FFFC #108 ~ Contestants in Time

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge 3/1/21

“Just keep smiling. We’re being watched and recorded. Don’t let on that we know.”
Jen playfully whispered those alarming words in Yonny’s ear then nibbled his earlobe.
Yonny didn’t even flinch and ran his hand along Jen’s jawline in a similar playful manner.

The interviewer had briefly left the room but would be back anytime. Jen’s instincts told her that today’s interview was anything but innocent. The couple had been separated from a large group of couples hoping to make the first round of applicants for a TV Colonization Project on a newly discovered uninhabited tropical island in the South Pacific. They had checked out on the medical screenings, especially the one on fertility, so they felt encouraged about their chances. But, somewhere in the process, Jen had begun to feel distressed. This was a voluntary program with a guarantee that they would have plenty of time to decide whether, or not, they wanted to follow through. A sense of foreboding overshadowed their adventurous dither for the first time.

She’d noticed that this morning’s questions were odd, especially when it came to their fidelity to each other and to The Project. The questioner, a psychologist by the name of Dr. Mary Joseph, had raised her voice at critical points where they were asked to speak clearly and loudly on those topics. Her abrupt departure was another clue, to Jen, that they were not merely contestants, but experimental lab animals. She’d have to find a way to warn Yonny!

Ten indecisive seconds later, the door to their vault (aka applicant suite) sprang open and men in full body spacesuits dragged them, kicking and screaming, to a laboratory with large windows overlooking a hanger. The hanger held a space craft emitting ignition sequence exhausts.

Once the drugs were administered, Yonny and Jen were cryogenically frozen and whisked inside the craft. Two capsules held their inanimate bodies labeled Adam 234 and Eve 234. It would be 25 years and countless light years before they’d have an opportunity to communicate again.

Later that same day, Dr. Joseph climbed the stairs to vault 235 and rapped on the door…


Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #108 – This, That, and The Other (fivedotoh.com)
Written for Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge March 1st.