The End of the Beginning
Chapter 17: Acceptance

The sheer scope of the UNIRO base dwarfed that of any military base William had ever been on, but then again, those bases weren’t built to house an organization intended to save the world.

Its seawall seemed to go on forever, twisting out from shore like an arching serpent. They passed wind turbine after wind turbine as they walked, their electric hums dulling the sound of the ocean waves, their blades spinning relentlessly in the sea breeze. Often William would have to hold on to his beret to keep it from flying off the wall in the wind, fifty feet above the water on the titanic concrete barrier.

“You’re him, aren’t you?” William asked.

John chuckled. “I’m who?”

“The mutual friend. You know Mr. Wood, don’t you?”

“Yes,” John nodded, “we go back to just after the end of the war. Shortly after the Auxilium Protocol was ratified and UNIRO made a reality, a call went out to anyone who wanted to join to come and enlist. They needed doctors and I saw a place where I could save people through my work without the possibility of also having to kill someone. Seven months later, I found myself here, as did Roger.” He stopped. “You would have hated it back then,” he laughed. “They got the first group here so fast they had us living in portables for the first few months. None of this was here, just bulldozers and backhoes. But wow, look what we have accomplished since.” John opened his arms to the base and turned 360 degrees. John then turned towards William and looked straight into his eyes, squinting a little as he did behind his glasses. He put his finger to William’s chest and poked it several times.

“Look at where you are!”

William looked out across the beautiful harbor waters. The twenty-five story tall Umoja Tower was but a mere line in the distance. The scale of it all took William’s breath away.

“Enough about me,” John exclaimed, smacking William on the back. “I want to know about you, Will. Nothing’s changed about me. Trust me. Oh, except for this, of course.” John lifted the patch on his jacket that displayed his new rank of colonel. This was only the hundredth time he had reminded William since reuniting. He gave a quick wince through his teeth.

“But you… you dropped off the map pretty quickly once you left me at that boarding gate. No text, calls, Twitter shout outs,” John joked. “What happened? I spent years looking. You had me a little concerned for a bit. I didn’t know if something had happened to you. No one did. When you were missing, I never feared the worst for you though,” he said, “but I feared you would only see the worst.” William rested his arms over the access road’s handrail and watched a ship docking at the port over a mile away from him. John joined his stance. A wind turbine spun almost directly above them.

“I lost my way,” William sighed, putting his head down. “And honestly, I’m still looking for it. Being here though, I think it’s a step in the right direction. At least I hope.” William gave John a sorrowful look. “I’m scared, Doc. I’m really scared.” “Will you - ”

“I have failed everyone that I have ever known,” William said. “Most of them are dead and shouldn’t be. I have had to live with that fact for the last six years, never knowing if I would imagine a dead person walking past my home and into my dreams, screaming in my face for help, never being able to answer them. I could have saved them, especially my… my…” “Who?” John asked curiously.

“Never mind.” William stared into the water lapping at the base of the wall. “Now I’m expected to save the world with you guys, with my own team, and I don’t know if I can do it. I’m not leader I used to be.” “You can’t live through your past anymore, Will, just like the rest of humanity can’t. You can’t change what’s happened in the past but you can look to the future and try and change what’s coming. I think, deep down inside somewhere, you already know that, otherwise, you never would have allowed yourself to come with Roger.” “Maybe,” said William, doubt in his voice.

“What do you think UNIRO stands for Will? Why even undertake all this at all?”

William scoffed and shook his head. “I dunno. Peace?” he said, throwing his hands up.

“Close. It could, I guess,” John said with a slight nod. “I was thinking of another word though. Acceptance. Acceptance of what we have done. Acceptance of our mistakes. Acceptance that the time for blame is over and the time for action is now. And, finally, acceptance that we need to change ourselves first if we want to change our future. That acceptance goes for each and every member of this organization, including you, Will.” “No wonder you and Mr. Wood became friends,” William laughed. “Bunch of philosophical optimists. Is that what this place does to you? Am I going to be talking like this in a few years?” “Quicker, I hope!” John grinned. “You seem to already know your way with words though. Not everyone can survive a beating from Base Commander Hammond on their first day and live to tell about it.” “Yeah, what’s her deal, Colonel? She always that pissed off or is it just with me?”

“It’s not only you Will. She can be like that… a lot.”

“She like you?”

“Yes. No. Sometimes. I think so. We talk. She trusts me.”

“She said she was in Korea, in Ulsan, when it was nuked. What happened to her? Do you know?”

John gulped and removed his beret. His straight blonde hair was still the same as William remembered.

“Enough… But let’s turn this into a lunch conversation, shall we? I’ll take you to one of the dining halls. My treat.”

“I thought everything here was free for base personnel.”

“It is. I was just being nice. Come on.”