Atlas Abandoned

Progress (17 months since the crash)

"That's enough for today. Nice work!" Esther high fived Demeter after she aced another quiz during their homeschooling session. She had blazed through all of the basic coursework in the first couple of months on the team and was chugging along with intermediate material now. Professor Thanes even nicknamed her "Wiz" which she thought was silly coming from such a genius.

The truth was Demeter didn't have much free time these days. When she wasn't getting home schooled or contributing in the research lab she had made a habit of studying science course material that was years ahead of her even if she didn't really understand it. That was partially because she knew she'd have to breach the material someday and really wanted to catch up to the rest of the research team, the members of which were all at least 10 years older than her. The other reason was because it kept her from her other, possibly less healthy habit of parsing through the countless files and documents that had been publicly released pertaining to the Pilgrimage. Demeter knew she might never be able to get through everything, but she had this feeling she couldn't shake. It was like an itch in her mind; a tapping on her heart. Demeter had no idea what she was looking for, but couldn't let the idea of her parents and brother go. Maybe she could find some detail or some clue. It might not bring them back. It might not mean they were alive, but maybe she could find some closure in that endless digital library.

"Uh, Demeter?" Esther seemed surprised that Demeter was still sitting there above her open textbooks. Her teacher for the morning had stepped out and come back with Samuel, another researcher from the team. The two of them stood at the door ready to leave the dormitories and grab some lunch. They seemed to be halfway out the door anyhow, and it was just because Demeter was awkwardly zoned out in the common area that they invited her along. That's what she thought, anyhow. She was pretty intuitive about that stuff. Either way, Demeter was pretty hungry and joined them. They passed through the laboratory to see if anyone else wanted to join. A couple dropped what they were doing and expressed their hunger jovially.

"Wiz, could I talk to you in my office?" Professor Thanes, who had been nearly invisible behind a colorful wall of beakers, vials, and tubes separating a couple work areas, popped his head around the end. He held something bubbling potently with a pair of industrial tongs and industrial gloves. Demeter looked back at Esther and the others as they packed up to go eat and held up a finger.

"Hang on, guys, I'll b-"

"She'll catch up with you all," interrupted the professor as he returned to set down his bubbling experiment. Demeter frowned, Esther shrugged, and the others left as Demeter stepped with Professor Thanes towards his office.

"Agey, please clean up workstation 3!" the professor yelled as he closed the door behind them. Through a window of partially frosted glass Demeter watched as the lab's autonomous general support android, or AGS-5, casually took the the professor's place at the workstation with the bubbling concoction and starting breaking materials down. Having an AGS droid of any model was something of a status symbol among all 6 colonies. This was just another example of how much money Professor Thanes had sunk into his operation. Demeter was almost entranced by how fluidly the android seemed to move. Although she'd seen the android standing at its station in the back corner every day since first arriving, Demeter rarely saw it being utilized and when she did it was just to clean up messes.

"It looks so real," she said under her breath. The professor caught on.

"Oh, yeah, it comes in handy, right?" he looked over his shoulder through the frosted glass as if to humor Demeter's fixation.

"I can only imagine, sir!" Professor Thane chuckled at Demeter's enthusiasm.

"So, Demeter," when he used her real name, Demeter knew something serious was coming. "You've been doing so well since you've joined us here! Everybody thinks you're very sweet and very helpful," Demeter blushed and looked at the ground as Professor Thanes went on, "You've also been patient. I know it must have been hard agreeing to come along when I couldn't tell you what exactly our end goal was. That was just a matter of trust; of protecting ourselves. Well, we trust you now." Demeter sat up straight and her eyes widened. Was he really, finally going to tell her about their true mission?