PrologueA Chapter by Frederick E. Conkling
Previous Version This is a previous version of Prologue. Prologue Jonah Riley looked upon the planet beneath him with a combined sense of sadness, fear, and wonderment.. The blue and green world beneath him had been the home of humanity for billions of years. To be leaving it now filled him with a sadness that should be saved for lost family or lost loves. It tore at him, ripping at his heart. But while the thought tore at his heart, it also spoke too some primal part of him. Somewhere at the back of his mind, a growing piece of Jonah was realizing how far the Butterfly Effect could extend. The model his physics professor used was a ball at the crest of a hill. He stipulated that a ball would move into many of the valleys depending on any number of slight variances in its initial position. But it was on 12/21/2012 that the ball was replaced by the asteroid 99942-Apophis, and the butterfly was stepped on. It had passed too close to the sun and slingshot around, most of its mass burning up in the process. The mass that worked through struck the moon, shattering it in a single catastrophic blow. Barely half of the moon was intact; everything else was thrown into the earth’s orbit. For three days rocks the size of basket ball’s hammered the globe. When it was over the result was a singular ring of debris circled the Earth. The world as we knew it had changed. But right now Jonah was on a new ball with a set of new variances. The small spacecraft he was situated on held him and the three passengers comfortably, without the pilot and copilot. It was egg shaped in design with a wide frontal window and a pair of short smaller egg-shape thrusters on the each side. This craft was nothing compared to some of the stones in the debris field that they would have to navigate to get at Cerberus-Base-1. The ship lurched to the side, avoiding a stone twice its size. Seeing that stone Jonah’s thoughts moved on to the smaller rocks, those pebbles going several thousand miles per hour. The consequences of a hit by one played out in his head. It wouldn’t be a quick hit and boom like hitting one of the bigger ones. Instead it would be a more of a pin prick against the egg’s surface. Out of that pinprick would go the atmosphere, with it Jonah’s and every other passenger’s air. That would be fine, assuming that they were able to get to the oxygen masks in time and that the oxygen would hold out until they arrived at Cerberus-Base-1 or one of the dozens of stations that permiated the debris. But that was just one. If there was more than one then the spacecraft would be annihilated, holes cutting through the hull like a phonebook caught by a round of buckshot. But that was neither here nor there. Jonah felt the ship lurch to the right. It circled around the moon, coming into the sunlight. It was then that Jonah saw it; there was Cerberus-Base-1. Like a gleaming silver starfish, the base stood out against the moon rock. From its surface towers of steel and glass rose up into the sun. Jonah found himself holding his breath as they landed inside one of the starfish legs. Once inside the lights came on, revealing dozens of other ships like Jonahs. Outside the ship, Jonah and the other passengers were greeted by a singular transport vehicle. It fell gently out of the sky before them, like a silver leaf on a nonexistent breeze. Jonah and the others clamored inside, the egg ship taking off as they left. Once they were situated inside the vehicle, Jonah felt a jolt flow through and the vehicle rose and they blasted forward. While the others were content to question what the station was like Jonah could only stare out the windows, watching the world they had just entered. Vehicles like the one they entered flooded the station, hundreds of them floating through the air in their individual lanes. The monolithic towers stood against the blackness of space, lights flicker on and off in the individual rooms. But it was the blackness of space that intrigued Jonah; from the outside there looked to be nothing protecting the station from the debris field. On the inside there still looked to be nothing, but every now and then Jonah would catch sight of something above the station sky. A ripple would form over the station, like someone had thrown a rock into a pond. He knew on some level the station had a kind of shielding against the vacuum, but he didn’t expect it to be so large or colorless. In the back of his mind he expected something more colorful, like the barrier curtains from Star Wars or something that hugged the buildings. But then Jonah saw something else in the air. He thought it to be a star; a yellow dot in the sky, but then it got bigger growing into a golden sun. It punctured the shield with little difficulty releasing a low humming sound as it did so. The beam passed through Jonah’s vehicle, cutting from the driver side backseat to Jonah’s right side. The beam clipped his arm, as the other passengers screamed. Shouldn’t there be more pain? He thought, moments before the world around him went blank. © 2010 Frederick E. Conkling
Author's Note
Featured Review
Reviews
|
Stats
10 Views
3 Reviews Shelved in 3 Libraries
Added on February 9, 2010Last Updated on February 9, 2010 AuthorFrederick E. ConklingHere. There. Everywhere. Nowhere. Take your pick., MNAboutMy names Daniel. Here's some things about me. Favorite Quotes: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." -- Optimus Prime, "Transformers" "The cake is a lie." -- Portal "There is no.. more..Writing
Related WritingPeople who liked this story also liked..
|