Proxima Adventure

Chapter 16. Reconcilliation

Chapter 16. Reconciliation.

During the next day's communal supper, Charles, who was seated at a small table with his male buddies, stood up and looked over the women seated together at two large tables.

They immediately centered their attention on him.

"We have decided that you are more intelligent than we are by several orders of magnitude," he said with an appropriately serious looking facial expression. "Therefore, we will concede to your authority from now on. It's obvious that we will never return to our former lives and that we are stuck with living on this vessel for the rest of our lives, which might be much longer than we think if the higher efficiency factor is as real as we believe it is. We hope that you will not use this unfortunate situation to make us suffer."

After he sat down, Alice stood up. She smiled briefly before giving her reply to his statement of surrender. "Thank you for placing your trust in us. We have no intentions of harming you. We are no better than you are when it comes to dealing with our dystopian situation. So, we will resort to having consensus meetings in which we will decide our fates together."

"We are in agreement on that," Charles replied. "But we will leave the final choice to you."

Alice nodded her approval.

Vicky stood up. "We women have elected Alice as our leader."

"Thank you," Alice told her before she turned to Charles. "Is that acceptable?"

"Yes," Charles replied.

Surprisingly, there was no further discussions concerning their status.

Alice came to Charles quarters just as he was getting out of the shower. She was able to get the timing down by viewing him on the surveillance system.

"I would like you to come with me to the holding cells," she said.

He presented a stoic demeanor. "Are you going to confine me?"

"No. I want to show them to you."

He paused for a few silent moments before nodding his willingness. He went with her to her quarters and across her living area to a door that led to a corridor with several holding cells.

He turned to her. "I didn't know that these were in the astrophysicist's quarters."

"I assume that she was in charge of discipline," Alice said.

The cells were compact with only a toilet and sink. The ceiling was a shower head. There was barely enough room to like down on a metallic floor.

Alice opened the door with only a small round opening that was fitted with a metal mesh. She pointed to the cell "Get in there."

He obeyed her and she closed the door. He realized that it was locked. He was able to see her face in the round opening.

"Are you confining me?" He asked with a pleading voice.

She smiled. "No, silly! I'm trying to show you what these cells are like."

"It's really cold in here," he said while wrapping his arms around his chest. "There's no place to lie down."

"Yes. It's more like a punishment than a confinement.

"Yes," he replied, his face twisted with concern. "I agree."

Her expression softened to a subtle smile. "I'm sorry, but I wanted you to experience it so that you understand why we women don't want to do this to you men."

"I believe you," he replied.

"We want you to obey us," she continued.

"I understand," he said, trying to maintain his composure.