Twin Earth

Chapter 40

As I fell backwards my head smacked against something hard.

‘This isn’t empty space,’ I thought, breathing heavily and wincing at the pain that was now shooting through my skull. ‘Where the hell am I?’

I scrambled to my feet and was stunned to see I was in a room that was remarkably similar to the one I had just left Rachel and Adom in only moments before, but this time there were no inscriptions on the walls, no flickering lights or futuristic technology. Instead, the walls looked translucent and gloopy, and it felt as if I was in some kind of weird bubble.

Although the lighting in the room was subdued, I spun around to look at where I had come from and was relieved to see the ellipse pulsating behind me, gifting me some light at least, but this time it was much thinner and more like a rip in the solid fabric of space. It made me feel uneasy, but I knew it was too late to turn back. I had come too far.

As I glanced around the room to find whatever I had hit my head on, Apo’s words echoed through my mind.

‘Go towards the black? What black? I can’t see any black,’ I thought desperately to myself. Nothing was making sense. ‘And who is it that doesn’t want me to reach the creators?’

A disturbing noise rumbled from the void behind me and I realised that I couldn’t see the room I had come from within it. In fact I could see nothing, not even space, just a weird glow that was a mix of blues and purples.

‘This isn’t right,’ I worried. ‘Do I go back? What the hell do I do?’

Breathing heavily, I tried to stay calm, but I could feel myself beginning to panic. There was literally nothing in the bubble room except me and the slit like void behind me. There was no-where else to go.

I slowly walked over to the edge of the bubble and stared at it. I had never seen anything like it. The only way to describe it was to say it looked like phlegm, but alive and moving. A thick, mucus like substance was bubbling and rippling as if it was breathing and it was the grossest thing I had ever encountered.

Lifting up my hand I poked at it slowly and was stunned to see it react. It seemed to hover around my finger as if waiting for me to do something until eventually it returned to whatever it was doing. Then I realised I could push my way through it, however disgusting it was to do so, but I had no idea what was on the other side. Still, I gave it a try and moving my hand forward slowly, I pushed my finger further into the slime, but then a searing pain shot through my finger and yanking back my hand I was horrified to see the space-suit fabric had turned to an icy dust, shattering and exposing my now blackened finger underneath. Holding my hand to my chest, I nearly passed out from the pain and tried in vain to stop myself from vomiting into my head mask. I knew immediately I had severe frost bite. Whatever was on the other side was not somewhere I wanted to go, but just as I was debating jumping back through the void, the mucous like walls starting swirling. Slowly at first, but then faster, forming clumps in some areas and stretching thinly in others, until eventually it formed a grid-like pattern of solid wall, where finally I could see beyond it to the outside.

I gasped as the view became clearer as the mucous settled into its new structure. A baron red landscape filled my eyes that was something straight out of a horror movie. I was apparently at the top of a hill, surrounded by a desolate area of rocks and spiny dead trees that over-looked what seemed to be an old city of some kind that had long been deserted and left to ruin. Tall industrial looking buildings were crumbling in front of my very eyes, but what horrified me the most was what was beyond the city and up in the sky. A massive red sun filled the whole horizon and was sucking everything in front of me into its clutches. Whoever had once been here had long left, that was for sure and I could clearly see why. This was hell, but an extremely cold one. There was no other way to describe it.

‘This sun is ripping this planet apart, sucking its atmosphere and all life away from it,’ I thought. ‘Was this the creator’s home-land?’ I wondered, but if it was, they certainly weren’t around anymore. ‘But where does that leave me?’ I wondered, but before I could debate it any further the void growled again behind me, causing me to turn and look at it. It was growing ever thinner and narrower and I knew it was struggling to stay open.

‘I have to make a decision. I have to go back. I came, I tried, there was no-one here. I’ve done everything I can. No-one can blame me,’ I thought desperately, but as the void growled again I was amazed to see a human hand suddenly push its way out from inside.

‘What the fuck?’ I thought, staring at it. Then in pure comical fashion it then waved and starting feeling around for something or someone. Without thinking I immediately pulled at it and gasped as the full force of Rachel came flying through the void, finally causing the void to disappear into oblivion.