Beta Planet: Rise (15 page)

Sabien smiled and interjected, “Sort of makes you feel grateful for our defunct dwelling, doesn’t it?”

Geon laughed and agreed with him as they turned the corner and approached the front of the museum where students had already gathered around Professor Eltio Tran, the teacher who headed their NextTech class. Unlike the large, free-standing buildings of museums of his past, this museum was a slim, stark, modern black building, three stories high, and butted up against other buildings on either side. Outside was a large silver sign:

“All right, students, let’s file in. Remember to be respectful in here and if anything is too disturbing, feel free to come back outside.”

“The only disturbing thing is why Bonsi hasn’t acknowledged me yet,” Sabien whispered to Geon. He gestured up ahead where she and the twins were walking. As they walked into the building, they took an immediate right into a large, dark, round room, with seating all around and an open space in the middle. Sabien hurried to try to get seats close to Bonsi, Vaya, and Vilu, but his efforts were thwarted by Chiah, who stood motionless in the aisle, sipping his large red drink and blocking everyone behind him. Eventually giving up, they took their seats and waited, as a small elderly lady made her way to the middle of the room. She had white hair pulled back in a tight ponytail and dark, weathered skin.

“Hello, students, and welcome to the Museum of Our History or as many of you call it, MOOH!”

Giggles and stifled laughter followed.

“My name is Enui Blane, and I will be your guide today. We will start with a holographic immersive experience of our history, so that some of the foundation is laid. I know that most of you know all about the planet’s history, but at the Museum, you get to experience it in a way that you can’t anywhere else. We would like to acknowledge and thank CARE for this. And I should mention that it is very graphic so if you feel discomfort, please feel free to wait outside. Thank you.”

With that, she walked away from the center of the room and final light dimmed until they were in pitch-black silence. The only sound that could be heard was the occasional slurping of Chiah’s drink echoing around the space. Suddenly, a floating and slowly turning hologram of the Earth appeared in the center of the room and a deep voice came out of the speakers around them.

“Earth. The year two-thousand. The planet you see here before you is a planet that you probably do not recognize, remember, or have ever seen before. It is how our planet looked thirty-one years ago. At this time, Earth was comprised of an incredible land mass of twenty-nine percent, with water being the remaining seventy-one percent.”

The outer walls of the room lit up with video images of different exotic animals running free in the wild, and humans walking around and interacting in large, clean, urban cities. The voice continued.

“Life was sustainable, resources were plentiful, and humans and animals roamed the planet in harmony. Or so our ancestors thought. Below this tranquil surface was great turmoil. Humans had long been destroying this planet’s lifeblood, taking from it what they wanted and replacing it with nothing, and acting with only the present in mind. The Butterfly Effect began to show itself. One tree cut down, resulted in a species extinct, which resulted in famine in the area, which resulted in the loss of entire civilizations. The Earth was dying, and it needed to make a drastic transformation. Thus came the EarthShift. It took place over a five-year period, beginning with the melting of the polar ice caps, a result of a phenomenon known as global melting. Although scientist predicted it would take many years for the water levels to rise to a dangerous level, they were wrong. It happened too fast to react. Half of our land mass disappeared in a few short years. The natural disasters were next. One after another came and decimated every major city in the world.”

The deafening sounds of thunder booming and buildings crashing down came through the speakers as horrifying videos of the destruction were played around the room. Students gasped and some even cried out in shock.

“The people that survived ran for their lives. Families were split up and children were lost.”

Geon looked over to the others. Sabien was staring at the video with his jaw locked and an intensely stoic look on his face. Kumuki had his mouth open and looked shocked and frightened. When he saw Allea, he knew the tears were soon to follow. Her eyes were glistening and her hands were covering her mouth.

“People continued scattering to any part of the world where they had a chance of survival. Everyone headed for high ground. Cultures continued to be further mixed, lost, and new ones created. People from every corner of the world intermingled with the sole goal of survival on their minds. That’s when the war over resources began, known as the EndWar.”

The sound of explosions and loud machinery filled and shook the room, and screams from the students followed. Video of antiquated military vehicles attacking and destroying each other filled the screens. Bodies of humans were shown piled up in ditches around them. The sounds of crying and sniffing could be heard in every direction of the room.

“Regions of people fought and killed other regions to survive. There were no rules. There were no laws. Humans of the planet had devolved, and acted only out of instinct. When the atomic bombs were detonated, hundreds of millions were killed. The dust finally settled. This is when the X virus hit. What was remaining of the human population was wiped out by more than sixty percent. It was the last final blow to the human population. In the year 2020, there were approximately seven-point-seven billion humans on the planet. Today, there are less than one hundred million, by our best guess. Our ancestors made terrible mistakes, and we all paid the highest price.”

Geon shook his head in absolute shock.
Seven-point-seven billion people
.
We lost ninety-nine percent of our population.
He was overwhelmed and saddened, thinking about his family and all the others who died and lost their loved ones. It was too much to comprehend or understand.

“You were all born into this disintegrating and changing world. You may not even remember the way the world was before the shift. Toward the end of the shift, after the war and virus, around 2028, Earth began to find its balance again. Water levels stopped rising, and natural disasters became more and more infrequent. The planet had begun its state of rest. Unfortunately, what was left of the world was a dead, barren planet, covered in permamist with no direct sunlight, and with very little resources and very little moral to survive. This is when CARE was formed.”

In the middle of the room, where the planet Earth was just floating, appeared the logo for CARE again, a bright red letter “C” wrapped around the globe, with the words “Coalition Against the Reduction of Earth.” Geon recognized the logo from the police officers chest and other areas around the city but still couldn’t figure out what was so familiar about it.

“The CARE organization was the last remaining hope of mankind. Founded by the honorable Lasentar Grilagan, CARE came together to offer support and structure to what was left of our planet. They knew that without help, without rules, without support, and without order, there would be no way for the remaining human population to survive. CARE instituted food and water rations, shelter, and jobs to as many humans as they could.”

Videos of people and families smiling, eating, and walking around were shown around them.

“What city is that?” Sabien whispered sarcastically to Geon, who shook his head in response.
He’s right. Our city looks nothing like that
.

“CARE gave us life, hope, and a chance to see tomorrow’s world. We owe CARE everything. Together, we can undo the mistakes of our past, and plant the roots for a better and brighter future.”

The video turned off and the dim lights slowly came up. Geon could see many students wiping away tears and rubbing their eyes, Allea included. Enui Blane came back to the front of the room and allowed students to ask questions about what they just saw. Geon stared into space, deep in thought about what happened to the planet. Many questions arose in his mind that he couldn’t answer.

How could it happen so fast?

Why did we allow this to happen to our planet?

Why didn’t we protect our loved ones and our world?

Why did we fight instead of band together?

Where did the X virus come from?

Where do we go from here?

What can we do to help?

It was all so complex and heavy for Geon to process. It was only when the session finally ended and the students were ushered out of the room and back into the museum when he finally stopped obsessing over the shocking information they had just been given. Once outside, he walked over to Allea, who was noticeably affected by the video, and without hesitation he leaned down and grabbed her into a tight embrace. His head close to hers, he whispered, “You’ll always have me, Ally. I may be only a couple weeks old, but I’m still your big brother.”

She smiled and embraced him tightly, telling him that she loved him. Sabien smiled to himself as he watched but tried to remain cool when he saw that Bonsi and the twins were watching them as well.

As the four of them walked together, none of them really knew what to say to each other for some time, each person trying to assimilate everything they had just learned.

“This way everyone, to the Hall of Artifacts,” Enui loudly whispered above the heads of the students. They followed her into a long, thin hallway with clear glass cases on either side. In the cases were remnants of the past, with video and holographic information about each of the items. “Take a look at everything but please don’t touch. Some of these artifacts are the last of their kind in existence.”

The students gasped with excitement and surprise as they walked through the hall, discovering relics of their past, the horrifying video experience soon became a faded memory. Geon and the others saw bones and teeth from different animals of the planet, from prehistoric dinosaurs, to large cats, to birds, to giant sea-dwelling sharks.

“As you can imagine, the majority of these animals are now extinct,” Enui explained. “With the exception of the Zone Five Zoo, you won’t see much of any other living things in the world today.”

Geon’s eyes brightened, thinking about the zoo. “Sabe, have you guys been there? Any chance we can go sometime?”

Sabien nodded quietly, still seemingly affected by the earlier video. Geon asked him if he was okay and he lightheartedly explained that he’s just upset at Chiah for blocking his way earlier. Geon knew something else was wrong and had a feeling it had to do with Sabien’s family.
He’s never told me what happened to them,
Geon thought. He tried to take Sabien’s mind off of thing by pointing at some dinosaur bones and saying how great it was that CARE preserved them for everyone to see.

“Dinosaurs!” Sabien smirked, now seemingly awakened by Geon’s comments. “Hah!”

Puzzled, Geon asked him what he meant.

“What do I mean? What do
you
mean what do I mean?” Sabien retorted.

“I mean, why are you snorting and snarling about dinosaurs?”

“Hah! Dinosaurs! Giant, gentle creatures that roamed the planet before humans? I think not. You aren’t buying this are you, G? C’mon, really. These are FAKE bones! CARE made these. Another conspiracy. Dinosaurs, hah! And what’s this one called a brachy… brachyo… brachyobrontataurus? And it only ate plants? Whatever. Can you think of even one giant animal that only ate plants and not other animals?”

Geon thought about it and replied, “Elephants, for one, used to only eat plants. Giraffes, too. Hippos, also. Come to think of it, I’m not sure that whales really ate other animals either, unless you count microscopic plankton as an animal. Are those big enough for you, Sabe?”

Sabe looked at Geon suspiciously. “Well, I don’t—I mean—those are
sort
of big animals. I guess. You’re—you’re preaching their propaganda aren’t you? Did CARE put you up to this?”

Geon rolled his eyes as they continued to the next exhibit.

As they progressed down the hall, they saw pictures of famous people in history, as well as artifacts of clothing, jewelry, and other garments. They saw technology of the past, which Kumuki described as “Enormous,” to which Enui replied, “Yes, our predecessors had an unusual obsession with making everything bigger and
more
. It goes hand in hand with why our planet is in the state it is in now.”

As they approached the next section. Geon recognized an automobile of the past, encased in a large clear container. It had four wheels and an electric powered engine.
I don’t remember them being so large,
he thought to himself.
It’s bigger than our new house.
Also behind a smaller case were holographs of other vehicles of the past. Airplanes, cars and electro-cycles were depicted. Next to them was an image of a small, metallic boat and hanging above it in a clear locked box was an old, rusty key. The shape and size of the boat looked familiar to Geon and reminded him of his youth.

“What an interesting little craft,” he said quietly to himself, not realizing that Enui was just to the side of him.