Twin Earth

It seemed like we were walking down endless corridors for nearly an hour before I finally paused and knelt forwards in exhaustion. I suddenly felt dizzy and for a moment I had to catch myself from passing out by holding on to the wall.

“You okay?” Rachel asked, leaning down to help me as Apo walked on ahead, seemingly unaware that we had stopped. He had eventually given in and led the way after my forceful intervention, but I had begun to wonder if he was simply leading us around in circles rather than taking us to the creator’s ellipse.

“I don’t feel well,” I eventually muttered in response and I wasn’t lying. Ever since I had put on the VR headset contraption, I had been feeling an unsettling nausea in my stomach that was refusing to go away.

“Do you want to rest?” Rachel asked with concern on her face. “I really don’t think there is any rush as Apo said repairs have to be done before we can visit the ellipse anyway.”

“He’s just leading us around in circles Rachel. Can’t you see that?” I argued, standing myself back up and ignoring a headache that had suddenly decided to make itself known.

“You don’t look well. We should stop.”

“It’s probably your fruit,” I scowled, trying hard to keep walking.

“What fruit?” Rachel asked confused.

“You know, the damn fruit you left in my room.”

“I didn’t leave you any fruit? What are you talking about?”

“You just fucking said you did,” I shouted annoyed, stopping to stare at Rachel.

“Okay, okay, calm down. What is wrong with you? I never left you any fruit!”

“Nothing is wrong with me! You’re just messing with my head that’s all and it’s not funny.”

“No-one is messing with your head Tom. You’re being paranoid. Maybe you should lie down. I’ll go find someone.”

“No, I’m fine. Seriously, stop fussing. I just don’t trust Apo that’s all. I heard him, back in that weird empty room, shouting to someone.”

“Shouting to someone, but who?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see them, but I swear he was arguing with someone.”

“But no-one else was in there Tom.”

“I know no-one was in there, but he was definitely shouting at someone just before you joined us both.”

“Joined you? But you were alone,” Rachel whispered with a bewildered expression on her face.

“No I wasn’t. Apo was there. I’m at least convinced of that Rachel. The damn guy is...” but I paused, unable to finish my sentence. “Where’s he gone?”

“Who?”

“Apo!”

“Apo? What do you mean Apo? It’s just us.”

“No it isn’t. We’ve been following him for nearly an hour down these bloody corridors.”

“Right, you seriously need to lie...”

“I don’t need to fucking lie down Rachel! You came in, to that room where Apo and I were. Yes, he had been arguing with someone who for some unknown reason then vanished, but we had a whole argument about going to this ellipse. You both chased me down the bloody corridor for fuck sake!” I stated, dumbfounded.

“Tom, Apo has been missing for hours. No-one has seen him,” Rachel replied with a hint of fear on her face as I frantically stared at her.

“What?” I stuttered, unable to think of anything else to say. Nothing was making sense. Was I going mad? “No... you’re wrong. I came out my room and I went to the VR room...”

“You went to the viewing lounge by yourself?” Rachel interrupted. “That was stupid Tom. You don’t know how to use that kind of technology. Neither of us do.”

“Someone had been in there though,” I continued. “There was a head-set on one of the beds. It was connected to somewhere on Earth and if I’m not mistaken, no-one here has been to Earth except us. And didn’t they say that to travel through your consciousness you need to have physically been there. Was it you? Because it definitely wasn’t me.”

“It certainly wasn’t me Tom. Where on Earth was it?” Rachel asked confused.

“I don’t know, somewhere in Mexico?” I replied impatient but refraining from mentioning the tsunami for fear of further upsetting an already nervous Rachel. I knew I was scaring her, but I was beginning to freak out at the prospect of losing my sanity.

“Tom, I’ve never been to Mexico, and regardless, I haven’t used the viewing lounge since I was with you.”

Frowning, I rubbed my head as my headache increased. Nothing was making sense.

“Well then if it wasn’t you, who was it?”

“I have no idea. The Mochuvians said they haven’t been to Earth in centuries.”

“What if they have?”

“But why would they lie?”

“Well, whoever it was, I then left that room and made my way up here to find you, but I heard Apo arguing with someone, then you came in and you both followed me out so we could make our way to the ellipse.”

“But it was just you Tom. You were completely alone when I found you. Like I said, Apo has been missing for hours. I found you crouching behind a desk and then you just ran out the room. You said you wanted to find the ellipse and we’ve been walking around for hours trying to find it.”

“But... that doesn’t make any sense,” I frowned. “We were following Apo... I’m convinced of it,” I mumbled, pacing up and down and looking down both ends of the corridor in a vain attempt to find him, but Rachel was right, Apo was nowhere to be seen.

“I think you need to rest Tom. We should try and find someone to help us find this ellipse because clearly, we’re getting nowhere. I knew it was a bad idea from the start, but you insisted.”

“So where is Apo?” I asked, finally turning to look at Rachel.

“Well, I was with Adom and Akna down in the canteen room where we went to after the earthquake, they said that he hadn’t been seen since we went back to our rooms to rest. It was after you had demanded to see the ellipse.”

“But I saw him...” I continued.

“Okay Tom, you say you saw him. I believe you...”

“Don’t patronise me. I know what I saw. I am not going mad. Something weird is going on. What about the phasing of the light outside? It’s been flickering from daylight to night-time. Surely you’ve seen that? Apo said that it happens sometimes. Don’t you remember having that conversation?”

“The light?”

“Yes, the fucking light outside. When I was looking for you, the light outside changed. It went dark. You could even see some stars. Look, I’ll show you,” I rambled, marching down the corridor to try and find a window. “There...” I started, but I paused as I approached the window nearby.

“The light hasn’t changed Tom. It’s remained bright. There has been no darkness at all.”

“No, this isn’t right,” I whispered confused.

“We should find Adom. Maybe he can help. I’m sure it’s just tiredness.”

“I am not tired Rachel. I swear I’m telling the truth.”

I could see Rachel wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t push the matter. Instead, she turned around and started walking back down the way we had come.

“Come on, let’s find Adom. You can tell him what you saw. Maybe I’m just remembering things wrong,” Rachel replied sympathetically. Following her, I prayed she was right.