- 1,059 views, 1 today
74
Text Edition :
——————— I. The Awakening ———————
The teenage boy bolted upright, immediately shuddering from a searing pain that left him gasping. “Don’t move.” The tall man in a midnight blue suit’s stern, steely voice sliced through the boy’s hazy cloud of confusion. “Wh-who am I? Wh-where am I?”, the teenager stammered as he examined the dextrose tube inserted in his left wrist with bleary eyes. The imposing figure turned for a moment, his stormy gray eyes looking over the boy. “I am Sir Therovan, and you are Quintin, a toiler, obliged to serve me with your life.”
Sir Therovan was sliding some documents into a folder, when a portly man with a puffy white moustache stepped into the room. “Greetings, Sir Therovan,” said he with a thick, rich voice, “and hello, boy. I’m Dr. Patterson. I see your cryogenic thawing went well.” “I want him freshened up and ready within an hour,” said Sir Therovan, striding out of the room. Dr. Patterson began freeing Quintin from his tubing. “Who was that?” Dr. Patterson looked kindly upon Quintin, and chuckled, “He is your sire. Now get up and put these clothes on.”
Quintin looked at himself in the large, oval mirror. He combed his wavy dark brown hair with his fingers. Smiling to himself, he donned a gray vest over a navy blue sweatshirt. “I look just like an adventurer!” “Indeed, for you are one,” said Dr. Patterson, “Now follow me.”
As Quintin kept pace with Dr. Patterson’s staggered ambling, he brushed his hands on the cool metallic walls, which transitioned from the white-and-red of the Medicine Bay to the space station’s dark blue. Sir Therovan was up ahead, locked in spar of words with a tall, broad-shouldered man in a jet black suit. “Your efforts are futile, Mr. Caradan! My expedition is underway, and I will arrive first!” His words rumbled like distant thunder. Mr. Caradan was unfazed, speaking with an echoless voice that reminded Quintin of pure, cold darkness. “Your pathetic team won’t even survive. My pockets are deeper than yours, and my ambition shall trounce your insipid whims.”
Sir Therovan was left scowling as Mr. Caradan strode off. He beckoned Quintin and the doctor into a spacecraft loading bay, in which a large, finned spaceship that exuded piscine elegance was moored. Several other teenagers dressed like Quintin were chatting amongst themselves. Sir Therovan cleared his throat, and the whole room fell silent. “Everyone! My bitter rival, Mr. Caradan, eyes our prize, the original shipwreck of the legendary RMS Titanic that I must display as the crown jewel of my Earth Maritime Museum. He is ruthless, sly, and vile. Be cautious but make haste! Whomever salvages the shipwreck first owns it by law! Now go!”
Everyone speedily entered the dim but spacious spaceship. The door clanged shut, and its plasma propulsion engines whirred into life. As it slowly slid out of the spaceport, Quintin, peering out a large hexagonal window, caught glimpses of spacecraft of all shapes and sizes. There was a silver ellipsoid ringed with green light, and another one that resembled a four-winged airplane. Within minutes, their spacecraft had accelerated fast; Quintin saw the bustling spaceport rapidly shrink into a blob of flashing colors, and then into a tiny speck of light, hardly distinguishable from the blanket of stars.
Quintin observed his fellow shipmates. Most of them appeared older, engaged in hushed conversation. Near him, however, was a younger and scrawnier boy with tousled blond hair. He was huddled, chin on his knees, and Quintin approached him. “Hi! You can call me Quintin.” He placed his hand on the other’s shoulder, who recoiled from human touch. “P-please, don’t hurt me!” he said with wide, fearful eyes. Quintin softened his voice. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to be friends. What’s your name?” The boy stammered, “I’m M-Martin,” before slumping his head and caressing a thin scar on his slender arm.
Dr. Patterson had overheard the exchange. He approaches Quintin and whispers, “Quintin, Martin is quite sensitive, as his sire regularly hurt and abused him.” “Can you help him?” “I’m no psychologist. but I do encourage you to continue befriending him. Look, he’s shaking less now.”
And so Quintin told Martin about what little he knew about himself : his encounters with Sir Therovan, his awestruck wonder at the spaceport, and how he hardly remembered anything that happened before that. He spoke slowly, soothingly, as though coaxing a little puppy.
——————— II. Into the Abyss ———————
The pilot’s disembodied electronic voice announced, “Attention, we’re arriving on Earth.” Quintin nudged Martin, “Let’s look out the window.” Outside was a planet that looked nothing like the Blue Marble poster displayed inside the spaceship. It was a desolate sphere, with thick tendrils of gray smog snaking their way through barren mountains and sickly green grasslands.
The spaceship descended, landing on a shadowy beach strewn with filthy mounds of plastic bags and bottles, rotting wood, and rubbish. Quintin could almost see wisps of noxious fumes. A broken sailboat lay capsized, its tattered sail limp in the ebbs and flows of the murky seawater.
The spaceship’s plasma propulsion jets were retracted into the hull as propellers slid out. It slowly glided into the unfathomable depths of the turbid sea blanketed by a light gray mist. The pilot announced, “Everyone, form groups of three! Each group will have its own exploration submarine.”
The older people immediately formed groups and marched off towards the biggest, newest, and best-equipped submarines. They set off early, coveting the glory of finding the Titanic, leaving Quintin, Dr. Patterson, and Martin. They nodded at one another, and together, walked towards the last submarine, an old and slightly rusty vessel. They clambered into its cramped confines, and Dr. Patterson brought it to life with his previous nautical training. Turning on bright yellow headlights to dispel the tenebrous blue shroud surrounding them, he steered the submarine down into the bottomless abyss.
They saw little life, though Martin had jumped back when the huge, lifeless eye of a giant squid, impaled by a car’s exhaust pipe, momentarily eclipsed his window. Suddenly, a loud shudder rippled through the submarine. Red alarms blared, and Dr. Patterson ran his hands over various buttons and levers, attempting to stabilize the vessel while muttering oaths. However, with a jarring crash, their submarine careened into something large and solid.
——————— III. The Dome ———————
Quintin and Martin were largely unscathed, but Dr. Patterson had hit his head on a knob overhead and was knocked unconscious. Quintin quickly brought out some bandages and cleaned the rivulets of fresh blood running down the doctor’s face. Meanwhile, Martin was frozen in fear, certain of death, eyes transfixed on the large object that they had hit.
It was a large dome, nearly invisible in the murky water. Thick glass doors then slightly parted, and out stepped two humanoid figures, both burly with armored scales. They hauled the broken submarine into the airtight dome and wrenched open the submarine’s door, their reptilian visages peering inside. Quintin hung his head, hands held up in surrender, while Martin cowered in terror, silently shrieking.
A woman’s soothing voice washed over them like warm water. “Do not be afraid. With us, you are safe.” They looked up and saw a beautiful lady wearing a green metal suit of scale armor, arms akimbo, holding a robotic helmet that resembled a crocodile’s head. “I am Myreinda, leader of the Thalassians. My physicians will attend to your injured. Let us go to my chamber.”
Clambering out of the submarine, Quintin and Martin followed Myreinda. They walked through a set of heavy wooden doors, and were awestruck by the spectacle. They were in a massive dome, which sheltered a burgeoning city with colorful coral-lined streets. Eave after eave of prismarine houses, bathed in a muted white glow by shimmering sea lanterns, formed a canopy of oceanic beauty. As they made their way towards a massive palace crowned with a golden statue of Poseidon surrounded by marine creatures, Myreinda wistfully said, “It was once even more majestic,” pointing out tarnishes like cracks and mildew marring the eroded walls.
——————— IV. Humans and Aliens ———————
They reached the sprawling courtyard, at the center of which was a massive plinth, on which was none other than the restored Titanic, among other ships. Myreinda noted the boys’ keen interest. They sat themselves around a small pool to the side, surrounded by bioluminescent corals. “Are you here for treasure, the Titanic’s ‘shipwreck’, maybe?”
Quintin was taken aback, and mumbled “Y-yes, we were sent by Sir Therovan…” “So the humans out there are still the same. Endlessly pursuing wealth and fame, bringing nothing but strife.” Myreinda sighed, “Long ago, on this very planet, humans had worked together for a better future. We achieved so much, like space exploration and colonization.
“But when asteroid mining began, things turned foul. Fuelled by greed, different countries laid claim to the same asteroids. Disputes gave rise to trade wars, then actual wars. Death rained down from the sky in the form of hydrogen bombs. The skies turned permanently gray. The nuclear winter happened to coincide with the next ice age, and with that, global temperatures plummeted. Countless species went extinct, and pollutant gases condensed into a murderous smog that killed everything it wreathed around.” Myreinda paused, morose.
“Few humans survived, and yet we remained fragmented. Many abandoned their home planet to settle in space. Others had sworn to protect and cleanse our home, to restore it back to its former glory. We established underwater homes to avoid the smog and the nuclear fallout. Our settlements grew and merged, and my forefathers established this underwater nation, Thalassia.
“There were other underwater nations, Pasiphoria, Lysoceania, and Mareneia. But with most other humans gone, nobody tended to the nuclear reactors, which detonated, releasing corium into the sea. Their populations waned with the sea creatures they subsisted on.
“They crumbled into ruins, yet Thalassia lived on and prospered. Our brilliant scientists harnessed the energy of the oceanic currents, powering lanterns that facilitated photosynthesis. With plants come oxygen, food, and ultimately, life. I then commissioned underwater armored suits, and sent search parties to salvage whatever was left. Many did not return. Some reported extraterrestrial presences, which looted the ruins and seafloor.” Myreinda’s eyes grew dark.
“Extraterrestrials. Aliens. They were humans, but by abandoning Earth, and now pillaging it, they abandoned their humanity!” Myreinda spat out her words with such force and fervor that made Quintin and Martin tremble.
Seeing their faltering faces, Myreinda softened her voice and sighed. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you for what you were forced to do. I believe that you are still human, unlike your bosses, who readily bought children from poorer peers and froze them for future use as ‘toilers’, a fancy euphemism for slaves. You may remain here for as long as you want, never having to return to your cruel masters. I will leave you to mull things over.” Myreinda stood up and gracefully glided to her quarters.
Martin said to Quintin, his bony face pale under the bioluminescent corals, “I don’t want to go back. They’ll just beat and hurt me again.” “But we have found the Titanic!” said Quintin, “It doesn’t feel right to abandon our nearly completed mission, to turn our back on those who believed in us, like Sir Therovan.” “Quintin, you see him as a father of sorts, don’t you?” “Well, Dr. Patterson said that he is my sire.” “Sire is just another word for master. No real father would ever abuse his son like Mr. Caradan abused me.”
“Your sire is that Mr. Caradan? You didn’t tell me!” Quintin loudly exclaimed, feeling livid and betrayed. Martin winced, and dolefully responded, “I-I didn’t want you to throw me overboard, or t-to think that I was some spy or saboteur. I’m not. I just came on this mission as he told me, t-to get a chance to escape his abusive grasp. P-please, Quintin, believe me.” “Martin, …, I, believe you.” And the two friends gave each other a comforting hug.
——————— V. The Last Ruin ———————
Suddenly, an ear-splitting boom resounded overhead, and the ground rumbled like the belly of a voracious beast. Bits of coral from the ceiling pelted Quintin and Martin as they scurried into the courtyard, and were dumbfounded. Parts of the dome were cracking. Outside, a massive black stingray-shaped spaceship continued blasting torpedoes at the dome.
Sensing Martin, Myreinda whirled around and roared, “How dare you, you vile alien! As we blithely chit-chatted about my people’s history, your mangy sire, that loathsome Caradan, had been tracking you!” A loud, echoless voice cackled overhead, “Decently done, Martin, whose arm bears my nifty tracking device. Maybe I will spare your beating today, boy.” Martin whimpered, “I-I didn’t k-know… M-my scar …” Myreinda shouted “Troops! Destroy that cur!” She turned to Martin with wrathful, fiery eyes, “I will deal with this traitor!”
Myreinda raised her trident, poised to impale Martin’s shivering figure. Quintin quickly stepped between them, pleading to Myreinda, “Please! He had no idea! He needed to escape Caradan’s abuse! Caradan is the real villain! Don’t hurt Martin, he’s like my brother!” Myreinda relented, leaving Quintin to comfort the remorseful Martin, who kept sobbing, “S-sorry, I’m s-so s-sorry…”
Myreinda rushed off to a rusty howitzer mounted by the courtyard. Aiming at Caradan’s cockpit, she fired an explosive shell, which exploded into a massive fireball. Yet the flames merely licked Caradan’s spaceship. Caradan returned fire with a salvo of plasma balls from the broadside, which melted through the sides of the dome and the homes below. His echoless voice sent a chill down everyone’s spines. “I gave you the chance to surrender my prize. You turned it down. Now I present my ultimatum : give me the Titanic and those toilers, and I will cease fire immediately.”
Unleashing all her baleful spite, Myreinda bellowed, “Never! Thalassia is a haven for humans, and we shall preserve our dignity! We bow to no one!” “Very well.” Caradan doubled his onslaught, bombarding Thalassia with explosive rockets that blew gaping holes in its once-majestic walls.
With all the swiftness lent by his short, stout legs, the now-recovered Dr. Patterson whisked the petrified Quintin and Martin off to their submarine. “Our vessel was repaired just in time. Now let’s get out of here!” “We have to save Myreinda!” Quintin insisted, resisting. Dr. Patterson cried, “No! We must leave now!”
“Patterson is right! Save yourselves and never return!” All vestiges of Myerinda’s cool demeanour are now long gone. Quintin tearfully watched as Caradan intensified his fusillade, slowly reducing Thalassia to ruins as the murky seawater poured in like waterfalls of effluent. Martin stood beside him, rubbing his arm, brooding over how to remove the tracker.
Myreinda mustered all her resolve, and, drawing herself to her full height, declared, “Humanity on Earth is lost! Thalassia falls. It is over…” And the massive golden statue of Poseidon, riddled with shrapnel holes, tipped over its destroyed pedestal, and ended Myreinda.
——————————————
Fun Facts :
Author : Giancarlovan [Authorial Name : Giancarlo N. H. G.]
Word Count : 2497 (counted using WordCounter.net, only counts the story text, not the Fun Facts or decorative elements like the em dashes)
I, the author, believe in you readers' imaginations, and so opted not to include in-text images that might break one's train of thought.
The first draft of this work was 3636 words in length, and several minor details and excursions were simplified or omitted in order to comply with the word count. However, an extended edition is in the making. :)
* This story is a work of fiction, and any resemblances between the characters and real life individuals are purely coincidental *
All visuals made by myself using Pages.
| Tags |
1 Update Logs
Text-in-Image Edition Released : by Giancarlovan 07/29/2018 11:09:36 amJul 29th, 2018
Hello everyone! I have just released the Text-in-Image edition of the story, which features visuals that mimic a futuristic book reader. Enjoy!
4154377
6
Panda_Shark
BroccoliTheGirl
Moonlight7CR
WishQuest
proventhesheep
Gluonmaster
Create an account or sign in to comment.
Woahhhhhhhh
from being disqualified btw good job
I used WordCounter.net to do it, and had to remove the decorative dashes enclosing each chapter title before checking, as they were being mistakenly counted as 'words'.
You wrote that impressive description for our Journey Through Time Build and now you wrote this story thats on par with bestselling authors, with that plot twist and those very interesting characters and descriptions.