Author's Note: This is a sequel to the first story in my portfolio. This takes place after John and Alex wake up from the simulation. The binary language between paragraphs serves as transitional statements. If you can't figure them out, or don't want to try, here is a translator. I will also post their meanings at the bottom of the story.
01001110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01111001
John and Alex awoke together, yet there was a distance between them. They shared a bed, but they could have been in different rooms. They both sat up and faced opposite walls. They saw the same thing. Nothing. Just a blank wall in a dull, white room.
01001100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01110010
The cafeteria shared a sterile atmosphere with Alex and John's living quarters. John and Rick were sitting among a group of other men. All volunteers in the same simulation segment. The table was long. Private dialogue was possible due to the loudness of others speaking. The noise was the kind of conversational drone that switched between comforting and suffocating. John could feel either at any moment.
"Where's your wife?" Rick asked John.
"It's difficult to be around the person you failed, failed you, and caused failure for everyone else," John replied while averting any meaningful eye contact with Rick. Rick leaned back as if John's words had a physical impact.
"Everyone else has failed, too. You know that. Just because you had the best chance of success doesn't mean you were ever going to succeed--"
John cut Rick off with a volatility he wasn't known for. "I know that! And that's the worst part. I knew it was impossible. I didn't want this mission. Alex convinced me..." John paused and remembered.
01000010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110
John and Alex looked at each other knowingly. In a room full of people, their focus was singular. They gazed into eyes of infinite possibilities. They held hands with no intention of letting go. Their love was for each other as well as the world they could try to fix. They were about to witness an announcement determining the course of their lives, and with hope, the lives of the rest of the world.
"With great pleasure I announce the positions of our top applicants! You all showed something separating you from the millions of people we screened. Without further ado," said the man in the white suit on the screen. The screen then showed what Alex and John had been waiting for. The only thing allowing them to find, and then create, a better life while still remaining together. It was their names assigned to the Eden Project. John's hand lost its grip. Alex's tightened. They both looked down to see what went wrong.
01001110 01101111 01110111
"I never wanted the Eden Project," John said. "I wanted to work on the space simulations to figure out colonization. Stopping original sin? That's a pipe dream. But of course Alex wanted it. She would say, 'If we could stop the first mistake, the rest wouldn't happen,'" John continued.
"So why'd you do it?" Rick asked.
"Because she seemed so sure," John answered.
01001101 01100101 01100001 01101110 01110111 01101000 01101001 01101100 01100101
Alex sat alone. It was difficult to in a crowded cafeteria, but she managed. The greater difficulty was in not blaming herself, not blaming Eve. The science behind the simulations was beyond Alex. Although she was following in Eve's footsteps, she had autonomy in her actions.
"And despite that... I made the same decision," Alex thought. The glass in her hand cracked as the thought finished forming. Blood started dripping down onto the table below.
"Can I help you with that, ma'am?" Alex turned around, startled. There was a man standing behind her. What distinguished him from everyone else in the room was a nametag reading "Junior" and a smile that made Alex agree to his request. He pulled a bandage from his pocket as Alex replied. "There's always something useful in there," Junior stated. "May I sit?" Alex nodded. As Junior applied the bandage, Alex couldn't help but think of John. Junior's kindness reminded her of John's. The kindness she fell in love with.
"What do you think will happen underneath this bandage?" Junior asked.
"I imagine my cut will heal," Alex replied.
"Yes, it will heal. Although evidence will remain of the damage, you can move forward. Perhaps with a mind not to squeeze glasses, too." Junior winked. "Imagine if you thought of these simulations the same way."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you spend all your time working up to existing in a simulation about an event that already happened. Then once you find a remedy for the mistake in the simulation, you go back in time to fix it. What if you dedicated as much time and resources to making a better now?"
"We go back in time to make a better now. What makes you think you have a better way?"
"My father told me," Junior said knowingly.
With that, Alex had enough. "Thank you for the bandage, but I have to go. I'll see you around."
"I hope so, Alex. I hope so."
01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101110 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100
John and Alex lay in bed. Once again facing away from each other.
"Remember how kind you were when we first met, John? I met a man like that today," Alex said
"Ha. What's his name? I'd like to meet him and ask him..." John trailed off, disgruntled and sarcastic. The words didn't sit right with John. Whatever she remembered is how he wanted to be. "I love you, Alex. It'll all be all right."
01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101110 01100101 01111000 01110100 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111
Alex and John walked the halls of the facility together. On the way to their next station, Alex recognized Junior. She pointed him out to John. Junior looked happy doing his mopping.
"Junior? Hi. I'm John, Alex's husband. Would you mind explaining to me what you were telling her yesterday?" John asked out of curiosity.
"John. It's great to meet you. Take a look at what I'm doing now. I'm cleaning these floors. I'm not trying to stop them from ever getting dirty. You don't need a simulation to know floors accumulate dust and humans make mistakes. It's all part of the program," Junior explained.
"What would you have us do, then?" John asked.
"Clean the floors of the present instead of the past." The simplicity of his words made Alex and John smile.
"Who are you junior to?" Alex asked. Junior chuckled and pointed up.
01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100101 01101110 01100100
Author's Note: After paradise was lost in the story of The Bible, mankind tried reaching God through sacrifices and prophets. Everything done until Jesus' time on earth was a sort of band-aid for the wound created by original sin. Even though Junior gives Alex a bandage, the true healing comes from inside. Although it appears Alex and Junior's story is far more interesting than what John and Rick talk about, John and Rick's conversation acts as a mirror for what went on between Genesis and the Gospel. Although Rick had good advice to give to John, as a human being, he can't heal the wound John has. Similarly, the law Moses delivered to the Israelites from God was good, but imperfect humans could never follow these laws perfectly. Divine intervention was needed not to prevent humans from sinning but to reconcile their corrupt nature with God's perfection. Jesus, similar to the Avatar, was the bridge between God and man.
Jesus was a carpenter. He created things, brought them to life. His eventual sacrifice brought new life for mankind. In this story, Junior doesn't create new life with his profession. He brings the old to life through his cleaning. Jesus told stories to his followers to illustrate heavenly principles. Even though they aren't always easy to understand, parables are meant to teach people a lesson they can apply to their lives. In a world where everyone is so focused on the past, Junior taught his first two followers to take care of the present.
On the subject of his first follower, Alex, I wanted to point out the connection to Eve and Mary. In Genesis God tells the serpent that the woman's offspring would stomp on its head. In other words, it is through woman that redemption would come. God appeared to Mary and there was immaculate conception. Here, Junior started (potentially) a movement with Alex. I may have to continue this story...
As for the title, there is debate within Christianity about purgatory's existence. In my mind, if such a place existed, it would be a place of waiting for paradise. Mankind's entry into heaven is dependent on Jesus bringing it to them.
I hope there was some fun to be had with the transitions. Here are their translations in order:
Now for the story
Later
Back then (Dang, I can barely read that: "Back then")
Now
Meanwhile
That night
The next morning
The end
Bibliography: The Bible
Image is a default Google image.