CHAPTER 18

Twenty Thousand Years in the Future

Earth

The black tint faded from the Endurance’s visor, allowing the morning sunlight to pour onto Garth’s face. His wrinkled eyelids twitched a few times before he opened them. His pupils contracted as the photons struck his retinas. It was how Garth liked to start his day, every day. The sun was directly ahead of him, but Garth wasn’t afraid to stare directly into its glorious luminance. He stayed there for several minutes, gazing at the sun. When he was satisfied, Garth got out of his seat. He was naked, other than his tight underpants. Garth walked around the chair to the wall behind it. He punched a section of the wall, making a drawer slide out. Cold air hissed out as the compartment opened. He looked inside. There was a frozen rodent head in a corner. Garth frowned and shoved the unit back into the wall. Hanging on the wall to the left were five weapons made of wood, bones, and steel. There was a long steel spear with two sharp ends, a bone ax-head with a rough wooden handle, a dagger made of a jaw bone, a shield made of a welded ribcage lined with metal, and a mace made of wood and fangs.

Garth opened another compartment containing folded clothes, neatly arranged in rows. There were only a few tops, underpants, and three pairs of black jeans, all showing signs of wear. He pulled on a pair of faded black jeans. From another compartment, he took out a pair of gloves and slid them on. Next to the weaponry hung a thick gray cloak, which Garth threw on. He grabbed the steel spear and marched to the hatch. He pushed it open with his shoulder, then stepped out onto the shotgun deck.

The intense heat of the morning made the wind even cooler on his face. Garth looked up with his eyes closed and took a deep breath. The air smelled like sulfur and ash. There was a rope hanging down from the top of the mech. Garth grabbed the rope and jumped off the deck, swinging down to the ground. He rolled forward and got to his feet.

Garth squinted as he looked around, trying to keep the sand out of his eyes. There was a rumbling in the sky and he looked up at it. A flash of lightning tore across the clouds. Garth scoffed and dropped to a knee. He placed his palm on the ground, then stood up, taking a handful of sand with him. Garth rammed the blunt end of his spear into the ground. He took a pair of goggles from his cloak and put them on, then

wrapped a dirty-looking cloth around his head until only the goggles were visible. Garth pulled up the hood of the cloak, grabbed the spear, and started walking toward the sun.

As Garth moved away from the Endurance, the wind grew stronger, and the sand became thicker. He continued walking until he came face to face with an enormous sand storm. Garth stopped to look at it. He questioned whether what he was about to do was worth it, but he had asked himself a hundred times before. He only ever had one answer: it didn’t matter. None of it did.

Garth tightly gripped the spear, then continued toward the storm. Seconds later, the storm engulfed him. Garth crouched in the sand, the cloak shielding his body from the deadly sand encircling him. He crawled on his hands and knees for a short distance, then stopped, looking around like a wolf. Garth thought he saw movement but when he turned to check, there was nothing there. Garth felt a hard push on his back and turned quickly, aiming his spear, but again there was nothing there. He ran a short distance, then stopped. When he turned again, Garth was looking at a rodent the size of a bulldog; he called them ‘sand rats’. The rat glared at him with emotionless, red eyes and twitching whiskers. The rat snarled with its sharp teeth on display. Garth raised his spear and slowly approached the rat. Before he could get within range, there was a second snarl to his right. Garth knew that sand rats moved in packs. He was counting on it.

Garth stopped moving. As he stared at the rat in front of him, another jumped at him from beneath the sand. It clamped onto his neck from behind, gnawing viciously. However hard it tried, it couldn’t chew through the cloak. Garth reached back over his shoulder to grab the rat. Another leaped at him from the side. He swung the spear, hitting the rat on the face with the shaft. Garth fell back and rolled to his feet. He punched the rat and it scampered away, disappearing into the sand. He turned and three more rats charged at him. Garth lunged at them and thrust his spear at the rat coming from his left. The spear pierced its hip and pinned it to the ground. Garth faced the other rats. There were too many to count. He curled into a ball, wrapped in his cloak. They clawed at him and tried to bite, but neither their claws nor their teeth could pierce the cloak. Suddenly, Garth erupted. He grabbed the nearest rat by the throat, drew his knife, and stabbed it into the creature’s head from beneath its jaw. Another rat jumped at him from the side, but Garth knocked it away with a kick. The rat whined as it crawled away. Garth looked around; the rats were still growing in number. The storm was weakening. When Garth saw that it was subsiding, he dropped to his knees and clawed at the sand, digging a hole. The rats understood what he was trying to do. Together, they charged at him. Garth saw them coming and looked down at the hole. It was barely large enough for him, but he had no choice. The rats were too close. He wrapped himself again and rolled into the shallow hole.

When the rats reached Garth, he was almost completely submerged in the sand. Some hissed and clawed at him while others tried to dig him out of the ground. Just as they uncovered him, the sandstorm moved on. The rats squeaked with distress and ran away from Garth, pursuing the sandstorm.

Garth waited until he was sure that both the rats and the storm were gone. He stood up out of the sand and lowered his hood. He watched as the rats disappeared into the distance. Garth tried to catch his breath. He brushed the sand from his cloak, then unwrapped the cloth from his face. He blew his nose and coughed. Even with the layers of protection, some sand had still found its way into his nose and ears. Garth sighed. He didn’t like sand; it got everywhere.

Garth found his spear still sticking out of the sand. A few meters away was the half-buried corpse of the second rat he killed. Garth dug up the speared rat, then the knifed rat. He pulled out a cord from a cloak pocket, tied it around the rats’ legs, and headed home, dragging his kills behind him.

It was almost noon when Garth arrived at the Endurance. He left the rats by the mech’s foot, then gathered some wood from the surrounding area and arranged it under his cooking apparatus. He gutted the rats next to the fire, then strung them up over the flames. Garth sat on the ground and watched the meat as it cooked. He turned it until it was cooked evenly, then put out the fire. Garth sliced off some meat and smelled it with his eyes closed. The smell reminded him of home. He smiled, then took a large bite. The meat tasted plain enough that he could almost forget it was a giant rodent. In his circumstances, it was a delicacy. He took his canteen from his cloak and drank the last of his water.

Garth put the canteen away. He picked up the intact rat and hung the other one on the climbing rope, then went inside with the whole rat. Climbing the mech was difficult without magnetic boots, but Garth had done it so many times that it felt effortless. He opened the cooling unit and dropped the rat inside. Garth placed the spear back on the wall, then paced about the cockpit briefly. Moments later, Garth climbed back out of the mech. As he descended, he grabbed the meat he had left outside. He took a bite and tucked the rest in a pouch inside his cloak. The breeze blew gently on his face, barely moving his clothes. He turned to face the hills along the horizon and began walking again.

Garth came to a small lake. The dry bones of fanged hyenas were on one side of the lake. On the opposite side was the massive, rotting head of a water creature, impaled on a stake, tentacles dangling beneath it. Garth grinned at the sight of the creature. He took off his cloak and removed the rest of his clothes. He glanced around before jumping into the water. Garth submerged his entire body and remained underwater for minutes without surfacing. A small air bubble reached the surface, followed by Garth. He rolled around in the water, splashing as he chased the fish, trying to catch them with his hands. After numerous attempts, he finally caught one. Garth rose out of the water and raised the fish above his head, triumphantly, before releasing it back into the water.

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Garth swam to the edge of the lake, rested his head on it, and closed his eyes. He had almost drifted off to sleep when he heard the water bubbling. He opened his eyes to see five squid-like creatures, each the size of his fist, breaking the surface of the water. They used their tentacles to wriggle through the water. Garth looked up at the huge head on a spike. He cupped his hands under the creatures and caught one. The creature wrapped its tentacles around Garth’s fingers, trying to bite him, but its teeth were still too small to penetrate his skin. Garth looked at the stake once more, then released the creature back into the water.

He climbed out of the water and put his clothes on. He walked a few meters past the lake and took out his canteen. There was a black rock with a crack down its side, from which water trickled nonstop. Garth knelt beside the rock and filled the canteen from the spring. He placed the bottle into his cloak, then cupped his hands under the water and filled his mouth. He gargled for a moment and spat out the water, then cupped his hands one more time and took a drink.

Garth rose to his feet. He gazed around as though he might see something new, but he never did. He did it every time he visited the lake, which happened every day. It was the closest thing he had to a pleasant home, and it had been for over a year.

Garth turned to start walking home but stopped when he stepped on a pebble. He looked at it for a moment, picked it up, and put it in his cloak pocket, then continued on his way back home. The sun was barely above the horizon when Garth reached the Endurance. He went behind the mech. There was a chair laid flat on the floor, which he had crafted using animal bones and skins. Beside the chair was an upside-down skull. The skull contained hundreds of smooth pebbles. Garth took the small rock from his cloak and dropped it into the skull. Near the skull were a carved wooden bat and a steel pipe. Garth picked up the folding chair and set it in front of the mech. He went back and collected the skull container, bat, and pipe, then took them to the front of the mech. He pushed the metal pipe into the ground until it would go no further. He took a pebble from the skull and placed it on the pipe. Garth held the bat and got into position. He fondled the bat’s handle with both hands, brought it back, then swung it at the pebble. The connection sent the pebble flying. Garth held his hand over his eyes and watched the pebble until it was out of sight. He smiled and did it twice more. After the third hit, he returned the pipe, the container, and the bat to the spot he took them from. He took the remaining meat from its hook and sat down to eat alone, as he always did.

The sky swirled with clouds and thunder could occasionally be heard in the distance. Garth looked up, expecting to see something on the horizon. He took another bite and looked at the sky. It had been months since the last rain. There was a howl in the distance. Garth’s eyes snapped directly ahead. A hyena cub emerged from behind a rock, followed by fourteen more.

Garth smirked. “About time,” he mumbled.

The hyenas cautiously came closer. Garth tore a chunk of meat from the rat and threw it to them. They barked and snarled at each other, but eventually shared the meat. Garth threw them another chunk. Watching them brought a smile to his face. He reached down for more meat, but all that remained were bones. Garth put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. The hyenas howled, turned away, and slowly walked back to where they came from.

The sky gradually cleared and the moon was bright in the sky. Garth stayed in the chair, gazing up at the stars. Eventually, he fell asleep.

Suddenly, Endurance bellowed a strange sound Garth had never heard before. He jumped out of his chair, startled. He looked up at the mech, wide-eyed. The intense light bleeding from the edges of the hatch should have been impossible unless the reactor was about to explode. He couldn’t let that happen. He had been trapped in this abysmal period for too long; his only hope of returning to his time was the mech. Garth jumped on the mech’s leg and climbed up to the shotgun deck. He pulled the hatch open and quickly went inside. He froze when he saw a holographic sphere spinning above the dashboard. Garth was baffled; he didn’t even know the mech had hologram hardware.

“Iris, what am I seeing?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” replied Iris. “I cannot determine which part of the system it originated from. It is as though it appeared from nowhere.”

“Have you seen this hologram before?”

“Never.”

Garth moved closer to the sphere. There were six red dots on different areas of the sphere, blinking in unison. He raised his finger and slowly touched the red dot nearest to him. A terrible shriek filled the cockpit and Garth pressed his hands over his ears. He paced around the cockpit, looking for a way to make the sound stop. The hatch slid shut and, before Garth could react, the cockpit temperature suddenly plummeted below freezing. Garth wrapped his arms around his chest but a gust of wind knocked him to the floor. A wave of energy swept through the cockpit, freezing everything in place. Garth tried to get up but an invisible force prevented him from moving a muscle.

The wave passed but Garth was still lying face-down; his entire body was numb. He struggled to his feet, unsure why it was so difficult. He showed no signs of injury. As soon as he was able, he threw himself into the pilot’s chair.

He looked outside and saw endless streaks of light. On the sphere in front of him, a small orange dot was moving toward the red dot he had touched. Garth fumbled around until he found his helmet, put it on, tightened his safety belts, and closed his eyes. Suddenly, Garth felt his body jerk. There was a sound like the wind, and the temperature returned to normal. Garth opened his eyes. The light streaks outside were no longer visible, and the vibrations had stopped.

“What the hell was that?” Garth asked.

Iris took a few seconds to respond. “I am still analyzing the data, but it appears we are no longer on Earth.”

“What?” Garth exclaimed.

Garth released the belts, took off his helmet, then opened the hatch. He stepped out onto the shotgun deck. Something had changed. It was much darker than before, and it smelled different, like spoiled milk. The air felt lighter. When Garth looked up, his jaw dropped. He couldn’t comprehend what he was looking at. The clouds were lined up in columns of vibrant colors, each pulsing one after another, like a chain reaction every second. The colors sometimes glowed brightly, sometimes faintly. There was no moon or stars, only moving colors.

Garth was still watching when he saw a lizard-like creature, the size of ten vilis, cutting through the colors, causing them to mix beautifully. The colors attached themselves to the animal’s body, making it glow too. It was followed by three smaller creatures of the same species. Garth took a deep breath, then hurried back inside and fell into his chair.

“Where the hell are we, Iris?“ he asked

Iris formed a response. “We’re no longer in Earth’s solar system. Judging by the visible star positions, this is not a familiar region of space.”

Garth stared at the orb and nodded. He put his helmet on and fastened his safety belts. He placed his hand on the sphere and turned it. The dot he touched earlier had turned green. Garth touched another red dot and a tingling sensation spread through his body. The temperature dropped below freezing, and it was suddenly daytime. He got up from the chair and went out to the deck. He could tell that he was no longer on Earth, or even the same planet as a minute earlier. The air tasted minty and the gravity was weaker than Earth’s. Garth rushed back inside.

“They’re planets!” he exclaimed. “The dots are all planets! How is that possible?”

“This planet is also in a different star system than the previous one,” said Iris.

Garth sat down again. He rubbed his palms together, grinning. He fastened his safety straps and tapped another dot on the sphere. With each touch of a red dot, Garth and his Endurance armor warped through space to another star system. After every spatial jump, Garth felt light-headed and very thirsty, but the thrill of moving between solar systems in mere moments was exhilarating. He wouldn’t stop until he had tried every dot on the map.

Garth looked at the final dot. He touched it and soon appeared in front of a bright white disk of light. The light poured in through the visor, filling the cockpit. Garth raised his hands to shield his face, then slowly lowered them. The longer he stared into the light, the less it bothered him. Soon, he could look directly into the light. Garth felt something tugging at his mind, something within the light. He took off his helmet and opened the hatch.

“Garth, I recommend against going out there,” Iris warned.

Garth didn’t hear her. He was too overwhelmed by the light to listen. He stepped out onto the shotgun deck, basking in the glorious light. The Endurance was standing at the tip of an enormous steel structure, miles above the ground. The disk of light was so vast that Garth and his Endurance armor were a speck before it. The light was pulsating.

As Garth stared at it, he again felt something tugging at his mind. This time, it was like a voice coming from the light, one that he felt rather than heard.

“What are you?” Garth mouthed, unable to hear his own words.

A luminous figure that was even brighter than the disk emerged from within, floating toward Garth. “Welcome to Exoginos,” it said, and its voice was as deafening as a thunderstorm.

Garth fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks. He had no words, no comprehension of what he was beholding.