Twin Earth

Adom turned to look at the bulging black lump of tar that was now growing in front of us but said nothing. Instead, he stared at it with an odd expression on his face as it edged slowly towards us. I could feel it sucking us in, but there was nothing to hold onto. Even though it was silent before, a slow grinding noise started to emanate from inside it, increasing in volume as it grew in size.

“Err... shouldn’t we do something?” I shouted at Adom who seemed transfixed. Eventually nodding, he broke from his trance and returned to playing with the walls.

“It’s not supposed to look like this,” he whispered to himself, deep in thought as he frantically tried to fix whatever was wrong with the ellipse.

“Tom, I don’t want you going in there,” Rachel stated, holding on to my arm nervously.

“Neither do I,” I replied, “but I’m sure Adom knows what’s he doing,” I lied, I had zero confidence in his abilities to fix whatever was wrong with it.

“There!” Adom screamed, making us both jump. Immediately the black void shrank back to its original shape, flinging us back against the wall as it released its grip on us. Then it changed. Slowly, a hazy image of space appeared inside it, filled with galaxies and stars, which slowly became brighter, and its shape morphed into a perfect bubble of interstellar space, right there in the room with us.

“Wow,” I breathed.

“But there is still something wrong,” Adom continued, returning to the wall once again. “It doesn’t seem to lead to any particular place in space or time. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, where is it supposed to lead to? Do you even know if you have never been?”

“To the creator’s homeland,” Adom replied, finally turning to look at us and letting his hands fall to his sides in defeat.

“But do you know where that is?” I asked.

“I just assumed it was a star system in the Andromeda galaxy. If you look at these maps here, it shows you,” Adom replied, beckoning us over to another section of the wall.

“These are star charts,” Rachel marvelled.

“Indeed. This is your Earth...”

“You’re on it?” Rachel exclaimed in surprise.

“Of course. These were left by the creators.”

“But why?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Adom asked.

“I mean, why did these aliens, creators or whatever, do all this? Why did they save our planets by putting you in a ball of dark matter? Why does all this exist?” I asked, waving my hand around the room.

“This mark, next to the Andromeda galaxy, is that where you believe this ellipse goes?” Rachel asked, ignoring me and clearly enthralled by the huge map before us.

“We believe so. There is a line that joins our two galaxies. None of the other ellipses had lines like this on their maps.”

“There are other maps?” Rachel asked in surprise.

“Yes, each ellipse has its own map, but only this one has a line joining two galaxies.”

“But why is Andromeda encircled by two dotty rings?” I asked, looking more closely.

“That represents its formation. Earth is older than Andromeda.”

“Of course,” Rachel replied. “These scattering of dots around it must represent its erratic formation and orbits. Our stars in the Milky Way don’t do that.”

“So where exactly in the Andromeda galaxy does it go?” I asked. “And you still haven’t answered me. Why did these creators save Mochuvia and what makes you think they’ll save us now? Do they even know we’re here?”

“Tom is right Adom. Why did they leave all this behind when they left?” Rachel asked.

For a moment Adom didn’t reply and looked nervous.

“What is it?” Rachel whispered.

Pausing for thought, Adom began to talk slowly, “When we first arrived here on Mochuvia there were limited resources so we introduced a strict regulation of procreation. Even now a female has to apply to have a child and prove on what grounds she and her mate believe the child will benefit the community. If approved the child is allocated a position in the community and are trained in that field of study for life.”

“What happens if they don’t want that chosen field?” I asked concerned. “Is that even ethical?”

“That has never happened? It is an honour to be born. Every child has achieved their parents promise, except...”

“I knew it,” I muttered.

“Except Gabor.”

“Who’s Gabor?” Rachel asked.

“He was chosen to be a great warrior, a protector of our planet. He guarded many of our ellipses and was trained in many ancient ways of fighting.”

“I thought you didn’t allow fighting?” I queried, confused.

“We do not, unless it is their chosen field. There are no weapons. His body strength is enough, but Gabor refused to continue his work after the ellipses were stolen. He believed himself to have failed his family and many of our people shunned him.”

“So what happened to him?”

“He jumped through this last remaining ellipse against our permission. No-one was able to go after him, and he never returned.”

“Couldn’t you use the viewing lounge to find him?”

“That was developed many years later, but even so, no-one has been through this ellipse. We have no idea where he went other than somewhere in Andromeda.”

“That is so sad,” Rachel whispered.

“He sounds like someone we could do with now,” I retorted.

“So, how does this relate to the creators?” Rachel pushed.

Sighing heavily, Adom walked over to the ellipse and stared into its dreamy landscape. It was hard not to marvel at the stunning view myself, but knowing it was me going in there soon I refrained from doing so.

“Many of the writings left by the creators said they entered our galaxy millions of years ago when our two planets were still forming. They created the sphere to contain our planet and to protect us both. Then they left. Stating that one day they would return. We believe they went on to Andromeda, leaving us this map so we know where they are.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” I replied confused.

“But we believe they wish to return to use our planets somehow,” Adom continued.

“Okay, that doesn’t sound as good,” I retorted.

“Use them for what?” Rachel asked.

“Harvesting.”

Stunned, neither of us could immediately reply.

“Harvest what?” I finally asked.

“We are not clear on that. Our resources, our people maybe, we do not know. All we know is that one day they plan to return, and now Gabor has gone through we believe they may arrive soon because they know we exist.”

“But what makes you think that? These maps don’t suggest that’s what they want to do,” Rachel stated.

“It is what happens to our people. It has happened before. It will happen again.”

“But that was on Earth, you can’t possibly think the creators will do the same?” Rachel continued.

“But Adom’s right Rachel. Why bother saving two planets if you don’t plan to use them in some way?” I replied. “That’s like me making a sandwich and then not eating it, and you want me to go in there and knock on their door too? Fuck that.”

“No, you have to go in. It is the only way to save our planets. You are the only person who can safely travel through the ellipse. Mochuvians cannot go, it must be a human because Gabor never returned,” Adom declared nervously.

“But if you believe they are coming anyway because of Gabor…” I started, but was interrupted.

“That was many years ago, time is running out and unlike the other Mochuvians here, I do not believe we should wait any longer!” Adom stated.

“Is there no other way?” Rachel pleaded. “Tom could be risking his life.”

“I am risking my life,” I retorted.

“You have seen the future Tom, you know our planets will be destroyed. There is not much time. You must go.”

“What does Apo say about all this? He didn’t seem too keen on me going before? Maybe he knows something we don’t?” I pleaded, realising my time was up.

“No-one can find Apo, but he thinks like me and would approve of this I am sure. I am sure it was just because he was concerned it was damaged, but it looks fine now. Whatever was wrong with it has gone now.”

“But you said it was still leading us to the wrong place?” I asked confused.

“It may be the right place. I do not know, but there is only one way to find out. It is time.”