by Carlos Hardy
“Get on my back!” He shouts as loud as possible, and Jaylen listens, digging his nails into Caleb’s flesh.
His focus intensifies, as a calmness washes over him. Confidence rushes through his body as the B gene awakens within him, made apparent by the glow engulfing his body.
Caleb’s limbs begin to heat up, then slowly cool down as their bodies descend.
“Cal, you’re doing it!” Jaylen exclaims.
As they begin to land through the thick air, falling onto the bed of green grass, the realization of what has just happened begins to set in. For a moment, they can’t even speak. The two lay on the grass, completely motionless as they stare bewildered at the dark sky above. The ship is nowhere to be found.
“You did it, bro.” Jaylen exclaims. “You kicked ass!”
Caleb sits up abruptly as something takes him over, coursing through his veins. Caleb stands up, feeling completely different as the exhilaration leaves his body. He begins to walk away from their landing spot.
“Bro, where are you going? Cal, that shit was wicked. We’ve got to talk about this!” Caleb turns back, staring into Jaylen’s eyes with a hardened resolve that he didn’t possess before. Jaylen continues his babble and takes over the conversation. “Man, Che and Marcus aren’t going to believe this.”
“They’re coming for them.”
“Caleb, what are you talking about? We good.”
“No, Jaylen. They have a plan.”
“We beat their plan. We made it!”
Caleb is as confident as ever. His shoulders are upright and his words cuts through the searing frost surrounding them. “This was never about African Americans. It’s about destroying the white race.”
Jaylen appears intrigued by Caleb’s words. “I mean, they did enslave us, bro.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Caleb says in anger. “They want to rid our world of them.”
“So honestly, is it not a good idea?” Jaylen’s views come out in full force, something Caleb hadn’t seen quite like this before. Jaylen leans back and thinks about a world without whites. “Things would be different. Less wars, drugs, racism. You know they started sex trafficking. That started during slavery. Maybe it’s for the better bro.”
“That’s not the human way, Jay. It was terrible, but it’s made us stronger. Why are we even having this conversation?” Caleb walks off in a huff, continuing his hike.
Jaylen catches up to Caleb, tugging on his arm. “I mean, there’s nothing we can do about this. They’re way too advanced. We have to let this shit ride. Caleb, you have a little something going on, but did you see those things? They’re huge, and we’re overpowered here bro.”
“The world can’t end like this.”
“Sure it can. For the first time, on our soil, we can be the majority.”
“Once they go after them, we are next, Jay. They’ll use us to power their planet. Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said?”
“Wait, they have their own planet?”
“Yea. Ahku, two galaxies away. We can’t let this happen.”
Jaylen takes a moment from his ranting to listen, and contemplate. In his sixteen years of friendship with Caleb, he’s been able to read his emotions, and knows there’s something more to say. “You’re not telling me everything, are you?”
Caleb pierces into the cold darkness, moment, then turns to Jaylen. “I don’t know how to say this, but I sense it. I feel it Jay. I’ve never been so sure.”
Jaylen places his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “Go on. What is it?”
“Commander Karnitu isn’t just their leader… I can’t explain how I know this, but I just do. We share the same bloodline.”
“Cal, you aren’t making any sense.”
“He and I are one in the same. I don’t know what happens next, Jay, but he’s… me. I’m Karnitu.” Caleb’s words soften.
“He’s me, four-hundred years in the future.”
Jaylen’s hand releases Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb walks away, leaving Jaylen with those chilling words.