The Things We Lost, Part 1

Of the many goals and aspirations the Remainer project had in mind, chief among them was the complete restoration of the Earth's climate and environment. Over the centuries, the project had done a lot to restore the Earth's environment to its former state, and had even developed technology to somewhat regulate it even control it to some extent. It was the kind of technology that would be dangerous in anyone else's hands, but with the ambivalently neutral Computer at the helm, there was no need to worry.

Having said that, there was one thing that even Computer could not control, and that was natural disasters. Therefore, when a freak lightning strike started a wildfire in the forests of Western Canada, there was little Computer could do except send remainers out to take care of it. With transporters bringing water into the region and emergency responders working to contain the fire, it still took two weeks before the fire was fully contained. All the while, the forests burned and trees that lived for decades crumbled into ash.

With the fire now put out, there was a need to take stock of the damage and see how the local wildlife had been affected by the wildfire. As such, Computer put out an open job to all surveyors and scavengers to canvas the area in order to assess the damage. It would be a hard job where the remainers would be looking for nothing in particular, but it was a thankless task that nevertheless needed to be done.

It was for this reason that Caleb and Hope found themselves trekking out to the forests of Western Canada. For Hope, it was all about the job, but for Caleb, it was a sort of homecoming. The cabin that he had lived in with Kyle and Ella was within the danger radius of the fire, and he simply needed to know what became of it.

“What a mess!” Hope exclaimed as she observed the damage while squatting atop a hill. “Everything's burnt black as coal.”

“That's what happens when a fire runs wild,” Caleb cracked as he scanned the forest with a pair of binoculars.

“Why doesn't Computer do a better job of stopping these fires?” Hope asked. “There must be some kind of preventative measure we could take to keep this from happening.”

“It was a freak lightning bolt. What are we going to do about that? Besides, there are some benefits to letting wildfires wreak havoc for a bit.”

“Is that so?” Hope stretched her arms, stood up straight and began descending the hill. “In any case, let's get going already. Can't just stand around all day.”

“Hold on,” Caleb called out as he pointed to a hilly part of the forest in the distance. “Can you see that mountainous area? Let's go over there first.”

Hope looked over to where Caleb was indicating. “You want to go all the way over there? But it'll take us hours! Why not just start here?”

“Please.” Caleb tried his best to not sound like he was pleading. “It'll just be for a moment.”

Hope seemed perplexed, but she knew enough about Caleb to know that he wasn't doing this on a whim. In the end, she followed him through the burnt forest without another complaint. Though the sun sank from its place in the sky to right above the horizon before they finally arrived at the place in question, Hope didn't utter a word of complaint either. It was a surprising amount of decorum from her, to the point Caleb worried that he had looked a bit too pitiful while asking.

He looked around at hills that should have been familiar to him, but no longer were. The ground was burnt black, and only burnt stumps were left of the innumerable trees that used to coat the landscape. It looked the same wherever he looked, and it wasn't until the ground started sloping up towards a flat plateau on top of a large hill that the two found anything that wasn't burnt ground or wood.

It was a cabin. At least, it used to be. Now, it was nothing more than black cinders, with only a few smouldering posts leftover to mark where the building used to be. There was little left in the cabin anyhow, but to see his old home, the place where he had grown from a child to a young adult, like this... well, it hurt him to see it happen.

He stepped into the cabin's remains, and a flood of images from the past flowed into his mind. Fond images of his childhood home replaced the ruin standing before him now as memories reminded him of a place where nothing remained any longer. Here were the ashes of a table that Caleb had once struck his leg against on accident, where there was the bedroom where he had once kept the makeshift toys Ella had made for him.

He felt tears well up in his eyes, but he blinked them away as quickly as he could. He thought he wouldn't be affected by the loss, but in the end, emotions weren't something he could push down so easily. It had been years, but he hadn't gotten over the loss of his childhood–or his family.

Hope saw Caleb tear up, but she didn't say anything. She wouldn't have admitted it, of course, but she had gotten a lot better at paying attention to things like that. She didn't know, of course, anything about Caleb's background or who used to live in this cabin, but she could tell that it was an important place for him, and that it was better not to trample on those feelings.

For some time, Caleb sat amongst the ruins of his former home while Hope set up camp at a sport lower on the hill. He thought about whether or not Kyle or Ella had heard about the fire. This cabin was something they had built for the express purpose of the work they were doing at the time, as well as a suitable home for raising him. In other words, it probably wasn't included in the backup memories that had been installed into them during their recovery.

The thought made him sad. This place was a haven of past memories for him, but to Kyle and Ella, it was nothing more than a burnt-out building. They didn't even know it was gone now. In a rare moment of vulnerability, he wondered about his people he must have known before entering cryostasis. He was old enough to realize that they most likely perished in that forgotten pod chamber, but if someone he used to know returned suddenly the next day, they might have shown up with teary, affectionate smiles. However, all they would get in return was a look of unfamiliar confusion. The thought of it never really bothered him–until now.

Caleb knelt down and began combing through the leftover ashes and burnt wood. He was hoping to find something, anything that managed to survive the fires. It reminded him of Mina and their adventures scavenging through New York. He hadn't fully understood why Mina was so desperate, but now he found himself feeling more sympathetic.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything worth keeping. He sighed. Well, it was a rather large fire. Considering the state of the cabin itself, he could hardly have expected an outcome other than this. He dusted off his blackened hands as well as he could and began to descend the hill to the camp where Hope was staying when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see two remainers coming up the hill, and to his surprise, he recognized them.

The first person to notice him was the young woman leading in front. “Ah!” she cried out in surprise. “What are you doing here?!”

“Me?” Caleb was slightly put off by her exaggerated shock. “I'm here for work. As I'm sure you two are. Right, Tia? Aislinn?”

Aislinn, the taller red-headed woman, greeted him with a polite nod. “It's good to see you again, Caleb. Tia, you should greet him properly too.”

“Like hell I do! Anyway, that wasn't what I meant. What are you doing here, of all places?”

Caleb was confused. “What do you mean? I lived here, only a matter of years ago.”

Tia seemed to be at a loss for words. “O-oh? I didn't know that. Sorry.”

That was uncharacteristic of her. Not that Caleb was going to point it out or anything like that. Tia quickly recomposed herself and returned to her usual domineering self.

“Aislinn, let's get out of here. We need to find a place to camp for the night.”

“Huh? But you said you wanted to come here no matter what. Why are we leaving so quickly?”

“Shut up! Let's get going already!” Tia punctuated her command with a light kick to Aislinn's behind before storming off.

“Wait, Tia!” Aislinn cried as she followed off. As Caleb watched them leave with a half-amused smile, he thought back to what Aislinn had said. Tia had wanted to come to this place? Why was that? He thought about possible answers for a moment, but eventually dismissed it for the time being. After all, Tia was right. It was getting late, and he needed to find Hope before it got too dark for him to see.