Twin Earth

“Damn it,” I shouted as I whacked my head against something hard for the second time and a wave of dizziness came over me.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” Rachel blabbed, pulling herself off me and sitting back on the floor.

“Yeah, I’ll live, but... what the hell are you doing here?” I replied, staring at her in disbelief. “You’re not even wearing a suit? Does that mean I can pull this fucking thing off my head at last?”

“I... I...” Rachel stammered, her eyes filling with tears.

“Hey, are you okay? What’s happened?” I mumbled, sitting myself up and dragging myself closer to the very dishevelled looking Rachel and yanking off my space suit mask. I was immediately grateful for the clean, fresh air that filled my lungs. Whatever this mucous bubble was, it was apparently protecting us against the death-valley outside and was seemingly a perfect environment for humans.

“I think Adom is dead,” Rachel finally whispered.

“Dead?”

“It was an ambush. I... I had no choice but to jump.”

“Slow down, you’re not making any sense,” I frowned, pulling her face up to look at mine and checking for concussion. “What ambush? I only left you moments before, there was no-one around for miles?”

“Tom... you’ve been gone for three days. We thought you were never coming back.”

“Three days?” I exclaimed. “But... how is that possible? I mean, I took my time coming through, watching you guys back in the room and all that weird stuff. Even Apo made an appearance, but three days?”

“Apo? You saw him then? Thank god. Yes, you must have done, that’s why you’re here. You went towards the black void.”

“What black void?”

“The black void. The one that flickered in and out of the view of space. I did the same. That’s why you’re here isn’t it?”

“No. I fell into here.”

“Oh,” Rachel replied quietly.

“There’s nothing here anyway, as you can plainly see so yeah, thanks for jamming the ellipse closed on your way through,” I muttered, standing up and losing my patience.

“I didn’t mean to. I can only assume Magnus finally destroyed it after I passed through.”

“Magnus?” I exclaimed, spinning round to stare at Rachel who was still in a heap on the floor. “What the hell do you mean by Magnus?”

“I thought you got Apo’s message?”

“Not that part. Is he...” I paused as the realisation began to sink in, “is Magnus the one who thinks he can fix the sphere? Is he on... Mochuvia?”

“When you didn’t come back, we waited for over twenty-four hours, but Adom was called back to the complex. There was a group of Mochuvians, they were chanting and exclaiming the end was coming. That the Spanish invasion was happening all over again because the creators were coming.”

“They were what?”

“It’s a ploy, I think, by Magnus. He was there, at the head of the crowd, demanding an end to the creator’s ellipse,” Rachel rambled.

“But that’s utter madness!” I bawled in astonishment.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes, but then Apo found me and Adom spying on them and dragged us away. He just kept apologising, over and over again.”

“Apologising? But why? I knew he wasn’t to be trusted.”

“Maybe, but he knows Magnus. That’s why Magnus has all that amazing technology back on Earth, he’s been in contact with Apo for decades!”

“He’s what now?” I stammered.

It was all too much for me to take in, but even as Rachel continued to explain, it all started to make sense. “So why send us up here? Why waste his space ship on a redundant mission if he has all these amazing plans to fix the sphere? And how did he even get here?”

“It was to get that very ship onto Mochuvia. He used us Tom,” Rachel mumbled, trying to stand up and forcing me to jog over to help her.

“You’re hurt,” I stated, forcing her to sit back down.

“It’s nothing, just a graze.”

“Rachel, why did Magnus want us to come to Mochuvia? What was in that ship?” I pushed, as she winced in pain and sat back down.

“Did you not wonder where that ship went after we crashed?” Rachel replied, looking up at me.

“I assumed it was destroyed.”

“Well, it wasn’t. It was damaged, but not destroyed. Apo said that there was technology on it that Magnus had developed, to open up a new ellipse between Earth and Mochuvia, so he could finally travel here. Apo confessed he had gone along with it to help grow Mochuvia, so it would become more open and re-connected with Earth. For hundreds of years the Mochuvians have been afraid of invasion. It has meant they have closed themselves off. Apo wanted to change that, or so he says.”

“So what happened?”

“Apo helped Magnus to open up this portable ellipse. It can appear anywhere on Mochuvia and Earth. It’s even more advanced than the one we passed through, but then... Magnus bought weapons.”

“Weapons?” I asked in horror.

“Yes, thousands of guns and ammunition. Apo claims it was a precaution, against the return of the creators in case they tried to destroy us, but he began to realise that Magnus was fooling his people through fear to ultimately take over Mochuvia as some kind of leader. He’s a madman Tom!”

“Jesus Christ,” I whispered, rubbing my forehead and pacing back and forth. “Is Trevor in on this? Is NASA in on this? America?”

“I... I don’t know Tom.”

“So, how did you end up here? Where’s Apo?”

“I had to leave him behind, along with Adom,” Rachel paused. “The three of us raced back down to the ellipse to save you from being trapped wherever you had gone, but Magnus and his army followed us like some kind of witch hunt. We tried to hold them off, hoping you would come back with the creators, but they began to use the weapons Magnus had brought with him. We were helpless! That was when Adom...” Rachel paused again, trying to hold back tears. “I hid for a while, and Apo sent his message to you in the hope you would hear it in the past, but then he too was shot. I had only minutes to think of what to do, so I jumped. I have no idea if Apo is alive.”

“Now those visions of the future are starting to make more sense. It was Magnus who was arguing with Apo that time, wasn’t it? No wonder he just disappeared if he had some fancy new ellipse he was controlling. Damn it!”

“You can’t blame Apo though Tom. He just wanted to connect with us, with Earth. He had no idea what Magnus was planning to do and I believe him.”

“But doesn’t he realise that Magnus can’t fix the sphere? Why would Magnus prevent us from contacting the creators? He surely can’t be that stupid?”

“I don’t know. I guess he thinks they’ll be more advanced and stop him from taking over Mochuvia. I think the damaged sphere is helping him use his ellipse somehow because Apo said if the sphere is fixed it will prevent it from working.”

“But that’s playing with fire! There won’t be any planets to lead if it’s left open,” I exclaimed. “So, it was Magnus who had been messing with the ellipse I jumped through, and that’s why Apo didn’t want me to go through it because he knew it had been changed.”

“I think so, and I think it was Magnus who used the viewing lounge in your vision. He must be in contact with others on Earth, but what do we do now?” Rachel asked nervously. “Is this the creators’ homeland?”

“Maybe, at one time, but look,” I replied, waving my hands around despondently.

“Oh my god,”

“Yeah, exactly and apparently we’re now trapped here and a madman has taken over Mochuvia!”