Momo, The 930-Foot, Multi-Colored, Hairy Worm

Momo is a 930-foot, multi-colored, hairy worm, and on his back is the only place human life can reside if they want to stay alive. Earth’s surface is not safe for human life anymore. So, Momo’s back it is.

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This story was originally published on Medium.

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Momo, the 930-foot, multi-colored, hairy worm, continued his high-speed roll along the surface of the Earth. The sound of the ground beneath being torn up was continuous, it would fade as Momo traversed the Earth quickly, and then more sounds would start up.

Momo would seamlessly transition into the ocean, gliding along the top like a football-field-sized, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink Jesus. Momo would let out a soft squeal each time he transitioned from ground to water and water to ground. It sounded to be a squeal of pleasure. Or perhaps, just of recognition of a different texture rapidly gliding along his underside. Again, maybe of pleasure.

Momo was so fast, he’d glide off the shores in Massachusetts or Virginia or North Carolina and into the Atlantic Ocean… and within 38 minutes he would hit Europe or Africa, depending which direction he had decided to head in. It was so fast, but the passengers who rode his back were never dizzy or thrown off or in any danger. A sort of forcefield was created around Momo, so no one would accidentally be flung from him, and it created almost its own gravitational pull, making for a smooth and comfortable ride.

And it was quite a way to see the world… at breakneck speeds… on the back of a giant worm. The world still looked beautiful, but it was not suitable for life anymore. It was growing worse and worse, that’s why some of the remaining citizens of Earth left its surface and became citizens of Momo. The rest of human life that stayed on Earth died eventually. The Earth’s surface continued to heat up, continued to get worse. Now, instant contact with the surface would kill a human life.

But that didn’t stop people from jumping off Momo back to Earth… to their immediate deaths. People were going mad, unable to live in constant motion on Momo’s back. Some people forgot the rule, don’t watch the passing objects for more than 10 minutes, look off into the horizon often, concentrate on Momo’s brightly colored, hairy back. People forgot. People went mad. They jumped. They died.

More people became bored with this life and jumped too. Others stated this was no way to live. Others said humans deserved to die. So many left Momo’s back, eventually, there were only four left. Kimmy, Matthew, Byron, and Qasim.

These four grew close as they quickly realized, they were some of the sanest people aboard Momo… even from the very beginning. It became more apparent at the end…

“Why wouldn’t people want to continue living if there is a way?” Kimmy would always ask.

“It’s so easy.” Matthew would add. “No effort at all. Food flies up onto Momo, flung up from the dirt. Easy effort food.”

“Maybe some people don’t like root vegetables.” Byron would muse.

That was pretty much all they got. Carrots, potatoes, turnips to name a few, and Qasim’s favorite, parsnips. Whenever the parsnips would fly up onto Momo’s back, Qasim stole them for himself.

“You all don’t appreciate a good parsnip!” Qasim would say every time.

“Maybe Qasim is a bit mad.” Kimmy would tell only Byron in private.

Byron would tend to agree.

It was just the four of them for 396 days. Byron was in charge of keeping track. That’s how long it had been since the last person jumped off Momo’s back somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It had also been 118 days since a parsnip had flung up onto Momo’s back. They usually didn’t go longer than 10–12 days without seeing one.

Qasim grew more and more mad. Then, one day as they passed the ancient pyramids in Egypt, Qasim jumped. He instantly exploded in a ball of fire upon hitting the Earth’s surface.

No one said anything about it… as if it never happened. Everyone got really good at saying nothing after someone jumped off Momo’s back.

Another 255 days passed. Byron was complaining every day for weeks now. He hated this life. He wanted it to stop.

“Stopping means dying.” Matthew reminded him.

“Well, I don’t want to keep going.” Byron said.

Passing somewhere through a desert in Arizona, Byron jumped and exploded in the distance behind them.

It was just Kimmy and Matthew.

More time passed. No idea how many days. Kimmy and Matthew forgot to keep track of the days after Byron left. It was definitely at least five more days for sure. Could’ve been 50. Matthew made a joke about mating to save the human race. Kimmy told him he was gross. Matthew decided he didn’t have much else to do on Momo’s back, so he jumped, somewhere between what was likely Norway and Sweden.

It was only Kimmy left on Momo’s back. Momo continued chugging along, squealing each time he transitioned to water or to ground. Kimmy watched the world pass by at breakneck speeds. Then, she’d stare at the horizon so she wouldn’t throw up. She wondered if Momo stared at the horizon as well… or did he just look straight ahead as he continued on aimlessly… not a care in the world.

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For the follow-up with Momo... head here!

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