I walked up to Aelia.
“Morning,” I said nicely. “Need any help?”
“Nah, this is the last of it,” she said. “Just waiting on the others to get back.”
“Where are they?”
She shrugged. “Who knows?”
“When will they be back?”
She repeated her answer.
Her apathy bothered me a little. “They could be in trouble, you know.”
“They’re armed Neogens,” she said. “They’ll be fine.”
“Neither of them have offensive powers,” I said, slightly annoyed. “We aren’t in a Sanctuary anymore, we don’t know what’s out here.”
She stood up but before she could respond, she looked past my shoulder. “Well there you go. Told you they’d be fine.”
I turned to see two small figures approaching over a sandy hill. They were coming from the wooden walkway bordering the beach, most likely scavenging for supplies. I was almost relieved, but after a few seconds I could see that they were running. Cora was waving her arms and and Aaron seemed to have his gun out.
“I think something’s wrong,” I said nervously to Aeyla.
“What is it?” Lynn had walked up and followed my gaze. “Oh, they seem to be running…”
This caught Aelia’s attention. “What?”
The two were nearly upon us when we finally saw what they were running from. It was a Swarm. The flood of Demons came barreling over the mounds of sand, screeching and growling as they charged towards our position.
“Oh, shit,” my heart just about stopped. “How are they out in broad daylight?!”
“Doesn’t matter” Aelia charged a flame. “I’ll take care of it.”
Aaron and Cora finally reached us. “We need to get off this beach!” Cora said urgently.
“Guys, this way!” Rachel called out.
We looked over to see her standing on the shore next to a shiny, white boat. It took a second before I realized it was the Orb, sculpted into this huge flotation device. The real question was: could it carry our weight?
“Do not worry. This watercraft is perfectly seaworthy,” Mark said, reading my mind.
I called out for Aelia to come back. She was several meters ahead, strings of flame orbiting her arms. After some hesitation, she turned around, somewhat annoyed that she wouldn’t be able to set something on fire. Acknowledging the seemingly endless Swarm, she dissipated the flames and ran back to us.
We grabbed our packs and rushed on board the vessel. Rachel pushed it into the water with relative ease, and hopped on mid-drift. We were about 20 feet offshore when the Swarm reached the water. They were still inching closer to us, stumbling over one another to reach their prey. However, their raspy growls soon began to subside, drowned out by the roaring waves. Aaron slowly lowered his gun, and relief set in.
“Hey Mark, how about a little warning for us next time?” I said irritatedly.
“I was going to, but I realized that would do nothing but cause unproductive panic. Instead I commissioned Rachel to help me create a boat so that we may escape by sea. I calculated that Aaron and Cora would return punctually, and so it seemed the best strategy at the time.”
We were silent, but after a few moments I simply said, “Thanks, Mark.”
“But how is that even possible?” Aaron asked in utter disbelief. “There aren’t supposed to be this many Demons out in the open.”
“Clearly, something is making them more aggressive,” Aelia said.
“I need to tell you something,” I decided that now was the time to divulge the details of my visions. Something told me they were correlated with the sudden rise in Demonic activity. “Aelia isn’t the only one who saw the Queen.”
Everyone stared in surprise and concern. It was then that I told them about my vision from the day before, and what I did to induce it. I told them about how she was trying to offer me something, and that I hesitatingly refused. I also described the details of the dream I had last night.
“Alright, since we’re all being honest…um,” Rachel began. “I saw her too.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes, friend,” Aaron said.
“I’m not!” she seemed somewhat annoyed he didn’t believe her. “It wasn’t as dramatic as the others though. When I was making this boat, I thought I saw her standing out in the ocean, same description as you two. But I blinked twice and she was gone.”
For a moment no one said anything, but then Aaron spoke.
“So she’s real,” he said. “We know that for certain now.”
“Now, hold on,” Cora interjected. I realized she must’ve already known we’d all seen the Queen, but thought it best to wait until we revealed this information on our own. “Think rationally, these could just be coincidental nightmares.”
“But we saw the same exact thing,” Aelia said, freaking out. “Wings, spider legs, red eyes…how is that possible?”
“I believe there is a theory,” Mark started, “that given an especially traumatizing environment and relatively similar people, the mind is capable of creating a shared image, in the form of a dream or vision, based on some common idea.”
“I’m not traumatized,” Aelia replied angrily. “And besides, I’m not interested in theory, I want answers.”
“We all do,” I reassured her.
“I was only attempting to provide comfort,” I heard Mark say quietly.
“For now it’s off to Philadelphia,” Rachel said. “First we take care of the anarchist problem, and then we’ll see about these visions.”
She took out a map of the coast from her backpack, pointed out our route.
“I’ve never actually travelled this far but I’m good with maps,” she said. “You’re just gonna have to trust me.”
We assured her of our faith, and she showed us where we needed to go. It was a simple journey, just sailing south along the coast and around the southern end of a land called New Jersey. We would then enter the mouth of the Delaware River, and turn North towards where the river met the southern part of Philadelphia.
We all agreed and continued to sail parallel to the shore in this giant floating bowl. We accelerated and steered using Rachel’s telekinesis, which as of late had proven to be the most useful ability in our company.
Sitting here, far from any danger, I began to think about where I actually was. A vast ocean of unknown wonder lay beneath me, and a sky with an equal level of mystery hung above. I wondered if I’d ever get to see a glimpse of the vast, unrevealed universe. That’s when I realized that I already had. In the past few weeks I had seen a beach, another Sanctuary, advanced artificial intelligence, and even new Neogen abilities. It may not have been much, but it was new. Strangely enough, if I was given the choice to return to my Sanctuary as if nothing had happened, or have events unfold the way they did, I would be tempted to choose the latter. There was something about the thrill of being in danger, a feeling that could only be yearned for once you had already experienced it.
My only regret was the fate of my parents. But ever since I found out, something in my head had been telling me to be sad. An intangible voice was actually advising me to grieve for this loss. And I wanted to, but it all felt so insincere. It was as if I wasn’t being sad because it was a natural response, but because I felt like I had to be. That it was the normal thing to do. At times, I wouldn’t even remember my parents if I forgot to think about them long enough. It was worrying, and I wondered if any of the others were going through the same thing. At that moment, I longed for a distraction, and thankfully Aaron gave me one. Though looking back I feel it only made me feel more lost.
“Friends, do you ever wonder what we’re doing here?”
“Define ‘here’,” I asked.
“This world.”
I looked to Mark, who had preemptively shut himself down, but could still receive input. Then Lynn spoke.“We were born. And so we are here.”
“Sure, but sometimes that’s not good enough.�
�
“Would you rather be dead?” Aelia asked.
“No, but…don’t you ever feel small?”
“I feel like a part of something bigger than myself,” Cora posited.
“Like a cog in a machine?”
“Like a link in a chain.”
“But what is that chain holding? What is it keeping secure? What’s its purpose?”
“Things exist to survive,” I said. “If they didn’t, they wouldn’t exist.”
“Explain further, friend.” Aaron said.
“Imagine an animal that somehow is born without the ability to feel hunger. When it needs nourishment, it is unable to process the need to eat, and so it dies of starvation. It won’t feel starvation, but it may feel some low form of confusion when the fatigue sets in. Apply this to everything that makes you, you.”
“So you’re saying everything we are is a result of an improvement on a mechanism to help us live longer?”
“And reproduce,” Rachel added. “No point in living longer if you don’t make more of you along the way.”
“But again, that only applies to animals,” Cora said. “Human brains have a much higher capacity for reasoning.”
“Of course, but what’s the real separation?” Aaron continued his line of questioning.
“Think back to the hunger example,” she started. “When an animal feels hungry, it eats. Some hunt, some find plants. But they eat out of instinct, a reaction so simple it could be programmed. But humans…when we feel hungry, we can actually form the thought in our minds: ‘I am hungry, I am feeling this because I evolved that way, and if I don’t eat I will likely die.’ We can even go a layer further and think ‘I am contemplating the reason for my hunger’ and so on. We can think about thinking about thinking and so on.”
“And that is not as easy to program,” I added. “Baser instincts are just a support system. We as people can remember to eat at least twice a day, and still survive. Technically, we don’t even need to feel hunger to survive.”
“You guys are making me hungry, think of another example,” Rachel interjected.
“OK, how about fear?” I said. “There’s a knife at your throat or a Siren charging at full speed, what do you feel? Fear, right?”
“You’re saying we don’t need it?” Aaron asked.
“We need instincts, but we don’t need an emotion to tell us to be afraid. We see those things and our minds will eventually arrive at the conclusion that they will cause death. Animals see sharp objects or a predator and they will run simply because an instinct is telling them to. We run both due to instinct and because we have to foresight to know exactly what will happen if we don’t.”
“But of course there’s the matter of involuntary chemical reactions,” Cora argued. “Adrenaline, for example. That’s the result of instinct, we still need that.”
“That just shows our evolution isn’t complete. We’re not done yet,” I admitted.
“Well, back to your question as to why we’re here,” Aelia said. “I think we were here for a purpose.”
“Hmm…do go on,” Lynn said.
“Take our abilities. From what I know of Old Earth, this would’ve been something unprecedented, almost magical in a sense. It can’t be explained by science, how else could it have happened?”
“You’re talking about some higher being,” I realized. “A God?”
“The name is arbitrary, but the concept itself, yes.”
“I honestly think that’s a little silly,” Lynn said. “Science has explained so much that was once thought to be God’s work or even magic.”
“There’s also a lot that hasn’t been explained,” Aelia argued.
“There always was, but progress has been made and would’ve continued to be made had this war not set us back a century in scientific progress. Eventually, science would have eliminated religion.”
“I disagree,” I said firmly. Having thought about this idea a fair amount, I knew what my beliefs were. “Science can only explain natural phenomena to a limited degree. For example, we know why it's cold for one part of the year and warm in the other. Because the Earth has seasons. We know why the seasons change. The Sun's position in the sky. We know why we see the Sun in the sky. Because we revolve around it. We know why the Earth revolves around the Sun. Gravity. We know why there is gravity. I believe its something called a graviton particle. But why is there such a particle? What laws of nature allowed this particle to exist? How did it get its properties? At the very deepest level of the explanation, science has to stop and say ‘that’s just the way things are.’ This goes for just about any occurrence you can think of, natural or man-made. So one must think, who or what decided on these fundamental laws?”
The boat was quiet for a moment. I could feel the ideas going through their heads. Were they puppets in a grand scheme bigger than themselves? Were they truly put here for a purpose? Or were they just the random result of fundamental laws created by an entity we could not comprehend. I’d be lying if I said these inquiries didn’t haunt my own mind as well.
“So, what exactly…are we doing here?” Aaron repeated his initial question. “Do you think there is there a Creator or isn’t there?”
“In our current scope of knowledge, both of those possibilities have an equal chance of being true,” I said. “So, yes, I do wonder what we’re doing here. But, no, I couldn’t tell you what it is.”
“What if we were given our powers to help rebuild mankind?” he said confidently.
“I believe,” Cora began, “that the ‘what if’ doesn’t matter. If that’s what you want your purpose to be, then do it. Our generation was given these extraordinary abilities, but without instruction and without a goal. We just have them. There is no higher law of the universe stopping us from doing what we please, not one that we know of. The anarchists chose their own purpose, and so we have to choose our’s. However, I do think the ultimate goal should be happiness, in one’s own definition.”
I found myself surprisingly satisfied with that answer, and I realized it was because she used the word ‘happy.’ All actions have repercussions, so the best one can do is something that results in the greatest increase in overall happiness. I think in that moment we all decided our purpose would be, first and foremost, the good of our species. And dealing with the most immediate threat, the anarchists, seemed to be the first step. They were threatening a possible civil war when another enemy was already on our doorstep. To move forward, we had to be united, to at least understand the opposing ideology enough to come up with a solution.
Soon, evening fell upon sky, and an army of dark clouds approached from the distance. Lynn took on fish form in order to make it to shore and scout out our landing area. The others took the time to rest and contemplate our previous conversation in silence. I looked towards the vast, endless abyss of the ocean and wondered what lay beyond the horizon. I had seen maps of Earth so I knew about far off lands such as Europe and Asia, though I had never travelled far from home. It wouldn’t be easy, but I promised myself that I would travel the world once this was all over. And I would take my friends with me.
“We’re getting close now,” Rachel said after several minutes, steering the boat towards dry land.
As if on queue, a fish jumped out of the water and landed in the center of the boat. It then flopped about, splashing tiny drops of water all around before finally shifting into human form. It was Lynn, soaking wet and coughing. Rachel promptly dried her off, motioning the water to fall back into the ocean.
After she caught her breath, and got used to breathing air again, she spoke.
“The city is quiet…everything near the shore is almost completely destroyed but,” she took another deep breath. “There’s a building further inland where we can find shelter for the night.”
We all agreed and Rachel turned the boat towards the coast, following Lynn's direction. I wondered what our Parents would do had they been in our situation. Or even what one would sugg
est we do, had they been in our company. They say that experience equals wisdom, but experience comes in many forms. They may have lived longer and seen the war at its bloodiest, but those memories gave the Parents a different outlook on life than the views of the New Generation. We’ve only seen the aftermath of the war. They went from an advanced civilization to a world in ruins. And for humans, relativity is an important concept.
Of course, there is the matter of these visions. None of the Parents knew we were having them, and even if they did, that kind of fear and confusion cannot be felt by anyone who hasn’t seen the Queen for themselves. Perhaps it was best that the generations were separated for now.
Night had descended by the time we reached the shore. Quickly and quietly, we followed Lynn to the building she had mentioned earlier. The lamps that once illuminated these empty streets no longer had any power, so the city was nearly in complete darkness. Aaron, Lynn, and Cora used their powers to see. Mark used his night-vision, flying high above so he could warn us of any potential threats. Rachel and I used a small flame of Aelia’s making, as well as any moonlight that managed to reach us. As we walked through the city, I felt like I was in a ghost town, hearing nothing but our hushed footsteps and the soft whistle of the wind. Plant life bloomed among the broken infrastructure, vines ran along the pavement and moss carpeted almost every surface. Concrete had been ripped from the roads and scattered all over the streets. Different kinds of vehicles were positioned haphazardly along the sidewalk, and rubble lay all around us. The upper floors of almost every building were torn away, and not a single window was left unshattered. Inside them were dusty chairs, desks, beds, and other furniture once used by various occupants.
“This place is seriously terrifying,” my voice wavered.
“You know what’s actually scary, though?” Aelia inquired. “The total lack of bodies.”
We said nothing for a moment, contemplating her question.
The Children of New Earth Page 8