Jupiter's Children

Chapter 3

We both starred blankly at the note for a few seconds, then looked at each other, and back to the note.

"What the hell is going on?" Callisto yelled as he began to pace back and forth inbetween the isles of technology. Before I could even think of a response to his rhetorical question , he began to vent.

"What do they mean we are special? Why did whatever they were working on cause people to disappear? I thought they were supposed to aid the world with knowledge, not destroy it! Are they coming back? What do we do to help? Why are you so calm, Elara?" He finished his rant, out of breath.

"I don't know..." I said in a low tone. I could tell my answer frustrated him, but it was the truth. What else was I supposed to say?

"Look, Callisto, I have no clue what has happened here. I have no clue what is going to happen. All I know is that we can get through this. Mom and dad said we are special, and that means something. They gave us their password so that we could figure this out, and we can fix whatever happened here, they wouldn't do that if they didn't believe we could save them. And if they believed we could save them, then I know we can. Let's not be frantic or upset or anything. Let's stay calm and look through their files, write down everything that's of importance, and then we'll go looking for people. Okay?"
All he did was nod, which was somewhat upsetting considering the fact that I had been mentally preparing myself for that speech for the past twenty minutes. I handed him a notebook and a pen, and then grabbed some for myself. We then sat at the computers and began opening files. I'm not sure yet what he has found, but what I have seen so far is amazing. I browsed through files upon files of research. My parents had discovered extraordinary things that they never shared with the rest of the world. I clicked on a file labeled "Jupiter life".  As i read i figured out that,  apparently,  underneath the red spot on Jupiter, there is an entire species. Apparently they aren't so different from humans, aside from their internal conditions. My parents have been working on a way to communicate with the people on Jupiter. They were calculating the speed of light with the distance to Jupiter, and making it greater. They made something that went faster then the speed of light... What? I wrote it all down. Their calculations for the speed and their calculations for the communication device they were going to send. I wrote down the possible risks to the communication device, and the possible risks of attempting to go beyond the speed of light. It could alter time, cause a mass explosions and kill all life on earth (which is extreamly horrifying and I can't believe they even attempted this with that possibility),  or it could work. It could teleport to where they wanted it to be, and it could deliver a message from Earth. I stopped reading for a moment to let my brain process this. So, out of the possible things that could have gone wrong, none really happened,  or else we wouldn't be here right now. Maybe Callisto found something...
I turned to him and saw him intently focused on the screen with a pen in his hand, scribbling down information faster then I've ever seen him before. It was interesting to watch, but I had to know what he knew.

"Callisto... Did you read about life on Jupiter?"

"Yes, I did." He replied, without lifting his eyes from the screen.

"And the communication device that goes faster then light?"

"Yes. Did you read the part where they tested it?"

"They tested it... What happened?" I asked.

"They sent one to Jupiter with a camera. It basically teleports, so they got a picture of a life form on the planet, then it shut down. It didn't explode, so they took it as a good sign. They sent another, but this time it had a message. It told the other species who they were, where they were from, and that they would like to peacefully communicate. But they didn't have a way to get a message back, that was their flaw.  A stupid one,  if I may say so myself. They created another machine that would record a message after theirs plays, and then it would teleport back. They were planning on testing it..."

"Let me guess," I said, cutting him off, "last night?"

"Yes..." He said as he finally looked up at me.

"Something went wrong, Elara. Terribly wrong. We need to see how far out the disappearance goes, see for ourselves. But judging by their calculations of how big the explosion would be if something went wrong and how it travels I'm guessing there aren't many people still here."

"Just say it, Callisto."

"Well.. I think we are the only ones left on Earth..." This shocked me terribly, even though I was expecting him to say it. Hearing it said out loud makes it all the more real. We sat in silence for a few moments, before I finally asked the question that I know was itching at the both of us.

"If everybody else is gone, then why are we still here?"