Travis

“The dome isn’t going to last much longer, is it?” I pose the question that’s on everyone’s minds but somehow unable to make it past their lips.

Once again, we’re at Hope Creek Town Hall, but this time, we’re discussing something more serious—the dome.

Nearly twenty years ago, long before the Icebreaker, Dr. Martin Schwarzschild already knew it would come. He had predicted it, but at the time, most people didn’t believe him. Some people even thought he was crazy, just like people thought about Noah, all because the truth he spoke was too cruel to fathom.

Thankfully, the people of Hope Creek had believed him. They helped him build his inventions, the dome most notably. When finished, it would keep Hope Creek hidden from the outside world while also protecting the town from flooding, poisonous gases, acid rain, radiation and even meteorites. Any object threatening to fall on the town would be burned and turned into ash as it entered the dome. The dome also had a temperature control system so that it was never too hot or too cold inside.

During the Icebreaker, the dome, which had been finished just months before, kept the town not just alive but intact.

Sadly, it didn’t keep Hope Creek safe from disease, including the infection which spread throughout the globe just before the flood. That one caused infertility among women of all ages and miscarriages or stillbirths among pregnant women.

Nevertheless, the people of Hope Creek justifiably considered the dome a marvel, a miracle. Having outlived its inventor, it still stands guard over Hope Creek today. But we all know it won’t stand forever.

Judging from the intensity of that last explosion and the extent of the damage, it may not even be standing in a few weeks.

“You’re right, Travis,” Phil admits after a sigh. “The dome is falling apart. It took heavy damage during the Icebreaker, and I’m afraid that it has fallen into disrepair in recent years.”

“No,” Eileen gasps and shakes her head. “Hope Creek won’t survive without it. Others will see us, and when they do, they will take over our town. They will take our food. They will—”

“Calm down, Eileen,” Anthony interrupts her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “That’s not going to happen.”

He turns to me with a glare.

“Isn’t it your job to repair the dome?” he asks. “To maintain it?”

“Now, now, Tony,” Jerry speaks up. “Glaring and pointing fingers isn’t going to help anyone.”

“Phil and I and everyone assigned to the Dome Team have been doing their jobs,” I answer as I clasp my hands on the table. “But the problem is that some parts of the dome are beyond repair. They need replacing.”

“And we can’t replace them?” Daniel asks.

“The truth is we’ve run out of replacement parts,” Phil informs the council.

“And we have no way of getting them?” Anthony asks.

“Not unless we go to a city,” I answer. “The Pioneers are the only ones with the equipment.”

“Well, can’t you go to a city and ask for some equipment?” Eileen turns to Phil. “You have Pioneer friends, don’t you? Why, you’re even a Pioneer yourself.”

“I’m not a Pioneer, Eileen,” Phil says. “I refused to board the Vessel, remember?”

And all because his best friend, Martin, who Phil considered even more brilliant than him, was not invited.

I glance at him and note the circles under his eyes and the growing number of white hairs on his head.

He could be living in luxury, in comfort and security, in prestige. But no. He chose to stay here in Hope Creek and help his best friend preserve the town.

“As for my friends,” Phil adds. “They’ve likely forgotten me and taken credit for everything I did.”

“But surely there must be someone who can help,” Eileen insists.

Phil shrugs. “Even if someone wanted to help me, he or she couldn’t just hand me the equipment we need.”

“Are you saying we’d have to pay for it?” Anthony asks.

“I thought money no longer existed,” Jerry says.

“They’ll want something in return, no doubt,” Phil says. “Like Martin’s plans for his inventions.”

“We could give them those, surely,” Eileen says. “Won’t they help humanity get back on its feet?”

“Those plans aren’t mine to give.” Phil glances at me.

Eileen turns to me. “Travis? Surely, you think we must share Martin’s legacy with the world. Or what’s left of it. It’s what he would have wanted.”

I frown. Why is it that everyone thinks they know what dead people would have wanted?

“We can’t be sure what they will be used for,” I point out. “And since we’re trading them for equipment we desperately need, we won’t exactly be in a position to dictate it.”

“So what? You’ll let us all die?” Anthony raises his hands.

“Of course not,” I tell him. “I’m just saying we don’t have to ask for the equipment or deal with the Pioneers. We can just steal the equipment.”

“Steal?” Eileen’s eyes grow wide as saucers.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Daniel asks.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Eileen asks him with a horrified expression. “You’re the Chief of Hope Creek Police, Mr. Wilson. Aren’t you aware that stealing is a criminal offense?”

“That was back when there were laws,” I remind her and everyone else at the table. “Out there, the only law is survival, sauve qui peut.”

Jerry nods. “I’ve only been out of Hope Creek once since the Icebreaker, but I’ve seen what people do out there. Compared to that, stealing’s on the level of a parking violation.”

“Besides, the Pioneers think they’re gods,” I add. “I’m sure they won’t mind losing a few things.”

“Gods are known for their wrath,” Eileen says. “Do we really want to be on the receiving end of the wrath of the Pioneers?”

“They don’t even know we exist,” Phil says.

“And if they follow us or hunt us down?” Eileen asks. “Then Hope Creek will be discovered and all our hard work will have been for nothing.”

Phil glances at me. “Travis will make sure that doesn’t happen. Right, Travis?”

I nod. “No matter what, I promise I will keep Hope Creek safe.”

Daniel shakes his head. “It’s still too risky.”

“I’m not exactly against stealing,” Anthony says. “But I don’t like this idea.”

Eileen shakes her head. I glance at Jerry and he shrugs.

“Stealing from the Pioneers could mean more trouble,” he says.

I look down at my hands. That’s already four who are against the plan, which leaves only myself, Nancy and Phil for it. We’re outnumbered, and although it’s only by one, we agreed at the formation of the Council that in order to execute a plan that concerns the residents of Hope Creek, everyone must approve of it.

Clearly, we don’t have that approval.

Phil finally breaks the silence. “Travis and I will talk about what else we can do.”

“Well, do it quick,” Anthony says. “I don’t want another explosion.”

He leaves the room, and so do the others who opposed the plan.

“Are you sure you’d rather not give them those plans?” Nancy asks.

“I’d never hand them over to someone I don’t trust,” I say. “I’d rather die.”

“There’s your answer,” Phil says with a sigh. “Well, who knows? Maybe there’s something in those plans that can help us yet.”

“I’ll go over them and all the notes Martin left behind,” I promise.

Phil nods. “You do that.”

~

That is exactly what I intend to do as soon as I get home, but as soon as I step into living room, I get the feeling that something is wrong.

I don’t see any sign of Grace and Toby.

Did they go home like I asked them to? Or did they wander off somewhere?

With a frown, I race up the stairs. At the top, I freeze. My jaw drops as I see the door at the end of the corridor standing open.

No.

I run to it and find Grace and Toby inside the room, Grace with a pair of knitted yellow and white mittens in her hand.

The mittens that Angie knitted with care. The mittens that were supposed to be for our baby girl.

I grab them from Grace’s hands. “What do you think you’re doing? I thought I told you not to enter this room! How did you even open the door?”

“I used a wrench,” she answers as she slowly stands up. “I was looking for cooking equipment.”

My jaw clenches. “I told you…”

“You told me this was a storage room.” She turns to me with her forehead creased. “But it’s not that, is it?”

I shake my head. “You weren’t supposed to be in this room.”

“This was a nursery, wasn’t it?” Grace raises her voice. “Did we have a baby, Travis?”

“No.”

She steps forward. “What happened to her, huh?”

I step aside. “Get out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me there was a baby? Why didn’t you…?”

“Because she wasn’t your baby!” I shout as I feel my own temper rising. “She was mine.”

“What?”

“Mine and my first wife’s. And now both she and the baby are gone.”

Her eyes grow wide.

I swallow. “Now get out of this room.”

“Oh, I will get out of this room.” She stands in front of me with tears in her eyes. “And out of this house. And out of your life. I don’t need a marriage based on secrets and lies.”

“And I don’t need a wife who doesn’t even know me,” I spit out without thinking.

Grace purses her lips. For a moment, she just stands there, glaring at me with her hands curled into fists as a tear rolls down her cheek. Then she rushes out of the room, down the corridor and down the stairs.

I ignore Toby’s stare and slide down the door slowly as I grip the mittens to my chest.

Then my own tears start to fall.