I could still hear the bomb falling as I saw the sun rise. I didn't want to go down with Babylon.
I pressed the button.
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The city was golden. It was on the bleeding, screaming knife edge of
technology and
aesthetics.
Faster and farther it stretched its hands across the land, never ceasing and perpetually uncaring
of the so-called "boundaries" laid down by the
inferior.
Imagine being in a
submarine and flipping every single switch you can reach, never stopping to
wonder if one of them would launch a torpedo.
Wars happened as wars do.
And
once upon a midnight dreary while I wandered weak and weary through many a quaint and curious alley behind several forgotten stores,
I stumbled across a radiant glow in the distant darkness, beckoning my inquisition with a droning hum and a hint of
campfire warmth. I remember thinking that if I was going to
die anyway, then what was it I had to lose?
Around a corner lay a small rectangular device with one button and an antenna pulsing away green morse code poetry to some
unknown recipient. The air smelled like
grass and felt like
summer.
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"We will be victorious. Stay strong, citizens."
The words flooded the city through
an uncountable number of installed speakers. It was accompanied by visuals played on all
the
Screens. On any given wall of most buildings. In every home.
Something bad was coming from the sky. Its descent was marked by an ominous and distant whistle.
I was heading to my house, and to this day I can't tell you what
refuge I was hoping to find there. I just kept running.
It would be morning soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tore through my house like a
lunatic thief. Everything made its way to the floor as I frantically rifled through every
cupboard, every drawer, and every compartment. Anywhere that might hold something useful.
It was there, in my bedroom, under all of my socks, that I put my hands on the device for the second time.
I
paused. I think my heart
stopped.
I looked out my bedroom window to see a golden lining on the mountains. The whistling grew louder.
I inhaled deeply and said a quick prayer for luck.
I pressed my thumb against the colorless, metal button.
Click.
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I must have been knocked unconscious. I woke up on my back in an
emerald field on a rolling hill.
A delicate female voice danced into my ears, "So you found the gift I left you."
I looked up to see a woman more beautiful than any I had ever seen.
"Wh...Where am I?"
"You're hundreds of light years away from the place you left behind. You wished for escape and it manifested for you in the
form of a machine that sent you here while it stayed behind. Someday someone else will find it and they, too, may join us."
I sat up and before me there was a small group of people.
"Do you have a name for this place?"
"We call it
Eden."