After The Clang (An Original Short)

prufarchy (68)in #story • 8 years ago

We, the survivors, had come to call it the "Great Shock" that had changed everything. When monstrous spires rose out of the world's oceans, us on the surface learned that there was a world beneath our own, and that both worlds were dying. Our saviors had looked very similar to us but they preferred wearing silver suits, and were not very talkative past their announcement that our collective planet would soon be uninhabitable and that they would take anyone who wanted to survive with them when they left. I was one of thousands of surface humans who had crowded the various pick-up locations the silver suits had designated, I survived.

We went through a portal and found ourselves in a place of all white, that slowly formed into a vast expanse of land for all the survivors. I "landed" by the perimeter of this land, and invisible wall that I visited often, wondering what lay on the other side. Or who. The Silver suited ones, of course. But who were they, and why had they locked us up in this place, like caged endangered species? I guess we were.

Read the prequel With a Clang

For "years", the survivors of Earth's death had called this place home. Neighborhoods now dotted the valleys, and thriving communities expanded in numbers as the first generation of humans born off planet started to be counted among the population. It was now 5 AED, or After Earth's Death, and the oldest child was four years old. I was still skeptical about time here, I remembered the white room.

About 3 AED, I started to wonder if I had been placed here near the perimeter. My obsession with the invisible barrier at the beach now bordered on madness. It was my nightly ritual to run my hand along the smooth invisible surface that constituted one of the walls of our enclosure.

In the fifth year after Earth's Destruction, a door opened on that midnight "beach". When your planet has been destroyed, and your species reduced to a zoo exhibit, I guess you have less fear about walking through portals on a beach. There were questions that had lodged deep in my soul since the beginning, and though grateful I had been spared a fiery death back on Earth, I felt as though I'd traded death for chains. I desired neither, and so had nothing to lose. I entered the portal.

On the other side of the portal was a metallic and dark world of hallways and light. In the middle of the large room two figures stood over a pit in which a digital hologram rotated slowly. One of the silver-suited looked at me with a kindness and understanding, like a veterinarian would a wounded animal. The silvered woman pointed toward a doorway, and I silently followed. I looked over my shoulder to watch the figures standing over the "computer". They looked as though in ecstasy, their eyes rolled back into their heads.

When I got into the hallway, the woman spoke. "You must be frightened and confused but don't be".

I laughed. I don't know what had brought the laughing fit on, but it gave me a sense of relief like I hadn't known in "years".

The woman arched her eyebrow but said no more. They came upon another room where star maps floated in mid-air.

"You are different than the others. Every night, we watch you come to the barrier and run your hand along the surface. You don't accept the wonderful world we've given you, why?" The woman had nothing but concern in her eyes, but I wasn't buying it.

"Given us? You and your towers show up out of nowhere and tell us the Earth is dying and that you can take us with you and then you lock us away in some sort of cosmic Zoo and you expect gratitude?" I spoke without thinking, but that had always been my way. "How about you tell me what's going on and why it's taken five years for you to even speak to us - me." I was on a roll.

"It hasn't been five Earth years, young Solaran. It's been five months, but we've... helped to ease the transition and to create a sense of security. We thought you'd be pleased." The woman turned and walked towards the floating star maps.

Had it only been five months? How were all those children born?

I followed and stood next to the silver-suited woman. "Why now? Why me?"

"You are special and we need your help to bring the others around for what's needed next." She looked down and did not meet my eyes.

"And what's next?"

"We need to mix our species. Actually, we've already started." She threw this comment at me casually, as though mentioning the gathering clouds in anticipation of rain.

My world seemed to suck in on itself and I found that I could not articulate words to express the horror I felt. My companion did not seem at a loss at all and kept on.

"Our species made the inner world of your planet our home for thousands of years, after searching the galaxy for a refuge. We weren't nomadic by nature but were forced to the lifestyle when the planet we were born on could no longer sustain us. Our technology granted us access to space, however we were not yet advanced enough to determine where we could find a new home, and so we searched for what you'd call centuries. We are a long-lived species and many of our elders came here on that voyage. We are not immortal, however. We were working on our reproductive problems when the issues with Earth began. We need genetic diversity. Our people need to mingle if we are to continue to exist, at all. We have begun producing mixed offspring among your kind. We need your help to continue the transition."

Just like that, I was watching the end of humanity and the beginning of something new. Whether I liked it or not.

To Be Continued...

Images courtesy of Pixabay.com