by Reilly, Jim
“I understand the way you feel because I can’t look upon the burnt ruins of Earth. The ground is charred by fire, the sky is filled with smoke and gasses, and the sea has been littered with debris.”
Michael arrived with news, “The light of the Realm is again brightening this dark place. The Ruler has now unleashed the Spirit upon Earth. Soon the creatures of the Earth will come out of their hiding places and once again will flourish. Many of them, large and small, have survived the war and are now breathing life in this forsaken place.”
About sixty years later, as Michael, Raphael, and Uriel walk among the plant life now grown to the point it is overtaking many of the burnt trees and bushes, as well as the ruined manmade structures now barely noticeable.
In the midst of a beautiful sunny day, Gabriel approached his brothers. Exuberant in seeing their brother, Gabriel was greeted with warmth and sincerity.
“I have great news to tell you, the Ruler in all His glory has not forsaken mankind.”
Each smiling with great joy asked, “In what manner, will this come to be?” Gabriel then brought them to Pergamon.
“The Ruler had me look over them until it was time, and now look with your own eyes,” Gabriel informed them.
In a section northeast of the hilltop, some rubble was being pushed out of the way, and two people emerged from the opening in the ground, an enhanced man and woman. After surveying the surroundings, they looked around and decided to climb the hill to get a better look. Before they did that, they first buried Cameron and the other human remains from the buried craft. After saying a few words they embarked for the summit of the hill.
When they reached the top, Steven said, “I don’t see life in sight. I take that back, I see some animal life, but at this point no human life. I will say this, there was some battle out here while we were asleep. The town below Pergamon is completely destroyed. At this point, I don’t know where we should head to find anyone. There must be at least some remnants of the United Nations forces still operational, or survivors from the attack somewhere.”
Hailey then realized she could activate the James Connor program and did so.
“Steven and Hailey, I am happy you were able to get out of the buried craft. To be honest, I thought you had a twenty-five percent chance the craft would be close enough to the surface in order for you to get out. While we’re at it, I thought there might have been a fifty percent chance the Earth would be scorched beyond recognition, and another thirty percent--”
“James, hold on a second,” Steven said to stop the rambling program. “Your image is fading in and out. What is your power level?”
After a quick pause, James reported, “I’m at five percent of power and have no means to be charged.”
Hailey thinking quickly fastened a miniature solar array she had in her utility belt to the device the James Connor program was on. Slowly, it began to add power to James. He then told them, “That’s better, but the maximum power that this array will provide will not sustain me, and I’ll have to be turned off for long periods of time.”
“We’ll have to make do,” Steven said. “If you have enough power, would you mind accessing the Grid to see where the United Nations forces are so we can join up and get back into the fight if it’ still going on?”
James then spent a few minutes trying to access any form of communication to gather information. When he felt he could gather no more, he reported back to Steven and Hailey, “There are various devices still in operation. I was, however, able to communicate with a satellite. From there, I was able to perform a scan.”
Both asked, “What’d you find?”
“I found no people to speak of, not one other human than you two. Also, the animal population is a fraction of what it was before. It looks like vegetation was minimal at one point but is making a comeback.”
Hailey then asked, “Did I hear you right? There are no other people?”
“It would seem so,” James said. “I could check again for you, but the result would be the same. I am sorry.”
Steven then questioned, “Were they taken by the Ancient Visitors? If they were, then we must figure a way to get them back.”
“I don’t believe so,” James figured. “The ground is littered with the remains of ten billion people. They have been decaying for about sixty years, about the time you entered the craft.”
“What about the Ancient Visitors?”
“Steven, I detected the remains of Ancient Visitors throughout the world. The shells of their bodies were scattered on Earth, and in three of their massive ships, one in the water outside of Israel, and two orbiting in space. I don’t, however, find any alive.”
Steven asked, “Who won the fight?” Then after thinking about it, said, “Never mind, I guess at this point we won since we are the only ones alive. But I have to be honest, I don’t feel like a winner. As a matter of fact, we should have tried to get out of the buried ship to die with our people.”
“One of the smartest people alive once told me,” Hailey said. “Our friends and family would want us to live and go on.”
“You should have said the only other person alive. In any rate, we’ll need to find food and shelter; otherwise, we may soon join our families.” Steven then turned to the holographic James, “Which direction should we go?”
“Head north for about four hours. There you’ll find edible vegetation and water. Now please turn me off so I may recharge. It may take a few days.”
They deactivated James Connor and headed north. All Steven had to carry was a small knife he found on Cameron, the one given to him by Sha’nay Barnwell.
“He saved but two, Gabriel?”
“Yes, He saved two good and strong souls to continue the human race. From their loins, will come nations. Their seed has the opportunity to be greater than all previous generations. The dreams we have had for mankind can finally be realized. The Holy Spirit flows through their bodies.”
Uriel, pondered to the other three, “I pray with all my being that you are right, and mankind will achieve great heights. However, we are still talking about humans and all their weaknesses. I fear they still have the ability to falter and succumb to those weaknesses. It will be then that history will repeat itself.”
Steven and Hailey came upon a tree bearing fruit with a stream flowing nearby. It was a long hot journey, and they hoped to rest in the shade of that tree. After a short break to recoup some of their strength they had spent during the walk there, they decided to drink a little water and then speculate if the fruit growing in the tree was edible.
As they rested under the tree, a snake coming from the nearby tall grass slithered up to the bark of the tree. Out of sight from the two, the snake slithered up the tree, then made its way to a branch just over Hailey’s head.
As the two talked, the snake using its tail, held on to the branch as it lowered its head close to Hailey’s ear.
“You see Gabriel, history does repeat itself. Mankind is back at the forbidden tree.”
“Uriel, have faith in mankind.”
As the snake was close enough to whisper into Hailey’s ear, Steven with his cat-like reflexes unfurled the knife he had gotten from Cameron, and cut the snake’s head off.
As the head fell to the ground, Steven grabbed the snake’s body, and said to Hailey, “I don’t know about the fruit, but I’ve eaten snake before back in Kansas. Would you like to try?”
“No thank you, I’m going to wait to see what else is on the menu before eating snake. Is that what you feed girls on dates?”
“Wow, we’re on a date? If so, then D’Shawn was wrong, I did get you to go out with me before the universe ended.”
“You spoke to your friends about me?”
“Umm, speaking of dates, I recognized a date palm tree over down the stream a little. Dates are a delicious fruit. We should probably skip this tree and its questionable fruit.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I was busy f
inding food and--”
“Gabriel, maybe there is hope for mankind after all.”
“Yes Uriel, just maybe there’s hope.”
About the Author
Jim Reilly is the author of science fiction and fantasy novels, Evolution and Seaville. He is a married father of four, born and raised in Long Island. From an early age, Jim always had a fascination with science, religion, and science fiction. He now enjoys leveraging those interests to develop fascinating and unique stories.
Evolution: The Revelation
Jim Reilly, 2016
