helping your father prep breakfast!" her mother wagged her finger in my over enthused friend's face.

"But, Mama, I read your notes! It said the implants would be done today. Papa just waved me off when I asked if I could meet with Ron and Sam," the fiery youth responded meekly. Her earlier energy flagging under her mom’s scowl.

"Ay, Juan. Mi amor... Fine. But I want you three to stay put while we work," Ava grumbled as she turned to the door. An excited yip from Danny prompted her to spin on her heels. "And quiet!"

We all turned away from the woman, all properly chastised. The two men in the room waved their greeting, before returning to their work. I did notice that Elias' frown had deepened considerably and his smile hadn't quite reached his eyes when waving to our little group. Certainly something I needed to make sure to ask him about later. As the oldest resident of Wildwood and also the most senior researcher on the team, anything that concerned him was something that I wanted to be aware of.

With the permission of Danny's mother, we plastered ourselves to the see through glass of the lab. After the brief distraction of our presence, the researchers were all business within minutes. Deftly maneuvering the robotic limbs, Alan made adjustments to the implants that had yet to receive a Crystal, while Elias provided constant readouts on any changes. The specifics of the MetierTech developments, as they were labeling the implants, were way outside any of our fields of expertise. I was happy to catch the occasional word addressing power levels, effective impacts and neural regulations.

Unlike the usual banter that permeated our times together, responses were curt while we watched the creation of the other two implants. The only real quip was directed at me from Danny for fogging up the glass with my 'unnatural mouth-breathing'. We were so caught up in her barb we nearly missed the final implant's completion. Silence reigned in the lab for a second before the three researchers hugged and cried at their success. The frown I'd seen on Elias' face completely disappeared with their final success, and I couldn't keep the smile from my face either.

We were going to go to the surface!

*****

"Now, I want to make sure that you three understand the consequences and impacts that these are going to have on your future," Elias started, his hands waving in the air with each word. He'd always been one of those people that spoke with their hands as much as with their mouth. "The implants could have severely good and bad impacts on your health. It is one part of the reason we were hesitant to bring them up to you. You can thank Mr. Fallon here for his overeager infiltration of classified files."

Sam scratched his head awkwardly as Danny and I snickered. He'd found out about the Implant Project two years ago, and since then we'd been nagging Elias to let us act as the lab rats. Instead of the actual lab rats they'd been intended for. Needless to say the project had taken on a whole new level of complexity. None of us knew exactly why they agreed to adjust the project, but neither did we complain.

"-permanent death or disfigurement," he finished as I reined in my drifting thoughts. Cheerful options those.

"I think we've been briefed enough on the risk, Mr. Barnes," I said, trying to push past the researchers' hesitance. The finish line was right there.

"Ronan. I understand that you feel like you need to go out there, but it isn't going to be a happ-"

"I know that," I cut him off. I winced, and tried to backpedal. "I mean..."

"It's alright, Ronan. I suppose none of you are children anymore, even if you always will be in our eyes," the old researcher scratched at a beard that no longer grew evenly on his face. "Very well. I will call for Alexia and June to begin. If the procedure is a success, you'll report to Ben so he can outfit you."

Something that could not be said about Elias Barnes was that he was one for half measures. We'd expected to be sent out soon after the implants were operational, but the same day? Wonderful. When the doctor and nurse-turned-doctor combo of Alexia and June appeared outside of the lab, I knew it was time. The first step in our long path to return to Earth.

I wanted to provide some encouraging words for my friends as we were pulled one by one into the operating room, but the words died in my throat. Most of the Bunker's population stopped by at one time or another during our wait to congratulate us and wish us luck. Sweat made my palms slick as I tapped my feet anxiously on the ground. I wasn't sure why Dr. Alexia hadn't brought Danny and then Sam back outside, but it had my nerves fully on end.

While the prospect of returning to the surface was an impossible allure, I would not have traded the lives of my two best friends for it. Ever. When the older woman made her way out of the room to get me, I couldn't help but falter a step on the way. She took my shaking hand with a gentle smile and walked me through the procedure.

"Since I know that will be your first question, we still have Samuel and Daniela in observation. I need you to focus, Ronan. I am going to be attaching the probing sensors less than a tenth of an inch away from your spine. One horizontal cut and two smaller vertical cuts should be all that it takes to implant the device. June and I have practiced the procedure an impossible number of times, but I need you to stay focused. The procedure will happen while you are awake, we are only going to numb you."

At the mention of being awake for such an invasive procedure, my blood ran cold. I nodded in understanding, letting out a shuddering breath. Definitely wasn't going to back out now.

Over the course of the next twenty minutes, I was disrobed, washed and the lower back portion of my head was shaved. With the preparation complete, Alexia took precise measurements of just where my spine and nerve responses were. Her and June kept up a constant stream of conversation, certainly to keep me distracted as they injected me with some kind of sedative. I barely registered the pinch of the needle as they numbed me. Funny enough, the thing that kept my focus the entire time that I was implanted was a series of hairs. More specifically, one from each of my friend's heads. The brown brunette curl of Daniela clung to dear life from the edge of June's surgical boots. Samuel's blond strand laid near imperceptible right next to Alexia, barely avoiding being stepped on as she moved around behind me.

Lastly was my own short black speck. There was a small gathering of them, to be sure, having been missed in the two women's efforts to keep me calm while also maintaining as sterile a space as possible. However, their presence reminded me of our parents and, subsequently, the nightmare that they'd endured for us. For all of humanity.

When I blinked that thought away, I realized that there was something new in my field of vision. Like a speck of dust that had managed to make its way into my eye, I tried to blink it away.

"Wonderful, Ronan! You didn't falter at all during the procedure. We can begin testing the calibration. Do you see something in your eyes?"

"Ahh... yes? Blurry lines in my right eye?" I asked, uncertain.

"Very good, hold still." An extremely loud mechanical whir drew my attention behind me. Had I not been completely strapped to the table, I might have jumped away in fear at all the horrific images that sound brought to mind. "How's that love?"

Blinking to try to clear away some of the blurriness, I saw words take shape.

Subject: Ronan Terrigan

Vitals: Expand…

Metier Radiation: Neutral

LPS: Expand…

Wildwood, FL

Communications

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed. It felt like I was wearing one of the virtual reality headgears we used for simulation training. Minus the clunky helmet and low resolution graphics. I went on to describe what I saw, even pointing out that some of the words looked bolded while others didn't.

"That's perfectly normal and intended. The bolded words should be toggleable interface points, while the standard script is data. Say 'Vitals' while you focus on the word you see," June coached me. I heard Alexia fiddling with something on the other side of the room, but I did as was told. Focusing through the adrenaline that was pumping through me was a bit difficult, but I finally managed to calm down enough. When I did say Vitals, the lower half of the display disappeared and more information appeared.

Subject: Ronan Terrigan

Vitals:

BPM (91)

Oxygen Sat (94%)

Lactic Acid (Neutral)

I visibly saw my heartrate spike into the one hundreds as the change happened. A thought of 'back' returned the words to their first configuration. When I described the experience, Alexia sounded extremely excited. Having known her for my whole life, I knew she was giddy to be tweaking strange and unnatural nobs in my brain.

After the successful test with Vitals, she had me open the LPS, Local Positioning System, which showed a detailed map of the area. While the map was from over twenty seven years ago, it was the clearest and most controllable map I'd ever seen. A mere thought highlighted, zoomed or panned it. I was pretty sure I could have kept playing with the tech for much longer, but the doctors kept me on task.

"Next we want you to open Communications. This one may take some--"

"Sam? Yeah! It's like we have one of those 'cellphone' things right in our heads," I said, already having figured out how to manipulate the basic features of the implant. When I opened the Communications tab, I'd received a list of two people. Unsurprisingly, they were labeled 'Samuel Fallon' and 'Daniela Vegas'. The mere thought brought up a ringing tone that almost instantly clicked with Sam.

"Ronan! Please you must be careful until we have everything properly calibrated before you go making semi-telepathic calls!" June said in alarm, going so far as to crouch and look up at my face.

"Sorry. Talk to you later, eh, Sam?" I heard the man chuckle through our connection before 'hanging up' as I gave the doctor a sheepish grin. The scolding she had been meaning to give me wasn't very successful.

"He's all good, June. Better stitch him up and wheel him in to his fellow troublemakers before they give each other an aneurysm from using the Comm system."

Sure enough, a few minutes later I was laying on an individual bed, face down, next to my friends.

"Well, that was fun," Danny said, a slight wince in her voice. "I hope Ben sends us out with some pain killers because my neck is going to be sore. The sedative is already fading for me."

"That's because they only gave you a drop, what with how small you are," Sam said.

"Very funny, Mr. 'Youch! Please more drugs'," Danny quipped back. "Don't think they were even done numbing you before you were asking for more!"

"Hey, you know medication works weird on me," the blond protested.

"Guys? I love the energy and all, but maybe it will be worth it to relax a tad. If we are going to be heading out to the surface today, we are probably going to need to be as rested as we can," I said. I couldn’t believe I was being the proactive one, but I felt justified. The only thing I was ever really motivated about was Earth and my friends. The fact that I would be getting out of the Bunker and with my friends had me apprehensive about messing it up.

"Sure, Ron. I think we can hold our barbs till we are under the sun. The real one," Sam's voice drifted and I knew my friend had entered his recurring daydream. One precisely about the Sun none of us had ever seen. Not that I blamed him, since all of us had them. A strange side effect of exposure to Metier Radiation, Alan had told us, which was magnitudes worse for those born after Landfall. That is to say, just us three.

I'm not sure how long we laid there. Drifting in and out of sleep as the anesthesia wore off, the itch and throb of the implant becoming a constant presence. Blessedly, our duo of doctors arrived with painkillers as they checked their handiwork. From the snips of their conversation, they sounded alarmed at the rate the injuries had healed. My interest might have been even more peeked if I hadn't been fighting to remain focused through the medication.

"You three are good to go. Just try to take it easy for a few days. Today is just a quick trip to the surface and back. To test the functions of the implant," Alexia added poignantly. The accusatory finger in Danny's face certainly sent a message about who she thought would cause trouble.

"Mrs. Perry, don't worry. It's only the most important day of our lives so far. No biggie," I smirked, drawing the woman's attention. I saw a shadow fall over her face as she considered my words. It was gone in a flash.

"Yes, Ronan. It might well be. I suppose it's hard for an old woman to really understand your feelings. However, if you three are successful that would change everything!" Her downcast expression was replaced with a blazing smile.

"What are we waiting for then!?" Danny said as she leapt off her bed. Only to wobble unsteadily until June was able to help her. "Maybe a bit more waiting," she answered unsteadily to a round of snorts from the rest of us.