The Shattered Genesis (Eternity)

by Rudacille, T.

  “Where are the lights?”

  “I don’t know, Allie.”

  She cried harder.

  “That was so scary.” She managed to whisper to me.

  “It’s okay. I think that whatever it was, it’s over now.” I assured her with a firm calmness in my voice that I could barely muster.

  “I wish I could see you.”

  “I’m right here, baby.”

  “Why haven't they made an announcement?”

  “They will. Any minute now.”

  We were silent, being forced to listen to other people creating all sorts of fanciful scenarios to explain what had just occurred. One man insisted that there were people on Pangea who had been firing on our ship.

  Okay, I mused, Whatever he brought on-board with him to smoke, I want some.

  Despite the terror that was still meandering about inside of my chest, I couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

  “What?” Alice asked m and her voice was steadier now.

  “Nothing. These people are funny.”

  “Crazy is more like it.” She replied. “How did we get stuck in the freaking psych ward?”

  “Maybe they saw your pissed-off face and assumed that you were a sociopath.”

  “Okay, smart-ass, then why would they put you in here?” She asked, and I could hear in her voice that she was smiling. I grinned, too.

  “They assumed I must be delusional given my association with a sociopath.”

  “Shut up!” She exclaimed, “I will hand it to you, though, babe. You do always manage to make me laugh even in the worst possible situations. Even after we almost died...”

  “That’s my job.”

  The intercom beeped and the familiar gravelly voice of the pilot came through.

  “Sorry about the rough touch down, ladies and gentlemen. We have arrived on Pangea. Someone will be by shortly to remove your restraints.” The man paused for a moment, perhaps unsure of what to say next. When he finished, it was with a statement said in unthinkable relief and vast disbelief:

  “We did it, folks. We survived the end.”

  Violet

  “Just hurry up!” I shouted at the man unstrapping me. Brynna had passed out in the midst of the ship's collapse from the air. After learning that she had almost suffered heart failure on take-off, I was more than a little alarmed. My anger at her still burned inside of me but that didn’t mean that I cared for her any less.

  I would hate myself for the things I had said if anything happened to her now.

  Once my arms had been freed, I shot up and forced my shaking hands to hurriedly undo the restraints on my ankles. Elijah was furiously unstrapping James and Brynna, looking as terrified as I felt.

  “Does she have a pulse?” Maura demanded as she held Penny’s head against her shoulder so she couldn’t see Brynna. I couldn’t imagine how badly that would scar Penny, seeing someone she held so dearly lost after such chaos.

  James was cradling Brynna in his arms, his fingers pressed to her wrist. He nodded and let out a sigh of relief as he put his hand on her face.

  “She just passed out.”

  “I’m surprised I didn’t pass out. What the hell was that?” Elijah asked as he looked around the room with his hands rested on top of his head.

  “I guess it was just a rough landing. They said we’re here.” I squeezed the bridge of my nose for a minute as I tried to calm myself down. “I just want to be clear about one thing…”

  “Come on. That’s it.” James was sitting Brynna up as she came back around.

  “…I will never get back on this ship. Ever.”

  Elijah put his arm around my shoulder and said, “You know I’ve always said that if the opportunity came up to travel through space that I would. But I agree with you. I don’t ever want to see the inside of this thing again.”

  “After two and a half weeks of being stuck here, no one can blame you for that.” James replied absentmindedly as he kept Brynna’s chin cupped in his hand. He was observing her eyes, making sure that she was truly awake and not miles away in some quiet, crazed stupor. After the panic attack she had, temporarily going out of her mind would not have been the unlikeliest of scenarios. It had happened to her before.

  Brynna nodded before forcing her trembling legs to support her slight weight. Instantly, she stumbled back, only to be caught by Elijah and James.

  “I just need a minute. I’m fine.” She blurted out a little too loudly.

  When she slumped back onto the bed, Elijah sat down beside her, took her hand and looked at her only until she held her other hand up close to his face, ordering him without words to look away.

  “She’s fine.” Elijah assured us with a grin.

  Her gesture was a certain indication that she was returning to normal. My eyes met Maura’s for a moment after I looked away from James, who had rested his hand on Brynna’s back. My heart jumped at the sight of the anger I found looking back at me. It was beyond the fury she felt at the things Brynna had said to her. It was also not channeled towards one recipient. It was channeled towards two.

  Maura knew everything.

  “Where are Penny and Violet?” Brynna's voice was quieter than normal not only because of how weakened she was from passing out but because she was talking to the floor. Her head was down between her knees.

  “I’m here.” I told her gently. It was the first time I had been able to speak to her kindly since I had found out about our parents. I sat down on the other side of her and grasped her other hand in both of mine. She squeezed mine tightly for a moment which took me by surprise. That was, in Brynna’s case, a show of love. It required the same amount of affection a normal person would need before they threw their arms around their loved one and cried in happiness at finding them in one piece after believing they were dead.

  But after that momentary squeeze, she slipped her hand out from under mine.

  “Alright. I am fine.” She stood up and swayed on her feet. Elijah and James grasped both of her arms to steady her. “We have come this far. Let’s go see this planet.”

  I grinned now, excited trepidation brewing inside of me. This was it. This was the moment every person on the ship had prayed for, theorized about, and imagined in luminous, intricate details.

  It was the end of the journey and the beginning of the beginning.

  Part Two: The Arrival

  Brynna

  By the time they opened the doors, everyone was silent. We were all aware of the tension in the air. The doubts that we were safe radiated through that uncomfortably thick silence. I could almost hear the collective beating of several thousand hearts.

  There were too many questions to be asked. There were too many uncertainties. The journey there had been fraught with peril; some of us, myself included, had almost suffered fatal heart attacks from the drug, the ship had almost plummeted out of the sky twice, and as people had grown more restless, the possibility of violence increased more than we could ever have been comfortable with. Finally, there we were, arriving at what we had been told was our salvation. But how could any of us believe that we were truly safe after that long, treacherous odyssey?

  A buzzing noise sounded from the intercom and the doors began to open. Here it was, the moment of truth. A stream of light blinded us all, even those standing far back in the crowd. Violet, at Penny’s behest, pushed us through so that we were standing near the front of the group.

  “She wants to be the first to see it.” Violet had explained to me.

  “Well, we’ll be the first to die if the air is toxic. So pump your brakes.” I had replied irritably. Was I the only one who considered the potentially dangerous outcomes of any and all situations?

  I had overheard so many groups shouting that they wanted to be the first out. But the ominous burst of light seemed to have silenced even the most willful of those brave explorers. Since, thanks to Violet, we were so close to the front of the crowd, people behind us pushed us forward slightly. It became apparent
that our proximity to the exit made us the guinea pigs. If we walked outside and burst into flames or fell over clutching our throats as we suffocated, they would know not to follow us.

  I pictured us standing there for the rest of our lives, all too afraid to take the first step. There were too many different horrendous scenarios playing in each of our minds. We would be reduced to skeletal remains, each and every one of us, as the years of inertia passed. We would never know how it would have begun and ended on Pangea.

  “I’m going for it.” I heard Elijah say behind me and I whipped around, my eyes wide.

  “I am stunned that you would even consider such lunacy!” I spat at him in a livid whisper. “You have no idea what is out there!”

  “Go for it, man.” A guy behind him urged. There was a rumble of assent through the crowd around us. The glares I shot in the direction of those people encouraging him actually silenced them; they probably feared being set aflame if I decided to turn the heat-intensity of my look up just one more notch.

  “Brynna, come on. We’ll be the first people to set foot on Pangea!” He said to me urgently as he gripped my hand. “We’ll be the first people ever!”

  “I am very worried about your fascination with fame and momentous accomplishments. It seems both pointless and foolhardy.” I replied after my eyes had locked with his. After hearing this strange, intricately-worded sentence, a woman standing just behind Elijah looked at me as though she were witnessing a hydra regenerating one of its recently severed heads. I could not help it that I saw no need to edit myself for the sake of bystanders feeling uncomfortable in the presence of such genius…

  “I’m going to do it.”

  I could see in his eyes a resolution that would not be undone with any snippet of wisdom, sly insult to his intelligence, or even a reminder to use common sense. His resolve to be the first man to walk on this planet would not be shaken by the threat of death or dismemberment or even one of my elaborately formed warnings. I knew that.

  I also knew that I could not let him go alone.

  “Let’s do it.” I sighed in resignation. His goofy grin emerged and I frowned. “Don’t make me slap that ridiculous smile right off of your face.”

  James grasped my hand and when I looked up at him, he nodded.

  “Keep Penny back,” I told Violet, “If anything happens…”

  “Don’t say that!” She whispered back in a trembling voice.

  A few more people stepped forward. I suppose their guilt at allowing two young, reasonably attractive, obviously quite intelligent kids and their strapping older chaperone to face what could be certain death was winning out over their own survival instincts. I couldn’t fault them for that. Either that or they had overheard Elijah’s musings on being the first people to set foot on Pangea and wanted their own slice of the immortality that such an accomplishment would bring.

  On one side of us, a single man strode forward. The pupils set right in the middle of his large, unbelievably bright blue eyes were contracted to the size of pinpoints. He stared forward, his hands trembling as potent, petrifying fear coursed through his body. It was not his trepidation that was pulling him forward. It was not a need to know what awaited us outside. He was a slight man bearing a strong resemblance to a fly searching for something that would sustain his very life; he was of the group who desired the endless fame that came with being “one of the firsts.”

  The woman walking beside me was shaking only slightly and grasping the cross necklace that hung around her neck. Her husband was muttering a soft prayer as he locked his arm around her shoulder. I would have been moved by their show of devotion to both each other and a higher power if it weren't for the fact that every aspect of them (their appearance, their body language, the way the woman was closing her eyes and looking up to the heavens) screamed “performance.”

  I suddenly wished that there was some deity that I believed strongly in. I would ask for the bravery this slow forward-march required. But apparently, I didn’t need it because my feet moved one after the other, inching me further and further into that mysterious light.

  After releasing my grip on James and Elijah, I reached up to cover my eyes as the light brightened. I could not understand the sudden increase in its intensity but still, I walked forward.

  The first breath of Pangean air cast an icy spell over my lungs. It was a sensation so amazing, it brought tears to my eyes that had nothing to do with the bright light of a second sun. Even when I knew that my eyes had adjusted to that bright stream, I kept them closed for a moment longer, preparing myself for the image I knew would take my breath away.

  And take my breath away it did.

  We had landed in a field covered by deep green grass. The blades reached towards the cerulean sky where overhead, the sun was blazing; it was a dazzling yet gentle ball of light. As I stared into its incandescence, my eyes did not burn in the slightest. I could stare right into its depth and feel nothing but wonder burrowed deep in my soul. In the distance, the sky darkened to purple and cradled stars inside that twinkled like drops of rain.

  The air was light and crisp like the first day of autumn. It did not burn as it traveled down into my lungs the way the polluted air of our Earth did. I could not imagine returning to our planet, if it still existed, and having to breathe such toxic fumes. I believed that it would kill me immediately. It was a privilege to take those steady inhalations of such unimaginable purity.

  I reached down to touch the grass that rose to my waist. It was not rough or sharp in either the body or the tip. It was as soft as silk in its entirety. I wanted to lie down and burrow my face in it. I wanted to use the earth as my pillow forever.

  It was a truly astounding feeling, to see such untainted beauty.

  This is what our earth was, I thought to myself, And we destroyed it.

  When James and I had killed those giants that morning after our initial meeting, we had seen the world from my balcony the way it had been intended. Through our whitened eyes, we had seen the stolen truth. Now, we were living in a land that possessed the very beauty we had decimated. We breathed the air that we had forced from our world.

  All five senses were alive; I could taste the sweet, clean air on my tongue. I could smell it as it traveled through my nose and down into my lungs. I could see the hypnotizing beauty all around me. I listened to the wind swishing the tops of the trees in the forest that surrounded us and felt the grass as it danced against my legs and tickled my bare skin. It was, quite simply, indescribably glorious.

  After seeing that we were still standing, several people were rushing to exit the ship. I snapped out of my mesmerized daze and turned to see Penny, Maura and Violet being shoved forward; they were struggling to stay on their feet. The ship workers were trying to keep order but the excitement had boiled over. Though the other survivors had not been able to see this place first, they surely would not wait to be the last.

  I cleared my throat and took one large, fantastic breath of air. I stunned those who could see me by shouting in a voice too large and loud for a young woman my size.

  “Everyone shut up and listen!”

  Yes, that was graceless. But sure enough, the feet stopped stomping down the ramp and silence replaced the excited chattering that had been deafening only a moment before.

  Once all eyes were on me, I felt a familiar fluttering in my chest that turned my stomach. But the thrill of arriving and seeing such splendor was enough to remedy the sudden bout of sickness. I found my voice again.

  “If you could not trample each other, I’m sure those that would be trampled in this stampede would appreciate it greatly. Try for a little civility.” I paused, wondering if I should add that they were not surprising me with their barbarism. I debated mentally if I should comment on their sudden courage when earlier, they had been shoving us out of the ship to spare themselves. I thought better of both snide statements and instead allowed the joyful beating of my heart to overthrow my acidic disdain just for one ins
tance. I finished my call for order with, “Thank you so much.”

  The chattering resumed at its previous volume but people walked slower and were more mindful of those around them. My eyes found Penny, who was walking between Maura and Violet, grasping both of their hands. Her eyes were wide in wonder. Her mouth was open, too, but a smile was tugging at the ends. In her face, I saw the amazement that I felt in my heart. It was child-like in its very essence. It was a feeling I had never known but I was thrilled to see it reflected in her.

  “Elijah? Are you okay?” James asked him and I whipped around, feeling a jolt of concern in my heart. Was this peace inside of me a lie? Did being exposed to this immaculate place cause a deadly side-effect that took several minutes to expose its ugly face?

  No on both accounts.

  Elijah had his head angled up towards the sky and his eyes closed. He was in a state of amazement that rendered him speechless. This had always been his dream, to travel through space and see another planet. When we were kids, he insisted that he was going to live on the moon. Then, he insisted that he was going to live on Pluto because no one gave it any credit. When “they” deemed Pluto too small to be a planet, Elijah vowed to campaign for its status to be reinstated.

  The boy was a nerd, through and through. His passion for all things involving space rivaled my own passion for literature. He was more apt to show his love for what amazed and befuddled him whereas I kept mine to myself. Now, he was practically in tears.

  I should have made a crack about his masculinity draining before our very eyes. I should have told him that if he cried, I would never respect him again. But an hour or so earlier, we had believed that we were falling out of the sky. Now we were safely on Pangea, our safe haven. I could not fault him for wanting to shed some tears of relief and joy. So many people around us were, as they jumped about, hugging their family members and strangers, alike.

  I certainly would have wept a little, if I had been a stronger person.