JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN (Part 2)

1. Harbingers of the end of the world

I was staring at a small white dot that was the goal, a source of mixed feelings, smoldering hope, distant worry, sweet anticipation. The distance was still considerable, enough that only the outlines of the planet could be seen. Silence reigned in the cabin, as if it were mirroring the space we were passing through. Not much time passed before the white dot became a point that slowly transformed from white into a blue white color.

“We need to slow down a bit now, just to be cautious.” – Erind said in a voice that was quiet but in that absolute silence sounded like a distant shout, an echo bouncing through vast expanses.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with, we can easily speed up if there’s an opportunity.”

The sound from the control panel slowly began to grow stronger, like when a machine is turned on and starts revving up from some lethargy. It was receiving some signals that disturbed its slumber.

Huge blue surfaces were reflected on the planet, creating an incredible contrast against the blackness of the universe that surrounded it. Beside it, not at such a great distance, there was also some grayish planet visible, which seemed to be following planet, reminding me of a child holding its mother’s hand, afraid of a painful fall.

A much larger glowing mass, which illuminated planet, frightening, like a teacher observing the behavior of students, waiting for an opportunity for criticism or praise.

“We’re approaching the protective layer, this may be uncomfortable, under no circumstances get up from your seats, strong turbulence is possible.” – Erind’s quiet echo vibrated through my brain again.

I was fascinated by the colors, the vast blueness, the white contours of atmospheric forms. Staring at those colors and expanses, I was jolted by the trembling of the ship as it passed through the planet’s last defensive systems. Instinctively I grabbed the armrest with both hands, somewhat dazed by the visual experiences. In moments of passing through layers of planetary defense I used to close my eyes, focus my thoughts on some calm place, often practicing deep inhales and exhales.

This time, my eyes were wide open, staring into some orange haze. The turbulence was unpleasant but nowhere near as bad as the sound impulse I felt in my ears. More precisely the lack of it, a situation that occurs with a sudden change in pressure. Given the shaking of the craft I couldn’t see much, and I’m not sure how reliable my visual functions were. And then suddenly calm again, the trembling stopped and embodied probably the most beautiful moment of my life. All those colors that I had until then watched with admiration became many times more beautiful and vivid.

On the small screen mounted to the left side of my seat there was a notice about a large amount of gravity, which could be a potential problem. I had to focus on the task and not on aesthetic pleasure. Erind was watching me with a probing look, seeking a reaction from me.

“Stop the ship, but don’t shut down the engines. Activate stealth mode, we don’t want anyone to perceive us as a threat. We don’t know if they’re friendly.” – I said, perhaps too commandingly. No one reproached me. I heard Toren’s muffled laughter. Nervous laughter.

For several minutes we remained stationary, observing the planet. We were about 50 kilometers away from the planet’s surface. A huge blue water surface lay beneath us, illuminated by the light of the glowing sphere.

A thought, unexpected, not mine, sharp. You are not welcome. There is great fear of the unknown. You are intruders. Harbingers of the end of the world. We don’t want you here, you threaten us.

That was not my thought, nor the thought of the crew members. It wasn’t even a thought sent by the planet. It was a thought sent by some other life forms that inhabited the space around the planet, invisible just like us at this moment.

I looked at my companions and all of them nodded in unison, signaling that they had received the message. I laughed out loud, pressed the button on the screen that marked the operation of scanning all possible available information, waited until the sliding indicator on the screen climbed to 66 percent (it stopped, it went no further) and waved to Erind to slowly take us back home.

2. 1,28 percent

Seven hundred seventy four trillion pages stored in a device the size of a child’s fist. Four hundred twenty six trillion video recordings and a trillion fewer audio recordings. I had my hands full.
After the report we submitted to the Supreme Council we were given the task of reviewing the documents. I considered it a great honor given the magnitude of the mission and certainly a historic moment in the history of Virteleon.

Of course the documents first had to be translated. But that was a job for experts in that field who had also translated the initial message.

I was given a few days off to prepare for the magnificent undertaking of extracting all the information we had gathered. Those few days refused to pass, spent in boredom and sleeping so that time would go by as quickly as possible.

Waiting for the last few hours to pass before reporting for the job of reading, listening to, and reviewing documents, lying in bed and watching two black dots on the ceiling of my room, a thought came to me. 34 percent has long since died. Destroyed. Dust and ash. The end is near. It’s a shame you didn’t arrive earlier. We know only 1,28 of those 34 percent. We will contact you if we deem you worthy to receive that knowledge.

Was that the thought of those same beings? A quiet chill and shivers ran down my spine. I was paralyzed in bed. I desperately wanted to get up, grab the leafon and check with my colleagues whether they had received the same thought but it wasn’t possible. In that struggle I slowly lost strength and consciousness. My eyelids became heavy like weights, I had just begun to feel dizziness when I lost consciousness.

I was floating over a vast yellow expanse, covered with the tiniest and finest spherical forms I cannot describe otherwise. The heat of the air and a strong wind that lashed my face. Tears were running down my face, not caused by sadness or happiness.

Fatigue perhaps. On the horizon some silhouette was emerging, a tall being, in motion, running toward me. The closer it got it seemed ever larger and more energetic.

Threatening. It was getting closer and closer, causing discomfort and fear throughout my entire being. As it came within just a few meters of me I realized it was me, a face distorted by anger and despair. Mouth open in a silent scream that faded somewhere in the distance, now already inaudible.

I regained consciousness thirsty, sad, and with a throbbing pain in my head.

3. The clock

Reading the last few pages of the documents I noticed that my hand was trembling slightly, that my heart was pounding much harder than normal and that my vision was blurring from the mild horror of the realizations I had come to.

Since the content is vast and I wouldn’t be able to recount it even briefly, I will reflect on a few of the most interesting observations.

The destruction that reigns on Earth (as they named the planet), whether directed mutually between humans or that which man inflicts upon himself, is devastating. An endless list of wars, killings, crimes. The constant expectation of some kind of end of the world. Wasting time on trivial things and ignoring everything that would lead to progress. Secrets that a small number of people (as they called themselves) keep to themselves in order to control their subordinates through lies.

But there are also heroes who sacrificed their lives in order to save humanity, a huge number of very wise scientists who made breakthroughs in understanding the world around them. Art and culture that uplifted millions and billions of people, making their lives more meaningful. Love, as an emotion that is inexplicable, that connects people, as opposed to hatred which destroys.

According to the records, on the planet Earth it is, by their reckoning, the year 2271 of the new era. The zenith, the peak however you want to call it, passed 100 years ago when they managed to simultaneously send their spacecraft to all the planets of their solar system, as they call it. They encountered no life of any kind. The planet Mars, which they had always been fascinated by and viewed as perhaps a potential exit, a solution from the destructive nature and politics they had pursued for centuries and which led to their eventual destruction. But they failed to realize that if destruction is within you, viewing life as mere survival will follow you wherever you go.

And Earth is surrounded by some entities that are inconceivable even to us from Virteleon, some controllers, who either created Earth and its inhabitants or serve as controllers of chaos, ensuring it does not leave its place. And for precisely that reason, their mission to relocate a certain, not small number of inhabitants to neighboring planets was not viewed favorably by the controllers.

Those evil, wealthy people, who had also led to the downfall of human civilization, were the first to board the spacecraft that carried them to new places they would be able to destroy. Every single one of them perished, failing in their intent. Realizing they were not alone in the universe, the most powerful of the inhabitants panicked. They had no way out anymore, they created chaos on Earth, from which they could not relocate because they were prevented by a force they did not know how to explain. They could not hide the fact that a large number of people died during attempts to relocate to other planets. And when that became known, panic, anarchy, rage, fear, horror took hold among the population.

In almost every part of Earth civil wars began, slowly destroying the principles on which the methods of rule of the elite were based. States slowly disappeared, and man as an individual became the sole measure, the ruler of his own destiny. There was no longer anyone to tell man how to behave, what he could and could not do. Now he discovered all of that himself according to his own will.

Currently there are 108 civil wars on the planet Earth, 97 wars between states. Of the 9 and a half billion who lived on Earth, three billion one hundred eighty eight million six hundred fifty six thousand people have ended their life’s journey in the past 100 years. Forty one million three hundred forty four thousand of them have disappeared, it is currently unknown where they are or whether they are alive.

All those somewhat dry data, while I was reading them, seemed not particularly important to me, pure statistics and mathematics when viewed that way. As living beings, such a number of dead, that perspective was catastrophic.

I took a calculator, I could have calculated it in my head, but a dull pain in my head, caused by elevated pressure from excitement, did not allow me to concentrate.

And here I come to the discovery that horrified me. Forty one million three hundred forty four thousand is exactly 1.28 percent of 34 percent dead. That 1.28 percent is known only to the sender of the message who so invasively entered my mind, almost flaunting the knowledge of that information.

Finishing the last few sentences of the documents, already somewhat dazed by everything, on top of it all extremely thirsty, I reached for the glass of water. Drinking that much needed liquid, I looked at the shelf with reports in front of me.

The clock on the shelf was once again showing the exact time.

-End-