Fall of the Chrysalis

A beautiful and devastating sight.

August POV -

I opened my eyes. The light was blinding and painful. And the ringing, constant, loud. It's all I can hear.  I sit up and look around, Completely disoriented. What happened? I look around and see trees.... Trees.... I think? I've never actually seen one other than in the archives of my holo-com. I guess that is the nature of being a genesis child. I was born onboard the Chrysalis. It's metal corridor's and fluorescent lights are all I have ever known. And now I find myself on... earth? No not earth, That's impossible. The earth is gone. My teacher told me the last contact they had with our command center was just after the Chrysalis had broken through the atmosphere. The last words ever recorded from earth are inscribed on the captains console.  "You are humanity's last chance. This time make sure we do better, Make sure we deserved it." Seconds later the earth collapsed in on it's self. Just like that 34 billion lives were gone. 34 billion lights extinguished. I was told it was a beautiful and devastating sight. All brought on by corporate greed. We knew what we were risking. We killed the very planet that had housed us for millions of years. Regardless I'm fairly sure I'm laying on dirt right now, and there is a giant tree above my head. I know what this means. This planet has a thriving ecosystem. That means there are animals here as well. And where there are animals. There are predators. I need to find my bearings and get moving. I stand up, My legs are shaking and I feel like I've had the wind knocked out of me. I inspect my visor. No cracks, seems the engineers really built these suits to last. Good thing too. I've seen a generation 1 Gooey suits visor break from a 3 foot drop. If I was wearing one of those and not this generation 12 I would be dead for sure. But from what? I still don't even know what happened. How did I end up down here? And where is the Chrysalis? I hear electricity crackling nearby. I turn around to see an escape pod. Why can't I remember anything? As I take a step toward the escape pod I can see written on the side LIFE BOAT in red decals. The crash must have scraped some of the letters but it was still legible. I reach inside to grab the ICOE kit. (Incase of emergency) I said out loud to myself. Before I get a chance to open the emergency supplies I get feedback from my Gooey suit. "Warning oxygen levels critical. Emergency oxygen manufacturing process initialized" That's good, I said. Thanking the inanimate object that is keeping me alive. I look off in the distance and see a huge pillar of smoke. Not just any kind of smoke. I can tell right away it's smoke from the engines of the Chrysalis. The engineers refused to take our resource greedy ways to the new planet and designed it to be powered by stable cold fusion reaction. This gives the smoke a blue tint. And there was no mistaking the smell. I grabbed my ICOE kit and bolted to the wreck site. Upon arriving I can see there is little hope for survivors. A sharp flash in my heads floods me with memories. I remember what led up to this. But I can't deal with that now. Remember your training August. Compartmentalize and deal with it once the danger has passed. I look around the wreckage. I can see the home center of the ship where I grew up. I've never seen it from the outside. I'm fairly sure it's mostly intact. I need to find a way in, look for survivors. I found a small tear in the outer shell of the ship and managed to squeeze my way in. Fire and sparks were flooding my peripheral vision. Long dark hallways leading to nothingness. I recognize the part of the ship I'm in though. I'm not far from my home pod. I activate the torch on my gooey suit. And walk to my home sector. As I'm walking I can hear metal twisting. The ship groaning and creaking underneath me. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I think panic was starting to set in. Or was I just in shock. I tripped over something in the dark. I laid there for a few seconds before I sat up and pointed my torch at my obstacle. My light illuminated the face of my childhood bully. He was already gone. I didn't like the guy. But no one deserved to die this way. I reached over and closed his eyelids. I heard foot steps behind me. I turned around to see a man's silhouette. He fell to his knees and hugged me. "August" he said. Sounding heart broken. It wasn't until I looked into his eyes that I recognized him. "Dad?" He hugged me even tighter this time. I barley heard him whisper. "What happened"