The door slid silently open. I looked up and saw the face of the man I
once had considered my captor, who was now my closest friend.
"You're going home." He said, and tossed me a flight suit.
"Aren't I already home?" I asked.
Nakov shook his head. "Your real home." He said, and turned and left the room. The door slid shut behind him. I hurriedly pulled the silvery coverall suit on over my clothes. The auto-sizer shut itself and within seconds the suit had molded itself perfectly to my body.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the suit Nakov had given me was an extended wear flight suit, one that processed wastes through the skin, so there was no need for toilet facilities in long distance ships, which were an enormous drain of system resources and storage space. All wastes were compacted into a small pellet that could be injected into a waste port through an outlet in the back. The small bit of waste was immediately ejected into space.
Not that there was much waste. The food on this planet was specifically engineered for maximum efficiency; I rarely had to use the facilities more than once a week, something that took quite a while to get used to.
After the suit had finished sealing, I ran after Nakov.
"Nakov, what do you mean? Why do I have an LD on?"
Without dropping his pace, Nakov answered my question.
"You're going back to Earth."
"What? I thought you said Earth had been destroyed!"
"No, I said it was impossible for you to return. Now, you must."
My mind reeled. For ten years, I had lived under the impression that the planet of my birth was gone forever. I had mourned my family and friends for several years, before accepting that this planet, Strigna, was my home now.
Numb with shock, I mechanically followed Nakov to the space dock. We went aboard a shuttle that would take us to a larger LD ship that was already in orbit above the planet.
Strigna was a world much like Earth, except much, much greener. So green that even the people had a slightly greenish tinge to their skins. The sky was a lovely, deep emerald green, as was the water. As we rose into orbit, I took a long last look at the world I had called home for so long. It felt almost as difficult leaving here as it had been leaving Earth.
But there was hope in the knowledge I was going home. People I had thought dead would be alive. Alive! But with this happy revelation came many questions.
As Nakov piloted the shuttle to dock with the spaceship, I asked him why I had been deceived for so long.
He wouldn't answer me. In fact, every question I asked him during the docking procedure and starship flight following was met with silence. It was a long trip from Strigna to Earth, and I fully intended to stew the entire time.
However, about forty cycles into the journey, which is about two weeks, something went terribly wrong. I was sulking in my cabin when alarms began going off all over the ship. I ran to the cockpit.
"What's going on?"
"I do not know. Just in case, go back to the life pod and tell me how long it will support us."
"How do I find that out?"
"Ask the computer."
"Uhm. Ok."
I ran back to the life pod and stepped inside. The pod was tiny, only a few feet longer than I was tall. There was one seat, something that didn't occur to me at the time. I sat in the seat and tapped the console.
"Computer, how many cycles will life support be sustainable?"
//forty cycles//
I hit the intercom. "Nakov, the computer says forty cycles."
Then a thought struck me.
"Hey, why couldn't we have asked the computer up there?"
Just then, the door slid shut, and locked.
"Nakov, what are you doing?" The seatbelt locked around me.
"It will take another twenty cycles to get to Earth. You will survive. I am sorry. For everything."
As he spoke, the pod was ejected from the ship. I watched in horror through the viewscreen as the starship burst into flame and explode when the pod was far enough away.
"No! Nakov!"
I tried to make the pod turn around and go back, but it was set into autopilot and I couldn't change it. I asked the computer for our destination.
//Earth//
I couldn't believe what was happening. When I had first been "abducted" from Earth, I thought Nakov was an enemy, and that I would be just another statistic, experimented on by little green men. But as time went by, I discovered that the Strigna were a noble race, quiet and humble. Nakov told me that I could not return to Earth. I took that to mean that the Earth was gone. It was painful to me at first that the Nakov were green, I was reminded of my best friends, four people who had saved me from some thugs who were after something my father had invented, and had left to me when he died. Thanks to those four, those thugs never got their hands on what would have been an extremely powerful weapon, one that would have destroyed all life on Earth. I wondered for a while if that was what had happened, if someone had gotten their hands on the technology, but no, that was impossible. I had destroyed it, and there were no schematics. Father had built it from his head, and the plans died with him.
Green. Yes, my friends were green, but sadly, green was not an acceptable color on Earth as it was on Strigna. They were forced to hide underground. Only I and two other humans were their friends, and only a few beyond us even knew they existed at all.
Michaelangelo. So funny and cute, always ready with a joke, yet I had discovered that he could be wise when he wanted to. He could always make me laugh.
Raphael. Dangerous, yet compelling. He had a fire within him that was unquenchable, you could see it in his eyes. He too had a hidden side, one that was loving and vulnerable. I liked him best of all.
Leonardo. Loyal and honorable, always ready to do what was right. He was a tireless student of his master Splinter, and was devoted to their craft. He would always be at your side when you needed him.
Donatello. Intelligent and thoughtful. Insatiably curious, always wondering why. I loved to talk to him about everything, for he was the best listener.
Four green men, only, they weren't really men, they were turtles. Mutants at that. A twist of fate had made them what they were, and I was glad for it. I was alive because of it. And I mourned them deeply, more than anyone, I think.
As I sat alone in the pod, waiting to catch sight of my home, I twisted in my hands the only piece of home I had left. It was a yin and yang, given to me by Leonardo one Christmas. It was his favorite symbol, he told me. It reminded him of the struggle each one of them went through daily. I had been wearing it around my neck when the Strigna took me to their planet, and I insisted on keeping it when they took away my Earth clothes and gave me new ones. They said that my clothes smelled funny. I bet they did after a couple of weeks of no washing.
Another week went by, and I saw our solar system get closer and closer on the star charts. But something didn't look right. As I neared the outer fringes, passing Pluto and Uranus, I noticed that there was something odd about the sun, but I was too far away to tell for sure.
As I rounded Jupiter, I then discovered what it was.
The sun was an angry, blistering red.
It looked as if it had aged about a billion years, and was about to nova. Only, the size was the same. If it had indeed turned into a red dwarf, it would have been much much smaller. But I compared the size of our normal sun with what it was now, with the computer, and the sun had not changed size, only color.
What could have happened?
It took only a few hours to get from Jupiter to Earth. I hadn't realized just how fast the pod was moving. It then struck me just how far Strigna must be from here. I felt very alone.
I felt the pod slow considerably as we passed the moon. If it were moving too fast, it would burn up in the atmosphere. As it was, I hoped the heat shielding would be sufficient.
The console started beeping as we hit the upper atmosphere. The auto-belt snapped itself around me, and the proper thrusters fired to slow the pod further, and it made a proper descent towards Earth.
I wondered then where the pod was programmed to land. I watched as the land got closer and closer. I was over North America. Would it take me right back home to New York? No, I was headed further west, towards what I thought must be Wyoming. Why Wyoming?
The ride got bumpy as the pod prepared to land. A sea of foam filled the capsule, to protect me in case of a crash landing.
Several minutes later, I was on the ground. Only after the foam had dissipated did the door unlock and open.
The seatbelt opened up, and I was free to move about. I blinkingly stepped out into the angry red light, and then promptly fell. I forgot that it had been a very long time since I had last stood, and even though the LD suit kept my circulation in shape so my muscles wouldn't atrophy, they were not used to supporting my weight.
I sat for several minutes until I felt brave enough to attempt standing again. This time, supported by the side of the ship, I was able to stand and look around.
I was in the middle of a wasteland.
In all directions, there was nothing but desert. It was as if the whole world had turned to sand, and then I remembered something. It didn't strike me at the time, but when we got in view of Earth, I had not seen any green. It was all brown. At that moment, I realized that the whole planet had been turned to sand.
I had almost given in to despair when to the east I saw a flash of silver. I hoped that it would be someone alive, who could explain to me just what had happened.
Slowly at first, I made my way towards whatever it was I had seen. As I got closer, I lost all hope of seeing someone alive.
It was a rusted out car, just sitting there in the middle of the sand as though a giant child playing in a sandbox with his Matchbox cars had dropped it there and then forgot all about it.
I hesitated to go further, but then I saw it again, the glint of silver. It wasn't the car I had seen, it was something half buried near the car. I drew closer, and knelt down to see what it was. A strange wind blew then, taking the sand away with it. I reached down and pulled the object out of the sand, and gasped when I realized what it was.
It was a sai, still strangely shiny and new looking, even after being buried there for years, as it must have been. I looked down, and that same strange wind uncovered its brother. I picked that one up too, and then jumped up as I noticed movement from the car.
To my horror, a body fell out of the car, which had no doors, and lifted its head. It was Raphael! I could see a tattered red headband around its neck, and the shell upon its back. The skeletal head lifted, and looked straight at me.
Then, with what looked like relief, the head dropped, and the body disintegrated.
"Oh my God!" I said, to nobody in particular. It was then I noticed that in the front seat, there was another body.
"Oh no, no."
It was Michaelangelo. The once-bright orange headband hung from the bleached skull. I noticed that he clutched something in his arms. It was wrapped in clear plastic, and I could see that it was a sheaf of papers. I hesitantly touched the package, to see if I could find out more about it, when the dead arms lifted it up and held it out to me. I fell backwards into the sand and scrambled away like a crab. I sat for a moment, trying to catch my breath. I gasped like a fish that had jumped from its bowl seeking freedom, only to find death.
As I sat regaining my senses, Michaelangelo's hands still held the plastic wrapped package towards me. Deciding that since I had already gone crazy, I might as well go the full route and take that too. Sticking the sai into a pocket in my LD suit, I stood up and gently took the package from his hands. As I pulled it away, the fingers let go, and as had Raphael's, the head turned towards me, tilted as though in thanks, and then he too disintegrated. Their bodies became one with the sand, and blew away.
I stood back, trying to process in my mind what had just happened. I looked down at the plastic wrapped papers I had pulled to my chest, and saw just what it was. The front page read: "Red as the Sun" by Michaelangelo.
I looked up at the sun again. Had he written this before or after all this had gone on? I supposed I would never know.
As I turned around to walk back to my pod, the earth began to tremble. A crack opened up near the back of the now empty automobile. Sand began pouring into it, and as it grew wider and wider, I too was pulled in. I tried to run but the sand just slid from under my feet, and I fell.
I didn't fall far. I saw after a minute that I had fallen into some sort of cave. After adjusting to the semi-darkness, I noticed there was something on the wall. To my shock, I saw a human skeleton. Two, in fact. They were hanging on the wall as though they had been stapled there, not shackled. One had dull red curls still clinging to its scalp, the other had short black hairs, and had a hockey mask dangling from its neck.
I stood agape, as I realized who they were. Then sense grabbed hold of me and I backed away. My foot struck something as I moved, and I half expected to see another body. But when I looked down, I saw a shell. A large turtle shell. I knelt down to inspect it, not daring to touch it, when I noticed near the edge a strange star-shaped scar. It was then I knew whom it belonged to.
Donatello had such a scar on his shell, after falling onto one of my cookie cutters. It was so funny. He had been looking for something in a drawer, and pulled it out too far, spilling the contents all over the kitchen. He was so embarrassed, and profusely apologized as he tried to clean up the mess he had made. However, he didn't notice the rolling pin under his foot. Slipping, he fell backwards right onto my metal, star-shaped cookie cutter, which dug right into his shell. It had taken forever to get it out, and we had to be careful not to take that section of shell out with it.
After it healed, Donatello had pronounced that it was pretty darn cool looking, and could sometimes be seen throwing his arms in the air and pronouncing himself a "Superstar!"
I half smiled as I remembered, then the tears fell as I realized that my friends were gone forever.
"Don't cry."
"I can't help…"
With a gasp, I jumped up and spun around.
Donatello stood there, sans shell, but seemingly alive! I threw myself into his arms and began to sob.
He stroked my hair and held me while I let it all come out. When I was finished, I backed away and tried my best to dry my face.
"Hi."
"Hi? That's all you can say is Hi? Donatello, what happened?"
"Uh, we don't exactly know."
"What?"
"You disappeared, and then suddenly the whole world fell apart. Cities began falling into sand, and the people with them. Where did you go, anyway?"
"Uhm, another planet."
"Really? Fascinating."
"Yeah, you would have liked it. Everyone was green."
"Neat!"
"Er, yeah…"
"Uh, anyway, there isn't much time. Take my shell."
"What? Why?"
"I don't have time to answer that, just take it."
"Wait a minute. If I take your shell, will you disappear like Raph and Mikey did?"
"Um. Yes."
"So you're dead too..."
"Er, Yeah. But I volunteered to stay behind and wait for you, should you ever return."
"Volunteered? But how…?"
Donatello stopped me. "Just take my shell, and go. You'll get your answers on your journey."
Something struck me.
"Donny, where's Leo?"
"Uhm. Leo is still alive."
"Still alive? That's great!"
"Not really. He kinda went crazy."
"Crazy? Crazy how?"
"I don't know that either, but I do know you have to find him. And soon."
"Find him? How am I going to do that? It's been ten years since I last saw you guys, how would I even know where to begin to look?"
Donatello just picked up his shell, tossed it out of the hole, and jumped out himself. He held a hand down to me and lifted me out.
He picked up his shell again, and held it out to me.
"Just take my shell, and go. It will protect you."
"Protect me? From what?"
"I'm not sure of that either. Just go."
"But Donny, how do I find Leo?"
Donatello tossed his shell at me. I reflexively caught it, and as I did, he began to fade.
As he did, he waved his hands towards the west, and said, "Just follow in his footsteps."
He disappeared then, and as he did, that same strange wind blew again. As I watched, footsteps appeared in the sand, heading west past my pod.
I stood for a moment, trying to absorb all that had happened in just a few short minutes. And then, because basically I had nothing better to do, I began following those footprints. I noticed that as I passed each one, it faded into the sand.
"Looks like this is a one-way trip." When I got to my pod, I stopped for supplies. It had been equipped for a two-week journey, and I had been traveling for at least one. I took what was left, and hoped what I had to do wouldn't take more than a week. I was sure I wouldn't find food here in this wasteland.
It occurred to me that Donatello's shell would become quite cumbersome to carry, so I found some rope in the emergency supplies and fashioned a shoulder harness. I could now carry his shell much like he himself did, across my back. I felt a little safer with his shell on me, I don't really know why. Putting Michaelangelo's manuscript in a pack along with my rations and Raphael's sais, I slung that on my back under the shell, so my hands would remain free.
I wasn't worried about water, the rations had plenty, and the LD suit could recycle water should I need to, much like the still-suits in the book Dune.
I felt like I were in that book now, trudging through a vast desert with no idea what I was going to do next.
"You're going home." He said, and tossed me a flight suit.
"Aren't I already home?" I asked.
Nakov shook his head. "Your real home." He said, and turned and left the room. The door slid shut behind him. I hurriedly pulled the silvery coverall suit on over my clothes. The auto-sizer shut itself and within seconds the suit had molded itself perfectly to my body.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the suit Nakov had given me was an extended wear flight suit, one that processed wastes through the skin, so there was no need for toilet facilities in long distance ships, which were an enormous drain of system resources and storage space. All wastes were compacted into a small pellet that could be injected into a waste port through an outlet in the back. The small bit of waste was immediately ejected into space.
Not that there was much waste. The food on this planet was specifically engineered for maximum efficiency; I rarely had to use the facilities more than once a week, something that took quite a while to get used to.
After the suit had finished sealing, I ran after Nakov.
"Nakov, what do you mean? Why do I have an LD on?"
Without dropping his pace, Nakov answered my question.
"You're going back to Earth."
"What? I thought you said Earth had been destroyed!"
"No, I said it was impossible for you to return. Now, you must."
My mind reeled. For ten years, I had lived under the impression that the planet of my birth was gone forever. I had mourned my family and friends for several years, before accepting that this planet, Strigna, was my home now.
Numb with shock, I mechanically followed Nakov to the space dock. We went aboard a shuttle that would take us to a larger LD ship that was already in orbit above the planet.
Strigna was a world much like Earth, except much, much greener. So green that even the people had a slightly greenish tinge to their skins. The sky was a lovely, deep emerald green, as was the water. As we rose into orbit, I took a long last look at the world I had called home for so long. It felt almost as difficult leaving here as it had been leaving Earth.
But there was hope in the knowledge I was going home. People I had thought dead would be alive. Alive! But with this happy revelation came many questions.
As Nakov piloted the shuttle to dock with the spaceship, I asked him why I had been deceived for so long.
He wouldn't answer me. In fact, every question I asked him during the docking procedure and starship flight following was met with silence. It was a long trip from Strigna to Earth, and I fully intended to stew the entire time.
However, about forty cycles into the journey, which is about two weeks, something went terribly wrong. I was sulking in my cabin when alarms began going off all over the ship. I ran to the cockpit.
"What's going on?"
"I do not know. Just in case, go back to the life pod and tell me how long it will support us."
"How do I find that out?"
"Ask the computer."
"Uhm. Ok."
I ran back to the life pod and stepped inside. The pod was tiny, only a few feet longer than I was tall. There was one seat, something that didn't occur to me at the time. I sat in the seat and tapped the console.
"Computer, how many cycles will life support be sustainable?"
//forty cycles//
I hit the intercom. "Nakov, the computer says forty cycles."
Then a thought struck me.
"Hey, why couldn't we have asked the computer up there?"
Just then, the door slid shut, and locked.
"Nakov, what are you doing?" The seatbelt locked around me.
"It will take another twenty cycles to get to Earth. You will survive. I am sorry. For everything."
As he spoke, the pod was ejected from the ship. I watched in horror through the viewscreen as the starship burst into flame and explode when the pod was far enough away.
"No! Nakov!"
I tried to make the pod turn around and go back, but it was set into autopilot and I couldn't change it. I asked the computer for our destination.
//Earth//
I couldn't believe what was happening. When I had first been "abducted" from Earth, I thought Nakov was an enemy, and that I would be just another statistic, experimented on by little green men. But as time went by, I discovered that the Strigna were a noble race, quiet and humble. Nakov told me that I could not return to Earth. I took that to mean that the Earth was gone. It was painful to me at first that the Nakov were green, I was reminded of my best friends, four people who had saved me from some thugs who were after something my father had invented, and had left to me when he died. Thanks to those four, those thugs never got their hands on what would have been an extremely powerful weapon, one that would have destroyed all life on Earth. I wondered for a while if that was what had happened, if someone had gotten their hands on the technology, but no, that was impossible. I had destroyed it, and there were no schematics. Father had built it from his head, and the plans died with him.
Green. Yes, my friends were green, but sadly, green was not an acceptable color on Earth as it was on Strigna. They were forced to hide underground. Only I and two other humans were their friends, and only a few beyond us even knew they existed at all.
Michaelangelo. So funny and cute, always ready with a joke, yet I had discovered that he could be wise when he wanted to. He could always make me laugh.
Raphael. Dangerous, yet compelling. He had a fire within him that was unquenchable, you could see it in his eyes. He too had a hidden side, one that was loving and vulnerable. I liked him best of all.
Leonardo. Loyal and honorable, always ready to do what was right. He was a tireless student of his master Splinter, and was devoted to their craft. He would always be at your side when you needed him.
Donatello. Intelligent and thoughtful. Insatiably curious, always wondering why. I loved to talk to him about everything, for he was the best listener.
Four green men, only, they weren't really men, they were turtles. Mutants at that. A twist of fate had made them what they were, and I was glad for it. I was alive because of it. And I mourned them deeply, more than anyone, I think.
As I sat alone in the pod, waiting to catch sight of my home, I twisted in my hands the only piece of home I had left. It was a yin and yang, given to me by Leonardo one Christmas. It was his favorite symbol, he told me. It reminded him of the struggle each one of them went through daily. I had been wearing it around my neck when the Strigna took me to their planet, and I insisted on keeping it when they took away my Earth clothes and gave me new ones. They said that my clothes smelled funny. I bet they did after a couple of weeks of no washing.
Another week went by, and I saw our solar system get closer and closer on the star charts. But something didn't look right. As I neared the outer fringes, passing Pluto and Uranus, I noticed that there was something odd about the sun, but I was too far away to tell for sure.
As I rounded Jupiter, I then discovered what it was.
The sun was an angry, blistering red.
It looked as if it had aged about a billion years, and was about to nova. Only, the size was the same. If it had indeed turned into a red dwarf, it would have been much much smaller. But I compared the size of our normal sun with what it was now, with the computer, and the sun had not changed size, only color.
What could have happened?
It took only a few hours to get from Jupiter to Earth. I hadn't realized just how fast the pod was moving. It then struck me just how far Strigna must be from here. I felt very alone.
I felt the pod slow considerably as we passed the moon. If it were moving too fast, it would burn up in the atmosphere. As it was, I hoped the heat shielding would be sufficient.
The console started beeping as we hit the upper atmosphere. The auto-belt snapped itself around me, and the proper thrusters fired to slow the pod further, and it made a proper descent towards Earth.
I wondered then where the pod was programmed to land. I watched as the land got closer and closer. I was over North America. Would it take me right back home to New York? No, I was headed further west, towards what I thought must be Wyoming. Why Wyoming?
The ride got bumpy as the pod prepared to land. A sea of foam filled the capsule, to protect me in case of a crash landing.
Several minutes later, I was on the ground. Only after the foam had dissipated did the door unlock and open.
The seatbelt opened up, and I was free to move about. I blinkingly stepped out into the angry red light, and then promptly fell. I forgot that it had been a very long time since I had last stood, and even though the LD suit kept my circulation in shape so my muscles wouldn't atrophy, they were not used to supporting my weight.
I sat for several minutes until I felt brave enough to attempt standing again. This time, supported by the side of the ship, I was able to stand and look around.
I was in the middle of a wasteland.
In all directions, there was nothing but desert. It was as if the whole world had turned to sand, and then I remembered something. It didn't strike me at the time, but when we got in view of Earth, I had not seen any green. It was all brown. At that moment, I realized that the whole planet had been turned to sand.
I had almost given in to despair when to the east I saw a flash of silver. I hoped that it would be someone alive, who could explain to me just what had happened.
Slowly at first, I made my way towards whatever it was I had seen. As I got closer, I lost all hope of seeing someone alive.
It was a rusted out car, just sitting there in the middle of the sand as though a giant child playing in a sandbox with his Matchbox cars had dropped it there and then forgot all about it.
I hesitated to go further, but then I saw it again, the glint of silver. It wasn't the car I had seen, it was something half buried near the car. I drew closer, and knelt down to see what it was. A strange wind blew then, taking the sand away with it. I reached down and pulled the object out of the sand, and gasped when I realized what it was.
It was a sai, still strangely shiny and new looking, even after being buried there for years, as it must have been. I looked down, and that same strange wind uncovered its brother. I picked that one up too, and then jumped up as I noticed movement from the car.
To my horror, a body fell out of the car, which had no doors, and lifted its head. It was Raphael! I could see a tattered red headband around its neck, and the shell upon its back. The skeletal head lifted, and looked straight at me.
Then, with what looked like relief, the head dropped, and the body disintegrated.
"Oh my God!" I said, to nobody in particular. It was then I noticed that in the front seat, there was another body.
"Oh no, no."
It was Michaelangelo. The once-bright orange headband hung from the bleached skull. I noticed that he clutched something in his arms. It was wrapped in clear plastic, and I could see that it was a sheaf of papers. I hesitantly touched the package, to see if I could find out more about it, when the dead arms lifted it up and held it out to me. I fell backwards into the sand and scrambled away like a crab. I sat for a moment, trying to catch my breath. I gasped like a fish that had jumped from its bowl seeking freedom, only to find death.
As I sat regaining my senses, Michaelangelo's hands still held the plastic wrapped package towards me. Deciding that since I had already gone crazy, I might as well go the full route and take that too. Sticking the sai into a pocket in my LD suit, I stood up and gently took the package from his hands. As I pulled it away, the fingers let go, and as had Raphael's, the head turned towards me, tilted as though in thanks, and then he too disintegrated. Their bodies became one with the sand, and blew away.
I stood back, trying to process in my mind what had just happened. I looked down at the plastic wrapped papers I had pulled to my chest, and saw just what it was. The front page read: "Red as the Sun" by Michaelangelo.
I looked up at the sun again. Had he written this before or after all this had gone on? I supposed I would never know.
As I turned around to walk back to my pod, the earth began to tremble. A crack opened up near the back of the now empty automobile. Sand began pouring into it, and as it grew wider and wider, I too was pulled in. I tried to run but the sand just slid from under my feet, and I fell.
I didn't fall far. I saw after a minute that I had fallen into some sort of cave. After adjusting to the semi-darkness, I noticed there was something on the wall. To my shock, I saw a human skeleton. Two, in fact. They were hanging on the wall as though they had been stapled there, not shackled. One had dull red curls still clinging to its scalp, the other had short black hairs, and had a hockey mask dangling from its neck.
I stood agape, as I realized who they were. Then sense grabbed hold of me and I backed away. My foot struck something as I moved, and I half expected to see another body. But when I looked down, I saw a shell. A large turtle shell. I knelt down to inspect it, not daring to touch it, when I noticed near the edge a strange star-shaped scar. It was then I knew whom it belonged to.
Donatello had such a scar on his shell, after falling onto one of my cookie cutters. It was so funny. He had been looking for something in a drawer, and pulled it out too far, spilling the contents all over the kitchen. He was so embarrassed, and profusely apologized as he tried to clean up the mess he had made. However, he didn't notice the rolling pin under his foot. Slipping, he fell backwards right onto my metal, star-shaped cookie cutter, which dug right into his shell. It had taken forever to get it out, and we had to be careful not to take that section of shell out with it.
After it healed, Donatello had pronounced that it was pretty darn cool looking, and could sometimes be seen throwing his arms in the air and pronouncing himself a "Superstar!"
I half smiled as I remembered, then the tears fell as I realized that my friends were gone forever.
"Don't cry."
"I can't help…"
With a gasp, I jumped up and spun around.
Donatello stood there, sans shell, but seemingly alive! I threw myself into his arms and began to sob.
He stroked my hair and held me while I let it all come out. When I was finished, I backed away and tried my best to dry my face.
"Hi."
"Hi? That's all you can say is Hi? Donatello, what happened?"
"Uh, we don't exactly know."
"What?"
"You disappeared, and then suddenly the whole world fell apart. Cities began falling into sand, and the people with them. Where did you go, anyway?"
"Uhm, another planet."
"Really? Fascinating."
"Yeah, you would have liked it. Everyone was green."
"Neat!"
"Er, yeah…"
"Uh, anyway, there isn't much time. Take my shell."
"What? Why?"
"I don't have time to answer that, just take it."
"Wait a minute. If I take your shell, will you disappear like Raph and Mikey did?"
"Um. Yes."
"So you're dead too..."
"Er, Yeah. But I volunteered to stay behind and wait for you, should you ever return."
"Volunteered? But how…?"
Donatello stopped me. "Just take my shell, and go. You'll get your answers on your journey."
Something struck me.
"Donny, where's Leo?"
"Uhm. Leo is still alive."
"Still alive? That's great!"
"Not really. He kinda went crazy."
"Crazy? Crazy how?"
"I don't know that either, but I do know you have to find him. And soon."
"Find him? How am I going to do that? It's been ten years since I last saw you guys, how would I even know where to begin to look?"
Donatello just picked up his shell, tossed it out of the hole, and jumped out himself. He held a hand down to me and lifted me out.
He picked up his shell again, and held it out to me.
"Just take my shell, and go. It will protect you."
"Protect me? From what?"
"I'm not sure of that either. Just go."
"But Donny, how do I find Leo?"
Donatello tossed his shell at me. I reflexively caught it, and as I did, he began to fade.
As he did, he waved his hands towards the west, and said, "Just follow in his footsteps."
He disappeared then, and as he did, that same strange wind blew again. As I watched, footsteps appeared in the sand, heading west past my pod.
I stood for a moment, trying to absorb all that had happened in just a few short minutes. And then, because basically I had nothing better to do, I began following those footprints. I noticed that as I passed each one, it faded into the sand.
"Looks like this is a one-way trip." When I got to my pod, I stopped for supplies. It had been equipped for a two-week journey, and I had been traveling for at least one. I took what was left, and hoped what I had to do wouldn't take more than a week. I was sure I wouldn't find food here in this wasteland.
It occurred to me that Donatello's shell would become quite cumbersome to carry, so I found some rope in the emergency supplies and fashioned a shoulder harness. I could now carry his shell much like he himself did, across my back. I felt a little safer with his shell on me, I don't really know why. Putting Michaelangelo's manuscript in a pack along with my rations and Raphael's sais, I slung that on my back under the shell, so my hands would remain free.
I wasn't worried about water, the rations had plenty, and the LD suit could recycle water should I need to, much like the still-suits in the book Dune.
I felt like I were in that book now, trudging through a vast desert with no idea what I was going to do next.