Disclaimer: Don't own the TSW characters. That's about it.
Author's Note: This is a 'lost fic' of mine. I wrote it back in October 2001, and decided not to put it up. I think I was planning to expand on the idea, somehow. But I stumbled across it a few days ago and decided that, since it was complete, I may as well put it up. *shrugs* It's not the greatest, but, oh well. Oh, and it's Aki's POV, in case you can't tell.
FADING AWAY
2066
The flowers were dying. I had transplanted them outside only the day before, and already they slumped down, their leaves drooping, petals carpeting the ground. The thin air and strong sunlight, undiluted by the too-thin atmosphere, had destroyed their fragile lives.
It was the same all over, I'd heard. No plants would grow outside the specialized parklands where they'd been grown for the past thirty-odd years. But the earth would thrive. It must.
2067
We've tried so hard to terraform large tracts of barren wasteland. But the lack of water and the infertile soil made what plants that did manage to grow weak, sickly things that barely held themselves up.
It had taken us a year to cultivate ten acres of land. A whole year, and all we had to show for it was a field of stunted brown grass and weeds.
We'd thought weeds, at least, would thrive. Little had ever killed them before. But they proved just as disappointing as everything else we tried.
2068
The population is going up. With the Phantoms gone, fewer people were dying. More children were being born. At this rate, the world's scanty population would be doubled in two years.
The animals we released in our terraformed area are starving. I've already stumbled upon the corpses of three dead rabbits, their bodies thin with lack of food. The plants, fewer this year than last, just aren't sustaining them.
The plants in the preserves are suffering as well. Since the taking down of the barriers two years ago, the plants had all become sickly. The UV rays that had been blocked by the barriers are killing the few plants we've had. The agricultural farms are struggling to rig up something to block out the rays, but the crop this year is one of the smallest yet.
2070
We've lost another farm, this time to a virus that destroyed all the plants. It had been responsible for supplying two entire barrier cities. Other farms are being forced to compensate, but it's getting difficult. The population is the largest it has been in years, but crops are still rare. Animals are becoming rare, too, with so little food left for them. New sources of food are being created, but they don't have the same effect as natural foods. We needed real meat and plants to live.
2072
"We're in trouble," Dr. Sid told me bluntly. "Supply has gone down, but demand has gone way up." I knew this; I had just spent almost three hundred dollars on groceries. "It seems the Phantoms were playing the role of predator, and we were the prey. They kept our population low enough that we had enough food to keep ourselves alive."
Overpopulation. Our world would face that deadly consequence if we couldn't find a way to feed the people. Already there were those living homeless on the streets, unable to afford food and a place to live. It was ironic, really; we were going to overcrowd a nearly empty world.
And we had no end in sight. For six years we'd been trying to bring life back to the world, but it may be too far gone.
2073
My dearest friend is gone. Dr. Sid had a heart attack two days ago and has left me completely alone in the world. Now I have no one left with which I'd shared the burden of saving the planet so many years ago. I had friends, yes, but none with that bond forged when there was hope to save the world from Phantoms.
I am glad Sid is with his beloved Gaia now, but I wish he hadn't left me. Now I bear the entire burden of saving us all again alone.
2074
Sometimes, I hate Sid for dying. His passing seemed to be a symbol for everything to fall apart on us. A new chemical I had been testing to enrich the soil severely backfired, poisoning several plants and the water source. It also seems to have a deadly affect on humans, as well.
2075
Science has failed us. The planet just can't be persuaded to hold life. It was dying, and there seemed to be nothing I could do about it.
Not with technology, at any rate. But perhaps I could appeal to Gaia itself. I took the Black Boa, my aging ship, and flew to that crater where I knew I could see the benevolent spirit. I lowered myself into the crevice, wondering what I could do to persuade Gaia to help.
I knew there was little hope when I looked down into those depths and saw a spirit shrunk in on itself and burning a dull red. Gaia itself had been hurt, whether by the Zeus cannon or the Phantom Gaia I couldn't be certain, but I knew no life would thrive with Gaia in such a sad shape.
I sat back on my haunches, overcome by sadness. My battles, my sacrifices, had all been for nothing. I could feel my hope fading away, just as the planet's very spirit was fading. The human race was doomed. Maybe the world would last a few decades, or maybe we'd all die tomorrow; it was inevitable.
Tears blinded me as I climbed out of the crater. How could I tell those who were working so hard that all our work was useless? They wouldn't believe me. They'd continue to search for a way, right up to the moment they died.
As I overflew the crater on my way out, looking at the pulsating red mass one last time, I couldn't help but wonder. Would our earth die as the Phantom's planet had? Would another civilization on another planet many years from now be brought to ruin by a chunk of our planet crashing into them? Perhaps, one day, it would be we were the Phantoms…
The End