Twin Earth

Chapter 66

"But this place looks like a jungle. I was expecting something much more..." James remarked as we carefully climbed out from the cave rubble and inspected our surroundings.

"More what?" I asked in surprise.

"I don't know, futuristic I guess. This place just looks overgrown and forgotten."

"I have to admit, this isn't the Mochuvia I remember. I mean there was jungle, but this..." I stated, looking around in confusion.

"This is helping no-one Tom. We need to get Yuki to safety," James replied, grabbing my arm and forcing me back towards the cave.

"I'm fine James," Yuki mumbled, climbing out from the ruins with the help of my father.

"Yuki!" James shouted, running over and immediately taking over from my father.

"Please, stop fussing. Would you be this concerned if Tom had been injured?" Yuki replied annoyed.

"No, but then I'm not married to Tom or in love with him," James replied, clearly hurt at being pushed away.

"I'll try not to take that too personally," I muttered.

"Tom's right, we should continue to investigate this planet. This is a monumental discovery and I'm not going to let a little bump on the head put a stop to that."

"There's people coming," Hayden interrupted, drawing our attention to a commotion heading in our direction.

Through the mess of rubble and fallen trees, the man we had first seen upon our arrival was now waving his hand in our direction to a group of men and women who didn't look at all pleased to see us.

"I don't like the look of this," James replied, still attempting to pull Yuki away from any perceivable threat.

"This is strange. Why are they so angry?" I whispered, confused.

Then a familiar voice shouted from behind the small crowd that was heading our way, and pushing his way through I was relieved to see Apo running towards us.

"Tom, is that you?" Apo shouted as he joined us, still wary of the group behind him, but clearly excited to see me. "Please excuse my people. Things have changed since you have been gone. We began to question if we would ever see you again."

"How long has it been?" I asked nervously.

"Just over ten years."

"That was the same on Earth, but like them, I only left you a few days ago!"

"It must be the time dilation in the great void. I cannot thank you enough for the sacrifice you made for all our people and for your people too. You saved us and you survived!"

"So why the angry mob?" I remarked, still uneasy at the batons being held by various members of the group behind Apo. "And where is Rachel? Is she okay? Is she safe?"

"Come, we should move away from here. The tension around this ellipse is too much for my people."

We all followed Apo away from the crowd and down towards a clearing in the jungle that looked out over a large lake. I couldn't remember if I had seen lakes on Mochuvia before and for a second I questioned if we were on the same planet.

"This is beautiful, but are we in the South?"

"A lot has changed Tom. After you left, the invasion and tsunami devastated our world. Only after your successful mission did the invaders from Earth finally leave, but some never made it back to Earth and my people turned them into slaves to help with the recovery of our planet. My people were so angry Tom and still are. When they saw your white faces they were ready to kill you on sight."