Silence
The platform of concentric tiles curved like an orange
peel. Black space framed the symmetric magnificence.
Salina sucked in another breath of stale air, the
leftovers of her spacesuit’s oxygen supply. Why the manufacturers couldn’t come
up with a better air system that didn’t smell so bad was beyond her
keen.
Not that it mattered now.
She let the slight momentum carry her, twist her like a
leaf from a tree. Odd that. Thinking of trees and blue sky. Of gravity and windy
days and Oklahoma on a hot, dusty day in July. A long way from her job as an
engineer tech on Meridian.
The theories about terrestrial-type planets orbiting
Barnard’s Star were right. A group of three planets, all within the same mass
and size of Earth, became the object of much interest. Two planets, Wreath and
Zenith, orbited outside the ideal range.
But Meridian; it called to dreamers of other worlds like
a Siren. Green and golden, blue water and ice fields at the poles, it filled the
cups of every hopeful spacer.
The Corporation’s highest scientists aided by political
monies and interests, studied Meridian’s sun, temperamental red dwarf, Barnard’s
Star. Calculations and greased palms judged the star safe. In its youth, the
star would have burned the surface of its planets into cinders. Now, ancient in
a galaxy nearly as old as the universe, the star put out just enough energy to
sustain a vibrant planet with warm rays of heat and light.
Colonists ventured to the new planet held in place by a
dodgy star.
Salina volunteered, following her heart and allegiance
to the Corporation. Turned down by a faceless committee, Salina lost hope of
becoming a part of the Meridian group when someone at the Corporation made a
special point of asking her to join. Her skills, he said, were in short
supply.
Functioning in space, building the way station that
bridged the beyond with the planet below, creating the blueprints and
technology; all her shining moments. Her biggest hurdles were surmounting the
naysayers and suck-ups who barely survived without an imagination.
A proud moment, a fulfillment of her wishes and dreams
came with a pin, a blue six-pointed star that proclaimed her promotion as Chief
Engineer to the way station, Bideawee. All her ambitions, work, and
motivations rewarded at that ceremony.
But,
like static left from the Big Bang, the cosmic radiation that continually
bombards the universe, Salina always felt uneasy. Mutterings came from the
fringe, the unsophisticated underground of alarmists. Loudest of these agitators
was Coxa.
Named for a star in the constellation Leo, he formulated
marches, interrupted meetings, and staged protests to gain attention for his
theory; that Barnard’s Star was only sleeping.
At first, Coxa spoke reasonably, passionately about his
findings that Meridian’s sun was not to be trusted. Internal forces bubbled and
would explode, he said. When none took him seriously, Coxa grew strident,
anxious. Still no one listened.
“Barnard’s Star is gonna split open and spill its guts,”
he said at an attempt to disrupt the launching of another platform. The
authorities pinned him to the side of a memorial wall built as a reminder of
Earth. His cheek pressed flat against the carved stone, his gaze caught Salina’s
like hooks of supplication.
“Please,” he’d said through a broken mouth. “Listen to
me.”
But they didn’t and now…
Salina slowly cart wheeled past the white tiles of the
station. Her fuel packs were full but she chose not to stop her revolutions. Why
bother? And Bideawee? Unfinished?
Mentally she shrugged.
She didn’t bother to look behind her at the planet.
Mostly black now but spots of orange still sparkled the last time she’d looked.
Salina needed no more confirmation.
Coxa was right. Barnard’s Star had one last puff left in
its stellar body, a momentous solar flare that sheared the planet’s atmosphere
and cooked everything on the surface.
She’d had a ringside seat to the show. Alone, Salina had
cruised her one-man vessel to the station that morning, a privilege accorded to
her promotion. An inspection, she’d said to her crew. They’d laughed and waved
her off, knowing she loved her creation like a newborn child. Communing with her
station was one temptation she couldn’t resist.
Behind a heat plate designed to withstand most
radiation, alone on her station, Salina had witnessed the destruction of her
home.
Gone. And no one but her in orbit.
At that moment, a primordial instinct struck. The human
craves belonging and community, for safety or fellowship. People survive being
alone but always there is some tie to their species. Or to a living
element.
Salina was utterly alone with no connection to anything
or anyone. Her eyes wheeled as if looking for some movement, a biological,
living, breathing entity.
Foolishness,
she said to herself. But panic creeped into her soul despite her stern
admonition. In the dark recesses of her mind, the cancer of terror multiplied.
Flourished. And overwhelmed.
She breathed harder, felt sickness creep into her throat
and mouth.
She screamed and flailed. Mindless without any quality
of human left to her, she took big gulps of air to scream again. Over and
over.
But only the Silence took note. Dispassionate and
uncaring. Unforgiving.
I am keeping it anonymous...but you can reveal yourself if you want. :)
I love the feel of this piece. How it starts out, not exactly light and fluffy, but Oh Hey! Remember Earth...This is what I loved about it...and everything is going to be ok. And then slowly, you twisted that down into everything not being ok. Sort of like how the picture twists.
You can sense that something is a bit off when you start in, but you're not sure what. The movement from the quiet reserved/removed voice...to even explaining how the planet died in a very scientific way. Sets up the end very well.
I did get a bit tripped up in all the names, but I do tend to speed read (a bad habit from years of college) so I simply re-read it..and they came together.
I also felt the end was very believable. If you're the only human left. And you believe the only BEING left. Yah. Panic in the extreme.
Great piece of Flash Fiction! Thanks for the submission!
Now....What are Your Thoughts?
