Farah Rishi - I Hope You Get This Message

ANNUNCIATION AND ROLL CALL: The Interplanetary Affairs Committee (IAC) designated this unit, Unit 212-G, to take these minutes as official record.

Thirteen (13) Scionsrandomly selected citizens of Almacompose the grand jury. The trial will be overseen by an Arbiter chosen by the IAC. Their task is to determine the fate of Project Epoch, a long-standing experiment to test the sustainability of life on another planet, which according to the results of Public Referendum 5571a is now up for review and potential termination. For the purposes of anonymity, the names of the 13 Scions will be omitted from these records.

ARBITER: Our objective here is simple: to decide the fate of the experiment known as Project Epoch. There has been much discussion in the public sphere regarding the role of this grand jury in a philosophical sense. Should we consider ethical factors in our decision? Morality? Politics? Or are these simply distractions? Let me be clear. Our laws state that the primary role of this grand jury is a pragmatic one. Our task, therefore, is to reconsider the continuation of Project Epoch in terms of what is best for the practical situation of our sovereign planet, Alma, and the future of all its citizens.

SCION 11: But doesnt our conclusion depend on the viability of other alternatives? If we can remotely sabotage the Anathogen diffuser before it activates, do we propose new reinitialization sites?

SCION 2: Are there even new reinitialization sites to propose?

SCION 12: We have deployed probes to alternative reinitialization sites, but none has proven as viable a habitat as Project Epoch, or as time efficient. And given our own planets precarious status, time is no longer on our side. Terraforming, reinitializing, even colonizingthose are no longer realistic options. Epoch remains the most feasible choice for a new home unless we allow the specimens of our experiment to destroy its delicate equilibrium.

SCION 6: That is precisely why our scientists implanted the Anathogen virus. They foresaw the local populations failure to ensure the Projects long-term sustainability. It is tempting to give the local population the benefit of the doubt, but their enduring inability to cultivate the planet is the most damning argument against its continuation.

SCION 10: We are in agreement on one thing: it is time to step in. We can no longer afford to be nave in this matteror allow our investment in the Project to be so drastically compromised.

SCION 4: The population of Epoch may have already received communications confirming our planets existence. Everything has been compromised.

[The jury bursts into inaudible murmurs.]

ARBITER: Order, please. Order, or I will shut the feeds. [More muttering, gradually subdued.] I will remind the tribunal and those witnessing our deliberations that whether Project Epoch is aware of the trial is irrelevant. The deliberations will go on, and our decision will be made. That is our task. The question remains: Should we continue to monitor Project Epoch and sustain the only other intelligent life that remains in the galaxy? Or do we allow the implanted Anathogen virus to disperse in eight days, as scheduled, and terminate the Project for good?

I open the floor to testimony and opinion.

Dear Joanna,

Youre right. I did take those aquamarine earrings back in college. I just wanted to be a little more like you.

Im sorry.

Dear Taylor,

I hope you get this message. Mom and I forgive you. We love you. We want you to come home.

Dear Lucy,

No, you know what? YOURE the bitch.

Mama,

Its Lynn. Im sorry Ive been a shitty daughter.

If I dont get a chance to talk to you before,

then know that I missed you every day.

Goodbye.

Emmy,

I was too much of a coward to send you that song I promised. Ill always wonder if we could have been something more.

G

I dont know where you are or if youll even care to hear from me, but meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank you.

To the girl with the yellow backpack

on the weekday morning Q train,

You calmed me down when we got stuck underground, and Ive been crushing on you so hard ever since.

If I get a chance to see you one more time,

Ill tell you in person.

Dear Flynn,

You were rightit was yours. Im so sorry.

Mom, Dad, Sammy, Shan:

I dont know if any of this is real, but just in case: I love you. So much. Im praying for your safety.

Jeb,

I told you this would happen. I TOLD YOU.

Dearest Devi,

I screwed up real bad when we said goodbye.

No matter what Ajays told you,

know that I loved you more than anyone.

Khalil,

I faked it the whole time. Peace out, asshole.

I hope the aliens probe you first.

Dont you dare, Jesse muttered. But the closeness of Ians mouth on his neck killed his willpower, making his threat weak, and his knees weaker. Ian was teasing him, definitely teasing. And although it felt kinda goodokay, really freaking goodhe didnt exactly like being at someone elses mercy.

Especially Ians.

Teeth grazing. Mouth tightening. Jesse could practically hear his skin pop as he watched his own breath come out in clouds against the cold September night air. But as Ians hand explored down his arm, as his fingers brushed against the leather cuff Jesse wore around his wrist and reached for the hem of his T-shirt, pleasure slipped into annoyance.

Jesse threaded his own fingers between Ians, keeping them in place.

Jesse had two rules: his clothes stayed onwell, except for his pants, currently unzipped, if that even countedand no touching the cuff.

And then it was over. Ian pulled away, smiling. The lime-green Close Encounters sign gave Ians cheekbones a neon cast as it flickered and buzzed. Jesse was surprised the sign stayed lit at all; the place, like many others in Roswell, had closed down months ago.

Jesses skin burned where Ians mouth had been. He released Ians hand and pressed his cool palm against the sear.

Jesus. Really? A hickey? He zipped his pants.

Didnt hear you complain. Ians smile faded. Plushe looked awayI wanted to leave you somethin to remember me by.

For the last few months, Jesse and Ian had been meeting in the back of Close Encounters to have close encountersof the casual kind. Before Ian, it was Joey behind the Arbyshis choice, not Jesses. Before Joey, it was Ryan in the UFO Museum parking lot. Etcetera. Jesse was good at picking out the tourists who seemed a little more interested in him than the souvenirs he used to sell at the Roswell Plaza Hotel gift shop. Usually, it didnt last. The tourists left. That was the great thing about tourists: built-in security.

But Ian wasnt one of the usual picks, in part because Jesse had lost the gift shop gig. Ian went to the same school as Jesse, and thanks to Jesses poor attendanceand his behavior challenges, as his principal called it, Jesse was held back the year before, which made them both juniors now. He had seen Ian around; he just didnt realize Ian was interested in him until recently. Turns out Ian was just as good at keeping a low profile as Jesse was.