scifi

Sunflower supergrowth

Sunflower Supergrowth

Once upon a time, there was land in the sky. It was a land named Campbell Valley. Campbell Valley was an abode built amongst the clouds. It floated in the sky. It was a palace in the sky.

Once upon a time, earth went through a series of nuclear wars. The world was damaged beyond recognition by fission and fusion bombs. Guided missiles were launched. Hospitals were decimated, factories destroyed. There was no true victor at the end of this war.

...

It was the first year of the post-apocalyptic world. The date was March 13th.

A young man squatted atop an old building.  He was alone. He was there able to view a great distance from his position. The building was short, and because of its meagre height it had mostly been exempt from the effects of the recent bombings in the area. There on the hill was this man and that building.

The air up atop the structure had been much fresher than that of what was nearer to sea level.

All around in the air were snow-like particles. They had an appearance similar to confetti made of dull colours. These confetti were composed of ash and other mysterious chemicals of human creation. These particles that drifted in the atmosphere were smaller in this particular area. That would be because of the higher elevation this building was built on. It'd all been this new experience for him. August stood up from his squat.

Unlike where August usually resided, the pollutants here would eventually settle if left undisturbed. The reason it could do so was because one frequented this mountain. The grey, white, black bits of waste would billow up from the movement. Usually manifesting as dark and light dust clouds on the roads, plains, and everywhere else. The dust would always be moved around from the activity of the many residents that lived in a single area.

Regarding this cloud like dust– no one had done any studies on it so far. No one knew what the long term or short term effects of this substance were. But somewhere in the depths of August's consciousness, he always believed that this dust would greatly impact his longevity. Heck, the food he ate, everything he foraged from the forest or bought from a store were covered in remnants of this mysterious substance. Every bite may have resulted in the gradual shortening of his lifespan.

The weather was about the same globally. Temperatures remained relatively usual from the Northern Arctic to Antarctica. The only differing aspect was the lack of sunlight. There were no sunny days. It would rain, and then the sky wouldn't clear up. Every day the people lived under a canopy of ash-coloured clouds. Colours were always desaturated from a lack of proper lighting.

As spontaneous as it was; it didn't matter much at all. The floating pollutants being there or not.

What was really on his mind these days was the incoming period of starvation he was likely to face.

August had been running out of resources to sustain himself. The knowledge of the matter was made aware to him ever since he was a little child. He could consider it an accomplishment that he'd made it so far along in the first place. His life was an impressive length of several decades of history. Thus was why he now thought that may as well go lie in his shelter and wait for his last days to play out.

So he did as he thought. August went back to the little hut he built out of rubble. He laid on his bed made comically thick because he'd built it to be a great heap of leaves covered by a single cloth. It was time to relax. While he did, the sudden memory struck him.

He saw himself as a child. He remembered being tiny. The grass was tall around him. His memory of the past was incomplete, and the only thought in his head leftover from awakening this memory was: