Beyond Our Selves (Sequel to Beyond Our Earth)

Chapter 6: Safe

SARA

"You sure you want to do this?" Althazar asked.

"Bring me down there." I ordered.

The pod's lid sealed shut. We lifted off the ground, hovered, and the ship opened, exposing our craft to the vast emptiness of space. And to Earth.

"It won't be pretty." Althazar warned.

He manuevered the spacecraft out of the mothership. I got a glimps of home. Vastly different, even from a far. What would I see on it's surface?

"I'm ready." I exhaled.

We decended towards the planet. I couldn't tell how close we were but I could feel the G-force as we fell.

Then it stopped. We had stopped falling.

I undid my seatbelt and pressed my face against the window, looking down.

He had taken me to the place he knew I wanted to go. New York City.

Except. It looked like the sight of a natural disaster. And in fact it was. Water covered the streets and came up to the second or third floor of the sky scrapers. It was muddy, grey water, hiding what lay beneath it. Within the soup floated peices of debris. Stuff. Things. Plastic. Undiscernible.

"You alright?" Althazar asked cautiously.

We were cruising slowly over the ruins.

"This is horrifying." I said. "What do you think happened to all the people?"

"One of two things. They died. Or they moved further inland."

"Do you think they had time?"

"I believe it's possible." He said.

My eyes remained glued to the outside and never once breaked to look at Althazar.

As we were talking I noticed something. Or rather - someone noticed us.

"Down there!" I shouted. "Stop the ship! There's someone down there alive!"

On the rooftop of a building the letters S.O.S were formed. The people were waving their arms at us, jumping up and down.

"We can't interfere." Althazar said. Though his voice lacked conviction.

"We can't leave them here." I argued.

"How do you plan to explain me? The ship?"

"I'll tell the truth. Revolutionary, I know. But hey, it's the end of the world. Why not?"

The pod slowly lowered towards the building.

When the lid popped I could hear their joyfull shouting.

It felt good.

There were three of them. All teenagers. One girl and two guys.

I stepped off the pod and was met with warm hugs. I didn't know them, they didn't know me. But they knew what I was here for. Or they thought they did.

"I told you someone would come." The girl said to the others.

I looked back to the pod, hovering beside the building.

"Watch your step getting in," I cautioned.

I took their hands as they climbed into the pod. The girl trembled. She was crying while smiling.

"Thank you." She said softly as she got in.

Althazar was staring out the front, not revealing his face.

Even so, I could tell they were keenly aware of his strange, orange skin. They were looking.  

"This is Althazar." I introduced, my hand on his shoulder. "He's from another planet."

They chuckled.

"No, seriously." 

He turned his head to look back at them. The girl let out a sudden shriek. The guys went wide-eyed. Shock on their faces.

I smiled and wondered if that was what I looked like when I first saw him.

Althazar gave a friendly wave and smiled.  

"He won't talk because his voice would kill your ears." I explained.

I sat down, put on the seatbelt and told Althazar to look for somewhere safe to drop them off.

The pod began to move and I turned to face the kids again, catching them exchanging bewildered looks.

"Did most people get out before the floods?" I asked.

"Yeah." The dark-haired guy answered. "We stuck around because we thought it would stop. When we realized it wasn't going to it was too late."

"I don't think we were the only ones," The other guy said.

"Yeah. A bunch of people thought they could wait it out. They didn't want to leave their homes."

I nodded.

"We'll go back, if we can." I said, looking at Althazar.

He tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the window.

Below there was land, and buildings, and tents.

"Yeah, let's land here." I said.

The pod lowered, softly landing on the ground.

The lid opened. I stood up and looked around.

This appeared to be a refuge for people escaping the disaster.

Althazar and I helped the kids get out of the pod. They thanked us and walked away.

I looked at Althazar.

"You know what I have to do, right?"