Twin Earth

For a moment I stood alone at the top of the temple whilst Rachel and Adom went inside, debating whether to join them. The hazy sunshine of the world outside seemed much more inviting than the gloomy hole of the archway that lay ahead.

‘Maybe I can live out my days here,’ I pondered thoughtfully turning around, but knowing full well that I never would, even if I could, however before I had time to finalise my decision a hand yanked me from behind and pulled me into the room beyond.

“Hey!” I grunted, spinning around and facing an annoyed looking Rachel.

“Will you just man up and start acting like a scientist,” Rachel complained.

“Now who’s being sexist,” I mumbled, shrugging off her patronising comment. “Don’t you think my comprehension of Earth science is a bit outdated now anyway?” I retorted.

“You know full well we need you.”

“Remind me again, why is it me going through the ellipse and not you?” I asked indignantly.

“Because you already have, according to Adom,” Rachel replied sheepishly, suddenly losing her attitude a little. “Anyway, would you really make a girl do it instead?”

“Oh, so now you want to be treated differently,” I replied, but she had me there. For all the snide comments and sarcastic remarks, I couldn’t bring myself to force her to go no matter how hard I wanted her to. That really would make me a coward. So, brushing myself down I glanced around the room with a new air of confidence, causing Rachel to frown in the process, although she said nothing.

“So, where are we?” I asked Adom, surprised at my own gallantry.

“The creator’s ellipse is just through that door, but I need to remember how to open it,” Adom replied as he studied the stone wall surrounding a huge boulder that blocked our way forward.

I was suddenly starting to feel like I was in an Indiana Jones movie and hoped that a million flesh-eating beetles weren’t going to pour out from behind the rock once we removed it, my heroic enthusiasm already slipping.

“Are these hieroglyphics?” Rachel asked, studying the walls.

“I’m sorry?” Adom asked, turning to look at her. “I don’t know that word, but these are the ancient writings that the creators left. Our people did not place them here. We built the temple around them.”

“It’s just they look like an ancient Egyptian language from Earth, but different somehow. I can’t quite read them, but some I recognise.”

Walking over to join her I too studied the deeply engraved symbols in the rock and was surprised to recognise a few of them too.

“You’re right, this one means travel, it’s the feet symbol, but it’s next to the symbol for protection and life,” I stated. “I guess that’s a good thing?”

“You can understand these writings?” Adom asked in surprised at both of us.

“Some. Like Tom said, this cross with a circle on the top means life and this weird tweezer looking symbol means protection in ancient Egyptian, but they are slightly different, much taller in length as if stretched.”

“Maybe the Egyptians took the creator’s language and changed it over time?” I asked.

“Are you suggesting they knew the creators?” Rachel asked in surprised.

“It’s possible,” I remarked.

“And didn’t tell the Mayans?”

“I know, how rude,” I quipped.

“This is indeed truly fascinating,” Adom mumbled, pouring over the symbols we were now looking at.

“So, do you understand them?” I asked Adom.

“No, I never learned the ancient language. We used to have historians who would guard the temples and study these writings, but gradually we left this all behind when the desert separated us from the underdeveloped and we moved into the facility above. Now we simply use the translator.”

“Ah yes, the translator induction course, I remember it well,” I retorted, rolling my eyes.

“Have you ever met the creators?” Rachel asked.

“No, no-one has. This was all that was here. These writings are found all over Mochuvia. Some were translated into technology we use today, and some were stories of distant places. We built the translator in the hope of meeting some of these distant beings from these stories, but other than you, no-one has ever visited us.”

“But you travelled through them, right? Before they were stolen?” I asked.

“Yes, some of them, the ones that we found, such as the planet we took you to in the viewing room, Vansonna, but they are empty places, beautiful and full of amazing wonders, but void of intelligent life.”

“But why would the creators build ellipses to distant places where no-one lived?” I asked confused.

“We believe intelligent life is out there, we just lost the ability to use the ellipses when they were stolen or destroyed in the war, before we had time to really understand them,” Adom replied.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” I asked surprised. “Didn’t you try and get them back?”

“Why of course, we sent people to the south, but they never returned. That was many years ago. Now it is too far and too dangerous to travel.”

“Why didn’t you just build a plane and use guns to get them back. I don’t know, something to help you. Especially if you had all this advanced technology?” I asked in disbelief.

“Guns?” Adom replied confused.

“He means weapons,” Rachel muttered with a hint of contempt. “He’s wondering why you never flew to the south and fought for them.”

“We had no need for flying devices. We had the ellipses.”

“Yeah, but, after,” I replied frustrated. “Ugh, never mind.”

“Violence is never the answer,” Adom replied frowning.

“It might have meant you got your stuff back,” I mumbled walking away.

“Yes, but at what cost?”

“So, this is all you have left,” Rachel replied in awe, rubbing her hands over the huge boulder and turning to look at us. “But why this one? Why didn’t the underdeveloped steal this one?”

“Good bloody question,” I replied, turning around and looking at them both.

“Fear,” Adom replied sternly, whilst brushing debris and moss off from the edges of the boulder. “They were afraid, as were we, of what lay beyond. No-one has ever tried crossing over. It is all because of this one message here,” Adom replied leaning down to clean the floor at the base of the boulder.

“What message?” I asked, joining him.

“These symbols here, do you know them Rachel?” Adom asked.

“Err... maybe this one, the telescope looking one, I think that means power, but the others make no sense to me. What does it say?”

“It says great power lies beyond, that must only be reached in times of great need. To travel without need is to mean instant death. At least that is what I am told it says.”

“Well that’s reassuring,” I breathed sarcastically, standing back up.

“But our need is great Tom. Our two planets are ripping each other apart.”

“That is true Rachel. If there ever was a time to go through this ellipse, it is now,” Adom added.

“But where does it even go?” I asked. “I could be taken anywhere. I could be taken to a place that could kill me.”

“No, you would be safe. The writings states implicitly that whoever travels of human heart, during times of great need, will not end their life at the hands of the creator.”

“What about the hands of someone else though? You know, like crushing, infinite time, negative gravity or whatever else these things are made of? And anyway, it says of human heart, Mochuvians are of human heart too surely?” I rambled.

“Our biology is quite different from our ancestors now. We have advanced our bodies in so many ways to withstand the harsh environments here and utilise the viewing technology. Much of our DNA has changed to rid ourselves of disease and...”

“Okay, I get the picture. You’re all basically half cyborg, fine. Just explain how we open this door. Is this the ellipse?”

“Oh no, this merely covers the room beyond. Please, help me loosened the connectors surrounding it. It should slide with ease.”

We waited as Adom fiddled around the boulder, but then he stood back in confusion.

“This is most odd,” he mumbled, feeling around the edges once again.

“Why? What is it?” Rachel asked.

“I think this has been opened recently. There is a gap here, as if the boulder was not closed properly, but who would...” Adom replied, trailing off.

“Someone’s already been here?” I asked nervously.

“Come, let’s push it aside. Whoever it was, has gone now,” Adom replied, motioning us to help him move the giant rock.