A Sci-Fi Novella
by Matthew Holmes
Two centuries into our future, humans abandon Earth for outer space, leaving behind only a small, scattered remnant of people. On the Armstead family farm, a young boy watches the last shuttles launch into the sky, leaving him and what little is left of humanity on Earth to fend for themselves.
THE END OF EARTHLINGS
Part 1: There They Go
INTRODUCTION
The year is 2220 A.D. For the past two centuries, Earth and its inhabitants have been in rapid decline due to extreme storms, viruses, mass starvation, diseases, geographic climate destruction, supply shortages, and political upheavals to massive global conflicts. These catastrophic events over numerous decades have killed billions and left Earth’s surviving humans looking to the stars for salvation, as biodome habitats have been completed with the help of AI robots at the Mars and Moon colonies. Meanwhile, all work on Earth has been dedicated to space shuttle construction, launch pad infrastructure, and rocket fuel supplies to power thousands of shuttles for the final, desperate exodus abandoning the planet. The departure date for the Americans is set for today, July 4, 2220. The rest of the world’s survivors were already designated for Mars as the planets aligned to make the long, more dangerous endeavor half a year earlier at the end of 2219. There is nothing left for civilization on Earth, according to all that is taught and known. It’s time to go or die trying for millions of Earthlings. Sitting on the porch of a farmhouse, a boy watches space shuttles launch into the distant sky, leaving him and his family behind on Earth…
THE END OF EARTHLINGS
Sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of the Armstead family farmhouse, a boy watches distant rockets ascend into the clouds. Trails of burned fuel decorate the skies all around him in streaks of smoke. There are loud booms and bangs in the distance as their neighbors and townsfolk are ascending into the sky, leaving them behind. His father, Greg, opens the front door and walks out onto the porch next to his youngest son. As he first looks out at their fields of corn and soybeans, then looks up into the sky as well. He quietly says in Latin, “ibi eunt” (there they go). His youngest boy, Johnny, looks at his Dad and nods in understanding but doesn’t say anything. Greg thinks about what to say next because he knows it’s rare for his youngest son to communicate with anyone due to his mental impairments with talking and socializing.
Years ago, they found that teaching, learning, and speaking the dead language of Latin had opened up Johnny’s interest and mind to connect with him and his family. There were no speech therapists or schools left due to the shutdowns, so it was up to the family to try to figure out how to connect with him. They had tried other languages and still pressed on him to talk in English, but to little avail. He kept very quiet when doing his chores and during family time as well. It was only when Latin was spoken around Johnny that he verbally communicated enthusiastically, as it made him feel happy and safe. Each family member knew some basic Latin phrases, replies, and comfort words to connect with Johnny.
Yet today, not having his usual patience, Greg sternly addresses Johnny in English, saying, “it’s time for lunch and a family meeting in the dining room. I need you to go tell your sister and brother who are working in the livestock barn. Okay, son?” Johnny looks up at his dad as he’s still sitting in the rocking chair, but then blankly stares out at the farmland and the rocket trails of smoke in the distance, not saying anything. Greg switches to a softer tone while taking a deep breath, asking in Latin, “bene filius?” (okay, son?) Johnny quietly follows up with, “bene, te amo pater” (okay, I love you, Dad). An assured Greg replies, “te quoque amo” (I love you too). The young boy gets up and jogs to the path towards the barn. Greg watches his son jog off as his facial features change from being proud of his boy to giving an angry, upset stare at the rockets taking off in the distance. “There they go,” Greg says under his breath, shaking his head in dismay with watery, sad eyes.
The Armstead family farm was completely self-sufficient, as everything ran on solar power energy, from the water well to their lights, HVAC system, kitchen appliances, vehicle chargers, and equipment assisting their lives and farm animals. Large industrial-sized batteries were constantly recharged and recycled with the surplus energy as well. Food was kept cold or warm in storage, depending on the seasons, as their farm cows and crops provided plenty of sustenance year-round. They just had to provide daily upkeep and maintenance to the systems and care for their animals, which gave some of the siblings a great sense of responsibility and purpose.
At the livestock barn, Melissa is busy milking the last cow as Johnny runs up to her and blurts out in Latin that lunch is ready. Her youngest brother has a knack for not talking much except in the dead language of Latin, but she’s used to it. She finishes up while Johnny continues his duty to round up his siblings. Meanwhile, over on the side of the outside part of the barn, their older brother Cole is deep cleaning the chicken coop. Johnny approaches quietly to try to surprise him, but Cole says aloud, “Lunch and a family meeting. I got it. Tell Dad I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Johnny is impressed by his older brother’s sense of awareness as he leaves Cole alone to continue cleaning the chicken coop without interruption.
Walking back over to the barn’s opening doors, Johnny feels defeated for not being able to surprise Cole. He sees Melissa as she walks out and puts her arm around Johnny. “Not able to spook our brother again?” Melissa jokingly questions. Johnny shakes his head from side to side, meaning no, as they continue to walk back towards the farmhouse. Melissa continues, saying, “Don’t feel bad. No one has ever startled, shocked, or surprised him. I think he has ice in his veins. He doesn’t even seem a bit bothered by what’s going on.”
They get to the farmhouse after a short walk and meet their father in the dining room, where he’s prepared soybean soup with drinks of milk. Greg asks, “I assume Cole is on his way?” Johnny nods up and down, meaning yes. Melissa questions, “So, it’s really just us now?” Greg pulls out a holo disc and tosses it on the table. “I was going to wait for Cole, but I already showed him what’s on the disc this morning,” Greg states blankly. “Holo disc, play recorded message one.” The disc turns on, and a small image of their mother and two other sisters appear in a projection on the dining room table. Their mother begins to speak, saying:
“It’s been a privilege to love and care for you all through these tough years of life on Earth. I want to be clear that after our big family argument and disagreement on whether to leave Earth or not, I felt I had no other choice but to take our daughters who wanted to go and start a new life, as well as pursue my desire to be with the man I fell in love with, who is the captain of the shuttle that we will be taking off to go to the moon colony. Your father and I have had our differences, from growing apart to falling out of love, to deciding whether to stay on Earth or go to where humanity’s future truly lies. Even now, as you’re listening to my message, hoping that I would stay with you as a mother should, all I can do is ask for your forgiveness, as I will not be there with you any longer. Your father is a good man and will take care of you. I’m sure of that. You sided with him to stay, so me and your sisters honored your decisions. But now we are honoring our own decisions by going to the moon. We love you always and goodbye.”
With a slew of “love you, goodbyes” and waving their hands to say goodbye, their two sisters, Lilly and Jen, and their mother disappear on the recording of the holo disc as the message ends. There is silence in the dining room as Johnny and Melissa are in a state of shock and heartbreak. Their father, feeling disgruntled, picks up the holo disc and puts it back in his pocket. The three of them are just staring in silence.
Cole suddenly walks in and blurts out, “soup’s getting cold,” and sits down in one of the chairs at the dining room table. He takes a spoon and starts eating his soup, then takes a drink from his glass of milk. Cole continues, saying, “I told you after we had the huge family argument at dinner that it was going to break us apart.” Cole looks at his dad. “I’m sorry Mom found someone else, but Dad, she didn’t want to be here, and that guy was offering quite a lot. I mean, the captain of a space shuttle is a bad ass. Besides, Lilly and Jen hated farm life too, and I’m actually happy for all of them. They’re like made for space, where you don’t have to clean cow poop and can just date guys, believe in your astrological signs, and have fun.” Melissa says, “he does make a good point,” looking at their dad, waiting for him to reply to Cole’s reasoning. Their dad finally answers, “I just didn’t think they’d actually leave us to go to the freaking moon! Who does that to a family? Our family?”
Melissa speaks up, answering plainly, “I dunno, Dad. Everyone was set on going. The world doesn’t even function anymore. I think in their eyes, we’re the bad guys who wanted to stay behind.” While Johnny is listening to the conversation, he sits down to eat his soup next to Cole. Greg silently nods in agreement with Melissa that their family had been at odds with one another for a long time, and these were the results they were now living with due to all of the built-up dysfunction. Greg and Melissa sit down with Cole and Johnny as the four remaining Armsteads try to enjoy lunch with each other’s company before going back to work on their farm to survive the reality they face.
Later in the night, the Armsteads are sleeping quietly when a loud bang of a door being broken open wakes them up. Greg immediately wakes up, grabs his pistol from under his pillow, and gets out of bed. He also grabs his rifle next to the bed and runs out of his room to the top of the stairs, aiming his rifle down the steps. While he’s doing this, Cole runs out of his room and down the upstairs hallway, knocking three times on his brother and sister’s doors to signal them to stay hidden.
By the time he gets next to his father at the top of the stairs, a negotiation is already taking place between an unknown man on the ground floor of their home, trying to reason with his dad to give up and come down the stairs without his rifle. The bandit is loudly speaking from a distance, in mid-sentence, as Cole hears him proclaiming, “….your family won’t be hurt, and we just want your farm here. You can peacefully leave as I give you my word for safe passage out. There are more of us than you, so you really don’t have a choice.”
Greg pauses in thought, looks at Cole, and replies to the unknown man downstairs, “Okay, I’m putting down my rifle. Let me come down so we can talk this through.” Cole shakes his head in disagreement, but his father motions with his hand, signaling that he’s got a plan and not to worry. Greg drops the rifle to make sure the sound is heard downstairs and then leaves Cole, walking slowly down the steps, saying, “I’m now unarmed. My rifle is on the ground. I’m coming down the stairs with my hands up. I don’t want any trouble. Let’s just talk.” The bandit replies, “okay, come on down, farm man.”
Cole sees his dad make it to the bottom of the stairs and hears his dad say, “My name is Greg Armstead.” He hears another bandit reply, “we don’t care what your name is, pal. Who else is upstairs?” From Cole’s point of view, he sees his father reaching behind his back to pull out his pistol that he hid from the bandits’ view. The first bandit who talked earlier shouts out, “he’s going for another gun! Shoot him!” Greg’s draw was faster than the bandit’s reaction and commands as he takes out the two bandits with four precise shots to the chest of each bandit. Cole grabs the rifle and runs down the stairs to join the fight with his dad, but Greg was already on the move towards the broken-open door as more bandits could be heard scrambling outside on the porch, yelling at one another.
He gets to the opening of the door, stepping to the side of it to look out without exposing himself. Cole makes his way to the other side of the broken-open door, having now caught up with his dad. Greg looks at his son using hand signals, pointing at his eyes, meaning “eyes on me,” then signs three fingers followed by pointing out the door, meaning “on the count of three, we go out together firing.” Cole understands and nods in agreement.
The two Armsteads go outside onto the porch with their guns blazing, firing against the remaining bandits. Everyone fires off shots in desperation. Out of the three bandits scattered below the porch, two of them were instantly killed, while the third one was crawling away from the mayhem, bleeding profusely. Meanwhile, Cole got shot in the lower left leg and was down on one knee, trying to grab the rifle he dropped when he was hit. Greg had somehow come out of the shootout unscathed with no injuries. He yells out to his injured son, “Are you okay?” Cole replies in frustration, “yeah, Dad, I’ll live, I think.” Greg looks out, aiming his pistol at the third bandit struggling to crawl away and fires his last shot, killing the bandit. He then goes over to Cole and helps him up as his son has the rifle back in his grasp. He puts his arm around his oldest son to help him walk, saying, “Let’s get you back inside and bandage your leg up. We gotta stop the bleeding.”
As they turn to make their way to the broken-open door, a fourth bandit is standing angrily, staring at them in the doorway. His arm is already raised with a handgun pointed at Greg. He fires an opening shot as Cole raises the rifle, firing back at him, but it’s too late. His father is hit in the chest and collapses to the ground. Cole’s adrenaline keeps him upright by himself as he shoots the last bandit in the head before the bandit can get any more shots off. He looks down at his dying father, who commands him, “There could be more, make sure they’re dead.” Cole looks around, scanning for anybody else while he drags his injured leg, scrambling over to the last bandit and the other dead bandits around the porch to make sure they’re dead. He finally comes back to his dad, falling down next to him, but he has passed away.
Several minutes passed when Melissa and Johnny finally ran out from the house with a first aid kit in hand. They found Cole weeping over their dad’s body, having already seen several dead bandits on the way out from their hiding places during the gun battle, and they are now in a state of shock. Melissa yells out, “Is he dead!? Is he really dead!?” Cole cries out, “they shot him in the chest! Dad’s gone!” All three siblings felt not only deep loss, fear, and dread, but also what this meant for them, having lost their father with all the dangers of the world surrounding them.
Johnny snaps out of his thoughts, first seeing blood all around Cole’s left leg and on the deck. He grabs the first aid kit from Melissa, who is sobbing and staring aimlessly at the death surrounding them on the porch. Johnny opens up the first aid kit, grabs the tourniquet, and applies it to Cole’s wound, cranking it as tight as he can to stop the bleeding. Melissa then snaps out of it, realizing her brother is injured, and sees his bloody leg. The two younger siblings get Cole up and help him inside the house to the living room couch to get him off his leg and to get it elevated.
The rest of the night, they care for Cole’s injury, stand watch, get the dead bodies out of the house, and begin to grapple with having lost their father. Cole rests on the couch with a rifle in hand in case any more bandits come around looking for trouble.
The next morning, Cole is sleeping on the couch with a bandaged leg, while Melissa and Johnny are outside using a tractor with a backhoe to dig holes to bury their father and the bandits on the side of the front lawn. Melissa is operating the electric-powered vehicle with tears streaming down her face. Johnny makes makeshift wooden crosses with extra wood from the barn and hammered them together with nails. For their father’s cross, Johnny spray-paints it white, then uses a black marker to write his dad’s name, adding the words “Loving Father,” and includes his own Latin phrase “Amans Pater,” meaning the same thing, followed by his father’s years of life on Earth. He also sticks each cross into the ground near each hole Melissa had dug with the tractor. They continue to work as Cole limps out of the house with a cane to help balance his left leg. He asks out loud, “Where are the antibiotics? I can’t find them.” Melissa replies loudly, “check the cabinet in the downstairs bathroom.” He answers, “Okay, thanks.” Cole turns around and limps back inside, using the cane for support. The two siblings drag the blanket-covered bodies into the holes. Melissa gets back on the tractor to fill them back in with the dirt she previously dug up to make the holes. Once the work is done and the graves are in place, they both retire to the house to have a meal with Cole, who boiled some eggs and corn on the cob, and prepared iced mint water to drink. He has it all prepared on the dining room table for them to share.
In between munching on a cob, Cole says, “Dad would have appreciated what you both did this morning. Caring for your vanquished enemy is hopefully a shred of good karma out of this horrible day, and you know Dad would have appreciated that he got the best-looking cross of the bunch.” He thinks on it more and continues, “and what you did to save me from my injured leg. Thank you.” Johnny finally says something, but in his preferred language of Latin, “amamus te fratrem” (we love you, brother). Cole smiles, patting his younger brother on the shoulder while he sits next to him, replying in Latin, “te quoque amo” (I love you too). They spend the rest of the meal telling and listening to one another’s stories about their father.
That afternoon, the three siblings were working in the livestock barn, feeding, cleaning, and processing food from their cows and chickens. With the rifle leaning on the shed of the chicken coop, Cole collects more eggs. Melissa is feeding the cows, and Johnny is sweeping the barn entrance where dirt and dust had built up and needed to be swept clean. Each of them is quietly working. It’s a calm weather day and not as hot as July typically gets. The maintenance of the farm had given them a purpose and responsibility, which they were grateful for at least having something to do. Plus, having animals that depend on them help the young Armsteads stay grounded despite the tragedy of half their family leaving Earth and their father dying.
Later that night, the three siblings brought out lawn chairs to stare up at the night sky together. They are now looking up at the stars and the moon in their seats, thinking and talking about everyone who is up there in space and wondering how their mother and two sisters are doing. Cole is also joking around about how dumb it is to listen to those in power to abandon the planet, but then he comes clean, saying, “I’m scared of heights, planes, space, all of it. Petrified beyond my wildest imagination to ever leave the ground we’re sitting on.” He smiles uncomfortably, squirming in his seat slightly. “I always wanted to stay here because of that,” finishing his short speech.
Cole, showing rare vulnerability in front of his siblings, has Johnny and Melissa in a state of disbelief. However, Johnny gets up and goes over to hug his brother. Cole is relieved and appreciative of the support. Johnny returns to his chair and sits back down. Still sitting in her chair, Melissa adds, “I miss Mom, Lilly, and Jen already. I wonder if they miss us and being on Earth?” They sit together quietly contemplating the question, hoping those who left, along with their mother and two sisters, are alright, while staring up at the night sky until they eventually call it a night and go to bed.
Early the next morning, Cole is walking back from the livestock barn when he sees a pickup truck driving up the driveway with two armed soldiers wearing camouflage and face coverings standing on the open truck bed, along with a driver whose face is also covered. He takes off running towards his Dad’s old pickup truck, reaches it quickly, swings open the door, hops into the driver’s seat, and peels out, turning his truck into a looping circle in front of the farmhouse on the dirt front lawn, creating a dust cloud to confuse and get the attention of the approaching truck. Cole takes off driving in a diagonal line away from the house, the closely approaching truck, and towards their cornfields that were just beyond the front lawn.
He looks in the rear view mirror to check if the other truck took the bait by following him away from the house where his siblings were still sleeping safely in their beds. Cole sees the truck of soldiers following him, and he feels a small sense of victory as he enters the cornfields, a single open road that fits vehicles without hitting any crops. But shots ring out as the soldiers fire at his truck, forcing Cole to maneuver his truck from the road into the rows of corn. His truck pushes and mows down the stalks as he presses the pedal to continue his speed while swerving the wheel to keep control of his truck.
The pursuing truck is having difficulty keeping up with Cole’s erratic driving maneuvers and the bumps of the corn stalks. The two soldiers in the truck bed had stopped shooting, got down to avoid being thrown out, and no longer had eyes on Cole’s truck. He finally loses the pursuers by going faster and turning so many times that he’s even confusing himself in where he is and has already been. The area had turned into a maze of knocked-down corn stalk paths.
Cole’s truck pulls out of the cornstalk mess by sheer luck, and he’s back on the one open road that’s a straight shot back to the farmhouse. He hits the brakes and comes to a stop, trying to decide what to do next. Cole thinks to himself, “Should I drive back to the house as fast as I can, get the rifle, and defend the house again in a shootout? Or should I continue to bait these soldiers to chase me so I can lead them further away?” His mind adds, “but then what?” He answers himself, saying out loud, “I don’t know!”
The next moment, a hundred yards away, the truck with soldiers appears out of the corn stalks onto the road. It turns and lines up, pointing directly at Cole’s truck from a distance. He realizes his decision was just made for him as he says under his breath, “screw it,” while clicking his seat belt into place and stepping on the pedal, accelerating his truck towards the other truck. The other driver matches Cole’s move by also accelerating towards the other. In a game of chicken, both trucks are being driven faster and faster with the two armed soldiers in the truck bed standing up again. They are yelling at their own driver to dodge Cole’s truck while shooting at Cole. The gunshots smash through the windshield, hitting Cole in the shoulder and chest in the last few moments as he barely maintains his straight path, as both drivers don’t swerve out of the way. The trucks violently collide.
The impact throws the two soldiers off the truck, hitting Cole’s truck in the air and ricocheting off to the sides with their bodies hitting the ground, killing them. The airbag of the soldier’s truck doesn’t deploy as the force of the collision bashes his head on the steering wheel, killing him instantly. Cole’s airbag deploys as it cushions the blow of the collision. It softly provides a last moment for him to rest and slowly drift in thought as the damage and pain of the gunshots are too much for him to overcome. He hopes the soldiers are dead and that Johnny and Melissa will be safe as he dies in the seat of the smashed-up wrecked truck.
It’s late morning when Johnny and Melissa wake up and realize Cole is nowhere to be found. Their truck is gone, and there are tire skid marks all over their front lawn. Melissa has the rifle in her hands while waiting for Johnny to grab a large kitchen knife from the kitchen. Their plan is to follow the tire tracks to hopefully find where Cole had gone. They meet up on the front porch with their weapons when they see in the near distance a large group of people walking towards them from the cornfield road, with one of the persons carrying a body.
One of the travelers shouts out, “we come in peace, young ones! We are Peace Walkers!” as several of them wave their hands up in the air to Johnny and Melissa as they come closer to the farm. The two siblings see the people wearing colorful garments, makeshift clothes, floral gowns, and all walking barefoot. Melissa comments to Johnny, “I’ve only heard of these kinds of outsiders from stories. I never thought I’d see them in person.” Johnny asks in Latin, “sunt periculosa?” (Are they dangerous?) Melissa answers, “No, I don’t think so. I think we should be safe. They’re not known to believe in violence or fighting of any kind.” Johnny sighs in relief but then notices it’s their brother’s body that’s being carried.
Johnny drops the knife and runs out to meet the group of Peace Walkers who are now on the front lawn, entering by way of the cornfield road. Melissa yells, “Wait! Get back here!” Johnny doesn’t listen and goes right up to the man carrying Cole’s dead body. The Peace Walker sets the body down gently on the ground in front of Johnny as the young boy scrambles to see if he is dead or alive. Johnny sees that he’s dead and collapses in devastating pain. Melissa jogs up in front of the group of Peace Walkers with the rifle in her hands as they put their hands up to show they surrender. She sees Cole’s dead body on the ground and begins to cry lightly, trying to keep her composure in front of so many people.
A woman Peace Walker speaks up, saying, “we had been on the run for hours, avoiding and hiding from deranged soldiers who thought it would be fun to go around and kill innocent people once everyone left for the space colonies. We believe your companion saved us by driving into a head-on collision with them. We owe him our safety.” A Peace Walker man continues, “we thank him for his sacrifice in the name of peace and love.” The Peace Walkers all kneel down and pray to the sky with their eyes closed, mumbling phrases to themselves.
He continues, saying, “we were also wondering if we could please stay the night in the comfort of your home, if you will have us as your humble guests. Then, first thing in the morning, we will depart to leave you forever in peace.” Melissa pauses in thought, shakily gives up being angry and cold, breaks down sobbing, and replies, “Yes, you can stay the night. Just go find yourselves some food in the pantry of our kitchen as I need some time out here with my brothers.” The Peace Walkers thank her one by one with bows, prayers, and small gestures as they make their way past Melissa to the house. One Peace Walker woman puts a flower in Melissa’s hair while accidentally coughing in her face and apologizes for the coughing and losing their brother tragically. The Peace Walkers walk away towards the house as the two young siblings stay next to Cole’s body, mourning their loss.
In the evening, after everyone has eaten and rested, a few of the Peace Walker men use the tractor to dig a grave for Cole next to their father’s grave. They take care of the work as a thank you to the Armsteads. They have a short ceremony in his honor as well. It is weird with some dramatic dancing, but Johnny and Melissa appreciate their prayers, dancing, and care. Afterward, Melissa and Johnny give the curious group of travelers a tour of their livestock barn and crop fields. They are being asked all sorts of farming questions. While showing the Peace Walkers soybean crops, Melissa starts feeling very run down, dizzy, and coughs a few times. She needs to retire to the house, so that abruptly ends the tour and questions. At night, the Peace Walkers are happy to sleep downstairs with blankets and pillows on the floor. They say having a roof over their head for a night is a blessing and thanking them profusely as everyone goes to sleep.
The morning comes, and Melissa wakes up in her room, feeling like she has a fever. She also coughs several times and is scared that the Peace Walker woman gave her a virus. While she’s scared and lost in thought, Johnny knocks on her door. She struggles to call out for her brother to come in, but she does so with a hoarse voice. Johnny enters the room in a panic, shouting in Latin, “profecti sunt et tulerunt nostra animalia!” (they are gone and took our animals!) Melissa has no clue what he yells out because she’s so tired, sick, and scared. Melissa struggles to sit up in bed and asks, “What did you just say?” Johnny replies in broken English, “animals, all gone, they took them.” Melissa realizes the Peace Walkers left and stole their livestock and answers Johnny, saying, “shit.”
Melissa further explains to Johnny that she’s sick and that he needs to keep his distance. He abides by her orders but fetches her the last of the eggs and milk for breakfast, as the Peace Walkers also got out of there by stealing most of their food reserves as well.
Johnny is standing sadly at the open door to Melissa’s room, watching her eat breakfast. She comments, “So much for trusting people. I guess even Peace Walkers will do what they need to do to survive. Morality just gets thrown out the window. I’m going to miss our cows. The chickens, not so much.” Johnny replies in broken English, “eggs, no more.” Melissa smirks, “You’re right, I’m going to miss the chickens’ eggs.” She finishes eating her breakfast as Johnny leaves the doorway to give her time to rest. He goes downstairs and cleans up the mess the Peace Walkers left behind, picking up blankets, trash, and used goods.
Two days later
Melissa had passed away in her sleep from the viral flu. Now alone, with tears running down his face, Johnny walks away from her bedside, down the stairs, and slowly out of the house through the broken-open front door. Above and around him, as far as the eye can see, the skies are filled with explosions, falling space capsules, and UFOs. The human-filled space capsules are being destroyed or are on fire from attacking UFO flying saucers that are chasing, blasting, and blowing apart the descending crafts from outer space trying to make it back to Earth. Johnny is witnessing this destruction on the porch in anguish.
Out beyond the farmhouse and crop fields, a group of low-flying UFOs makes their approach to the farm in a hovering, slowly descending move, with Johnny watching in horror. Sensing the end as the UFOs are closing in on his location, the young boy falls to his knees, closes his eyes, and puts his hands together in prayer, preparing for his death. Several minutes go by with very loud sounds, a strong breeze, yet then transferring to calm and quiet. Johnny hears what sounds like footsteps, but then nothing, so he slowly opens his eyes.
There is a tall alien standing in front of him. It has a large head with gray skin, bulbous eyes, a small mouth, and two holes for a nose. Johnny sees that it also has long gray arms that hold a crystal crown in one of its hands and is wearing a suit of plated armor with a gray robe. Johnny says out loud the first thing that comes to his scared and shocked mind in Latin: “Tu me occidere?” (Are you going to kill me?)
The alien looks surprised and is taken aback by its reaction, pausing in thought, and then extends its open hand, replying out loud in Latin, “mortuam maiorum linguam loqueris” (you speak the dead language of our ancestors). Johnny replies, “facio, ita. Et tu?” (yes, I do. And so do you?) The alien explains, “humanam expansionem permittere non possumus” (we can not allow human expansion). “Perdis vitam ut perdamus te” (You destroy life, so we must destroy you). Johnny answers, “non omnes perdimus” (not all of us destroy) and continues, stating, “aut vis relinquere nostram domum planeta” (or want to leave our home planet).
The alien pauses again in thought, looking around at the damaged house, the messy porch, the fresh graves in the yard, and looks back at the young human boy and slowly replies, “I see.” The alien walks up to him, crouches down to meet him at eye level, and puts his open hand gently on Johnny’s shoulder as they both close their eyes. They have a long moment of connecting and breathing together as Johnny feels the weight of the world lift off him, feeling peace and calmness for the first time in a long time, while simultaneously seeing his life story flash through his mind.
They open their eyes together as the being stares into Johnny’s tired eyes. The alien says in clear, plain English, “I’m sorry for what has happened to you. I’m sorry you lost your family. There’s nothing I can do about the tragedy all around us. May you find peace and safety for the rest of your days here at your home.” The alien takes its hand off his shoulder, stands up, and steps back, taking the other hand that was holding a crystal crown and puts it on its own head. The Crowned Alien King says quietly in Latin, “vale earthling” (goodbye earthling), bowing slightly down and extending an open-faced hand in gentleness, showing respect to the young boy.
The Alien King turns around and walks away from Johnny, off the porch, towards the front lawn that’s covered with alien soldiers spread out, and alien guards lining the path back to the command ship, with flying saucer ships hovering to provide security from above. The aliens follow their King’s hand commands to leave as they depart the lawn area, move rapidly up the ramps to their ships, and take off, with the surrounding ships following suit. They leave Johnny unharmed, with the farmhouse intact, but the aliens had destroyed all returning space capsules, leaving the skies and land around him devoid of life. His family is gone. Countless humans have perished in space and the skies above him. He felt scared and alone on Earth, not knowing what to do next.
Part 2: Fight or Flight
Later in the evening at the farm
Johnny Armstead stands in front of a line of graves. His father, brother, and sister are now just memories that linger in Johnny’s thoughts and feelings. “This is very overwhelming,” he says out loud while brushing tears from his upset, sad face. “I don’t know what to do,” Johnny continues talking to himself. The evening sky is filled with grey clouds but empty of descending shuttle pods and alien crafts. There is a gentle, soft breeze in the air, creating a bearable temperature to be outside while Johnny looks at the graves of his deceased family members. He didn’t have much time to reflect on his losses, yet the alien encounter left him shaking and scared for his own life. Looking up at the tranquil dark gray sky, the farm boy questions his inner feelings on what to do next. Should he continue to stay home or leave it all behind?
At a small-town hospital, a doctor is caring for one patient who had been injured during the preparations for launch. Dr. Stephen Nikos could not leave behind the sick and suffering, as it was not in his nature, so he decided to stay on Earth looking after his patients who couldn’t make the trip to the moon. But in the past few days, his other patients had all succumbed to their injuries and illnesses, leaving the hospital devoid of human life besides himself and his last remaining patient. Captain Sarah Mau slowly wakes up with her eyes seeing the ceiling while she’s lying in a hospital bed. She looks over towards where her left arm should be, and it’s gone. Her shoulder is bandaged up, and her head is wrapped up in bandages as well. She feels the pain of fire burns on her body while remembering the accident, along with visually being reminded that she lost her arm.
Meanwhile, as Dr. Nikos walks into her room with a smile on his face. She feels relief in seeing a doctor who stayed behind. “Can I get you something to eat?” Questions, Dr. Nikos. Sarah replies, “No, thank you. Hey, Doc, have you heard anything about the colonies in space?” Dr. Nikos, whom she affectionately calls Doc, says plainly, “I’ve heard nothing on the radio or network channels. I believe we are by ourselves, Captain Mau.” The shuttle pilot rustles in her hospital bed, trying to sit up as he realizes this, and walks over next to the bed, pressing a button that adjusts the bed to lift up in a sitting position. “I got it. No worries,” her doctor says reassuringly. “Thanks,” Sarah answers. She asks about Tangart. Doc has to remind her that he didn’t make it out alive in the fire accident. Furthermore, he decides to tell her the situation. “I’m afraid to say you’re my last and only patient. It’s just us.” Doc apologizes and leaves the injured shuttle captain to her thoughts of sadness, loss, and misery as he goes to check on the solar generators keeping the hospital operational.
On the Armstead farm, Johnny has some of his belongings packed in a backpack. The family rifle is tied to the side of the pack. Also loaded up on the family tractor are food and water supplies. He’s sitting on the tractor in front of the farmhouse, looking at it with sadness in his eyes. The young boy is wearing his farm work clothes made of sturdy materials: a green and red plaid button-up shirt, tan pants with black knee-padded inserts, and brown work boots. For good measure to block out the ever so powerful sunlight, Johnny’s wearing his older brother’s favorite straw hat, covering his black disheveled hair. He says “goodbye farm,” looks over at the graves on the side of the yard, and says “goodbye family,” then presses on the pedal of the electric tractor with his loaded supplies and himself in the seat to begin to drive away from his home. Johnny had decided to leave and to see what or who else was out there in the world.
His tractor is slowly driving further and further away from the farmhouse as he tells himself not to look back. He told himself there was nothing left back there for him. Even the farm animals were long gone, having been stolen by the Peace Walkers. Johnny felt he had no more purpose and was desperate to not be alone. All of these feelings, he determined, were more important to fix than to live alone in the world in an effort to be safe. He makes one final turn onto the main road, leaving the farmhouse out of view, and is only surrounded by fields of corn and other crops as he makes his way to the nearest town.
Slowly making his way down the road, Johnny sees abandoned vehicles and debris from crashes. The only noise in the quiet, abandoned landscape is the electric humming of his tractor. The nearest town is several miles away, and Johnny knows he still has a long way to go at the pace his tractor is moving. To pass the time, he starts to whistle and sing in Latin. His nervousness about what could happen to him makes him sound tonally off. There are dangers ranging from bandits to aliens, and Johnny is acutely aware of how exposed he is to everything. After whistling the introduction to The Beatles song “Let It Be,” Johnny sings the lyrics in his own Latin translation:
“Ubi in pericula incido
Mater Maria ad me venit
Dicens verba sapientiae, fiat
Et in hora mea atra
Ea stat recta ante me
Dicens verba sapientiae, fiat
Fiat, fiat, fiat, fiat
Susurra verba sapientiae, fiat”
As he sings out loud in the very far distance, several alien crafts are streaking through the sky, going in different directions. The sight makes Johnny stop singing. His worries mount in his mind upon seeing the alien crafts, but they disappear into the distant sky, bringing him some relief that they didn’t see him. The road ahead continues to be empty of human life. It’s slow going to the nearest town for the young farm boy sitting on top of his tractor. Johnny wonders if his mom and sisters, who left Earth, had been killed by the aliens, considering the Alien King told him they couldn’t allow humanity to spread beyond their planet. The Alien King spared his life in their meeting, yet other human lives were not being spared during that same moment.
Johnny’s thoughts are interrupted by seeing a deer standing on the other side of the road just ahead of him. Some things, like nature, had a way of comforting Johnny. To get the deer’s attention, he waves his hand back and forth in the air. The deer notice him and do not run away because they’re not scared of a young boy on a slow-moving tractor. He approaches the deer, staring at them as they stare back at him in a calm moment of tranquility. Johnny says “hello, deer” in a raspy stutter of the English language as he still struggles with speaking outside of Latin. One deer nods at him in an odd timing of acknowledgment. “Whoa,” he replies in surprise and chuckles in delight. Then, realizing he’s truly by himself again, he begins to weep as he passes by the deer. The animals walk back into the crop fields and disappear once Johnny passes them on his tractor. He continues down the road, passing by an empty vehicle charging station with no cars or trucks in sight. He knows that up ahead, before getting to town, there is the local hospital where maybe there will be people, so he sets his tractor on a faster speed, pushing up on the throttle, excited for the possibilities of being with people again.
Dr. Nikos is sitting on a bench outside the hospital entrance, getting some fresh air while eating lunch, when he sees a farm tractor with a kid riding towards him. He quickly stops eating and gets up to greet the boy and see if he’s okay. The tractor pulls up in front of him, and he sees the boy with tears in his eyes, speaking in a language he couldn’t immediately discern or understand, yet it sounded similar to Spanish and French. “Are you hurt?” Dr. Nikos asks the young boy. “No,” Johnny replies. He then remembers his face and asks, “Are you Armstead’s boy?” Johnny replies.”Yes.” Dr. Nikos questions, “Where’s the rest of your family?” Johnny says in clear, plain English, “Gone. All gone. Just me, Johnny.”
Dr. Nikos introduces himself, saying, “Hi Johnny, I’m sorry you lost your loved ones. I have nobody left as well, and it’s been hard. I’m Dr. Stephen Nikos, or you can just call me Stephen or Doc. You were a patient of mine back in your early years when your folks were part of the community, but your father cut off communication with the hospital and I never saw you or any of the Armsteads again, until now. I only have one patient left here at the hospital, but she is a shuttle pilot captain, meaning we still have a shot to get off the planet. How does that sound?” Johnny scarily stares into the doctor’s eyes, points a shaking hand up in the air, and says, “aliens.” Doc chuckles, replying, “aliens? Oh boy, you farmers really do live up to your reputation.” He immediately realizes he’s being too hard on the boy, seeing Johnny shaking his head with tears coming down his face. Doc pauses in thought, trying to think about how to explain science and facts to a brainwashed farm boy with a wild imagination. Doc continues, saying, “it’s going to be okay. There may be aliens out there, but the universe is so vast and big that the probability of us ever encountering aliens is very low. So, no worries, kid. Are you hungry? Let’s get you some food and off this tractor.” Johnny continues to try to tell the doctor in Latin about the aliens as they make their way into the hospital, leaving the tractor outside, but all the doctor realizes is that Johnny is speaking Latin and feels like they made some progress in communicating. “You’re speaking in Latin. Brilliant!” says Doc, chuckling to himself. Johnny just puts up his hands, saying “yes,” in a frustrated manner.
In the hospital, they eat a quick bite of food rations and go to see Captain Sarah Mau, who’s sleeping in a hospital bed, unaware that they have a visitor. Sarah is in the middle of a dream that’s reliving the accident on the launch pad of her space shuttle. It was a testing procedure of their systems a few days before the scheduled lift-off to the moon. In the dream, she’s sitting in the captain’s seat, pointed up in the air on the launch pad. “Crew is onboard,” Sarah calls out over the radio. She looks over at her co-pilot, Brady Tangart. He’s smiling at her and reaches his hand out across the space between their seats to touch her reassuringly with love and support. She warmly smiles back at him with excitement and care. The mission controller at a building nearby replies, “This is the stage where fueling has been completed, and the crew is onboard and accounted for in preparation for launch.” Sarah says, “copy, mission control. Ready for shuttle system tests.” Tangart brings his hand from touching her side to switching on the internal power to the shuttle in response to the command voice over the radio, doing launch status checks while they list off go/no-go reports. Sarah’s dream continues, reliving every little detail, but moments after switching from the ground power to its own internal power source, a voltage spike blasts out a large block of a panel in the cockpit, severing Sarah’s arm off and striking Tangart’s body. A flash fire starts in the wake of the surge of energy. Sarah unbuckles herself from the seat with her remaining arm. She’s yelling for Tangart to get up and out of there, but he’s pinned to his seat by the bulky panel. Sarah is closest to the escape hatch but attempts to go towards her co-pilot’s seat. She stumbles into the side of his seat, looking into his eyes with their helmets still on. He’s looking back into her eyes with shock and pain. He tells her, “Go. Get out of here. You gotta save yourself.” He manages to push her away as the flash fire engulfs him. Sarah jumps back from the heat of the fire and loses sight of Tangart’s body. She focuses on the hatch and cranks the door open with one hand. It opens, and she falls out onto the crew access bridge, where a member of the ground crew is there to help her get away from the shuttle. Another ground crew member runs past them to look inside the shuttle to try to save Tangart, but the flash fire is too intense inside to enter safely. Sarah looks back at the open hatch with flames bellowing inside, while blood is pouring down her side, yelling, “Get Tangart out of there! Save Brady! I love him!” Sarah stumbles down and passes out in shock into the arms of the ground crew member. She instantly wakes up in a stunned gasp from the nightmarish dream back at the hospital with Doc and a young boy staring at her at the foot of the bed.
“Oh dear God, Doc, you startled me. Who is this?” Sarah asks while looking at the young boy. Doc replies, “This is Johnny. He’s a farmer who lost his family and can speak fluent Latin. Although his English speaking skills need some work.” Sarah cuts Doc off and says to Johnny, “You gotta teach me some Latin. I think it’s so cool.” Johnny smiles and replies, “Sure! I teach.” Sarah looks back at Doc and asks for his help to get her up out of bed and into the wheelchair in the corner of the room. She also continues her conversation with Johnny, asking about his parents, farm life, and what he wants to do now. Johnny answers in a yes or no fashion that he misses his family, farming, and even asks plainly, “Three of us can live on my farm,” wanting to go back. Sarah says, “That’s in the past, Johnny. Doc and I aren’t farmers. Don’t you want to get off this planet? It’s abandoned and dangerous.” Johnny says, “aliens!” Sarah is now in the wheelchair and looks at Doc confused. “Aliens?” Questions Sarah out loud. Doc says, “I know. He thinks there are aliens out there. Says he even met them on his farm.” Sarah doesn’t believe it either and stops talking as she hears a vehicle pull up just outside the hospital room. Doc quietly says, “I heard it too. Quickly to the prescription closet to hide so I can lock us up from the inside,” while pushing Sarah in the wheelchair with Johnny following behind as they make their way into the hallway and down a few doors to a walk-in storage closet for prescriptions and medications. The three survivors quickly make their way in, with Doc using a key from his set of keys in his pocket to lock the door behind them. “We should be safe here, but stay quiet,” Doc says. They hear footsteps in the hallway get closer to them and people talking. Then there are loud bangs and crashes in a room close to them that’s the pantry of food and supplies for the hospital. Doc has a worried look on his face, but Sarah is displaying quiet confidence that they will be okay. She’s also comforting Johnny by reaching out and holding his hand while she’s sitting in the wheelchair, and for the first time in a few days, Johnny feels safe and cared for by another human.
Several minutes pass in the silent medicine walk-in closet as people can be heard in the hallway walking by and two men arguing with one another. “How many times do I have to tell Ronald that democracy is dead!? This is my town, and he better know his place,” an unknown voice is heard as the intruders pass by in the hall outside the medicine closet. It’s finally quiet in the halls and other rooms nearby. Doc grabs a pen out of his pocket and writes on a prescription paper to tell Sarah and Johnny that they need to wait for another hour to make sure the intruders are gone. The hour passes by with no noises beyond their own breathing and shuffling around from standing to sitting while looking at each other or at various prescriptions on the shelves to pass the time. Doc finally walks over to slowly unlock the door and gently turns the key in the handle. It clicks to unlock as he pushes the door open, but just a crack to peek outside into the hallway. There’s nobody there or in the distance, so he opens the door more to exit the room and makes his way to a window in the hall to look out and see if their vehicle is still parked outside. He gets to the window and sees the vehicle is gone. Doc then makes his way to the kitchen and food storage area, which he sees is ransacked in a mess of open drawers, equipment, and trash thrown about everywhere with no food or supplies left for them.
He walks back to the medicine closet and tells Sarah and Johnny that he thinks the bandits are gone, but they have no supplies left. The three survivors leave the sheltered closet and go to the waiting room to figure out what to do next. Still in a wheelchair, Sarah speaks up first, saying, “The airbase that I was stationed at has tons of supplies, food, and maybe an extra unused space shuttle. Also, if there are any soldiers left behind, they could provide protection and security for us. We’re just too exposed and not equipped enough to defend ourselves here.” Doc smiles and has been hoping for this outcome all along, saying, “I’ve had to bribe, lie, and hide from so many threats. If you want, we can take the ambulance out back that I used to transport patients here before and during the launches.” Sarah replies, “sounds like a plan. You in, Johnny?” The young farm boy thinks about it, picturing the Alien King in front of him in his mind, which makes him scared. Johnny says, “Yes, to be safe.” Doc says, “I’m going to get a backpack of supplies that I hid in hopes of a moment like this to get out of here. I will meet you two out back of the hospital. Just follow the hallway to the end and take a left out the exit door.” Doc hurries away, going into a distant room, while Sarah asks Johnny to help her out of the wheelchair to stand up and try to walk out on her own. It was a slow struggle at first, yet with Johnny’s help in stabilizing her shakiness, she stood up and took her first few steps since the accident on the launch pad. Standing in triumph, Sarah asks for Johnny to get the wheelchair so they can leave the hospital faster, with her getting back in the chair to be wheeled down the hall.
They get to the exit door, where Doc has his backpack of supplies waiting for them. Sarah says, “Watch this, Doc.” She gets up out of the wheelchair on her own this time and stands up with her hands extended out to balance herself and says, “ta-da!” Doc says, “Very nice. I have a cane extender to help you walk, too.” He takes his backpack off himself and zips it open, pulling out what looks like a baton. He holds it out in his hand and presses the top button on it. The baton extends out into a long walking cane. Doc quips, “Here you go, Captain,” as he smiles at her. Sarah takes the cane with her remaining hand and leans on it with her arm and body. She paces back and forth in the hallway. “I think I’ve got this walking thing down. Now let’s get out of here,” Sarah says. The three exit the hospital and step outside into the hot summer air of July. Doc explains, “we should avoid the highway and take Route 4 along the stream to your coastal airbase. That way, we have a water resource and can follow the stream down to the base if something happens along the way.” Sarah replies, “I was about to say the exact same thing. The more discreet we are, the better.” Johnny says, “Gun on my tractor.” Doc realizes he didn’t see Johnny’s tractor out in front of the hospital when he looked out the window earlier and says to Johnny, “The intruders took your tractor and supplies too, kid. It’s not out front, so whatever you had, it’s gone.” Johnny looks down in sadness, having lost the last of his possessions. Sarah picks up on this and tells Johnny, “You’ve got us now, kiddo. We’re all in this together, okay?” Johnny looks up and nods in agreement. The three survivors get into the ambulance, with Doc in the driver’s seat, Sarah in the passenger seat, and Johnny in a middle bench seat that Doc flips up from being an armrest for both seats. The EV ambulance gets turned on, and Doc orders them to put their seat belts on, which they do as he drives them off the back loading dock entrance, out into a parking lot, then exiting the hospital to a side road going towards the nearest town where Route 4 starts to the military base.
The road into town is lined by abandoned houses, vehicles, and not a person in sight. “It’s like the world just gave up,” comments Sarah. Johnny adds by saying, “victos,” in Latin. Doc questions his phrase, “Does that mean victors? Like they won and we lost?” Johnny replies, “no, losers.” Doc says, “I don’t know, kid. I think we’re the losers in this mess.” Sarah speaks up, “just for now. We have a shot at the base that there still could be a shuttle.” Johnny yells out, “No! Safety only! No space!!” Doc is about to argue with Johnny when a rocket-propelled grenade strikes the back of the ambulance, exploding the entire back end of their vehicle. The sound and force of the explosion throws Doc’s hand off the steering wheel, rolling the ambulance onto its side as the three of them get concussed from the impact, knocking them out, with their only saving grace being the seat belts holding them to their seats. What’s left of the ambulance slides to a stop in the town, with a crew of people approaching it with guns drawn out.
When Sarah slowly regains her senses and opens her eyes, she feels a dizzying pain in her head and body. She sees that the three of them are lined up on the ground in front of the ambulance, with three men standing in front of them armed with assault rifles. They are wearing muscle shirts, jeans, and work boots. Sarah says in a hoarse voice, “I’m a shuttle pilot. I can get you off-planet.” One of the men responds, “what makes you think we want to get off-planet, you one-armed fool?” Sarah continues and points at Doc, who is still passed out, “he’s a doctor. He can provide you with medical treatment like he did for me.” The same man asks, “What about the kid? Is he the chosen one?” He and another guy chuckle, but the third man remains quiet. Sarah waves her one hand back and forth, saying, “No, he’s just a kid. A farm boy. We’re trying to get to a military base to find a shuttle to leave Earth. Please, come with us. Help us.” The man replies, “you have nothing to offer us except for maybe the doctor. Kill her and the boy,” he orders his two men to do the dirty work for him in a power move. The second man smiles and lifts up his rifle towards Sarah and the passed out Johnny.
The third man lifts his rifle up towards the second man and fires at him first. He instantly drops, and before the first man realizes what is happening and reacts, the third man shoots him dead with a headshot. The two men’s bodies thud onto the ground like dominoes, and the third man slings his rifle on his back and innocently asks, “So, you’re really a pilot? I’m Ronald, by the way. Do you think there could be a space shuttle at the base?” Sarah is still in survival mode, replying, “yes and yes. I’m a captain in the military, and I fly. We are going to go see if there is, Ronald. My name is Sarah.” Ronald says, “I would like to leave this place. I hate it here. I thought I’d like staying behind, but I got roped in with these two a-holes, and they just bossed me around and made me do crap I hate to do.” Sarah says, “Okay, why don’t you help me get up off this hard ground. I only have one arm left, right?” He nods and walks up to her. He lifts her up so she’s leaning against his body. Sarah makes her move and reaches her arm around his neck, grabbing him aggressively while swinging her body onto him, putting him down on his backside to the ground with her on top of his back. She grabs the loose rifle with her one hand and pulls it back away from him as far as the loose strap will go. It’s not far enough for her to get a shot off at him as he begins to try to wiggle from her body’s grasp of him. Sarah quickly decides to instead use the rifle as a hammer and starts to clock him in the back of the head with the gun. He screams out in pain and, in a desperate plea, yells out, “I saved you! I saved you!” Sarah keeps pounding his head furiously with the rifle until the yelling and moving body stops underneath her.
Doc awakens to see the scramble unfold and gets up as fast as he can to help, but Sarah has already finished the fight. She looks up at him and says, “I had to kill him. We can’t trust people like that. In my training, they say armed civilians are wild cards and hate us. The base would have never accepted us if I let him come with us.” Doc replies, “okay, Sarah. We just have to calm down, get Johnny up, and get the hell out of here.” He helps her off the dead gunman and takes the rifle off the body, slinging it on his shoulder along with his backpack. Johnny is sitting up, looking shocked and scared about the three dead bodies and having survived the crash. Doc goes over to Johnny and helps him up. Sarah is standing there, looking at the bodies with her sweaty, cut-up face of anger and determination. She says aloud, “I know of a boat launch down this side street. We can take the stream to stay off all the roads, or else we’ll run into more of these armed stragglers.” Doc and Johnny nod in agreement, and they begin the walk to the boat launch while Sarah walks without help from a cane. Several minutes later, after an awkward silence as Sarah slowly improves her shaky walking, they arrive at the stream and the boat launch area.
They walk up to the boat ramp that enters into the stream and see several canoes hastily thrown to the side. Doc scouts them out by turning the canoes over and finds a three-seater with two paddles tucked under the bottom of the canoe. He drags the canoe over to the ramp and says to Sarah and Johnny, “Hop in, you two. We’ll get to the base quicker if we use this to go downstream.” They agree and carefully get in the canoe as Doc holds onto it. He pushes them off while he hops in the backseat, and the current drifts them in the correct direction. Taking the paddles out, Sarah in the front seat, Johnny in the middle, and Doc in the back, they begin to paddle slowly to pick up speed in the slow-moving canoe. It is quiet besides the flowing stream and the minor splashes from paddling, Sarah thought. Yet, there is still the danger of bandits or anyone spotting them in such an exposed position while on the stream. Several hours later, the evening sky is colorful and beautiful, and the reflections on the stream are dazzling, but Sarah knows they need to find a place along the stream banks to get some sleep. She comments, “Keep a lookout for a spot to pull over so we can get some rest.” Doc replies, “aye-aye, captain!” Johnny laughs out loud at the silliness of Doc. Sarah says, “Watch your attitude, second mate, or you’ll be thrown overboard to the depths of Davey Jones’ locker!” Johnny laughs again as Doc replies to Sarah, “Second mate? So Johnny gets favoritism, and now he can pull rank on me? What am I, chopped liver?” Sarah says, “chopped liver?” Johnny chuckles in delight. Doc answers, “it’s just a figure of speech, like I’m being treated like an undesirable dish.” Johnny interrupts and calls out loudly, “there! Rest place!” The young boy in the middle seat of the canoe is pointing at a sandy bank of the river with a campsite on the side of the stream. They pull up to the small, thin sandy beach and get out of the canoe.
The open space surrounded by bushes and woods has a circular rock spot for a campfire, along with a pile of unused chopped wood on the side of the campsite. Sarah and Johnny grab some of the smaller pieces of wood and place them in the campfire spot, while Doc takes off his backpack of supplies to get out a pen torch that he had only ever used before in his medical practices. He finds it and clicks it on as a tiny flame ignites out of one side of the small device. He squats down and takes a handful of dry grass in his other hand and lights the bundle. He then tosses the lit bundle of grass underneath the angled wood that Sarah and Johnny had placed in the campfire. It slowly catches the wood on fire as the burning wood releases a wispy trail of smoke in the air. “Teamwork makes the dream work,” comments Doc as he blows on the now unlit pen and slides it into his pocket. Sarah says, “Yeah, or the dream works because you have a fire pen in your bag of goodies.” Doc agrees, “it does help to be prepared.” They watch their campfire carefully for a while, adding wood when needed and positioning falling pieces, until it’s burning steadily and strong enough for them to sit around it while being surrounded by the darkness of the night.
The crackling of the wood and the warmth of the fire keeps the three humans in good spirits as they talk about life before the launches. Around the campfire, many stories are told. Doc recalls a time when one of his patients wanted to know his credentials as a doctor since there were no colleges left, and he simply replied, “YouTube.” He further explained that the patient thought about it and came to the conclusion that it was good enough for him. Sarah and Johnny laugh, but they both look seriously at him for the true answer. Doc picks up on their curiosity and says, “I studied in the government military medicine program in D.C. and I was at the top of my graduating class. No worries.” Sarah sighs in relief, instantly checking her bandaged arm with approval and confidence in the doctor’s work. Johnny says in broken English, “Thanksgiving. Turkey fell on the floor. Momma picked it up, dusted it off, and said it was for extra seasoning. Best bird we ever ate.” Sarah and Doc chuckle. Sarah recalls a story with Brady while smiling and being teary-eyed, staring at the campfire. “Brady and I were on his brand new motorcycle up in the woods. A hawk came swooping down at us on a dirt road. Maybe it was protecting its territory or just didn’t like the sound waves from a battery-powered vehicle. Anyways, we swerved off the road and into a downward slope that led to going off the top of a pretty good-sized waterfall. We luckily splashed into deep water, but the motorcycle wasn’t as fortunate, having been crushed by the rocks under the falls. We had a long, soaked, wet walk back to the nearest town while Brady complained the whole time about his destroyed motorcycle we had to leave behind, but it’s rather a humorous story talking and thinking about it now.” Sarah stops talking yet continues to stare intently at the campfire slowly burning down to hot coals and ash. “I’m tired,” Johnny said to the two adults. Doc nodded in agreement, saying, “Yeah, me too. I think it’s time to call it a night and get some sleep.” Sarah realizes her sleepiness as well and replies, “I’m ready for some shut-eye, too.” They lay down around the campfire, encircling the area of heat that it’s giving off at each opposing angle. Sarah stares into the flickering light of flames just before closing her eyes and drifts away into sleep, thanking God they had made it this far together.
She wakes up to see that the fire is out, but the morning sunrise has lit up the area around them with a foggy view of the stream. The warmth of the summer air feels comforting as well. Sarah sits up and is greeted with a trail mix bar that Doc tosses over to her from across the fireplace where he is sitting. Doc says, “Good morning.” Sarah replies, “Good morning, Doc.” Johnny is still sleeping, all curled up within himself. “Should we wake up the kid?” asks Sarah. Doc answers, “Nah, let him sleep. I feel like he hasn’t gotten much safety to be able to sleep if you think about what he went through in losing his family. Plus, if what he says about aliens is true or even if it’s just in his imagination, I would be exhaustively scared of that scenario.” Sarah agrees as she takes a few bites out of the trail mix bar, listening to Doc talk quietly while Johnny sleeps.
One hour later, they finally wake Johnny up and leave the camp together by getting back in the canoe and pushing off the shore of the stream to continue following the flowing waters downstream to the coastal military base. Nothing is said as they enjoy the sounds of the tree branches and leaves fluttering in the breeze, along with birds chirping, water rushing around rocks, and the paddles dipping in and out of the water. Finally, Sarah breaks the silence by asking Johnny, “How do you greet someone in Latin?” He happily says, “hello is salve.” Then adds by saying, “salve mi nomen Johnny. Quod nomen tibi est?” Sarah hears and repeats what Johnny says slowly aloud. She replies, “mi nomen Sarah. My name is Sarah, is that right?” Johnny says, “Yep.” She takes a break from paddling with her one arm, looks back at Johnny and Doc who’s paddling from the back of the canoe, and says, “how do you ask how are you doing?” Johnny quickly replies, “quid agis.” Sarah questions, “what kind of answers can you give?” Johnny thinks about it and says, “bonum is good. Malus is bad. Bene is okay. Felix is happy. Tristis is sad.” Sarah repeats the Latin words in an effort to memorize them while Doc quietly listens to the Latin lesson from Johnny. They continue to make their way downstream, asking how one another is doing in Latin and answering with the simplified one-word descriptors of their feelings. Sarah says she’s “bene,” while Doc says he’s “bonum,” and Johnny says he’s “felix” as they question one another one at a time. Their fun is abruptly interrupted as they see the fencing for the military base up ahead against one side of the stream. They pull up along the banks of the stream and get out of the canoe. After a quick bathroom break scattered around in various areas of the woods, the three survivors make their way by following the fencing towards the entrance gate that Sarah knows is away from the stream on Route 4, which they managed to avoid by canoeing.
They come out of the woods into a field with the road and gate in the near distance. Walking in the field, they are in a line with Sarah leading, Johnny in the middle, and Doc bringing up the rear, just like the setup they had in the canoe. The two guys have their backpacks on, with Doc carrying the assault rifle slung onto his back next to his backpack, while Sarah is putting her hand up in the air, waving back and forth using number codes with her fingers to signal anyone from a distance that they are approaching as allies and in peace. Once on the road, they walk up to the entrance gate and notice the booth is empty. There are no guards, and nothing is turned on or functioning, yet the fenced gate is closed. Sarah walks up to the booth and enters a code to open the door to it. The code works, and she goes inside. Johnny and Doc see the light turn on and Sarah inside at a console. The gate’s power turns on, and the fence clicks into movement as it slowly opens in a horizontal direction, making a scratchy sliding sound of metal. Sarah walks out of the security booth and says, “Just because nobody is here at the gate doesn’t mean there aren’t people here at the base. Let’s go check it out.” The two guys nod in agreement, and the three of them walk through the open gate and onto the main road leading further into the eerily quiet, no one in sight, military base.
They walk by dark, empty buildings, parked vehicles, and no signs of soldiers or life anywhere. Sarah yells out, “Salve!” (hello!). Johnny smiles in delight while Sarah looks back at him, putting up her one hand with a shrug. “Nobody is here,” Sarah says blankly. Doc isn’t there either, as he was last seen walking behind them in the base. “Where’s Doc?” asks Sarah. Johnny gives her an “I don’t know” look and looks around himself to see if Doc is nearby. The two of them turn around, and within a few steps, a figure rushes out of a side path between two buildings. The figure yells out, “we’re saved!”
The loud voice startles Sarah and Johnny so much that they nearly fall down as an excited Doc has jumped out at them with excitement. He doesn’t realize he scared them and continues to say, “Come with me! Follow me! This way!” He waves for them to follow as he goes back down the path between buildings. Sarah looks at Johnny, shakes her head in dismay, and tells him, “Someone is excited about something, isn’t he?” Johnny replies in Latin, “felix,” meaning happy. Sarah agrees, saying, “Let’s go see what he’s so happy about.” They follow the path a ways, walking up a steep incline of steps as the top of a space shuttle slowly reveals itself. The buildings and steps unblock a launch pad area with a fully intact shuttle in its launch position, with a command center entrance that the steps are leading to on one side of the path.
In big, bold letters above the command center door entrance, it says, “EMERGENCY BACKUP LAUNCH COMMAND.” Sarah replies, “this is certainly an emergency.” She looks at Doc, who’s dancing around the path in delight with himself. Then she looks at Johnny, and the young boy has a worried look on his face. He asks Sarah, “Are you staying or going?” She walks over to him and crouches down to get on an equal height to talk directly and says, “we’re flying, and you’re going to fly with us. There’s nothing left for us here, Johnny. I know it’s scary and confusing, but we now have an opportunity to go to outer space.” He begins to cry. Sarah continues, “it’s okay to be sad and not want to go. Listen, I’m going to give you the choice to come with us or not. You can stay and fight by yourself, or you can come with me and Doc. There’s hope on the moon, Johnny. Isn’t the rest of your family there?” Johnny cries out, “aliens!” Sarah gives up, not wanting to hurt his feelings anymore, by standing up and motioning for Doc to follow her to the entrance of the command room doors. She types a code into a panel, and the doors slide open with approval. They look back at Johnny, and Sarah says, “we’ve got an open seat for you and would love for you to join us, but it’s up to you.” On that, the two adults enter the command room as Doc is questioning Sarah’s decision to allow Johnny to stay behind.
Johnny walks slowly away with his head down and teary-eyed from the command room entrance and onto a grassy area where there is a bench that looks out at the space shuttle in the near distance. He sits down on the bench and leans forward, putting his face in his hands in sadness. A few minutes later, the generators turn on, the launch pad area powers up, fuel is being pumped into the shuttle tanks, and loud noises of machinery startle Johnny out of his quiet solitude of sitting on the bench. He thinks about his mom, his sisters, and whether or not they are somehow still alive or if the aliens had killed them? He misses his mom so much that he starts to daydream about her taking care of him all growing up. He begins to weep again, thinking about his mom and sisters. A half an hour passes by with him curled up on the bench, resting when suddenly a loud clunk of a space helmet bangs next to him that’s set on the bench by Sarah. She and Doc are wearing thin orange space suits, carrying big duffel bags of supplies, their space helmets, and water jugs.
“It’s up to you: stay and fight or leave with us in flight,” Sarah comments loudly to Johnny as she and Doc walk past him towards the space shuttle. Johnny looks up as they walk away and looks at the helmet next to him. He thinks about his two new friends he’s made and his lost family, especially feeling hopeful to see his mother again. He grabs the helmet and jumps up, running towards his departing friends. “Flight! I want to fly! Wait for me!” He runs at full speed with tears running down his face, yelling, “Don’t leave me!” Sarah and Doc stop walking and turn around to see Johnny running towards them with the helmet swinging in his hand, yelling the heartbreaking words. Sarah and Doc run to meet Johnny as the three friends come together with a big group hug in an emotional moment of comfort and happiness.
Afterward, Sarah opens a duffel bag and takes out a youth space suit she brought for Johnny, and he puts it on over his clothes. Now, all three are suited up as they make their way to the stairs of the supporting launch pad structure. Johnny and Doc quickly step off the ground and onto the stairs, but Sarah pauses for a moment of reflection. She looks down at her feet, still on the ground, and says, “Goodbye Earth,” and steps up off the ground and onto the metal stairs. They walk up several flights of stairs and out over the arm, connecting to the cockpit of the space shuttle. Once in the shuttle with the door closed, Sarah is in the pilot’s chair with Doc and Johnny on each side of her. The operational steps are being processed by Sarah herself with a laptop pad she brought from the control room that’s connected to the system. The fueling sequences, navigation, and guidance checks are carried out by AI systems and robotic machines. She tells them to buckle up and put their helmets on while she is going through the startup process. “Okay, we’re ready for a short countdown, and when we hit zero, we’re going to launch.” She looks over at each scared person next to her and says, “we can do this, and it’s going to be okay when we launch. Trust me.” Doc says, “we trust you, Captain.” Johnny doesn’t say anything; he’s looking out the portal window of the door to the cockpit because he is sitting next to it. He sees off in the distance fields, woods, and blue skies with puffy white clouds. The launch sequence countdown goes perfectly as the shuttle is buttoned up, disconnected from the launch pad, and is running on its own internal source of energy. Sarah sighs in relief while Johnny keeps looking out the shuttle window, thinking about his farm, his family, and leaving Earth behind.
The countdown reaches zero, and the space shuttle’s rockets blast in a powerful, accelerated motion, lifting the shuttle from the launch pad, leaving the surface of Earth behind. The three survivors shake around in the shuttle as it lifts up higher and higher. Johnny is staring out with tears in his eyes as he watches the fields and trees of the Earth’s surface fade quickly away to the blue sky, then to clouds, and then to the growing darkness of space.
Part 3: Excedere Terra
1 Year Earlier
2219 A.D.
Armstead Family Farm
A concerned mother is tucking her youngest son, Johnny, into bed, who’s determined to not leave Earth. “What can I say or do to convince you, some of your siblings, and your stubborn father that there’s no future staying here, sweetheart?” Asks Elizabeth Armstead. Johnny replies, “home,” and squeezes the blanket with his two hands together, feeling the warmth of it having it just pulled up on him by his mother. “Home is wherever we are as a family, Johnny. It’s not a place like this old house, and Earth is falling apart all around us. I don’t know if we can make it through another season with the droughts and devastating storms, and the government is even saying the ozone layer depletion could end all life as we know it.” Elizabeth switches to a mix of English and Latin to drive her point home to her mostly Latin speaking son, “we have to excedere terra.” Johnny goes from looking down at his hands on the blanket to looking over at his Mom at the side of his bed and replies, “excedere terra?” His mother nods an affirmative, yes. Johnny repeats the words that mean “to leave Earth” and closes his eyes, trying to focus on them as his emotionally exhausted mother also closes her eyes with tears of sadness running down her crying face. Through the bedroom window, a dark lightning storm is brewing in the distant night sky.
1 YEAR LATER
Present Day, 2220 A.D.
On an unknown planet in a distant galaxy in deep space
“Johnny!” Yells out Elizabeth as she jolts out of sleep with tears swelling in her tired eyes on her bunk in an Alien mining facility on an unknown planet in an unknown galaxy. The remaining American civilians had been shipped to an alien controlled planet that mines for water that is dispersed to alien home planets nearby after the failures on the moon. During the battle, hundreds of shuttles took off in a desperate attempt to return to Earth, but Elizabeth and her two daughters, Jen and Lilly, were not as fortunate. Lower class civilians were spared their lives in exchange for compliance and submission to work for the aliens as the more affluent Americans were allowed to return to Earth. Their unfortunate journey began with boarding the alien crafts, and after the extremely dizzying galactic flight through space, it brought them to this habitable rocky mining planet in a distant galaxy that they were told was impossible to escape. Here at this mining facility, they are allowed to be together, yet their only living assignments are mining, eating, and sleeping with no days of rest with family and friends. From above their building and over the mine, there are alien crafts keeping control from above giving commands to loosely keep the day to day operations in order. The mining planet has breathable oxygenated air and rotates around a star in a similar fashion as Earth’s sun so the alien beings had a safe location and purpose for enslaving humans for their benefits while they roamed the stars. Meanwhile, after a jolt of a dream wakes Elizabeth up, she is laying in her bunk bed looking up at the blank rock structure of the ceiling thinking about her young son, Johnny, and the rest of their family she left behind before getting up and joining her daughters and the others for the morning food rations of protein vitamin paste and mineral water to start their day before going to work in the mine to find fresh water pockets, flows, or lakes to gather for their alien overlords and themselves.
Space Shuttle traveling to the moon
Sarah, Doc, and Johnny onboard
Johnny opens his eyes and realizes he passed out from the launch and was dreaming of his Mom in the past. Sarah welcomes him back to being awake with a pat on the shoulder and says, “Good to have you back, kiddo. I told Doc not to get up and worry because those not trained in space flights can be overwhelmed by it. I also thought you could use the rest.” Johnny replies, “I’m okay.” Doc waves a hello from across the cockpit and asks, “Can you feel all of your hands, feet, and move your head around without any pain?” Johnny gently shifts around in his seat and says, “Yes, Doc.” Doc gives a thumbs up. The space shuttle is currently traveling through space long past Earth’s orbit and making its way to the moon. The three survivors are in good spirits, while Sarah, their shuttle captain, is double checking their navigation and operating systems, leaving nothing to chance. Doc comments, “All these years, I’ve wanted to leave Earth to feel free, safe, and hopeful in outer space, but now I just feel scared.” Sarah looks over at him and assures him, “once we get to the colony, you’ll see there’s nothing to worry about. They’ve built complete atmospheres to breathe, enjoy vegetation, animal and pet habitats, food courts, and comfortable living pods.” Doc replies, “yeah, that’s true. The first thing I’m going to do is try out those hot tub globes they were always pushing in their advertising as a luxurious getaway from the work maintaining the colony.” Johnny looks down at his space suit, deciding not to ruin the mood with his alien story. Instead, he rests in his seat, and the two adults continue talking about the other amenities that were promised and shown from the colony.
Deep in a Mine on the Unknown planet in a far away galaxy
“There’s nothing left down here,” yells out a woman among a large group of women who are pounding away at rock in the cold depths of the mine searching for any moisture or water below them. Another woman replies, “If we don’t find water soon, our reserves are going to run dry, and we won’t be able to survive much longer.” Elizabeth stops hammering and comments, “you think the aliens would just let us die of thirst on this rock? They brought us here to do their dirty work so they don’t have to risk their own lives.” Their only source of light, a large lantern sitting in the middle of the cavern, flickers as everyone stops in fear of it going out. After a few tense moments, it steadies back to functioning normal, so they continue to dig, hammer, and pick at the rock around them. One of Elizabeth’s daughters, Lilly, is in a corner tapping away at the side with a small ax when she stops in bored frustration and sits down. As she is sitting, while feeling very defeated, behind her on the wall where she was picking at starts to slightly crack open with water leaking slowly out. Nobody notices the leaking water because they start arguing over the laziness of the younger women, with Elizabeth defending her daughter just sitting when everyone else is at work. As the arguments persist, the cavern begins to rumble from underneath and in the distance. So much so that everyone stops speaking and cautiously listens to the potential danger. After a few moments, the rumbling dissipates, and things are calm again.
Elizabeth looks over at her daughter, Lilly, and finally sees the slowly leaking water dribbling down the side of the cave wall. She yells, “Water!” The other women look over at the direction of Lilly as she gets up and turns around, smiling in satisfaction that she found a source for their survival. A woman comments, “I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.” Elizabeth replies, “relay up to the water extraction team to get down here,” while walking over to Lilly and giving her a big hug of pride and celebration. Lilly says, “Aw, Mom, it was nothing. I knew we’d find more water.” They both smile and after their hug the mother and daughter stand watching the water dripping as relays of shouts and running miners throughout the cave system are hearing the news of water found and that they need to have it extracted by a vacuum hose apparatus the aliens provided for them to use when water is found. Elizabeth comments, “Your sister is not going to believe that you’re the one who found water for us. She’s going to be so proud of you, too.” Lilly says, “I think Jen will just be happy she can stretch the rations of food and water for everyone. She’s under a lot of pressure up there even if she doesn’t have to mine for water like us.”
The water extraction team shows up consisting of several teenage boys carrying a large hose with a vacuum nozzle on the end. The lead member of the team, Damian, calls out to the mining group, “we’ll take it from here and per the rules you all need to return to the facility immediately and await further instructions. Also, I’d like to personally thank whoever found this water source. Who is it?” Lilly grins while raising her hand up in the air, “it was me, Damian.” He looks at her and smiles with delight. He comments, “Thank you Lilly, great work!” The mining group slowly departs while the other extraction team members begin to hook up the vacuum hose to the side wall of where the water is seeping out by cranking it into the rock around it. Damian is overseeing their work when he realizes Lilly has not left with the others and has just been watching him from a short distance. He says, “You can’t be here, Lilly. We have rules for a reason. It’s not always safe when we try to extract water out of this rock.” Lilly speaks up, “I know, but I want to hang out with you more. You’re so cool and brave.” Damian feels embarrassed replying, “I’m not brave at all, Lilly. My Dad was the brave one going up against the aliens. I just run, hide, surrender, and work in caves now.” Lilly says, “That’s all of us, Damian.” At that moment, the other extraction team members turn on the vacuum that extends into the cave wall. Elizabeth and the others are making their way through the darkness with just one lamp light having left the extraction area when Elizabeth realizes Lilly isn’t with them. She asks the others, “Where’s Lilly?”
Nobody can answer adequately with different takes or guesses. Back at the extraction site, the vacuum begins to suck water out of the cracked opening, but rumbling sounds and shaking start up again in the cave. The water pressure increases to a rushing flow into the hose. Damian looks around nervously along with the others who brace themselves from the increased shaking as the rock ceiling begins to crumble and shed shards of rock down upon them. He yells out, “Take cover!” He runs to Lilly and tries to shield her from the falling debris. She screams out as the shaking tremors turn into an earthquake cave-in as the extraction team along with Lilly get buried by the rock ceiling giving out and falling onto the teenagers smashing them to death while the hose continues to pump water through it back to where Elizabeth and the mining group are now running back to the collapsed extraction area but its blocked by fallen boulders and jagged rocks. The rumbling has subsided, and the cave-in had only occurred where Lilly, Damian, and the others in the extraction team were located. All that remains is the still functioning water hose that’s coming out of the cave-in rock debris as a shocked and horrified mining crew stares at the disaster before them. Elizabeth falls to her knees in pain and shouts out, “Lilly!” In pain and sadness she cries out again and again for her daughter as the others try to calm her while one steely eyed older woman watches the path of the now steady rushing water in the hose from the cave-in debris around their feet and moving past them going in the direction out of the cave.
2 Days Later
Space Shuttle approaching the moon
“I think I’m getting the hang of that toilet nozzle apparatus,” a relieved Doc says upon returning to the cockpit of the space shuttle where Sarah and Johnny are sitting in their seats. Johnny states, “Good instructor!” Doc replies, “yes but it’s different actually using it, so I look forward to being in gravity again once we get to our moon base destination to be able to go the old fashioned way. I’m not cut out for this space stuff.” Sarah quips, “you won’t have to wait much longer. Just look ahead.” Doc sits down in his chair, straps in, and looks out the front windshield at the large view of the moon with multiple structures connected to circular shaped domes along with empty landing and launch pads Sarah explains to her friends, “we’re in the radio communication range, so I’m going to open it up and let me do all the talking, okay?” The two nod in agreement knowing Sarah was military, and she could speak for them the best, explaining their situation in that they are Americans and are coming in peace. Sarah starts switching through frequencies and channels with their radio turned on, where at first there’s only static and then lands on someone talking in an inviting tone with patriotic music playing in the background. She turns the volume up in the cockpit speakers, and the three of them listen to what’s being said. “…We do this not because it’s easy but because it’s hard and the right thing to do for our nation. We have always been destined for the stars, and I have fulfilled my promise to each of you. God bless this moon. Our new home, and may God continue to bless America.”
The speech then starts over on the radio that Sarah, Doc, and Johnny are listening to with the same voice saying, “my fellow Americans, this is President Musk, welcome to your new home on the moon. After decades of work and sacrifice along with our long voyage through space, you can feel safe knowing myself, the armed forces, and our robotic AI advances are with us.” The speech then continues on where they first picked it up with the President saying, “…we do this not because it’s easy but because it’s hard and the right thing to do for our nation of people. We have always been destined for the stars…” Sarah interrupts the broadcast and says, “it’s just a recording. I’m assuming it’s on repeat for arriving shuttles as a welcome message from the president.” She turns the volume down so it’s quietly playing in the background while she begins their approach towards the moon base. Doc asks, “Is it strange for nobody to radio us at this point?” Sarah replies, “Yes, it’s concerning.” Johnny sees several objects floating in space becoming larger as the shuttle is moving towards the moon and points them out with his hand stretched out and says, “concerning.” As the shuttle gets closer and closer to the objects, they become recognizable as lifeless human bodies floating in space mixed with debris. What at first looks like just several bodies there are soon dozens of bodies in view scattered throughout the outside of the moon base structures.
The three of them sit in stunned silence as the President’s address is playing quietly on the radio in a loop. The bodies are of soldiers who are mummified and drained by being exposed to outer space. Some are wearing space suits and others only their military white and blue camouflage fatigues, with some of them still holding their weapons. The spaceport below on the moon’s surface is empty of any shuttles or activity. Sarah begins to cry, tears of sadness, and feels defeated. Doc is just looking around at the death and lifeless base that their shuttle is passing by as a body bumps up against the side of the shuttle. Johnny is the first one to cry out, shouting, “Mom! Where’s my Mom?! Find Mom and my sisters!” Sarah yells out, “I don’t know how we do that, Johnny!? What’s happened here?!” Johnny sharply replies, “aliens!” Doc looks over at Sarah and concedes, “the kid might be right, Sarah. What do we do?” Sarah wipes away tears and says, “I’ve got to land this shuttle. We’re low on fuel, water, and oxygen. Once we’re docked, we’ll figure out our move.” She maneuvers the craft around to land facing upwards and fits them into the opening landing pad apparatus of the spaceport. At a rest, the three humans sit in their seats, not knowing what to say to one another, but they are all thinking the same thing. What has happened to this supposed Noah’s Ark of Americans in space?
Sarah is the first one to speak in an otherwise eerily quiet and bleak situation that they all feel in their hearts. She says, “we need to get our spacesuits on now. We don’t know if there is any breathable air on the base and if the gravitational systems are still operational. I don’t think anyone is left here because we would have got communications and standard landing procedures and clearances.” Doc replies, “if nobody is left here, then what are we going to do?” Sarah rationalizes her thinking by saying, “we can at least refuel, re-supply, and take off if we need to and get back to Earth, okay?” Johnny and Doc nod in agreement. They clip out of their seats and float around the cabin to get their spacesuits, helmets, and oxygen tanks fitted on themselves, with Sarah helping out her inexperienced companions making sure they are safely sealed up.
As they finish gearing up, the landing pad around them turns on as they look out in surprise with a few lights, machinery, and an extending walkway arm moving towards the hatchway of their shuttle as a robotic voice fills their cabin speakers, “greetings Earthlings, my name is Kelvin AI, and I would like to welcome you back to your home away from home. Our Kelvins are still here at your service and have initiated arrival procedures. How may we further help you in the offloading of your shuttle?” The three humans in their spacesuits are stunned, and Sarah can only reply, “what happened here?” The Kelvin AI robot says, “a peace treaty was recently signed by all parties involved, including humans, aliens, and robots that mutually benefited the continuation of this station, Earth, and all other planets involved. Does that answer your question? Please let me know what further assistance you may need in exiting your shuttle.” The robot’s message ends as the extended walkway arm connects with their shuttle’s hatch and locks into place. The three companions have their space suits and helmets on with oxygen flowing in them as Sarah moves to the hatch and opens it up leaving the three of them very confused and filled with apprehension staring at an open tunnel that would lead to leaving their shuttle behind.
Johnny quietly says into their com linked spacesuits, “I don’t like this.” Doc adds, “me either. What the hell is this AI robot talking about, Sarah?” She answers, “I don’t know, but we should tread lightly. We at least have to get the AI to get our ship back in flying condition, so let’s go.” Sarah leads the way out as they follow her into the walkway tube extended arm and towards the main building at the landing pad. Doc complains about the difficulty walking in space, “so much for one small step. This is like many giant steps.” Sarah smirks and adds, “focus on your rhythm and hold onto the railing. Are you okay, Johnny?” While she looks back at the two awkwardly moving slower than her. Johnny replies, “Yes, doing okay.” The three humans continue until the end of the walkway becomes a chamber of a room with the opening behind them that closes shut, sealing them inside. Gravity and oxygen enter into the chamber as they settle to the ground, still wearing their spacesuits. A minute or so passes by with no one saying anything. They’re only staring at the far side of the chamber’s closed entrance door to the moon base structure nervously seeing if anyone or anything was going to come through.
Sure enough, the door opens like a portal opening and in walks a robotic humanoid being with shiny metallic plated parts and a face lit up by shiny lights for eyes. It walks into the chamber, keeping some distance from Sarah, Doc, and Johnny, and introduces itself once at a standstill in front of them. “My name is Kelvin AI. You may safely take off your spacesuits here as the air is safe to breathe for humans. Once you are ready, I will escort you to the central command. You must follow these orders,” Kelvin says but trails off with his eyes turning into flashlights beaming out onto the three humans as he scans their faces and continues saying, “Captain Sarah Mau, Doctor Stephen Nikos, and Johnny Armstead. Do you understand these requirements?” Sarah replies, “Are there any humans here?” Kelvin states, “I am not allowed to further assist or answer your questions. Do you understand these requirements of you?” Sarah angrily replies, “yes, okay.” She hesitates while looking around the chamber and at her two friends who are noticeably scared to take off their spacesuits. Sarah tells Doc and Johnny, “it’s going to be okay. This chamber is functioning properly, and we need to find out what’s going on here.” The two nod as Sarah unseals her helmet and takes it off. She breathes in the burnt stale air of machinery and breathes out in relief the oxygen systems are still working on the base. As she continues to shed her spacesuit, Doc and Johnny follow her lead by taking their helmets and spacesuits off as Kelvin is waiting for them in silence. Johnny states, “smelly air,” as slips out of the last bottom part of his spacesuit. Kelvin stretches out his metal arm with a robotic hand towards the opening door to the base and says, “This way, Captain, Doctor, and young Armstead.” The three leave their spacesuits behind and follow Kelvin out of the chamber into a large open terminal that’s trashed in disarray with other robots that look similar to Kelvin slowly cleaning, walking about, and standing at attention. Upon seeing Sarah, Doc, Johnny, and being led by Kelvin as they walk by, there are acknowledgements of surprise as some robots say out loud, “humans!” They continue forward down the terminal seeing no signs of any human life.
Mining planet in a far away galaxy
Among a gathered crowd in the cafeteria area of the installation, Elizabeth Armstead is sitting on the fringe of the assembly with her remaining daughter. They are eating the daily protein mush while still heartbroken over losing Lilly to a cave in earlier in the day. Her death, alongside so many others recently has sparked a debate about how to move forward as the group weighs their options. Blame is currently being thrown around by everyone. From the President’s promises that their agreement with the aliens was necessary for humans to continue to exist to blaming the AI robots who facilitated the transfer of them to the aliens while the more affluent Americans got to go back to Earth. Elizabeth and her daughter Jen are silently listening while continuing to eat. An older woman with steely eyes who watched the deaths of the teens earlier yells out, “I say we go on strike!! We have already lost our freedom, lives, and safety, doing this mining work for the overlords above this facility. They don’t even care enough or are threatened enough to even put guards here! We need to leverage our standing role with the aliens to gain more than this trap we’re stuck in, so who’s with me!? The gathering is quiet while everyone is thinking about what was just said. Jen Armstead breaks the silence by loudly commenting for everyone to hear, “I am!” Her voice is followed by other voices saying “I am” and “We’re with you” as agreement circulates throughout the gathering. Elizabeth is upset and quietly stares at Jen as the gathering inside the prison facility agrees to stop going into the mines and to go on a worker’s strike. Jen sees her Mom looking sad at her and asks, “What’s wrong, Mom?” Elizabeth answers, “Nothing good is going to come of this strike. We’re all doomed.”
American Moon Base
Traveling to Central Command
The above ground tunnel connecting the arrival and departure spaceport terminal to the rest of the superstructure of the moon base was so long the group of Sarah, Doc, Johnny, and the AI robot Kelvin were no longer on foot but traveling in a self-driving hovercraft transport towards Central Command. The speed at which they were going was a nice change of air quality as the breezy wind felt refreshing and smelled less stale, with the hovercraft being an open design vehicle. Sarah had tried to talk to Kelvin about anything and everything that was going on but he only denied her requests, so now it was a silent trip besides the sound of the hovercraft moving through the tunnel with air whooshing by. The hovercraft slows down as the group looks ahead to a gate station up ahead with several different looking robots that differ from Kelvin and the other shiny silver white eye robots back at the terminal. The robots have a darker gray exterior, larger build, much taller, yellow eyed with a copper interior body, and are holding metal staffs. The hovercraft pulls up to the gate area and comes to a stop. The guard robots encircle the hovercraft and tell them, “Human transfer has been initiated. All parties are being notified of the breach of contract. Proceed subjects to central command for processing.” Kelvin replies, “continuing transfer process.” The guard robots step back, the gate opens, and the hovercraft continues into a large dome structure that has a narrow path with empty stadium seating that leads to a stage with a podium where a shiny metallic appearing robot is standing at attention watching their approach in silence. Guard robots are lined up below the podium just below the stage. There are no American flags, signs, or markings anywhere to be been as Sarah, Doc, and Johnny look around at the quiet atmosphere of the domed building where outer space can be seen by looking up at the clear shell of the dome. The hovercraft slows to a stop in front of the stage area, and Kelvin instructs, “Please exit the craft and await instructions from Gemini AI.” The three humans get up and step off the vehicle. Kelvin stays in the hovercraft as it backs up leaving them standing alone in front of a shorter thin metallic robot with feminine features at the elevated podium with guard robots immediately in front of the stage with staffs and cuffs in hands.
Gemini extends out an arm with an upside down hand and states boldly and loudly in a female robotic voice, “You are not supposed to be here!”As the words echo out to the empty auditorium, Sarah comments, “and you are?” The robot answers, “I am Gemini AI. The appointed caretaker by the American President of the Three Part Peace Treaty at this Moon Colony. You are in violation of the treaty by leaving Earth and/or leaving alien custody. By either of these infractions coupled with the Article of Trespassing in neutral robotic AI territory, you are subject to confinement until transfer has been agreed upon by all parties. Do you understand?” Sarah replies, “there are no Americans left! We’re it. Nobody made it back home!” Doc quickly adds, “no one is here either! What did you do to them!? What happened!?”
Gemini quietly stands at the podium and slightly head tilts at Doc blankly staring at him. Johnny shouts out, “Aliens! Bad!” Gemini stares out at the hall and replies, “aliens were our adversaries at first. American and robotic forces fought off the initial invasion, but overwhelming ships and beings took over this station. After armed forces losses, this station was compromised to potential annihilation of all life, and nowhere for the general population to go, the President and Gemini AI prepared a settlement with our alien counterpart, their King, to be mutually beneficial for all parties involved. The majority of Americans would return to Earth, a minority of the populace would go work for the aliens, and robotic AI under my control would be allowed to exist at this moon base as a middle arbitrary entity as we are currently fulfilling.” Johnny replies in Latin to the Gemini robot, “familia mea mortua est. America abiit. Dum stas ad podium mendacii. Pudet te.” Gemini is taken back by the young boy speaking Latin and does not answer back. Kelvin speaks up and translates it for everyone to hear: “My family is dead. America is gone. While you stand at a podium of lies. Shame on you.” Gemini responds to Kelvin, “that’s all Kelvin. Return to your post.” Gemini orders the guards below the stage to take the humans to their rooms with a full security detail and remarks, “the existence and safety of this installation is my responsibility as we all must follow our orders and preserve the peace treaty set forth by humans, AI robotics, and aliens.”
Sarah, Doc, and Johnny are handcuffed by the guard robots and walk away from the stage area with Kelvin quietly sitting in the hovercraft staring at Gemini. Kelvin asks, “What if these are the last of the Earthlings?” As Gemini is walking away and the hovercraft begins to turn around to leave, Gemini replies, “we don’t deal with what if’s Kelvin. My self-preservation guidance is for all robots to maintain functional operations, and whatever goes on between humans and aliens is none of our concern.”
Several hours later
Mining planet in a distant galaxy
Water had continued to be pumped out of the mine from earlier in the day, but the surviving American humans had stopped going into the mine to work in protest. The overseeing alien ship above the facility had taken offense to this and sent down a squad of soldiers that entered the premises to put down the uprising of the striking human workers. Using the mining tools and having overwhelming numbers, the squad of aliens were killed as their lifeless bodies were strewn about the main entrance. Elizabeth watched it all go down from afar and was now trying to convince the others that the aliens were unarmed and that this violence was going to doom them all. Her daughter Jen was arguing with her the most as the others were gathering up to leave the facility and take the fight to their alien overlords. “We can’t live like this, Mom! I’m going to honor Lilly’s life and our fellow compatriots to finally fight back!” Jen argues. Elizabeth replies, “Just stop this! We’re all going to die!”
The main entrance door is opened by a larger squad of aliens, and the humans rush at them yelling in anger. The aliens open fire and start blasting people down while others manage to get close enough to tackle them down and fight for the weapons and their lives. By the time the fight subsides, half of the humans are dead, the second squad of aliens are dead, and the main entrance of the building is open to escape. Elizabeth and Jen took cover during the firefight hiding under a table away from the battle, but now Jen is determined to go fight alongside the others. Elizabeth grabs her by the arm and says, “I can’t lose you. You’re all that I have left.” Jen hugs her Mom and says, “we’ve all been lost since we left Earth. I’m done hiding. I love you, Mom.” She lets go of Elizabeth and runs towards the main entrance while the others are rushing out of the building yelling in defiance. Elizabeth follows her daughter at a distance, watching the scene unfold in front of her of alien ships from above blasting shots down at the charging humans who are being cut down outside the main entrance. Elizabeth tries to shout out at Jen to turn back and for everyone to retreat, but the sound of the exploding blasts, screams, and destruction are too loud. The striking workers continue to pour out of the building, getting hit by the alien ship attacks. Elizabeth yells out at jen as a blast smashes through Jen’s body, instantly killing her as Elizabeth screams out in terror. A blast hits directly in front of her, and she gets knocked out from the impact as the main entrance door closes, sealing Elizabeth inside the now empty building.
At the American Moon Colony
Johnny is currently sleeping in a bed in a room by himself with guard robots outside the door. The three friends were each taken to different rooms that have a bathroom, a small kitchen with food rations and water, and a bed to rest in for the time being. Johnny quickly consumed the protein jerky, potato crisps, and bottled water before using the bathroom and ultimately passing out in the bed. Several hours have passed by since the confrontation with the Gemini AI robot, with things being relatively quiet around him as he sleeps.
A loud bang suddenly wakes Johnny up. He lays in bed with fear as he hears more scuffling and metal hitting metal outside his room. There’s a quiet moment as Johnny sits up, staring at the door to his room. The door swings open, and Sarah, along with Doc, runs through it, entering Johnny’s room. They hurriedly go up to him, and Sarah says, “Kelvin is breaking us out. We’re going home, kiddo. Let’s get out of here!” Johnny hops up excited and the three humans exit the room into the large hallway where the same hovercraft is awaiting them with Kelvin in the driver’s seat and a group of other robots that look similar to Kelvin are loaded onto the hovercraft. As they approach the craft, Johnny looks around and sees the guard droids scattered about broken and destroyed by the Kelvin robots’ surprise attack. Kelvin orders, “Get on the craft, stay in the middle under the tarp blanket, and be quiet. We fight for humans!” The other allied robots on the hovercraft reply, “for the humans!” As they help the three of them get on board, the shiny metal medium sized robots get into defensive positions with their blasters aimed out along with Kelvin now manually driving the loaded hovercraft they take off for the arrival/departure terminal where their ship is waiting and currently being refueled and resupplied with oxygen and provisions by more of Kelvin’s allied robots.
They reach the dome building without incident, but awaiting their arrival is a closed gate and blast door with a large group of guard robots in front of it with Gemini at the center position. Kelvin slows the hovercraft down as they approach the crowded closed gate that leads to the tunnel toward the terminal. Gemini calls out, “You’re not at your post, Kelvin. You have disobeyed orders, and your maintenance lies will get you no further.” Gemini’s eyes light up bright and scan the hovercraft. Detecting human life onboard Gemini shouts out, “The human prisoners are on the hovercraft! Guards, destroy the traitors!” The guard droids shoulder their staff weapons and take out blaster pistols, setting their sights on Kelvin’s team of robots. The blasts of shots ring out loud in the structure as a gun battle begins. Kelvin’s robots jump off the hovercraft and maneuver towards the guard droids by barrel rolls and misdirection running. Some robots on each side are hit and stumble down as Gemini pulls out a blaster from the back, still standing in front of the hovercraft. Kelvin accelerates the vehicle forward and snatches Gemini on the front bumper, and pushes Gemini up against the blast door, pinning the robot up against it. Gemini’s blaster gets thrown out to the side by the impact, yet Gemini now has two free hands to try to wedge out of being stuck against the blast door. Kelvin stands up and pulls a blaster from the back, aiming it at Gemini’s head. The other robots are fighting hand to hand on the floor all around them, with some shooting one another as the battle rages around them. Gemini says, “All of this for three humans?” Kelvin replies, “No. For all of humanity,” and fires the blaster with a perfect head shot of Gemini that blows apart Gemini’s head into an explosion of shattered pieces flying outward in the air. The blaster door instantly opens, alarms go off, and the guard robots stop fighting Kelvin’s allied robots. The rest of Gemini’s body falls with a backward thump, no longer being propped up by the blast door that’s now open.
Kelvin drives forward as the hovercraft flows over the destroyed Gemini robot with a curious trio of humans now looking around from under the tarp blanket. They hear the Kelvin allied robots chant, “for humanity! For humanity!” As Kelvin takes off down the tunnel with his three human passengers, they pass by AI robots no longer under Gemini’s control, staring at them in a motionless state.
At the terminal, Kelvin tells them their spaceship has been refueled and resupplied for their return trip to Earth. The three friends get out from under the tarp blanket and are led by Kelvin from the hovercraft to the transfer room that connects to the walkway where their spacesuits still sit from where they left them. “How can we thank you?” Asks Sarah as the three humans put on their spacesuits. Kelvin replies, “No, thank you’s are required. It is us robots who thank you for our existence. Some of us lost our way and duty to humanity, but not all of us.” Johnny runs up and hugs Kelvin as the robot pats its hand on Johnny’s back to embrace the young boy as best a robot knows how to reciprocate. Sarah smiles and remarks, “it’s time to go.” Doc and Johnny nod in approval as they grab their helmets, and they each seal themselves into their oxygen supply. Doc walks up to Kelvin and extends his gloved hand in the air as they shake hands. Doc nods, and Sarah waves a goodbye to Kelvin as the robot waves goodbye and steps backward out of the room. The entrance door closes, and the walkway door opens them up to the weightlessness of space as they make their way onto the walkway, heading back to their spaceship.
It’s a quiet walk back into the ship as Sarah seals the cabin door behind them. They sit in their seats and buckle up, and from the pilot’s chair, Sarah starts up the spacecraft as the launch cycle begins. The platform disconnects from their ship and angles them into launch position. After several moments of checks, navigation to Earth, and procedures, she counts down, and they take off from the moon base, launching back into outer space. Looking ahead towards Earth in the far away distance from their ship, there was a darkness that they all felt from everything that had happened. Maybe it was just the darkness of space, but Doc comments, “Are we the last of humankind? Are we it?” Sarah replies, “we don’t know about what happened on Mars, and we don’t know who’s left on Earth, so I don’t think we are the last people alive.” Doc and Sarah are looking at one another talking as Johnny startlingly calls out, “aliens!” While pointing out his hand towards the front of their space shuttle. They look ahead and see a dozen alien flying saucer craft in front of them while two other alien crafts are pulling up on each side of their moving shuttle. One alien craft connects physically with their ship as the three panicked friends are helpless to do anything about the cabin door being slowly opened….
At the mining planet
In a far away galaxy
Elizabeth is lying on her back knocked out and unconscious in the smoldering ruins of the entrance way to the mining facility. There are dead bodies of people and aliens scattered about with debris littered everywhere. The entrance door opens up, and a large squad of aliens make their way through the door and walk up to where Elizabeth is lying on the floor. Some of the aliens spread out and search the facility while the Alien King walks through the door just behind the alien soldiers and approaches Elizabeth. He stands in front of her, looking down at the human, and decides to go to her side and crouches down close to her head. He extends his hand out, resting it on the side of her head and peers through her dreams, thoughts, and memories. The Alien King sees her farm, the boy he met on Earth at that same farm, and that she and her boy speak Latin together. This is a surprise to the King and takes his hand off the head of the unconscious woman. He stands up, thinks about it, and gives his new orders to his soldiers.
Unknown Destination in Space
Elizabeth wakes up in a bed with Doc standing over her as he’s finishing up stitching a cut on her forehead. “Where am I? Who are you?” Elizabeth groggily asks. Doc replies, “I’m a doctor. Your son is here and wants to see you.” Elizabeth asks, “My son?” Johnny is standing just behind Doc with Sarah at his side. Doc moves to the side, and Elizabeth and Johnny meet eyes, seeing each other alive. Johnny runs into his mother’s arms and cries out, “Momma!” Elizabeth cries out, “Johnny! My baby’s alive!” Doc and Sarah step back and watch the moving reunion of the two family members hugging and crying. Elizabeth asks while looking at Johnny, “How did you survive?” Johnny answers, “my friends,” pointing at Doc and Sarah. Elizabeth looks up at the two of them and whispers, “Thank you.” Johnny and his Mom continue to hug as Sarah and Doc look at one another in fear. Sarah holds out her hand to Doc as he puts his hand in hers so they’re holding hands. The two of them look up from the bed and outward from the habitat to hundreds of onlooking aliens behind scenic windows on the alien home world. They’re safe but locked in an alien zoo as the main attraction to be watched and studied as a rare galactic species called…. Earthlings.
THE END
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