Chapter 5

Dear Jim,

This morning Barbara and I were awakened by an annoying beeping sound coming from our wrist pads – which we did not wear in bed. I jumped out of my bed and got my pad, while Barbara fished for hers, which she had stored at arm's reach. We both found the same message:

MEETING IN 2 HOURS. COORDINATES ATTACHED. BE THERE.

Barbara and I looked at each other in some confusion. We decided to take a look to see what it was all about. When it was time to go we ran into Peter, also on his way to the meeting. He had his rubber boat (part of every pod's supplies) down at the river, which meant that we could cross without getting wet. We jumped out at the opposite river bank, startling a plump bird, which ran away with a loud squawk. We pulled the boat to the shore and walked up to the meeting place.

A small group of people had already accumulated between Cargo Pod 36 and Pod 39, which was occupied by Maia and Arthur. This place lies roughly in the center of our cluster, which seems to be the reason why it was chosen for this purpose. Everyone was wearing the same orange-and-white uniforms. Most people were chatting pleasantly with each other.

Standing in front of everyone else and facing them was a tall, rather heavyset man in a slightly different orange-and-white uniform. It had a pair of golden tassels on the shoulders and gold buttons on the front. His shaven head was covered with an orange cap. The man looked tired and unwell; still, he seemed to be the only clean-shaven man in the crowd. Next to him stood a woman of about his age.

The man seemed to be counting the heads in front of him. Then he cleared his throat, and started to speak.

'Good morning, everyone. My name is Mr Reginald Pollak and I am your Cluster Coordinator. I want to take the time to introduce myself to you in an effort to create a friendly and collegial atmosphere. I am sure we will have a great time working together. Unfortunately I have been indisposed with matters on the ship and that's why I have joined you just now, but I am sure you had some very productive days already.'

At this point Peter leaned over to me and whispered, 'I heard he was in terrible shape after waking up. Might have something to do with his former lifestyle – that's at least what I've heard.'

Mr Pollak cleared his throat, looking directly at Peter like a school teacher. Peter gave him a little mock-salute, which caused Mr Pollak's frown to deepen. But he didn't choose to make another comment.

'As you all know, we have a lot to do. We're working on a tight schedule here. We expect the arrival of the Boreas, our sister ship, in five years. Until then we are meant to establish outposts, explore, find resources, stock up on supplies, and build homes for the new settlers. To achieve our goals, I have set up a strict schedule, which I will send to you after the meeting. I expect everyone to read it, save it, memorise it, and follow it. Each of you has their own individual goals. I expect every single one of you to send me regular updates about what you do and which of your goals you have met.'

He started to pace back and forth while rattling out his speech and giving us meaningful looks whenever he found it appropriate.

'I also intend to have regular meetings. Attendance is of course mandatory unless you have a valid excuse. I will be the judge of which excuse is valid. We are all here for a reason – and I don't mean that metaphorically. This is not a walk in the park. Everyone must do their part.'

I could hear Peter mutter something unintelligible under his breath. Barbara rolled her eyes so hard I was afraid they would get stuck. There was muffled laughter somewhere towards the front, which led Mr Pollak to clear his throat pointedly and shoot another frown at his audience.

'I see that some among you are not quite on the same page with me yet, but I am sure I will be able to make you understand that I am indeed serious and I will find ways to make you all work together like, ' he made an uncertain hand movement, '. . . like the gears in a well-oiled machine.'

'Cogs!' I shouted, 'they're called cogs!'

Mr Pollak nodded and gave me a rather annoyed look.

'Right. . . right. . . I am sure you are all very excited to meet me and your team today and therefore I will take the time to tell you a little bit about myself. After this you will take turns introducing yourselves.'

There were some groans in the audience, which were met by sharp looks from Mr Pollak.

'I am 52 years old. Before taking on this endeavour I was in upper management of Incredible Infrastructures International and have brought great success to the business. I am proud to say that I always considered myself well liked and respected among the employees. After a rather unfortunate year of setbacks, the board brought this marvellous opportunity to my attention. I was convinced that I was the man needed on this project. . . and could also not close my eyes to the potential personal benefits of taking this on. I am certain that my efforts here are vital to the success of this project. It is very close to my heart.'

'I am sure he keeps his ID in his breast pocket,' Peter whispered.

Mr Pollak went on, 'I will remain with you for only five years, and will go home when the Boreas arrives, which as you all know, will be equipped with a return section, unlike the Zephyrus, the ship we came on. But don't be sad – my relief will also arrive on the Boreas. I am sure they will be almost as marvellous a leader as myself. I will then return home when the second ship departs again and reap the fruits of my investments. . . anyway. I also wanted to inform you that we have received confirmation that our sister ship has left home port as planned. Regular updates are sent along the way as it passes the communication links our ship placed automatically. Therefore we need to get everything ready in time for a few hundred settlers to arrive.'

'May I also introduce you to my wonderful wife Crystal,' Mr Pollak continued.

The woman next to him clenched her teeth into a fake smile and waved at the audience. She was wearing a no-doubt expensive blonde wig, large earrings and several golden bracelets. Her white-and-orange uniform was skin-tight and she had makeup on. I was utterly disgusted.

'Thank you very much, Reginald. I am honoured to have the opportunity to be here with all of you. I also want to introduce you to our amazing children Candy and Dough, who will share this opportunity with us,' Mrs Pollak announced.

Like her mother, Candy was wearing a wig. Hers, however, was not blonde but had different shades of blue, to which she wore a dark blue lipstick. Her uniform was tailored to fit perfectly, like her mother's, and was unzipped at the top to reveal a sparkling necklace. Her body, as far as could be seen, was flawless. She stepped in front of everyone with a wide smile.

'Hi everyone, I'm Candy! But I am sure most of you already know me from my clips like 'How to cut your hair in zero gravity'. I am so excited to be able to be here today. Thanks to my daddy for making all this possible for me,' she said, toying with the pendant on her necklace.

Candy pointed at Mr Pollak, who gave her a proud look.

'I will be here to document aaaall the exciting things we will be doing here for our fans at home. We will show them the raw reality of life on a different planet. I am sure my faithful followers at home are already dying to hear from me. Who knows, maybe one or two of you will be almost as famous as me?'

She waited for her audience to erupt in applause, but only got a few confused looks. Someone clapped tentatively but was hushed by the others.

'May I now introduce you to my brother Dough, who also came along.'

She pointed at the man next to her. He was tall and muscular enough to hardly fit into his jacket. His jawline was angular enough for a geometry lesson. In contrast to everyone else around, he had obviously decided to keep his hair as short as possible. Candy gave him a push forward. Dough smiled sheepishly.

'Hi,' he said. 'I'm Dough. I'm Candy's brother.'

After this stunning performance, everyone else had to take turns introducing ourselves. We even had to stand in front of everyone to do it. And you know what I learned? I am just as bad at remembering names as I've always been.

In the end, Mr Pollak stepped forward again.

'Thank you, everyone. Last but not least, I wanted to tell you that Doctors Larsen and Larsen will be up on the ship with all the other medical personnel until Cluster 6 has been successfully deployed. I therefore want to remind you not to have a medical emergency until that time,' he declared.

Then, Mr Pollak and his entourage left the scene, leaving everyone else to look at one another questioningly. When we returned to our pod, a surprise was waiting for us: all messages from home had been forwarded to us. Thank you for writing so often. I hope you will understand that it will take me some time to read through six years' worth of mail. Be assured, that I will read every single one of them, even if I may not be able to answer them all. The newest messages that arrived are, of course, two years old already. This means my answers will arrive at your end with four years' delay, all-in-all. It is kind of strange to think about that.

Love, Sarah

Tavaron

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