Chapter - 2 Assembly

The video ended as the screen went black. Jack looked to the nurse hoping for this to be a joke. She met his gaze with a straight face and replied to his unasked question. "Yes, this is all real and if you're done processing, we really must get moving. This room will be needed for the next patient to recover from cryo."

"Cryo? Wait? Was I frozen?!"

"Yes. No time to chat. If you can stand, follow me."

Jack stood unsteadily on his feet, the nausea and weakness from earlier nearly gone. Had he really been frozen? Jack didn't know how to feel about that. From what he'd heard, cryopreservation was decades away from being reliable.

Following Nancy out of the room, Jack could see the long corridor on either side of his door with what had to be hundreds of doors identical to his own. There were many people in lab coats and masks busily pushing patients on rolling beds into rooms and doctors leading even more out. Jack couldn't help but notice the faces and reactions of the patients being led out of their rooms. Some were like himself, skeptical, others were pale faced with visible fear in their eyes. Some were even crying, only a step away from a breakdown.

Jack wondered if they had been shown the same video that he had seen. Things were moving too fast to process. Walking down the corridor behind Nancy, Jack pondered. Eyes narrowed in contemplation, he wondered what the general meant. He would be placed in some simulated evolution or something? And what was that thing about surviving? He didn't know, but he knew he wouldn't like the answer even more than not knowing.

Reaching the end of the corridor, Jack was ushered into a large empty room. Or it would have been empty if it wasn't filled with a sea of people. There had to be thousands of people here. The door closed behind him with a click that was nearly drowned out by the roar of thousands of people trying to talk at once. He noticed that Nancy stayed behind. Probably to help her next frozen patient. Jack shuddered at the thought. People weren't meant to be frozen.

"Excuse me?"

Jack turned around to see a woman looking straight at him. "Do you know what's going on?" Jack thought for a moment and shook his head. "I probably only know as much as you." The woman appeared to be visibly anxious and scared. She addressed him again. "Did you see that video?"

This confirmed that everyone probably saw some sort of video before being sent here. "With the general and the aliens and whatnot, right?" The woman nodded animatedly. "Do you think its true? At first, I thought this was some kind of prank, but this is too… big to be a prank."

"I don't know what's true and what's not. I just know whatever is going on, it's not good for us."

Jack knew this wouldn't comfort the woman, but right now the only thing that could help at the moment was the truth. The woman tried for a smile, gave a quick thanks, and hurried off. Probably to find more information.

In the short time that Jack was in the large open room, 6 different people approached him to ask him the same questions that the woman had from earlier. It had been maybe 15 minutes since entering the room and, by the looks of it, the people here seemed to be getting reckless. Shouts broke out from random places in the room, trying to be heard over the constant chatter.

Seeing that things were becoming heated, Jack backed up to the wall of the room. He knew how impatient and scared people acted in situations like this. He'd taken more than enough psychology and sociology classes in college to know where things were headed. If chaos ensued, he didn't want to be anywhere near it when it did.

Just when things seemed to reach a crescendo the large double doors opposite of Jack's wall opened up to a stage. A group of at least twenty soldiers in black gear with long sub machine type weapons poured out of the door and lined up in neat rows on either side of the stage.

Gradually the sea of men and women quieted down as they realized something was happening. The gap between the two neat rows of soldiers was soon occupied by none other than General Simon Hill. Taking a few steps forward to stand in front of the rows of soldiers he held his hand up motioning the crowd to be silent. Quickly the remaining muttering died down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Eidolon56a, or simply Eidolon. I know none of you agreed to be here, and to be frank, I really don't care. You all have been conscripted, which means your opinion doesn't matter and any resistance will be met with deadly force. I'd like to tell you all that the government has everything under control, but that would be a lie. We are out of options. You all have been gathered here as the last group to be initiated, otherwise I wouldn't bother to make an appearance."

With a cold, stone-faced expression the general went on. "Today your group will be deposited in a forest-like area in the northern region of the known territory in our control." Upon saying those words, a large hologram appeared between the general and the large crowd of conscripts. Many in the crowd gasped at this show of technology. As far as they knew, things like this hadn't been invented yet. The hologram displayed a model of what Jack assumed was Eidolon. Confirming his guess, the general went on.

"This is Eidolon. Currently, we are here." The general pointed to a glowing golden dot on the map. It was somewhere in the middle of an ocean. "This is the facility we are currently in." The hologram shifted again displaying a forest-like area with large trees. Jack couldn't tell the type and assumed it might be unique to Eidolon.

"This is where you all will be surviving for the next three years." After a minute of silence and people exchanging bewildered and fearful expressions, the hologram disappeared. "Although you will be forced to survive in a foreign world, you will not be left empty handed."

The hologram flickered back into being once again but this time it was in the form of a small panel stationed a foot or so from each of the conscripts faces.

"The screen before you will allow you to choose the items you can take with you. Every one of you will be given a limited amount of credit. That credit can be used to purchase any items of your choosing. Most items you could ask for will appear as an option in the general list. Anything else would have to be requested for carbon printing such as weapons or tools. Firearms and most projectile weapons will not be tolerated. You may begin your selection, but be aware, you only have thirty minutes."

The general stood there like a statue apparently waiting for everyone to make their choices. Jack stared in amazement at the hologram before him. Tentatively he touched it and immediately pulled back in shock. The hologram… he could feel it…

Not wanting to waste any time, Jack started browsing his options.