Elysium
By Ambrosia Dew
"When science and fantasy intertwine after an ancient artifact is salvaged from Planet Earth, chaos occurs sending a timid Space Librarian of the 50th Century for a ride… she'll not soon forget."
Chapter 1: A history lesson
"It was the year 2009. The year of Adam.
A union of lands known as the States rejoiced
in celebration. Their new leader was the first man of
Color to represent their people. Civilization of the
Last recorded century on Earth was at its peak.
They controlled everything. The land. The people. The money.
For power required only one component.
Nuclear persuasion. But as does everything,
Their fortune came to its end. Slowly Earths devolution commenced.
It began in the third year of Adam. With the assassination of the states
leader. A man from across deep waters brought great power with him
and soon the land was filled with chaos and war.
The Damage was catastrophic.
All of Earth was scorched with the destruction Of nuclear fusion. A minority
of Earths most intelligent escaped to our earliest History of space stations.
The others.…perished. Their currency crashed. Society ran haywire. Every
record, every law, and every book in the great libraries were burned in
effigy by orders of this man. Our rare documents trace only one name for
him. He was known as AntiChristie. And on the Brink of Earths final battle..
he was defeated. Chemicals invaded the sky's
and clouded the world into complete darkness. Mans
survival hung on a thread.. and it was because of the Great
100.…our ancestors, that escaped that wretched existence…thousands of
years ago.. that we still stand here as human beings today."
I inhaled deeply and sighed, clicking the link for the lights.
The silhouettes now formed thirty teenage faces all staring at me in a mix of boredom and blankness. I stood there, discouraged for a moment until the young teacher beseeched me supportively with a nod to continue.
"Well…do we have any questions?" My hands folded neatly into my lap, an old habit I'd utilize when I was nervous to keep me from stuttering.
Teenagers.
How could I get these ungrateful kids to appreciate our history! Hadn't I said it with enough rhetoric…enough passion…
it was because of those people that we were all here! How could I get them to see the fascination of the texts, the rhapsody of knowledge about our past that I did?..
Well….Each of their faces was answer enough.
A freckly red headed boy in the back gave a dreadfully loud snore and the teacher whacked him lightly on the back of the head with his hand.
I could have felt slightly miffed, for this happened quite often when I gave lectures. However… something about the way this boy wiped away the drool smeared across his chin, so embarrassed and modest, placated to my sympathy. They'd had a long day, and It had to be said…No one at their age wanted to hear about prehistoric timelines- where everything was written with ancient inventions such as ink and tree paper. No one cared anymore for the time when people traveled by the famously flawed gasoline automobile. No one appreciated the time when innovations for taking out the garbage did not exist and you had to send your children to do it by hand....what wonderful ways to learn hard work!
But of course no one wanted to hear of these things.
No one but me I suppose.
Too often I found my interests were shared only by the typical archaeologist profile; skinny, old, bombastic and incredibly dull…
Then there were always the antiquitists. As extremists they believed in all natural human necessities- the renown tooth brush, and the wire comb. If their appearance did not forewarn you to flee, their prehistoric breath certainly would do the job.
All this time I realized I had been day dreaming again, and still there was really nothing in the room that tempted me to return. Mere seconds had gone by…but always in my world seconds were precious. Seconds were light-years out to far off worlds in the galaxies..full of gasoline…and ink pens and tree paper…full of adventure..
But alas duty called and I broke the stupor I had made .
I made eye contact once more with the only other adult in the room, the expression on my face clearly informing him that his silence on top of my own was not helping. All I needed was a ploy to get myself out of here..
"Come on guys, don't be shy!," He piped up much to my relief. "Miss Brooks here has a wonderful amount of information here to share with us. Even more then she has already explained in her presentation today. Isn't that right-"
Finally!
"Well," I started bunching my hands even tighter together, "They seem to be very satisfied. I guess we can leave it to to give them the next presentation." I looked at the young tired faces in front of me with a smile. They sighed appreciatively.
" I hope you all have taken notes. will be discussing the fossil footprints found on Earths Moon in the mid 20th century. He'll be referring back to our lecture today." With that I hopped up from the plexiglass stool and it acknowledged the absence of weight and disappeared beneath the white floor.
Rolling out the red carpet to my greatly-anticipated departure, the majority stood without being asked and gave me a cheery standing ovation. Blushing I grabbed my bag, put my jump drive away and awaited the teachers approval to leave. He beckoned me to meet him by the door. The children spoke idly amongst themselves, I dogged past them and smiled apologetically at .
"Sorry, I tried," I said with a laugh. I knew I was doing the guy a favor even showing up. He had to be what 23? 24?..I just couldn't help feeling a little guilty for their lack of enthusiasm.
"No, no," He shook his head quickly. "Don't even worry about it. You were great. The kids…they just..." He drifted off searching for words.
"Don't.. care anymore." We finished in union. I laughed again.
"Well if you ever need a presentation for an older class.. and it's history, you know where to find me." I offered. He nodded though this time it was slightly reluctant.
"Yes, thank you so much for your time Caspria." His move to address me by my first name set me off guard. His arm lightly patted my shoulder and when it lingered there I eyed it, my smile faltering. The sirens fired off in my head like a national red alert. I gulped involuntarily.
Oh dear not again…
"Really I appreciate it. It's good to get a look back at our roots once in a while..," He went on, oblivious to my fidgeting. "I'm starting to think these kids just don't want to learn anything anymore.."
I chuckled nervously, pushing my hair back from my shoulder as I did. Moving made it easier for me to act like I had unintentionally shrugged away from his touch. It was nothing more then a kind simple gesture…I was sure of it. But my usual insecurities deliberated the validity of that sureness. Once again I was over ruled.
I waved politely we said our simple goodbyes and I was on my merry way, not surprised when I stopped outside the door and heaved a huge sigh of relief. Poor Caspria. Such a bashful little goose aren't you!
My coworker Aries would always remind me how prude I was next to his hedonist views of life. I hated to admit how right he was..but I never used the word bashful to describe it. It was more of a diffident fear to be intimately connected to someone..I was no innocent to physical attraction but if I ever let it go beyond that point I always ended up crucifying myself for it later.
We have the Asian man, Brock Lee at Speed Mart. I couldn't get over the pun in his name much less his feigned love for books so he could put the moves on me. "Yeah. I LOVE books."
"Really…? What's your favorite one? Have you collected any?"
"……………………………................"
Moving on!
Jasper Reynolds. Ahh…Now he seemed like quite the catch!
Until those 15 missed calls on my satellite chip………
ALL on one day.
And let's not forget the headmaster from this school Prestus Harvey- words CAN not describe how good looking and criminally heinous he turned out to be…I shuddered.
And now.. the seemingly normal Mr. Conk. Edward I think his name was..
I growled despite myself.
Why do they always hire young males with shiny white teeth as the teachers around here…was that entailed in their requirements somewhere??
Perhaps I'd research it.
The last encounter I'd had with a teacher had been very discomforting. A date to the Animal Flesh Fair. I couldn't help but snort in remembrance as I made my way to the end of the hall. Rather then teaching others the man should've taught himself a lesson in common manners. No woman, especially me, would want to watch starved animals tear each other to pieces in a cage like savage beasts.
I made my way down the sectors of hallways and auditoriums, all crisp and white with artificial light glowing through the floor, and finally back to the front of the building. Both secretaries smiled when I passed by their cubicle.
"Have a nice day Miss Brooks!"
I hauled gluteus noticing the cracked door of the headmasters office. A silhouette moved quickly from within.
There was no way in the Galaxy I would be forced to confront that deranged acid snorting maniac again...
"Yes thank you for stopping by!"
I waved again.
My stomach was growling as I reached my speedpod. It wasn't anything fancy. A 4998 Nebula Supreme. I had my cousin Donny to thank for it.
Though I never had siblings to get hand-me-downs from, Donny had always been there for me in his usual self-centered way; whenever he upgraded to finer things in his life he always found a kindness in his heart to offer me his left over's. Even his clothes, and there wasn't anything more touching than that right? Donny's father, my distant Uncle Zeus, was fabulously wealthy…always buying his wife and Donny fancy things even though Donny was older then I was and perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
Relatives. What a fine luxury to have.
Usually I snubbed my nose to his sloppy seconds, most of the things he gave me were tattered, worn, or used anyway, but this speedpod was a definite exception. Thank the galaxy I no longer had to pay monthly for that damn membership to the Community Hauler! I had a hunch it was well on its way to be the crime capital of the colony. On wheels!
I hurried across the parking area, for the temperature outside was in it's second trimester of winter setting. This was the only part of history I admittedly did not appreciate reviving. Scientists had acquired new ways of forming artificial snow and colder temperatures on our ship. It was, as they addressed verbatim "to add zest and flavor to our pallid everyday environment." Simply to celebrate the winter solstice that we of course hadn't experienced in the last two thousand years.
I brushed aside the snow that fell on my shoulders. It was far from the real substance I was sure but it was cold and annoying none the less.
And it never melted. Who would honestly want to walk around dressed up for cold weather! , I thought irritated, we don't even celebrate Christmas for Omegas sake…
I placed my hand on the small security pad and it blinked green.
"Access Granted. Welcome back Miss Brooks." The monotone voice of the operating system greeted me as usual.
"Hi Nebula." I sighed hiding my hands in the hem of my jacket, waiting for the large glass sphere of the hood to lift so I could get in. The glass bubble retracted vertically and I climbed in plopping myself down into the seat with a shiver. The glass bubble declined above my head and sealed.
"Destination?" The computer asked. I replied stiffening a yawn.
"Work."
I did want to go home..it would've been nice to get a nap in before the meeting tonight but I had a lot of files and marking to get done and I'd held them off long enough as it was.
Jipston had called my research crew in for a briefing. Apparently he'd gotten wind of a startling discovery at our document base in Carpedium City. Startling usually meaning a couple new Dr. Seus books or an autobiography of some random soul recovered from a wreckage site or donated by a family with ancient ancestors of the Great100. Nothing extraordinary…but I would attempt to not look too disappointed. It had been such a long time since we'd gotten anything good..
I glanced at the speedometer before checking my watch.
'260 mi. per. Hr.' It was already 2:30.
I notched it up Manually to 270 hoping none of the Enforcement Officers were out on the highway right now.
I rarely ever broke the law but tonight I decided to take my chances. The autopilot noticed the relaxed patterns in my breathing and scanned the music stations. A soft dulcet concerto played through the speakers at a serene volume. I lay my head back against the smooth Taffeta seat and before dozing off I lifted my eyes.
Up past the highway, up past colors of other transporters zooming by in a blur.. Up beyond the endless glass sphere of our artificial sky, until finally I could stare at the stars…
The tiny rays of light where all other wonders went into the unknown.