Oblivion (Part 3: Dream)

The sound of metal hitting the wall intermittently woke him up. He was in the dark, but looking up, there was a slit of light up above. He tried to rub his clothes and body clean, trying to check if he was really alive still. His fingers and knees were so sore. He was alive. Dead people do not feel pain. He almost smiled at the thought, but that would not make any sense in the situation he was in.

That sound again… and again. Maybe it was his friend trying to rescue him out of that hole.

- Hey.

He shouted out loud. His voice was strange. The echo responded.

- Hey, hey, hey…

He whispered to himself.

- I’m fucked.

- Hey.

He looked up. Something was hanging up above and swinging from the top.

- I’m OK. Can you bring it down?

- I’m out of rope. Can you try to climb it up to the hook?

- I can try. The soil is very dry and loose.

- Try it! I have the Jeep here. I can pull you up, if you reach the hook.

He tried to see in the dark. Soon he saw the piece of metal and had the idea of digging steps on the wall, so he could climb them up to the hanging hook. It would take him some time, but it was worth it, so he did the best he could.

It took him almost one whole hour to finally reach the hook that would take him off that “shituation”.

- I got it.

He was tired, but he knew that from then on the Jeep would do the job.

- I got you. Hold it firmly.

So he did, but it was very hard and painful. His body swung and hit the wall several times. When he finally got up to the mouth of the ravine, his friend pulled him up by the clothes and dragged him off of the border.

- Fuck, man. I thought I’ve lost you. You were so quiet.

- I think I fainted…

- Oh, man. Good to see you back.

- Let’s get out of here, please. Never to come back again.

His friend smiled slightly. He was right.

They got into the vehicle and drove down the hill. The young man was still covered in dirt and there was some blood here and there, but he seemed to be ok. He stripped off his t-shirt and tried to clean himself a bit.

- I need a shower… or more than one… urgently.

- You do indeed. Let’s stop somewhere by the river and try to clean up a bit. Then we drive back home. Enough of this nonsense, for good and forever. You need to get over it, man... for your own sake!

- I know. I just wish I could simply lie my head down on the pillow and forget about all and everything that still bring my memories back and so alive, but it’s not that simple…

- I know, my friend, I know.

***

- Is it possible to send a message to the future? Do you remember anything that it’s still there from this time now?

- I’m not sure. It’s a long time and unless it was an important landmark, it would have not survived the passing of time.

- Think about it. If there is a way, we must try.

- Why is it so important?

- It just is… Have you ever heard of a time capsule? You could benefit from that also. Think about it.

- I know what you’re talking about. I did not stay there long enough to know much or many places. But maybe…

- What?

- I know of something that could have…

- It’s worth a try, isn’t it?

- Maybe…

- Do you think it would be possible to somehow turn back time?

- If it is, it’s a very faint chance.

- But there must be a way. I know that!

- This is just crazy, man. You must stop this.

- You know that would never happen.

- I know. Well, thinking better, there is this one thing I brought from the future. Although it would the opposite operation, it might work, if we try…

- What?

- This…

- But this is just…

***

He woke up in the middle of the night. A dream. A strange dream he had.

- What if that’s true? Would that be possible? Oh, man… I’m going crazy. I wonder if he really knows something and is just too scared to give it away… But why?

He got up and went to the kitchen. His mind was a turmoil of different emotions, all wrapped up together.

- I should have forgotten all about this already. Why do I keep on reliving that situation? It’s such a dead thing.

He took a deep sip of fresh water.

- But what if he…

He wondered if a dream would be that revealing or if it was just an illusion and a desire made up by his mind to compensate for his losses and the desire of soothing his pain and sorrow away.

He whispered to himself.

- I really wish that dream would come true. It would make me feel so much more comfortable…

- What happened?

He turned around. His friend was standing by the kitchen door. Had he heard his thought spoken aloud?

- I had a dream and cannot go back to sleep.

- A bad dream?

He just took a deep breath. His friend understood the signal as soon as he did. That thing was not over yet. He noticed the sorrow in his friend’s eyes and face.

He had to do something as soon as possible…

- Let’s go!

- Where to?

- If the key to reconcile to the past is in the future, there’s only one person who can help us now!

***

Oblivion (Part One: The Distant Messenger)

This strange haze of memories

That slowly fade into dust

Makes my heart pound serene

And my soul rest in a calm and quiet peace.

I lay my head on a pillow of soft white feathers

And a bed of crimson petals

To dream of angels

Soothing my pain away.

Their wings embrace me

And make me feel comfortable

Protected and heartfelt

Like a lover in the  lover’s arms.

***

- Why do you still cry over this? It happened such a long time ago. It belongs to the past.

- I think I’ve never really overcome it…

- You must. This is not good for you.

That young man, whose eyes never seem to follow his smile, smirked sadly. Why would he keep his grief for so long? That made no much sense anymore.

***

The two friends sat in the rocking chairs, on the balcony, watching the sun slowly sliding down in the horizon. Each head was so busy with their own thoughts that the interruption felt like an interference to that quiet peace, that was being violated by what was nothing more than an extension of the thoughts and that expressed the concrete weight of the words.

- I once had a brother.

- Well, you have me now. I’m almost a brother for you, anyway. Some friends are closer than brothers, did you know that?

- Never thought about that, really.

- People say friends are brothers we choose to relate with.

- Where do you get these things from?

- Well, I read a lot.

The young men wearing glasses tried to smile, but it did not work. His friend was concerned about his sanity. He seemed to be absent-minded very often lately. They have avoided talking about the past for a long time. But the ghosts do not simply vanish in the memory. They can hide away for a while, but they do not die. It seemed it was one of those occasions when they were coming back from the darkness where they were buried to expose themselves to the light, for some inexplicable reason.

- Don’t you think about what happened? Don’t you miss them, sometimes?

- Them?

- Your family…

- I do.

- I’m glad you do. I do too and lately very often.

- Why?

- I miss them so much.

- You know that past is buried, literally.

- Maybe not…

The young man looked at his friend’s face. His eyes were sadly lost in the distance. Grieve and pain were still so alive in those sad eyes, they seem to materialize in front of them.

- We’ve got to move on, like we always did.

- Yeah. Right. You talk as if that was so easy to do. I wish we could travel in time and change what happened. Then things could be so much different now.

- But we can’t.

- Are you really sure?

He smiled. It seemed some insane idea had come to his mind.

- What are you thinking about?

- I had an idea. There is someone we’ve got to see on the weekend, when nobody will raise any suspicion, if we leave our quarters.

- Oh. No!

***

- That is not possible! If it was I would have come back there.

- There? There is no there anymore! It was blown off and completely destroyed.

- Some time earlier, before the destruction… maybe.

- That world is not there anymore…

- You would not understand. I don’t know if I do either, if I think too much about it.

- There must be a way. It’s very important to me… to us…

- You do not seem to get it. I can’t help you. I’m just a clone, not a scientist. I’m the creation, not the creator.

***

- There must be a way.

- Stop being silly. You know there is no way... at least for now… in this era.

- I won’t give up.

- You should. You sound like a stubborn madman already…

***

- ‘Oumuamua’?

- Yes. It means the "first distant messenger".

- I can imagine the confusion that it is causing to the scientists, who are trying to explain that strange kind of… apparition, to say the least.

- Yes. The theories are so vain and empty still. They are so lost.

- I have one theory and I think that could be the key to what we are looking for.

- Oh. Stop that! I’ve never heard such nonsense.

- I am sure our friend will agree with me. We’ve got to visit him one more time…

- Oh, sweet Lord! Here we go again!

***

The Thirteenth (Epilogue)

A star and two small planets could be seen in the sky, through the Council Room window of the Main Building. A man alone contemplates, seriously and thoughtfully, the immense darkness, decorated with tiny specks of light, shining on the outside and oblivious to his grief.

"This world is doomed by sameness and monotony. We live for too long a time, but our existence is not necessarily filled with any kind of pleasure. There is no real purpose in living long, preserving the species, or even saving the planet. If an accident destroys this civilization, what difference would the universe feel? What difference could the past make? What if the accident were somewhere in the past, even before the great destruction? Would it really make any difference?

Here and now there is nothing that can give us any reason for pride or for longing to live. Our existence is empty. It is all so gray and dull, without any beauty. There are no feelings either good or bad. Why do we need to keep this thing still working? "

***

- I don’t want to be an experiment anymore. I will no longer be serving as a guinea pig for the creation of a sterile vaccine. I do not want to be changed anymore. This is what makes me unique in this crowd of equals.

- But the mutation is going pretty fast. Your back is covered with these black and white furry spots that are already spreading to the rest of your body and your defenses are low. You will not hold out for long.

- It's my choice.

- You do not have this option, by the rules... No clone has... in these circumstances...

- I am David, the Thirteenth... If things had been different, I would have been chosen to be the next Supreme, for being the best and the stronger, or to be an explorer of the Universe. Now I'm just a freak. It is better to let life go its normal course... or curse… and I'll live with it... for as long as it's possible...

- That can be for very little time, now, you know.

- Whatever. The vaccine does not work, anyway.

***

- We live in a planet, which, together with other smaller ones, revolves around a small star, which has limited natural light, but keeps the system functioning in a balanced way. The planet's orbit around itself occurs for a shorter period than on Earth, for obvious reasons. Time, then, has a different concept. As the day has fewer hours, the count of years is therefore different. The control of life in this system of planets belongs to a group of scientists, who constitute an intellectual elite.

- Why do you use the count of years as A.D.?

- Because the founders wanted to pay a homage to Earth, the planet they originally came from.

- And what are the clones created for, anyway?

- Each planet, in this cluster of other smaller planetoids, has its own peculiarity. What makes this one habitable is the unique and unusual feature of having Oxygen, although in much less quantity than on planet Earth. The element, vital to human life, is processed, filtered and used within the protected structures, which we call Stations. This feature is not the only thing we have in common with our distant predecessor from another galaxy. A stream of water-like liquid flowing through underground rivers is collected, reprocessed and transformed into potable water and then made available to the inhabitants in a natural way. But we are facing a new problem: we are quickly running out of this available water-like liquid. Research teams have already been sent in search of alternatives, through the galaxy, but so far, nothing real has been found. These small teams are mostly composed of selected clones, specially trained for this type of operation. An advanced robotic unit accompanies the crew of each spacecraft. At the moment, we have just a few of them out in the searching trips because we cannot create enough clones.

- Cloning is a reality and it is inevitable, being practically the only form of reproduction in our time. The process is interrupted, from the moment we find that the resistance of the body to any type of problem, physical or mental, is practically guaranteed. After the vaccine has been applied, some characteristics are allowed to mature on their own, forming different individuals within the cocoons, such as chrysalides, in the incubators. We do not use human wombs. Not all of these individuals come to the end of the process and survive, because the vaccine is quite aggressive, but it must be so. When they are ready, the strongest are selected and reported to the Supreme, who inspects them, along with the Council, to send them to the Main Building. This planet is inhabited by a single race, which speaks a unique language. The new humans are virtually devoid of hairs, having their skull box enlarged in size and their bodies diminished in proportion. Once well trained, they will be part of the teams selected by the Council to explore the galaxy. The others, of a more regular, but resistant lineage, are sent for the production of Oxygen. Demographic density is kept under strict control. Our resources are limited, so we have to use them effectively.

- This is amazing. And it all started with my research, in a remote past...

The head of the scientists laughed, a little embarrassed. The man seemed not to be fully aware of the importance his research has had so far in developing that race, which represented, in one way or another, the future of mankind. He could not be blamed for being so naïve, however, since more than twenty-five centuries had passed since then and he could have never guessed that would go so far.

- Yes, doctor. All this based on your precious research... in the remote past and on a planet a bit different from this.

***

- Leona! I need you to come to the lab right away. Something very strange has happened.

- What thing?

- You better come and see... I do not know what to say...

When they arrived they realized that the laboratory was empty, except for a Monarch, standing on the wall.

- How did it come here?

Leona laughed.

- I do not know, for sure, but I have an idea of ​​where it might have come from... a certain clone... that traveled to the past and was enchanted by music and a flock of butterflies...

***

- The outbreak is uncontrollable. The clones perish very quickly and the line can no longer produce them to meet the needs, due to the incubation period. The continuation of life is doomed.

- I have an idea. Do we still have the Monarch with us?

- Yes. But what's a butterfly for, now, anyway?

- That's how the study began. Maybe we have a chance... We're going to have to start all over again. We isolated the DNA and made a vaccine in the past. The original one does not even work anymore. We have to start from scratch. There was something, in the meantime, that stopped working and we do not have enough time to try and repair it. We have to start all over again.

- Yes. Let's stop trying to recover the unrecoverable and do everything from the beginning, again.

- OK. But it may take a long time before we get to the point where we were, before the incident.

- Perhaps. At least we'll know what to do from this point on...

***

The Supreme looked at the black and white patches covering his thin, pale body. They seemed covered with a dense layer of very soft hair. He felt a pang of pain in his head. He knew that his defenses were compromised, as a result of the anomaly and for no longer taking the vaccines.

He sighed and looked up at the sky of that desolate and insignificant planet in the midst of the infinite Universe, so little known, despite all the evolutions after the First Chaos and decided that it was time for a radical decision.

"This was not supposed to happen. They are very close to finding a solution. If they suspect of anything, they will turn against me. But I'll never let them know what I did. I have to fix this situation straightaway before it gets too late."

He programmed the main computer, which controlled all the units, for two actions. Destruction was absolutely necessary. He concluded his commands and sat down, relaxed, as he had never done since he had become the Supreme.

"Genocide and suicide. It was a great idea to sabotage the production of the vaccines, since I discovered that the anomaly could be a great opportunity for the extermination of this sterile breed of beings. This will all look like an accident, but who do I have to explain something to, anyway? There will be nothing left! What a great plan!"

He closed his eyes and waited. In a few seconds, the planet imploded and then exploded completely, in a predetermined sequence, taking on a huge cloud of debris, already devoid of any sign of life, traveling at high speed through the space, in all directions.

A solitary capsule wandered adrift not far from where the asteroid existed a few moments before. Inside it, a metal tube carried precious information about a race of humanoids, who lived on a small, arid planet that ceased to exist. The capsule is thrown, along with the debris of the destroyed planet, through the silent, dark emptiness of space, being drawn into a crevice in the midst of the chaos and disappearing completely with a quick flash of light.

***

On a nearly deserted beach, two young men were talking while walking side by side, each one with a beer can in hand. A flash of lightning crossed the darkness, drawing their attention, especially because the sky seemed clean and starry. The sound of something big falling into the sea, right behind where they came from, made them stop and come back.

The strange metal object floated on the ocean water, swaying to the taste of the waves and still steaming.

It was a warm summer night in the Anno Domini of 2018.