Alien Day Short: (4/26/21)

Jacob woke early in the morning as the lights slowly came on in his room. Every morning they were set to come on slowly at six thirty in the morning. His room was small, consisting of only his bed, a small table, a shelf with a few books, a door to his closet and a slit window that let the sun light in but only just. That is during the months of the year when the sun shinned. Currently the slit window served little purpose as it was the dead of winter, and the sun had dipped below the horizon months ago and would not return till the beginning of spring. During the summer it would never set but in the depths of winter it would never rise. The darkness was oppressive and affected everyone’s mood after a while. That said artificial sunlight was projected by the dome during the winter months to light up the settlement, but nothing could ever truly replace real sunlight.

Jacob rolled out of bed sliding into his slippers and standing to go to his closet. He opened the door and reached in grabbing his black robes and taking them to a basin on the table, hanging them to one side on a little hook. He washed his face to help center his thoughts on the moment and start his day. After he finished washing up, he took the robes and slipped them on. Stepping into the hall he was met by others all going to the commons for morning petitions. Jacob walked down the halls of the main Abbey complex. He had been apprenticed to the ninth ward bishop now for three years and in ten years when he retired, Jacob would take over the stewardship of the ninth ward pillar. If all went as planned Jacob would become the youngest Bishop of the wards ever at the age of twenty-six. The old Bishop spotted him coming down the hall and called for him to join him. Jacob hurried along to meet with him.

The bishop had a round face with a thin long white beard. His name was Nathaniel, and his robes hid his rather thin frame. Jacob loved him like a father and had known him most of his life growing up in the ninth ward of the colony. The Bishops handled the affairs of their own wards and answered to only one person the overseer. Jacob’s father had been a scientist and engineer conscripted by the colony for an exploratory mission with several others outside of the dome. The nature of their mission was only known to those Bishop rank or higher but when his father did not return as planned Nathaniel essentially adopted Jacob. Jacob was very young when his father left, and he had no clear memories of him. But what had happened to him outside the dome dominated the discussions of the people in the ninth ward to this day.

Jacob stood beside Nathaniel in the yard as they waited for the Overseer to step on the balcony to listen to the petitions of the Bishops on behalf of the people of their wards. This did not usually take long, most people in the dome were happy and the Bishops often handled issues without the need to consult the overseer. The overseer herself was the tenth in her line and by all accounts a kind woman. She herself had once been the Bishop of the first ward but she was even more aged than Nathaniel and it was rumored that she had already nominated Nathaniel to succeed her when she passed. The overseer lived in the Abbey which was located at the very center of the dome. It was here that the dome drew geothermal power and warmth from the core of the planet. The world outside was inhospitable and frozen, even in the summer months when the sun shone all day. But in the dome, they grew crops, lived their lives and the colony grew with the leadership of the Bishops and the Overseer. As the colony grew so did the dome, designed to expand thanks to the ring pillars the dome slowly terraformed the ground underneath as it expanded pushing outward against the inhospitable world. An energy field, now hundreds of meters high and still more across held the freezing temps and deep snow at bay around the dome. The bishops worked at the pillars, tending them, and seeing to the people of their ward. But everything in the colony eventually made its way back to the source, the zero pillar in the center, rising from the Abbey as if it held up the sky.

When all the petitions where heard the bishops and their apprentices were dismissed, and Jacob and Nathaniel made their way to the ninth pillar. Nathaniel said the journey to the edge of the ward was a way for the Bishops to interact and hear the pleas of the people. Nathaniel was well loved and along the way the people would give him gifts to take to the pillar. Jacob had taken to carrying a basket with him on the journey to carry all the gifts and today he wished he had two baskets. As they passed the greenhouse farms the large structures glowed purple from the specific artificial light used to grow the crops at an accelerated rate. Water was prevalent and harvested by the dome from the snow outside and recycled in large treatment facilities. Nathaniel kept a strict schedule inspecting all these facilities in his ward and when necessary, expanding them over the years to accommodate still more people in the colony. The colony after all these years had around two thousand inhabitants. Considering the colony was started with two hundred and fifty over a hundred years ago Nathaniel told him often they had much to be proud of.

But on Monday Nathaniel went straight to the ninth tower to personally inspect its functions. Arguably the bishops most important duty was to ensure the pillar functioned because if it failed then all the freezing temperatures and heavy snow would wreak havoc on the dome and its people. The shield had to function and with a hundred years of use and expansion the pillars needed regular attention. As the entered the tower Jacob looked through the layers of the shield at the piling snow and the ripple of the snow and wind beating against the dull blue aurora. Beyond the shield itself was almost total darkness this time of year, but Jacob nevertheless always looked out of the shield. Today his habit paid off. “Nathaniel,” he cried. “What is that?” he said pointing to the bright red streak plummeting from the sky outside.

The impact on the shield rocked the whole of the ninth ward but the old barrier held. The object rolled down in flames against the shield and Jacob watched in fear mixed with wonder as the object settled in the snow just outside the pillar. Nathaniel rushed forward and Jacob followed him into the tower. He ran to the consoles and Jacob assisted him in checking their status. Re-routing the shields power to maintain integrity Nathaniel barely managed to keep the shields from collapsing from the overload. “What was that?” Jacob asked while Nathaniel worked. But the old man shushed him with a motion of his hand and Jacob watched as he worked. Nathaniel breathed a heavy sigh at length and Jacob could see from the monitor that the shield would indeed hold. “Now,” Nathaniel said at length, “let us see if we can answer your question.” Jacob followed his mentor outside and toward the still burning object.

The people of the ninth ward were gathering outside the pillar. Men and women of the community coming to Nathaniel’s aid. The old man extended his hands to quite the still growing crowd and selected men and women he trusted to hold others back while he investigated the object. He motioned for Jacob to follow and they moved around the pillar to the shield. The wreckage was difficult to identify but the markings on the object were familiar. Nathaniel took one look at the wreck though and rushed back to the crowd. Jacob lingered wondering what had roused his mentor when he saw something small crawl from one of the torn holes in the wreck and disappear into the darkness and snow. Jacob rushed back to Nathaniel, but the man was busy selecting people to venture out of the dome to see if anyone could be rescued from the craft. The dome had heavy coats that could be worn for such excursions to fix emitters outside the dome and Jacob had worn one before to help. Jacob went to take one of the coats, but Nathaniel intercepted him. “Others must do this task,” he said and while Jacob wanted to protest, he knew better. Soon three volunteers donned the coats and exited the dome. Jacob watched as the men walked through the hatch leading outside the dome from the ninth pillar.

Returning from the Abbey Jacob was in a rush. It had been an hour since the men left the dome and Nathan had been sent to report what had happened and what was being done to the Abbey. He ran the whole way there and met messengers from the Abbey along the way who were being sent to learn of the condition of the shield and the pillar. Jacob explained he was sent by Nathaniel and the messengers took him to the Overseer herself. Over the years of his training, he had never met her, but he had heard much about her from Nathaniel. She was patient listening to his urgent report but seemed annoyed when Jacob said that Nathaniel sent people outside the dome to check on the crash. She had lots of questions about the object after and Jacob tried his best to be as accurate as possible. After his report she gave him instructions for Nathaniel and sent him back to the ninth pillar. As he neared, he could see that the crowd was still gathered waiting for news from the rescue effort. Jacob forced his way through to his master who was waiting at the door inside. “Any news?” Jacob asked and Nathaniel shook his head no. Jacob handed the envelope with the message inside to Nathaniel, but he did not open it. “She was displeased with me sending the men no doubt,” he said, putting the envelope in his coat pocket. Jacob nodded and Nathaniel sighed. “It may be for not anyway such was the nature of the crash,” he said at length. Jacob remembered the small animal he had seen drop out of the wreck. He had not mentioned it to the Overseer, he wanted Nathaniel’s impression on it first and in his haste, he forgot about it. He was just about to ask when the door to outside the dome flew open.

Two of the men who went out struggled to carry the third in with them. He was limp facing down with the hood of his cloak covering the back of his head. The two men looked panicked. “Nathaniel!” one shouted as he shivered from the chill, “something attacked Adole and we only managed to bring him back.” They laid the man on the ground and Nathaniel rushed over to help. Rolling him on his back Nathaniel recoiled in terror. Jacob struggled to see what was going on but as he sidestepped his mentor to see he felt a cold shiver of terror and disgust. On the face of the man was a sickening light skinned creature its long tail tightening around his throat as he breathed.