Chronicle of Nautilus

Chapter 31: A New Recruit

“I am here to meet The First Citizen,” a boy said to the receptionist in a small foyer.

“Give me you identification card, please,” a middle aged woman in tight black uniform requested.

The boy extended the card. The administrator took it, checked it, glanced distrustfully at the boy and coldly said, “Proceed to the elevator, top floor.”

Tim entered the elevator and pushed the topmost button. The door closed.  Tim's insides turned for a couple of seconds - exactly the amount of time it took to reach the top.

The door opened and Tim stepped out of the elevator, his face pale. “Damn, they should put a warning on it or something” Tim murmured and took a few deep breaths.

A long, wide corridor lay ahead of him with a single door at its end. As he stepped forward, his insides started turning again, in a few seconds he was to meet the most important man on the ship, the anxiety was increasing rapidly.

There were pictures painted by a paintbrush on the both sides of the corridor. On the left were hanging the pictures of the world people told stories about – the planet Earth. Forests extending to the horizon, dark blue oceans and massive cities shining in the night were captured by an unknown artist. Pictures of many planets and moons were hanging on the left. Tim easily recognized objects depicted in them – he had studied these doomed planets in the school. The boy wanted to look at the pictures a bit longer, but he preferred to get rid of the growing anxiety instead.

Tim entered the room. He expected to see something striking or extraordinary, but the place looked normal, the antique furniture dominated the interior, most of it was made of 'natural' wood as many old people liked to say. Many thick paper books lay on the long, thin shelves hanging on the walls. Tim saw these ancient items not covered in dust for the first time in his life. A wooden table and a chair stood close to a window, a large area of the city could be seen from there, a medium-sized picture of a man he had never seen before was hanging on a wall above the desk. As he inspected the room and his stare crossed it from one corner to another, he noticed that there was someone in this room besides him. The boy understood that the man had not moved a muscle since he had entered the room. On one of two couches, separated by a glass table in front of Tim, sat the great man himself - Tom Landau. He wore the same uniform as the lady on the first floor, only additionally there was a small hawk stitched to the left side of his chest. The man appeared to be no different from a common adult. The only weird property the person had was that he seemed a bit too young to be the one Tim had heard stories about. But powerful aura surrounding the person assured him that he had entered the correct room.

“Welcome,” the man said and pointed to the empty couch. “Take a seat. We have a lot to talk about.”

Tim's anxiety was lost. It was replaced by uneasiness and discomfort. He thought he was here to ask questions, but the man’s tone said that it would be the other way around. The boy sat down and said, “Thank you for the invitation. It’s my honor to meet you.”

  “Thank you for the kind words," Tom replied, "Mind my straightforwardness, but I believe you came here for an explanation, correct?”

“Correct.”

“I will give what you ask, but in turn you must stay and listen to a short story of mine before you leave.”

“Of course I will, I will do as you ask, Sir.”

“Great, I will ask you to give questions after the explanation.”

“Ok,” Tim replied silently.

“The City was much different from what you see now during the first years.  People were given new lives and many opportunities after the launch. They quickly forgot the importance of unity and cooperation - the main properties needed to maintain for the entire trip to succeed in the mission.