Twin Earth

I jolted upright in bed as an image of Rachel being dragged away by Apo dissipated from whatever my nightmare had just been about. I was sweating and couldn’t wash an uneasy feeling that had developed in my body. The lighting was still subdued in my room and I had no idea how much time had passed. The lack of clocks, daytime and night-time was really starting to bother me. There was no concept of the passage of time and I wondered how the Mochuvians had coped with it for so long.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and rubbed my face with my hands, wiping a few tiny beads of sweat that had appeared on my brow.

‘Damn, it’s hot in here,’ I thought confused. ‘Have they changed the environmental settings? Or do they just hate me?’ I wondered tiredly.

Looking up, I was surprised to see a plate of fruit had been placed next to my pillow and even more surprised to see that the fruit was similar to those found on earth. A mango, an orange and what looked like a yellow form of passion fruit had been sliced up for me alongside an elongated knife.

‘What the hell?’ I thought, curious as to who had been in my room, but too hungry to care I quickly munched down and salivated as the juicy flavours filled my mouth. “Oh my god, that’s so good,” I mumbled out loud, catching a few drips with my sleeve as they escaped my lips, but as did so I began to wonder where Apo was, and why it was taking so long for him to call us to the creator’s ellipse he had semi-promised to show us. ‘Is he avoiding us?’ I thought, as I finished off the slightly bitter yellow passion fruit. I also hadn’t heard from Rachel since our argument so pulling my senses together and pulling up my trouser legs once again, I swiped my way out of the room and into the hallway outside to find her.

It was deserted outside in both directions and surprisingly quiet, even though the complex wasn’t exactly noisy to begin with. There was just an eerie feeling of being left behind or left out of something. I hurried to Rachel’s door and pressed the panel next to her room number and waited. Nothing. Pressing it again and swiping it just in case I was doing something wrong, I waited again, but there was no answer. Sighing in annoyance I looked in both directions and wondered if she too had gone off somewhere without me, but then I had an idea.

‘I think I will take a little walk,’ I mused to myself, keen to go back to the weird virtual reality room we had been in earlier. ‘Maybe I can view Earth, in real-time,’ I debated, but perhaps a little nervous at my own suggestion. Trying Rachel’s door for one last time and giving up at the lack of response, I jogged slowly back down the winding corridor and to the outside of the VR room we had been in previously. This time however the door had been left wide open, albeit with a strange sizzling effect glowing around its edges. ‘Maybe it was the earthquake,’ I thought, peering closely at the mechanism that was clearly failing in its duty. I glanced around nervously and seeing no-one was in the room I made my way over to the bed I had laid down on before.

Some of the computers and machinery in the room had fallen from wherever they had been installed and for a while I wondered if the room was still functional. Even the unusual rainbow lights that had flittered around my face earlier no longer glowed.

‘This is probably a bad idea,’ I thought nervously, picking up a few random items and placing them on the tables besides the beds. The place now looked like a damaged hospital laboratory with wires dangling in places they hadn’t been before.

I walked over to the other side of the room and peered around at the other beds the Mochuvians had been using. One of the beds was surprisingly intact and even more unusually looked like it had been tidied up. Even a headset had been left on the small flat pillow where a tiny green light was now bleeping quietly.

‘Is this thing still on?’ I wondered curiously, picking it and up and looking it over.

Brushing down some dust that had collected on the end of the bed, I climbed up and without thinking pulled the VR headset over my eyes and ears.

Immediately, a crushing water-like sound filled my ears and I struggled to prevent myself yanking it back off again. Then, blinding flashing lights filled my vision and I gasped as I realised I was in the centre of a city somewhere on Earth. The sound was actually coming from cars, not water, and were rushing over a huge highway behind me.

‘Where am I?’ I gasped in surprise, being careful to avoid people who had gradually begun to appear around me, seemingly oblivious to my presence. But these people weren’t shopping or walking to work, no, they were running, pushing each other out of their way as they tried to run from something behind them. ‘What is going on?’ I thought confused. And then I saw it. A huge cliff of water, probably over fifty foot in height and full of broken bits of buildings, even cars and street lights, was crashing its way through the centre of the city’s boulevard. I had no idea where I was or what was happening, but instinct told me to run.

I flung myself in the opposite direction and started running. I could see the wave’s reflection in the windows of the shops beside me, dramatically catching up on me, and I screamed in panic, tripping over people who had also stumbled in their escape. As I fell over an elderly Mexican looking woman, the water hit me, engulfing me in a suffocating painful grip and I finally remembered to yank off the VR helmet just as a huge truck was about to hit me from behind, ripping my senses back to the darkened room.

Screaming and panting heavily, I sat bolt upright on the bed and stared wide eyed in shock out into the darkness of the room.

‘What the hell just happened?’ I thought in horror, but then an image of my childhood flashed through my mind from something I had once seen on TV. “No,” I gasped softly as the full horror of what I had just witnessed engulfed me. ‘Had I just experienced a tsunami disaster happening in some major city on Earth?’ I wondered, praying it had all been a movie.

Unable to take in what I had just witnessed I stared back down at the VR helmet that was still flashing green and wondered why it had been left on.

‘Why had I been sent to Earth? Had I been thinking about Earth?’ I wondered, finally feeling my heart beat returning to normal. I knew I had been, but the location and the event had been so specific. I also didn’t recognise the city. I had a feeling it was somewhere in Mexico, but it didn’t make any sense as I had never been to Mexico and I’m sure Apo had stated that the VR technology, whatever it was, could only travel to places that at least one of us in the connection had experienced ourselves in person and I was the only one in the room using it.

Trying to calm my nerves I debated trying again, but not wishing to witness any further horrors, especially ones involving my father, I decided against it, but then it dawned on me.

“This was already switched on and connected,” I whispered out loud at the realisation. ‘No wonder it was connected to somewhere I had never been, someone else must have been using it before I came in this room, but who? Apo had said they didn’t need to use the headsets so Rachel?’ But there was no-one around, least of all Rachel.

Confused, I jumped off the bed and hurried out of the room and back up the corridor to outside our rooms again.

‘Maybe she can answer some questions for me,’ I thought, attempting to buzz her door again, but again there was no answer. Frustrated I decided to head in the opposite direction to the main room I had so unceremoniously woken up in, to try and find her or anyone else for that matter.

Still trying to wash the image of the tsunami and the people running and screaming from my mind, I wandered quietly into the huge hall I had arrived in. This time however there were no rooms filled with unfortunate travellers trying to learn the language or any films displaying images on the multiple screens hanging from the ceiling. Instead, they all hung lifeless and black and not a soul was around.

‘Where is everybody?’ I wondered, feeling a little creeped out at the quietness of the place, maybe more so after the horrific noise of the tsunami experience. Two corridors ran left and right to where I was now standing, but neither promised any help to my lonely quest. The one to my left had lights that were flickering between red and blue, with the occasional spark spitting out some kind of electrical impulse and it reminded me of a sci-fi horror movie I had once seen so not wishing to re-live that experience either I decided to make my way down the corridor to my right that was well-lit and relatively unscathed from the earthquake earlier.

A few metres along, the sides of the corridor turned into windows where you could see the endless jungle outside, but I was surprised to notice that the mist had cleared up, perhaps due to the very strong winds now blowing violently outside. I was also amazed to see the sky for the first time and the tips of the trees, which looked to be hundreds of feet tall, but more disturbingly the sunlight had become a weird mix of dusk, occasionally night-time and then back again to bright sun-light. Clouds far up in the atmosphere were swarming past as if time had sped up, breaking up into clear blue skies but then pouring together into stormy, thunderous clouds.

‘The wind?’ I wondered fearfully in awe. Whatever was happening, it was freaky as hell and I began to miss the steamy mist I had become accustomed to.

Then I heard voices further down the corridor arguing. At first it didn’t seem unusual until you remembered that the Mochuvians barely raised their voices above a whisper, but it wasn’t a female voice like Rachel’s. It sounded like two men communicating in a language I didn’t understand.

As I approached a door to my left where the voices were coming from, I peered in, but annoyingly I couldn’t see the people in question without letting them know I was there, which I definitely didn’t want to do because by now it sounded like they were on the verge of hitting each other.

Frowning in confusion, I crouched down and tried to edge my way into the room without being noticed. I was relieved to see the room opened out onto a curved desk computer panel with a glass screen above it so crawling further in I hid behind it and leaned around as quietly as I could to see if I could see who was there. At first all I could see was the back of one of the Mochuvian men wearing their ridiculous clothing, but then he turned around, his hands on his hips, shaking his head in frustration at whoever he was arguing with.

“Apo?!” I whispered as I immediately recognised the man, but quickly clasping my mouth as I did so.

I had never seen him so animated and angry. ‘But with who?’ I wondered curiously. I tried to lean further around the desk, but it was impossible to see who his companion was.

“Tom?” Rachel suddenly announced, spying me from the corridor and immediately marching over. “What are you doing down there?”

Panicking and without thinking, I immediately stood up and gawped at Rachel, unable to come up with a reason for my position on the floor.

“I came to your room earlier, but you were still asleep, so I came looking for Apo, but no-one seems to be around,” she continued, clearly not interested in any response I did have.

“The fruit?” I stuttered.

“Yes, I thought you’d be hungry. You’re welcome by the way. Have you seen Apo or not?”

“Yes, he’s...” I started, finally turning to look at the room where Apo was stood, but he was alone.

“Rachel, Tom!” Apo smiled, walking over. “I was just coming to get you.”

Confused, I scanned the room, but no-one else was there. Even the room itself was empty. Only a curved platform lay beyond the desk panel I had been hiding behind, backed up against a plain white wall.

‘Where did the other man go?’ I wondered, completely bemused by what had just happened. “Weren’t you just talking to someone?” I finally asked Apo.

“Why no Tom. What made you think that?” Apo replied, without flinching at all.

“You’re going mad Tom,” Rachel laughed. “It must be the heat.”

“But...”

“Yes, sorry,” Apo interrupted. “The earthquake earlier has damaged our environmental settings a little. I have sent a team to fix it along with some of the other damage to these upper levels.”

“I was hoping we could investigate the creator’s ellipse now?” Rachel asked. “I’m concerned time is not on our side.”

“Yes, it looks like it’s getting worse outside. Is the weather and atmosphere normally like this?” I asked, deciding to leave my interrogation until later. “I thought you said it was constant day-light on this planet?”

“Err... sometimes we experience a form of night-time,” Apo stuttered.

“Really?” I pushed. “You’re saying this flickering between night and day is normal now?”

“Tom? What’s with you?” Rachel moaned, but I shrugged her off.

“Rachel’s right. I think it’s time you showed us the ellipse,” I declared.

“That area is damaged at the moment. We need to wait, until the environmental settings have been fixed otherwise it is too dangerous for you.”

“Why do I not believe you?” I complained, rolling my eyes.

“When do you think it will be fixed?” Rachel asked gently, whilst casting a glare in my direction.

“Very soon. Please, walk with me. I will take you to the communal area for relaxation. Many of our people have gathered there whilst we fix the damage from the earthquake.”

“What’s the point?” I shouted. “Surely more earthquakes will hit your planet soon, just like they are on earth. We need to fix this sphere now! We can’t wait for an ambient human temperature. That’s ridiculous,” I glared, feeling my cheeks flush as I remembered back to my VR experience.

“Tom, what has gotten into you? These people know what they’re doing. Just be patient. They won’t let anything happen to Earth, just as much as they won’t put their own planet at risk. If it’s not safe to visit the ellipse yet... then it’s not safe,” Rachel replied, but I’d had enough. Storming out the room I declared my intent to find it myself.

“No, you must wait,” Apo wailed, hurrying after me. “It is not safe for humans to visit there.”

“Just tell me where it is, and I’ll see how dangerous it is,” I ordered, turning around and walking backwards, glaring at Apo and Rachel who were both now hurrying after me.

“Tom, this is ridiculous,” she shouted after me.

“No, what is ridiculous is doing nothing.”