A large shadowy thing broke on the horizon. It looked like an old battleship from my textbook. There is some sort of metal rope that connected my boat to the ship. When I get close enough, a large mechanism grabs my boat and pulls me up. I stumble off the boat, hands and knees on the wooden floor.
On deck, there are many people sitting around, talking to each other. The nearest guy is my age and is holding some sort of controller. “Ah, the lady of the hour arrives, welcome.” He bows jestingly.
He has goggles on his forehead. A black leather vest with a white undershirt adorned his abdomen and he has long pants that have a black, white, and gray pattern I had seen on soldiers in textbook photos with matching black boots as well. His skin is also a different olive color and he looks different than me. I suppose he is a different race? I had read about in the texts but everyone was ‘white’ where I am from. He had messy apple red hair that look completely different than mine and his eyes are a beautiful acid green. He had many bracelets with metal pins and chains with leathery materials.
He holds his hand out and I take it, having him pull me up. “I’m Mesa, ma’m. Welcome to… uh, well we’ll be on land in… soon.” He scratches the back of his head while I dust myself off. “Mesa? Do you have a number?” I ask. He breaks out into a grin, muttering, “A minute on deck and she already asks for my number…” He then clears his throat, “Right, you are from an oceanic science city, so you were named on a number syste-” Before he could finish another girl runs up from behind him. She smiles when she sees me.
She was also in her twenties, slightly older than me. She had long dandelion yellow hair and bright blue eyes. There were things covering her ears like some sort of earmuffs that were a red color and they had some sort of cord connecting them to something in her pocket. She was also differently skinned. Her’s was darker than Mesa, more of a light sepia color. I found her extremely pretty. She had a white, flowy shirt like mine, but without any straps. She also had form fitting pants of a light blue. Many necklaces adorned her, all varying in lengths.
I look at her, “I’m guessing you picked my outfit?” She smiles, “Yes, and lemme say, you wear it well!” She walks circles around me gleefully, “Oh, you’re so gorgeous!” She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “Before I start fangirling, my name is Natalie. We should probably be thinking of a name for you, and make other arrangements, and… ugh! So much to do!” She huffs.
Mesa began laughing, “You’re always stressing, chill!”
I tilt my head, “But my name is 156322, why would I need to change it?” Mesa and Natalie looked at each other for a moment, “Well, you don’t have to, it was more of a suggestion.” Mesa scratches the back of his head, Natalie nods, “Yup. We just thought maybe you’d want a name that better describes you, like Ruby, or maybe someone famous from history. You don’t have to choose right now, either, take your time.”
“Ms. Rosaria! We’re almost there!” One of the other men onboard calls out. Natalie looks at him and smiles in acknowledgement. I had read about this naming system before, but I had not thought about being named that way myself. The character from old novels had names instead of numbers. A sudden thought burst into my head, “Why are you helping me anyway? It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but you must have a reason.”
Natalie beams. “Well, you see, that’s probably something they neglected to teach you. Do you know how the oceanic cities got there?”
I shake my head. “No matter how many times I asked, either no one would tell me, or they didn’t know themselves.”
Mesa sighs. “Well, a long time ago — say a quarter to half a century or longer — a brilliant scientist came up with a way to make renewable energy that was very cheap and efficient, not to mention that it stopped polluting the environment. He found that our planet actually radiates it as a waste product and found a way to harness it.”
“In other words, he made a miraculous discovery no one thought possible,” Natalie continues as Mesa ran off to watch the ship go into port. Natalie and I walk over there as well, “except when he released this idea, he forgot to take into account the jobs that relied on the previous electric energy. Millions were out of jobs, and so a whole group of people that had worked with the gas and oil industries had nowhere to go and nothing to do.”
“So, the big companies decided to build cities on the old oil rigs and drills and whatever refineries they had. They moved the people there and decided to claim it as an oceanic nation. Up until a couple of years ago, they were peaceful. Then, we discovered from another one of the people that got out of those cities, much like what just happened with you, that they are actually trying to make biological weapons.”
Natalie took a breath, but I put my hand up to stop her, “The people of my facility are not doing such things. Not knowingly, but what the scientists there are doing could be very easily turned into a weapon.” I thought about it, only my father would know such things. He would talk to the rest of the city leaders every so often in a video meeting. It would be smart to have people work on one thing and then turn into something terrible only to have them take the fault as a rebellious city. But I also just met these people, I need validation on what they are saying.
“Anyways, back to the history lesson,” Natalie began again, “the energy is called Jares. Certain areas have more than others, but then the energy can be transmitted wirelessly. The Oceanic Country is upset because the government hasn’t recognized it as an independent country. They want their independence, their logic being that if they can’t become a country, then they will take over this one. We’re part of the army. Our government fell apart a long time ago because of debt, but the one that replaced it is better anyway.” Natalie finished.
“Guys! There’s the mainland!” Mesa called out. “Oh, I can’t wait to be back on land!”
I lean on the railing next to Mesa and look at the beautiful view. Many trees, bushes, different tall grasses, and wildlife filled my vision. “Oh, wow! So many colors!” The way the water lapped over the golden sands was gorgeous, and the little crabs scuttling over the beach. It felt like this was meant to be, like this is my destiny. There were no gods that I grew up with, science dominated religion. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel like something out there was calling me. “Destiny.”
“Sorry, what?” Mesa looks at me questioningly. I look at him and Natalie, “Call me Destiny.” Natalie jumped up and down, “I like that name! Welcome to the mainland, Destiny!”
