Episode One: Chapter One

Even in the deepest sleep he could hear his daughter shuddering in the next room. His wife, Tabby, sighed when Aaron rolled out of bed, but she didn’t awake. With each step through the darkness, Aaron pressed his feet hard against the cold floor, as if gravity might give way at any moment. Sometimes he felt this way. Sometimes he needed the simplest physical sensations to dispel all of the disheveled feelings that plagued his dreaming mind, all the walls made of thought that closed in on him. Tabby hated it, especially when Aaron turned the heat down so that he could feel the empty air. She said that’s why their daughter shook in her sleep. Well, she had been saying that up  until a week ago. Since then it had been clear that something much worse was troubling her. That’s why Cold Storage was coming the next day.

Aaron felt his way along the walls and came to Asandra’s door. From the outside he heard the creaking bed and the frame banging against the wall. He was still a little shocked at how much louder it was once he opened the door. He would never get used to finding her this way. In the fractured moonlight, in the silver projections of the leaves in the tree outside her window, he could see her stomach arched high. Only the top of her head and her heels touched the mattress. Spittle snaked from the corner of her mouth towards her ear and along the pillow.

“Andra.” he said. He placed his hand on her forehead. “Andra.”

It was a small touch, but it calmed her body a little. She rested her back. Aaron sat on the bed next to her. There was no way to make it stop. All he could do was let her feel his presence until the convulsing faded on its own and Andra returned to a more restful slumber. When she did, Aaron curled up in bed next to her. He placed his face against her shoulder and tried not to cry.

Tabitha had found her own way to deal with it. She had been seeing the priest every day and he’d been telling her that there was some kind of purpose to all this, though they didn’t know yet. Maybe that was true, but it was the sedatives that kept Tabby from waking to the sound of their daughter shaking her body apart. Aaron really didn’t blame her. Cold Storage was coming and there was nothing anyone could do about that.

#

One year later, Aaron was sitting on the deck waiting for the Cold Storage transport to return. He and Tabby still lived alone in the house that had once been so much happier with three residents. Their place stood on an island in a vast artificial lake. It stood like a stack of Christmas boxes, each level a square that was a bit smaller than the one below it. The deck ringed the entire lower level, providing any view that one wished of the lake, the other houses on their islands, or the motion of the sun and moon in the sky.

Tabitha came out and placed a warm cup beside him. Neither looked at the other. She rested her hand on his shoulder, looked into the sky, said something about the cold weather and the ominous approaching clouds, and went back inside. A few moments later, an object broke through those purplish dawnlit clouds and descended towards Aaron’s home. It was a sort of cylinder, if cylinders can be egg shaped on either end rather than circular.

One of these flattened egg shaped ends faced the deck as the vehicle hovered over the water. There was no driver, nor even some sort of anthropomorphic machine to make the experience less unsettling. A door opened from the bottom, making a ramp once it touched the floor. A human sized container slid down the ramp. Tabby came out and helped Aaron bring it inside while the transport disappeared. A tall white, featureless box sat in the middle of their parlor.

The image of a woman appeared on one of its sides.

“I am sure you have been anticipating this moment and are ready to get started.” She said. “However, for the safety of your daughter you must follow some instructions. As you recall from your briefing last year, Asandra’s last memory will be of the day she spent in your home prior to transportation to storage. She does not remember the trip to our facility, let alone any of the time she spent there. She does not remember the journey back. When she awakes, it will be as if nothing happened. Please try to make the experience for her as comfortable as possible. It is time to begin the unloading process.”

The image disappeared and the white sides of the box became translucent. There was their daughter, dressed in the clothes she had left in. Aaron knew that is not how they stored her, but they had preserved her clothes separately and dressed her before sending her over.

Tabby said, “She looks like one of the toy dolls we used to get her, with all the packaging.” She placed her hand on the glassy surface. “Only they looked more lifelike.”

The side of the box under her touch melted away and was gone. Aaron stepped inside, releasing Andra from the suspension field and letting her body slump on his shoulders. He sat her at the table and then he sat across from her. Tabby sat closest. Andra’s eyes fluttered. They opened and she smiled.

“Dad.” she said. “I’m hungry.”

#

Andra and her mother were playing chess at the table. The girl hadn’t moved from her chair all day. Her father came to clear the dishes from the last meal. He looked out on the lake, where the sun was beginning to set. He turned to his wife and there was nothing to say. It was almost time to say goodbye again for another year. The good thing is that she hadn’t experienced any seizures.

“It’s been a good day.” said Tabby, wiping away a tear. “The best I’ve had in a long time.”

“How do you feel, Andra?” said Aaron.

“I’m a little… bored.” She said, stifling a giggle. “Can we do something different?”

“Anything.” said Tabby. “I’m sorry; it’s just that you always used to love chess.”

“I still do.”

The girl put the chess pieces back in their starting positions. Then she paused for a moment to consider the back row. She rearranged it. Now the king was on the left end, the two knights were in the middle, and the other pieces were scattered among them.

“Same rules.” she said. “Different starting position. You know why I always beat you? There’s only so many games one can play. After awhile, you start to memorize them. I used to play games over to myself when I awoke in the darkness.”

Aaron moved in closer. “What?”

His daughter said, “I had to amuse myself, so I created new games from different starting positions. It’s harder to predict.”

“The darkness?”

Andra placed her hands in her lap. She watched her father’s expression for half a minute before responding. Then she glanced outside. She knew they were coming for her. She knew. Her hands began to shake.

“I try to tell myself it’s a dream.” she said. “But I know it’s not.”

Tabby said, “Are you telling us you remember…” She didn’t want to complete the thought.

“Being in Cold Storage?” said Aaron.

“Here and there. I drift in and out. There was nothing. Nothing to see, nothing to touch.”

At that moment a tune coming from the other side of the room startled the three of them. Aaron spoke to the screen on the wall and it came to life. A woman, the same woman who had been on the box, appeared.

“How is our loved one doing?” she said.

Tabitha stood and said, “We’ve had a good day. Can I ask you, has there been any progress?”

“I am sorry to say that there hasn’t been much.”

Aaron said, “Are they even trying?”

“Aaron…” said Tabby, placing her hand on him.

“I understand.” said the screen. “You’re not alone in your frustration. The number of afflicted children has only increased in the last year. There are many parents who feel as you do. Try to keep in mind that we have cured every other disease. This one should be no different.”

“The last epidemic was centuries ago.” said Aaron. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. Is there anyone left who even understands how to handle this?” He stepped closer. “I mean, is this the best you can do? Let her live her life out one day a year while the rest of us grow old?”

The woman said, “This is your daughter’s best chance at surviving until we find a cure, while still giving her a chance to engage with those who love her. I wish that I had better news for you, but if you have any suggestions then we’d be a happy to listen.”

Aaron was quiet.

Tabby said, “We appreciate what you’re doing for her.”

“I don’t want her to go back.” said Aaron.

“I’m sorry?” said the woman.

“She can’t go back. We have a right to keep her here, The disease may take her, but her life will still be better than these short little days that you dole out. It’s like eating crumbs and being hungry the rest of the time. It isn’t a life.”

“I regret to inform you that you don’t have a right.” The Cold Storage woman’s voice was more taught now. “We have to think about the rest of society. Our best medication is a drug that suppresses the symptoms and modes of transmission for one day. After that, not only will she begin to convulse again, she will become highly contagious.”

“We’ll stay here!” said Aaron.

“Speak for yourself.” said Tabby.

“Fine, I will. I’ll stay here. We don’t go out anyway. I’ll just stay with Andra and keep her company for the rest of her life. I have no problem with that. I don’t want anything else.”

“Think about it.” said the woman. “Who will care for her if you and your wife become sick?”

“There must be some way we can protect ourselves.”

“I know this is hard…”

“She remembers!” he said.

All three were silent for a moment.

Aaron said, “Andra, tell them.”

“Don’t bring her into this.” said Tabby. “Don’t put that kind of burden on her.”

Asandra, still sitting before her chess board, said, “I do remember.”

“That isn’t possible.” said the woman.

“I remember.” Tears began to flow down her face. “Daddy, if you can…”

“I won’t let you go back.”

The screen said, “The transport is on its way already.”

Sure enough, the tube was breaking the clouds once more. It grew larger as it approached. Aaron looked around, at his wife and the other woman and his daughter and her chessboard. Then he had an idea.

Please continue reading here: Chapter Two