She paused as a tiny light appeared on the planet, a tiny speck of light, revolving with the planet itself.
“Of course, we can only observe the past. Since the planet lies over forty light years away, that means we can only see today what happened forty years ago.” Dave’s eyes widened as he understood the implications.
“That means people have been living on that planet for more than fifty years,” he said.
“That’s right,” Dr. Sims answered, smiling.
“I guess the captain was right about you, young man.”
Dave stared intently at the revolving image.
“What’s the planet called?”
“The people before the Fall named it after the goddess of dawn, from a myth of an even older civilization. They named it Aurora.”
Epilogue
The cockpit was silent, as they viewed the first live images from the planet, still so far away.
“I never thought I would see this again,” the woman whispered, her eyes misting. And just as fast, the emotion was gone, composition restored, never showing weakness in front of the boy. Man, she reminded herself again. He’s a man now.
It was strange, she thought. Though she looked younger, she was an old woman now. And yet, the reluctance to show any form of weakness had stayed with her all her life. She would have thought something like that would diminish somewhat, but it hadn’t, not much, anyway.
She took in her surroundings, still not quite used to the sleek interior, so vastly different from anything she had flown, back in the day.
The small craft was really something, even though it was obviously dwarfed by the ark itself. Shefania had explained how the craft could be remotely controlled from the ark, and when it came to descent and landing, that process would be completely AI-controlled. All they had to do was observe, evaluate, and record. Though she had a hard time trusting an AI completely, she realized she was out of practice. She hadn’t flown for years, even when she only counted awake- time. Also, this was technologically far beyond anything she had flown before.
She regarded the live image again. So much of the planet was dark where there had been life before, but there was artificial light in several clusters, most of them small, but also a few larger ones. The surface looked different in so many ways, and yet familiar all the same. The general outline of the continents hadn’t changed enough to make the world unrecognizable, although some details were vastly different. She noticed the young man smiling next to her, a warm smile that reminded her of his mother.
“So, this is what it looks like,” he said. She smiled back at him. It was probably a big moment for him, as well, although different. This was the world from which his parents had come. For him this was an alien world, a mythical world.
For a long time, they had believed this planet would be devoid of life, or at least human life. Well, some had believed otherwise-hoped rather-but most had reconciled themselves to the fact that nothing could have survived the cataclysm. But Shefania had made sure it was properly investigated, and when she brought the good news, everyone had celebrated.
The proof that life had prevailed once again had surprised them. But what they saw worried them, as well, enough to be very careful. So for now, the ark remained outside the solar system, safely hidden, using advanced cloaking technology that made detection almost impossible. The smaller landing craft would investigate more closely, and only if contact could be made in a safe manner would they reveal themselves.
For something had happened, and it was a world on the brink of a new catastrophe they were approaching.
“Do you think we can make a difference?” the man said. The woman shook her head.
“I don’t know, Ramon,” she said.
“But I do know this: if we don’t do anything, these people will destroy themselves, just as we almost did, before you were even born.” She nodded at the images.
“Remember, even though they might be vastly different, they are still Lifebringer’s children, just like us. And it is our duty to protect them from themselves.”
<<<<>>>>
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When the world ends, what do you do when you realize you are still alive?
In a world devastated by natural disaster, only the most stubborn refuse to give up. When Ed Walker learns that others have been preparing for the disaster for years, he begins to realize finding them may be his only shot at survival. But time is running out...
In a dying world one man makes a choice to keep going, hoping against all odds there might be a future after all.
Alive is a 10.000 word story loosely based on events in Exodus by Andreas Christensen, but can also be read as a standalone.
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About the Author
Andreas Christensen is a Norwegian science fiction and fantasy author.
He is the author of the Exodus Trilogy, a popular science fiction series in which a divided Earth must face the ultimate extinction event, and build a new life on distant Aurora, more than 40 light years away. The Rift Saga is set more than two centuries after the events of Exodus, continuing the story line back on Earth. You can find his complete bibliography on christensenwriting.com.
Andreas has a weakness for cats, coffee, and up until recently, books so heavy he'd need a separate suitcase in order to carry them every time he traveled. Luckily, the world has changed, and the suitcase has now been replaced by an e-reader.
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