For
decades, scientists had predicted that humans would be the main cause
of their own extinction. They also said that global warming would
trigger other tragedies. Skeptical politicians ignored all warnings and
did nothing to prevent the fast-approaching Armageddon.
Wrong
decisions of inept world leaders had increased the madness with
devastating consequences for Mother Nature. Nuclear wars were not
destructive enough to exterminate humans.
We
didn’t need alien invasions or galactic wars after all. But many agreed that Armageddon
would have been much more beautiful with a space invasion. Or more exciting. Or more entertaining.
Sadly for humans, but gladly for other animal species, only humans were disappearing from Planet Earth.
The
animal kingdom realized that humans were the culprit of such
devastation. Therefore, they turned against humans. Mankind had always
underestimated animals, but the equilibrium of nature invariably
succeeds. Sometimes, certain species had to perish in order for others
to survive.
All
animals in the world began to grow in size, and their brain capacity
increased too. Rats grew to double their size every hundred years. Human
flesh became part of the animal diet. Animals had found a logical
solution: Kill and feed. Get rid of the enemy by consuming it.
The total eradication of humans from the face of the Earth appeared impossible at first.
We
knew that if unattended, a house could be devoured by an infestation of
rats, cockroaches, and termites in less than fifty years. Humans not
only had left their houses unattended but the entire world. They had
complete knowledge of that possibility centuries before. Powerful
nations were blaming each other and kept generating new wars that
accelerated their deserving fate.
Finally, they had reached their somber destiny. They fused the past with the present and canceled the future.
The results were catastrophic. Nearly eight billion people perished in those five centuries.
*****
When
population began to decline, life expectancy for humans had been a
hundred and fifty. Many illnesses had been eradicated. Alcohol, tobacco,
sugar, and animal fat were rarely consumed. That period had been the
peak of human excellence. Body and mind at their best. Then things
rapidly deteriorated.
Lucius Night and Katana Luna were the last survivors —they were the last vestige of humankind. And there was no one left to cheer for their success. Adam and Eve didn’t have such an impossible task.
Lucius
Night had a far superior mind than most scientists from the
twentieth-first century. Katana Luna had a JCN chip implanted before she
was born. They were human computers. They were taller and stronger than
their human counterparts from five centuries before. But they were
still vulnerable to the rest of the animal kingdom, where a rat was as
big as a cat. From year to year the size increase could not be
noticeable but in five hundred years the difference was humongous.
Having
a common enemy, animals had become allies among themselves to fight
against humans. The animal kingdom had significantly reduced killing
each other; half of them had adopted a semi-vegetarian diet. The other
half was consuming human flesh, which seemed to be addicting, judging
from the amounts they were ingesting. And the supply seemed unlimited.
Lucius
and Katana didn’t know they were the only humans left. They had not
seen other people for a long time. The last time Lucius saw his parents
was soon after his mom had delivered Katana. Many months had passed
since their parents had left the cave. There was no need to pretend they
were still alive.
Lucius
knew there was a slim chance for him and her sister to survive. He had
promised himself to never give up, for Katana’s sake. The main purpose
in Lucius’ life was to protect his little sister.
It
was hard to guess Lucius Night’s age due to the change in human life
expectancy. Whatever his age was he was far more intelligent and
stronger than he appeared.
Every single day was going to be a struggle to remain alive.
Adam
and Eve did their best, but they did not succeed. From the story of the
Tree of Knowledge, it all went down in a disastrous decline. But their
decline had lasted thousands of years. If Lucius and Katana wished to
avoid the complete eradication of human life, first and foremost they
had to implant one thing into the minds of future generations: They had
to respect their home. Humankind was one People. Planet Earth was their
only home. They had to take care of it constantly, mainly by leaving it
alone.
God had never intervened since Adam and Eve, and Lucius and Katana were not expecting His help.
God had probably left already. After all, there was nothing to supervise anymore.
If
there was anything certain in the Bible, it had to be Armageddon. The
end of times scenario had been worse than anyone could have imagined.
But since humans began to disappear, the planet’s landscape had improved
greatly. The apocalyptic images had been erased. Earth’s heart was
beating at a lower speed. Nature didn’t need men. The world had no use
for mankind.
The
big metropolises like New York, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro became
beautiful jungles, and deserts had begun to shrink as soon as humans
started to vanish. The same way humans had underestimated animals, they
had also underestimated Mother Nature’s healing powers. All damage done
by humans had started to reverse after the first signs of human
extinction. Nature was finally getting rid of a grave illness: humanoid
overcrowding.
Lucius
and Katana had only two weapons to defend themselves. Katana Luna had
the paralyzing waver, a handgun designed to send airwaves in all
directions, capable of paralyzing all animals in a radius of a hundred
feet; the effect could last from two to six hours, depending on the
animal size. It was a non-lethal weapon. Lucius had the invisible
laser-blazer, an accurate ray-seeking weapon powerful enough to
disintegrate a whale in a fraction of a second.
Most
of their knowledge had been implanted during their twelve-month
gestational period. Knowledge especially prepared by their parents,
knowing in advance that a human extinction was approaching. They had
specific training in survival skills. Their food source was contained
mainly in pills rich in artificial nutrients and proteins, including
water. Each pill had a slow energy release that lasted a week. They had a
supply to last approximately ten years.
Katana
rarely spoke. Perhaps there was nothing nice to talk about. Instead,
she used signs and signals. She enjoyed stories about mom and dad, and
Lucius was more than happy to tell them. After all, he knew one day
those stories would fade from his memory.
Sometimes they would sit on the rocks at the entrance of the cave and watch the world go by. Sunsets were always sad.
On
one of those sad afternoons, Lucius grabbed a small bucket, and with an
old sponge, he started washing Katana’s face, with soft strokes as if
she was his most precious treasure. And she was.
“Does it bother you?” asked Lucius, lightly touching the spot on Katana’s arm where the scar from her implant was still visible.
“Sometimes.” her answers were always laconic. “Tell me a story about our mom.”
Lucius
replied, “On hot days, after cooking dinner, she would lie down to rest
on the cool cement, and she would ask you to blow air on her sweaty
face. You would blow until you fell asleep on her chest.”
Katana
loved to hear a song that reminded of her mom, and every time she
wanted Lucius to sing it, she would tap her right temple with her right
hand and then Lucius would begin to sing.
“Katana Luna, Katana Luna, my sweet moon
Brighter than the sun
Stronger than a monsoon
Katana Luna, Katana Luna,
I’d go insane without you . . .”
And
every time Lucius finished singing, Katana would end up with a big
smile on her face, and Lucius with tears in his eyes, for that was the
song her mom used to sing to help her fall asleep.
The last two humans on Earth were sustained by love, just like the first two humans in the Bible.
*****
The
place chosen by Lucius’ parents for a shelter was a cave on a mountain
range less than a mile from the ocean. Lucius was glad the cave was
always dark, that way, intruders would be blind in the dark too. The
cave’s mouth was hidden between cracks in the rocky mountain. The cave
could be a kingdom, but it could become a grave too.
The
animal invasion to the cities was an amazing collaborative operation in
which several animal species had participated. With no apparent leader,
the animals had to be communicating telepathically or in another
mysterious way.
House
pests could only be controlled by professional exterminators. Weapons
were created especially to get rid of these pests. At night, another
kind of animals emerged: Bats, wolves, and coyotes. But it was insanely
dangerous, day and night.
The
military force began to help, but soon, they were ordered to withdraw
because they were causing more damage instead of helping. Besides,
American people were well armed, but they were overwhelmed by the
enormous amount of attackers.
Due
to the constant contact with such horrific carnage, people began to
lose their sensitivity at the sight of human loss. Even whenever their
own children were devoured in front of their eyes they had to continue
the struggle to take care of themselves, there was no time for crying.
Other
tragedies began to occur, with toxic waste new viruses appeared,
causing pandemics of such virulence and infectiousness that decimated
human population even furthermore. To fight for their survival, they had
to abandon their jobs and famine followed. It was unmerciful.
Communities
were evolving in isolated tribes, people fled in search of natural
shelters, caves in mountains, open fields and deserts, forests, and
underground tunnels. But there was no escape and no solution; animals
were bigger and more dangerous outside of city limits. You could be
eaten by a thousand ants, or by a single bear.
One
morning, while coming out from the cave, Lucius and Katana witnessed a
terrifying sight. Like a locusts swarm, a thick, dark cloud of birds and
flying bugs were approaching the cave, along with thousands of
terrestrial pests, mice, spiders, ants, cockroaches and other
unidentifiable creatures. Like a plague, they were devouring everything
in their path.
Katana
let out a cry that was muted by the collective noise made by the swarm.
They immediately got their guns out, but even with their powerful
weapons, it took several seconds to control the impressive invasion.
The
line where the animals had been stopped was an amazing contrast in
comparison to the rest of the land. Like two different worlds.
Later,
while they recovered from the shock Lucius said: “I remember when my
dad killed our dog, Kepler, because he suspected the dog tried to eat
you, that’s when all this thing started.”
“Why was the dog named Kepler?” Katana asked.
“That’s the name of the planet humans had been trying to colonize for centuries,” he answered.
When
Lucius ventured outside to hunt for food, he struggled with the choice
of what to do with Katana, he could take her or he could leave her, but
he always found that hard to decide. There was no safe place anywhere
anymore.
He
would often return with fish or birds, the only kind of animals that
Lucius considered safe for human consumption. The problem was their
size. They could eat you too.
Dates and seasons had no meaning. Nothing mattered anymore, only survival. Child play had turned into adult supervision.
Lucius
remembered that the last time they laughed was the last time it rained,
when they went outside the cave to sing and dance in complete joy,
ignoring the desolation around them for a minute. He also remembered
they couldn’t drink the rain anymore. It tasted like iron, like acid,
foul, impure.
At
night, Lucius would reach out to touch Katana sleeping beside him. At
times like that Lucius would notice that Katana couldn’t hide her
innocent beauty, regardless of any absence of hygiene.
One
day when Lucius returned from hunting, he found two paralyzed wolves in
the cave. After he took them outside and shot them with the DD
(disintegrating device) gun, he decided never to leave Katana alone
again. If she had been asleep, there wouldn’t be any traces of her left.
That night, he was convinced that if that would have been the case;
he’d kill himself for sure.
Lucius found Katana crying at the far end of the cave.
“What’s the use, Lucius?” she said.
“We
cannot lose hope Katana, mom and dad wouldn’t approve. They did not
bring us to this world to quit so easily, we must never surrender.”
Lucius answered, but even he looked defeated.
They embraced with warmth and affection. Orphans like them could only find comfort in each other.
The
reason Katana had chosen the paralyzing gun was that she was against
any animal killings unless it was done for human consumption. An extreme
stance, considering the current situation, Lucius thought these were
not times for a pacifist, but never said a thing.
*****
From
the beginning, one of Katana’s dearest passions had been contemplating
lunar eclipses. Only two things were important in her life, Lucius was
definitely the number one. Lunar eclipses would have to be second place
for sure. If it was up to her, she would never miss any of those
celestial events. She would sit for hours, ignoring all risks and
hazards. She would remain captivated in delight, hypnotized by the
phenomenon in complete oblivion.
In
remarked contrast, during those moments, Lucius had to remain on
constant alert, ready to defuse any dangers that might appear. Moments
like that would have made God reconsider His hope for mankind. Brotherly
love of such high purity could not be ignored by any god in any
Universe.
The
first lunar eclipse Katana had experienced was in the peaceful darkness
of the backyard in their humble house, while mother sang her favorite
lullaby and rocked her in her arms.
“Katana Luna, Katana Luna, my sweet moon
Brighter than the sun
Stronger than a monsoon
Katana Luna, Katana Luna,
I’d go insane without you . . .”
Lucius
had had bad days in his life, but one of the worst had to be when
Katana was attacked by a cat twice her weight. She was able to shoot her
gun while the cat was mid-flight aiming in her direction, but couldn’t
avoid the cat from badly scratching her leg as it landed on her.
That day was the second time Lucius has seen her cry. The day he found the two wolves inside the cave was the first.
Several
nights later, Lucius had a dream with his dad in which dad advised him
to search for the “crystal wall”, and to be ready for departure, he also
said, “all in time, all planets must align.” Once in a while, he would
dream with Dad, and invariably he would give him some kind of guidance.
He would always recount all those dreams to his sister, and their
happiness would last for days.
Lucius
found the dream hard to interpret. Nevertheless, the following day they
would begin the search for that mysterious crystal wall.
The
last few days he had noticed a little change in the sky. The clouds
were not clear, they had a blurry look, wavy and foggy. As if they had
entered a new realm.
The
following day, Lucius took Katana along and began to search for the
crystal wall. For the first time, he was dubious about the purpose of
his dream. He had never doubted his dad’s advice. Still, he was
uncertain about the “wall” or what to do if he’d find it. Lucius also
couldn’t figure out what his dad meant by “departure.” He felt excited,
but he knew they would encounter high risks and unwanted danger.
Early
in the morning, they began to climb the mountain’s peak above the cave.
Katana’s injured leg had not completely healed yet, her leg was still
bandaged, but Lucius knew she was strong enough for the task. With
weapons in hand, they began the trek. Climbing the mountain was not an
easy task, but Lucius was glad they were well-rested and full of energy.
Katana was hiking a few feet ahead of Lucius, that way; Lucius thought,
he could catch her if she slipped.
And
she did when a menacing yellow spider crossed her path. The spider was
half her size; it seemed that the arachnid could be able to not just
kill her but to eat her. The hairy beast looked eye-to-eye with Katana
with its hypnotic eyes while gnashing its ten-inch mandibles. Swift and
hostile, the spider stunned Katana and made her lose her balance. Lucius
leaped between the two-foot-tall monster and fearless and ferocious
shot the spider while catching Katana in his arms.
After
that, Lucius decided to carry Katana on his shoulders. He thought it
couldn’t be a safer place than that. But he was wrong.
The
next time they encountered danger, the sun gave them a signal. Lucius
saw a shadow on the ground coming in their direction. It gave him a
fraction of a second to anticipate an attack coming from above. He had
his gun ready when Katana was snatched by a bird so large, it appeared
to come from prehistorical times. With precise aim, Lucius shot the bird
and caught Katana in the air again.
Death was capricious, it could show up anytime.
They
kept going for weeks. They began to doubt their objective when they
literally crashed into the wall, a few yards past of what appeared to be
the end of the luscious vegetation and thick forest. They never thought
the world could have an edge or an end.
Beyond the glass wall, Lucius could see the sky all around him, even below his feet. It seemed so odd and enigmatic.
His
inquisitive mind couldn’t find a logical explanation. And as he tried
to find the purpose of the wall, he hit it with a rock as hard as he
could, but he couldn’t even scratch it. He wondered whether the wall was
enclosing the space outside, or if they were in some kind of a cage.
Seeing the enormous void of space in the exterior, he guessed the second
part was right.
They
kept exploring what appeared to be a new world within the old world. It
seemed like a dream. The place could definitively be described as
utopian . . . or dystopian.
Changes
in the surroundings included the animals. He thought they looked
smaller. Or was it that he and Katana were growing bigger? In the end,
he concluded that all animals were returning back to their normal size.
They seemed less ferocious too. They also began to appear in pairs. It
was probably the mating season. But it couldn’t be mating season for all
species at the same time. Lucius had also noticed that lately the
animals had gone back to their herbivorous diet. But since humans had
disappeared there was no other choice. He figured.
And
when they ventured into the ocean waters, they noticed that the water
tasted less salty. Things were surely changing. He then recalled the
time he saw a pod of gigantic whales that caused a huge tsunami and
pushed the sea water close to their cave, almost a mile away and a
hundred feet above sea level. But that was a long time ago. The ocean
now looked more like a lake. It was serene and placid, and as beautiful
as ever.
For
the next three days, he carried Katana on his shoulders along the glass
wall. One night, something strange happened; the night seemed longer,
way too long. It seemed that their internal clock malfunctioned because
they woke up and it was still dark. Katana and Lucius went back to sleep
three times before the sun reappeared.
Then,
something even stranger occurred; two moons appeared on the horizon. It
was a beautiful moonrise. It was peculiar and freakish, but extremely
beautiful.
Unbeknownst
to them, they had arrived at their destination . . . “The New World”. A
world so big, it would take seven days to go around its own axis. A day
on this planet was equal to seven days on Earth. And the crystal walls
surrounding Katana and Lucius’ world was, in fact, a spaceship created
by their father. It also functioned as an ark to transport animals to
the new world, an empty world . . . until now.
“Look
Katana, look!” Lucius screamed in excitement. “Look Katana, two moons!
Katana Luna Luna!” and he repeated ‘Luna’ for he knew ‘Luna’ meant
‘moon’.
And he proclaimed, “This is the real beginning of Eternity. This is our new home Katana.”
Edmundo Barraza
Lancaster, Ca. Nov-28-2015
