The Man-Made Rapture

The moon never came. The sun remained high in the sky in all its glory, all it’s fiery glory. It’s rays beat down on the Earth like the flaming swords of angels, scorching the land it once nurtured. No trees for the birds to sing in, no seas for the fish to swim, no wind, no rain, only sun. They lost all track of the days, months, years, time and for many even their minds. Ever since the day it had gone, the yin to the suns yang; all balance had been broken. The only thing the people of Earth knew was hell and that those responsible were away in the sky, somewhere out behind the blinding light. Heaven? Perhaps, they once called it Mars but to its new inhabitants it was home. To those who remained, it was irrelevant they knew where they were. No God did this, this was the work of man, the corrupt stink of humankind was all over it and only the innocent knew its stench.

“Mum, I don’t want to dig, what are we doing this for anyway?” Whined the lanky sixteen-year-old boy. He dropped the shovel to the floor with gay-abandon and he kicked the dirt over it with spite, hoping it got a taste of it’s own medicine. Another shovel stuck into the ground with a boot on top and a woman with sleeves rolled up and hair tied back turns to Tom, it’s his mother Suzanne, she wiped the mud and sweat from her brow with an exasperated expression.

“Tom, do we have to go through this every single time? It’s what’s required of us, we’re doing our bit and you know this.” “Our bit for what? For who?” He snapped. “The Planet!” An answer he had heard many times but it never satisfied his skepticism.

“How is digging this pit saving the planet ma! We’ve been doing it for years! When is it going to end, I don’t see any of the politicians getting their hands dirty, all they do is point and say it’s us, but they let these corporations build more and pollute more, dump more but it’s always our fault!” His voice was loud and carried throughout the underground chambers. “Quiet!” She hissed at him. “I don’t want to get in trouble with the boss again and you’re on your last warning.”

“Oh, the boss aye? You mean the slave drivers up top? Let’s call a spade a spade mum!” He picked up the shovel just to throw it back down at her feet. “Do you think they care? Do you really think we’re doing this for our own good? We’re slaves mum, slaves.”

“Hey! Watch your tone.” She said matching his volume. “You should wish yourself lucky. You are helping for our future and they’re paying you now you’re sixteen, slaves don’t get paid Tom.” She turns her back to him and continues to dig. Tom picks up his shovel and takes his frustration out on the earth, digging, stomping on the shovel plunging it deep and pulling it up and dumping it to the pile.

“I feel like I don’t have a choice, all I’ve known is this underground prison.” He imagined the ground as one of the sector guards and his rage grew. “Do you think I want to be down here? Digging until my back aches and my arms go stiff? No. I don’t but I have to, I have to put food on our table your father does his bit fitting the lights down here and your little sister… all she learns in school is how to grow food, we’re all doing our bit Tom and we’re not moaning, I think it’s time you grew up.” Tom didn’t respond. She stopped digging and gently grabbed her son’s arms from behind while he butchered the earth and her touch halted him.

“Look at me son, look.” He turns and she cradled his muddy face in her equally dirty hand. “The world isn’t a pretty place anymore, there isn’t a bright future, but we’re trying to build one. And I’m so proud of you and your sister, I know it hasn’t been easy for either of you, but if doing this means you have a future, I’ll do it until I can’t stand on my feet anymore.” Tears washed down their dry faces like rivers on cracked soil and she embraced him.

“Look here at me” she said tucking her hand down her shirt. She pulled from her white (nearly brown) chest a heart shaped locket, it was small but it’s golden surface shimmered bright even in the dull light of the lamps deep back down in the earth from where it originally formed. She opened the locket and it made a satisfying clicking sound and each half contained a picture of Tom and his little sister Rebecca.

“I hold you and your sister close to my heart because that’s where you always have been and always will be. Me and your father are doing this for you both, we’re doing it because you both are our heart.” Tom hugged his mother tight, his angst settled and they wiped away each other’s tears.

“Come on back to work.” She made a whipping noise and they both laughed through their sobs. The shovelling continued…they didn’t know they were digging their own graves.

The days of going to the pit (or ‘work’ as they had called it) and coming back home to the surface to continue a somewhat normal existence, all seemed a distant memory for Tom. Just like everyone else, he became complacent with being told what to do. The hours got longer, the work harder, the punishments more severe. Over the years the guards were granted more power and with power, corruption surly followed, and they were hungry for it. Suzanne was wrong, they were slaves down there in that pit but there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. The guards could have you beaten or worse: fired. Somehow the people knew they were digging the underground pit for themselves but the reality never sunk in, not until being threatened with unemployment meant your future in the trench was not secured. How ironic, the rats were fighting to be put in the cage.

The sun grew larger and hotter, the air at the surface was dry and wars over water supplies became a real threat, droughts across the world took many lives, but the powers that be wouldn’t have wasted it on them anyway. Scientist could not explain why the sun was changing so rapidly, the heat above almost made working below a perversely nice reprieve. There seemed more talk of big tech companies looking to other planets rather than trying to fix their own, this wasn’t new. But things got worse. The worlds powers began to see the solar system as real estate, and the great pissing match began swiftly and lot number one was the closest visible commodity: the moon.

Who would own the moon?

The Americans? They got there first (apparently), would the Russians allow it? North Korea? China? But like toddlers fighting over the same toy, they followed suit and eventually… broke it. The news was unclear and the people of Earth never had an answer to who destroyed the moon. Tom blamed them all. Money over mind and the people would have to pay for it. The loss of the moon threw Earth off its axis. Days were no longer days, they were short and timeless, and nights were short and black. Wildlife started to disintegrate, the circadian rhythm had shifted and the animals could not adapt to these changes. Bird song once beautiful became shrill atonal chimes that drove many people to take their own lives, especially those who had no hope of living in the trench. The birds soon dropped dead. The fish boiled in the waters and Tom and his family began to see there future, down in the pit.

“I can’t believe were here, so soon.” Tom said. No longer a moping teenager but a twenty-one year old man. He spent so much of his life digging out the corridors and chambers, yet it seemed so alien to him.

“It feels wrong to admire it, but it’s so big, I never took any notice before.” “I feel the same.” Said the pale gaunt man; it was his father, David the electrician. He was sat in a chair in there new home quarters, which Tom and his mum practically built by hand all these years. The bluish light above him did not flatter him.

“At least with all this constant sun were having the solar panels will give us endless light down here, so no worry of that son.” David had nothing to talk about other than work even before all this happened.

“Trust me dad that’s the least of my worries.” rightfully so. The atmosphere in the pit was palpable, many of the families had worked down there for years but the thought of not being able to leave caused wide spread claustrophobia. Broadcasted on many of the communal screens was an advert promoting Mars as a new safe haven and the success of the terraforming there, “The city of Terrarium, our salvation, our new home” it said, followed by “We’ll come back for you.” But only a few smart people knew this was a fallacy, Tom being one of them.

“I hope they crash.” Tom spat.

“Tom don’t say such things or they’ll leave you here.” She leaned in close to him. “You don’t know who or what is listening.” She whispered. He knew exactly what she meant. He was glad to see some caution in her. “This is ridiculous, they’re transferring me to the live stock department but keeping mum in construction, it makes no sense.” His angst had not completely faded over the years.

“Don’t worry about me Tom, I’ll manage.” She sounded tired. “It’s a joke, you should be tending to the animals, I should be doing the hard labor it just isn’t fair for you. They’ll have Rebecca shovelling waste in the sewage department next!” he paced the room like a caged lion. Tom went to the head office first thing in the next morning to try and swap places with his mother but no luck all they did was beat him and threatened to put him out on the surface, which was a death sentence.

A year had passed and it hadn’t been easy, although the live-stock department was a best place to work for someone with no technical skills, what made it hard was knowing his mother was stuck still digging herself to an early grave and she did. Nearly to the day they moved into the pit Suzanne was crushed to death in a cave in digging into the soft soil, something that should never have been authorised. When Tom heard the news he bolted from the stables and ran to dig his mother out from the soil, she had almost made it, but it was too late, the only her arm stuck out clenched there was no pulse and any attempt to dig for her he was flogged by the guards. He opened his mother’s cold hand and inside held tight was the heart shaped locket she kept so close, she was giving it to him.

Tom waited to exact his revenge on the guards responsible but they were untouchable and Tom had to fall in line. Two more years passed, the pits were in ruins, famine, pestilences and insanity were rife and still no sign of the saviours return. He had lost everyone but as he released his grip from the head guard’s neck he felt some justice had taken place it; wasn’t sweet. There was nothing left but to claim his own destiny. He ventured to the highest point of the pit, locket in hand and walked out into the sun.