Chapter Two
by Katie Heffring
Here.
Suit on. Ready to go. What the hell’s gonna be out there? Fifteen years since I felt the sun. I tint the face shield of my helmet, expecting to be immediately blinded by it, and open the hatch. But when I step out onto the new world, all is grey. The sky is grey, the snow is grey, I am grey. Grey has usurped this world for miles. I remove the tint and take a closer look at my new surroundings. So strange. There is nothing else.
A strong wind slaps my face shield and startles me. So close to feeling that sensation again, I am almost tempted to remove my helmet. I read the eco- sensor strapped to my arm. Temperature –28 °C. Wind E 45 km/h. Humdity 18%. P.O.P 0%. Radioactivity 3.4 mSv.
I take off my helmet. Feeling the wind through my hair is more than amazing.
“Take it off, honey! Take…it…off!” A man’s voice calls from behind me. He whistles. Immediately, I whip around and pull out my lazer gun. A man not much taller than me hovers on a Segway in front of my pod. My red target dot appears directly over his heart. He raises his hands.
“Whoa whoa whoa, lady! Take it easy!” He says as he steps onto the ground. I put my gun down. “Geesh, aren’t we uptight.”
I push past him and walk into my pod. He follows me in. Without saying a word, I check how well my plants survived the landing. The man stands beside me.
“Come on. The name’s Norton Mighty.” He lays his open hand across my chest for a shake. I look down at his wiggling fingers. Oi vey! I place my hand in his and squeeze as tight as I can.
“Sega.”
He jerks his hand away in pain, “Yee-ouch! Say again?”
“Sega…Sega Gargle.”
Norton steps back and laughs. His laugh is so loud that the burst out nearly makes me jump. I turn to ignore him and prod my finger at the base of each plant to check for dryness. He continues, still chuckling.
“Sorry…no really, sorry. It’s just…what kind of name is that? You’re a hippie, aren’t you?”
But, before I could answer a petit honey-coloured woman storms in.
“Oh shut up, Nort.” She elbows past him. “Hi, I’m Dot Florentine,” Dot’s smile glows and properly shakes my hand, “I specialize in genetic engineering. Nort, here, specializes in being a jackass.”
“Not true. I specialize in woman.” He gives me a cheeky smile and a wink. I look down at my plants. I can feel my face turning red.
“You wish,” Dot continues, “Our pods landed next to each other and we’re both genetic engineers. Though, not only am I much better looking, but I am also much smarter…”
“Whatever! You know RadioMn,” Nort sticks out his chest.
“The first actually effective vaccine against protein oxidation…well yeah, duh!” Dot rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, that was me,” he shrugs.
“Nooo way!” Dot and I reply at the same time. Our eyes nearly bulge out of our heads. This was a major medical breakthrough – one which allows us to walk Earth without always wearing bio-suits.
“Way,” Nort stretches his arms out and rests them behind a head of thick wavy hair. This time, I roll my eyes.
“But how did you get the human receptors to pick up D.radiodurans without the infiltration antibodies or even phagocytes for that matter?”
“Went viral…”
Their biological banter became white noise as I began to concentrate on checking the condition of my inventory. Everything appears intact, except a crack in one of the test tubes full of sunflower seeds. As I pour the seeds into a new tube, a flash of bright light and then a thunderous vibration shakes the pod. The seeds scatter across the floor. In a frozen state, we all look at each other. I run out this time with the rifle. The snow crunches behind me. Nort and Dot flank my sides with their weapons at the ready.
The bright light flashes again nearly blinding us. BANG! Something explodes and thousands of metal shards begin to rain down on us. We run into the entry of the pod for protection and watch the burning fire. For something.
And then there it is. But what? Something emerges alright. The silhouette twists, writhes, limps forward and then, collapses. A gargled yell echoes. With the safety off my gun, I run towards it.
