Sunday, June 3, 2012

It's The End Of The World...

Mare Serenitatis

Note: The text below was written for the Virtual Writers' Word Scrimmage where you type as fast as you can for 10 minutes with the aim of  increasing your writing pace. The text below is the result and only typos have been edited.

It’s the end of the world, she announced looking majestic in the middle of the cathedral. Everyone looked at one another in panic. How could it be the end of the world? They simply couldn’t understand it. She continued, they will come and destroy everything, every man, woman, animal, they will destroy the trees and the fields and everything we consider dear and vital to our survival. But who are they, someone asked in a high pitched voice. She looked at the man at the back of the room. He was the trouble-maker, the man she had dreaded. You very well know who they are, Thomas, they will come with their ships and robots and kill everyone. But where are they from, insisted Thomas, after all it does not seem that normal for them to choose us, yes, why us? Why not any other planet on their path? Does it really matter, she asked? Does it matter that we will be dead in less than a few days? Or should we just focus on the big picture here and start planning a way to defend ourselves? Defend ourselves; a woman yelled from the back of the room, how can we do that? She sneered, she had them, and perhaps Thomas would not be a problem after all. Well, we can gather all the food we can get a hold of and try to reactivate the shelters, remember, those iron doors in the palace? The ones that are all rusted, asked Thomas, the ones we cannot even open because if we do they will disintegrate themselves in our hands? Thomas, she started, you are not helping, and you MUST work with us here. Perhaps setting Thomas aside from all the rest would help her guide this whole situation the way she wanted. We must work together and not create issues. Thomas bowed his head. So be it, fair lady, so be it. I shall do as you wish. And the crowd looked at him amazed. It was not like Thomas to give up so easily. So, get all the food and water, and we will meet at the iron doors in two days. Everyone shook their heads agreeing. She walked down from the improvised stage. It was done. She got her bag and waited. She did not go to the doors, she did not gather any food and water, and she didn’t need it. She just looked at the paper she was holding and read that one single line over and over again: We’ll be there tomorrow. And they would bring the money they promised her, and they would take everyone to be their slaves, and she would be done with that annoying little colony.

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