Finally

“It’s cold outside, again.” I put another log on the fire. She ignored me. “I said it’s cold outside again, Darla!” She looked up from reading her book.

“Really. It’s not cold to me.” She smiled and went back to reading.

“That’s only because…you’re so cold,” I said. She ignored me. I picked up the poker and adjusted the logs. “I don’t know how long we can hold out. This winter just won’t go away.” She was still reading. “I said…”

“I heard you!” she said irritably.

“You are just so mean sometimes. Are you supposed to be…what are you supposed to be?”

“What are you supposed to be?”

“I asked you first.”

“I’m supposed to be the one in charge so it doesn’t matter if I'm not cushy and kind to you.”

“And what do you expect from a comment like that?” I asked. She sighed.

“You humans are just so…you talk all the time. I don’t know how we’ll last through this, OK? I will, but I don’t know how you will. You humans may end up freezing to death. Some of you may go off planet, but with your reputations, most people don’t want you on their planets. As a species you are violent and out of control.”

“All of us aren’t violent and out of control. And what are you?”

“I come from way out of your solar system. That’s obvious.”

“By how rude you are.”

“No. Because I’m not full of hate like you are.”

“That’s why you took over the planet and caused a nuclear civil war. You’re not as hateful.”

“We didn’t cause anything. We just came here and tried to give you free energy and end hunger. It was your leaders who started a war because they didn’t want people to be free. Don’t blame it on us.”

I was silent.

“Can I read now, Berry? Can I read?”

“Yes! Go ahead. I thought you wanted to talk with me.”

“After I read a little more, if that’s ok, Berry.”

“It’s fine with me. In the meantime I’m going to take a walk.”

“It’s freezing out there and dangerous.” I ignored her and walked over to the closet. I pulled out my heavy coat and began to strap in. “The air isn’t good out there. Take an oxygen tank in case you get dizzy.” I put on my coat and picked up the small, green cylinder next to the door.

“Take a gun with you,” she shouted over her shoulder. “There are a lot of hungry bears out there. They don’t hibernate anymore.” I looked at her angrily for a moment, and then picked up a small 45 caliber pistol that could take care of any bear I knew. I stepped out. It was cold, even through the coat. By then, I knew to expect cold. I also knew that I would never be reasonably warm again in my lifetime. She was right, though rude. We humans had messed it up again.

The aliens had come from the stars offering us free energy, miraculous medicines, and the technology to be able to be a space faring race in a few years, but our leaders wouldn’t have it. It was only then that many of the human beings realized that we weren’t as free as we thought. We realized that countries and borders were not to keep people out and to keep us safe, they were to keep us in.

We were being herded like animals and the only freedom we had had to be rented through the work of our hands and the production of goods and labor that could be sold. We were nothing but serfs who had to pay constantly in order to just live with the illusion of freedom, or we would be sent to prison where most of us would be forced to work for about $1 a day doing slave labor. We were little more than slaves.

The most radical people had known this for years, but these last occurrences made even the most dim witted, kool aid drinkers realize it, especially when we discovered that the top 1% had been working with ETs for centuries and already had most of the technology they came to share. They had been letting people die and starve for centuries just to stay in power from generation to generation. This realization set the whole world on fire. A civil war that no one could possibly stop began. It even involved ETs sneaking in to take part in the war.

The Reptilians and the Nordics, who seemed to be totally at odds with each other for some reason or the other, were right there feeding weapons and tactics to each side, and then, when nothing was left to save and about 9/10s of the population had been wiped out, they decided they wanted peace. We were the pawns in their war. They left us here with a few advisors and some of the technology they had offered us, but not enough, and a planet that had it’s magnetic poles shifted because of the many atom bombs, neutron, bombs, and planet killer weapons directed at it. Luckily the whole planet didn’t crumble, but the atmosphere was damaged. The poles shifted, changing the weather patterns, and we found ourselves in a nuclear winter that covered most of the planet.

The Earth was dying. We were like prehistoric beings now, living in small enclaves and caves. Most of the housing was inadequate. There was very little food because there was very little sunshine. So here we were, trying to eek out survival. Most of us had these, I don’t know what you call them, advisors, guardians, or guards watching over us. Some were Nordics, Some Reptilians, and some…I don’t know where they came from. They were sort of galactic UN Peacekeepers. The one living with me was one of them. She was really rude and had no idea how rude she was. It was good to just get out of the little cabin and catch some fresh air.

I picked up my snow shoes from the front porch and strapped them on, pulled up my hood, hung the oxygen cylinder on one side of the belt to my coat and slipped the pistol into a holster on the other side. I put on my gloves, knowing that I would have to pull them off before I could possibly use the pistol, yet again, I didn’t think I would have to use it. The wind whipped up as if welcoming me as I stepped off of the front step into the scrunchy snow. I made my way across what should have been the yard, but was a sheet of snow, down to a wooded area.

All there were was pine trees standing out against a frozen sky. They were so wide apart they were easy to pass through. I could see a small pond about 30 yards ahead of me. I headed in that direction. The wind whipped up and I pulled down my face shield. It only worked partially. The helmet and the mask had been designed to use the heat of your breath to help keep your face and head warm. That was good. It was adequate. I knew I wouldn’t freeze to death. If I didn’t make it back I was sure Darla would come and get me. She seemed to have more stamina than I thought possible for a very small woman. She had Asian features. I wondered about that.

She looked like your typical Asian woman, yet she had come from somewhere near Proxima Centauri. After talking with her I began to understand just a little about them. Apparently, long ago, a race of advanced beings had discovered a planet far off from the center of the universe in the boondocks of space. They thought it would be a good place for a library or an ark where they could store all of their genetic material in case there was a catastrophe.

All of the advanced ETs cooperated, even the ones that hated each other, and planted all kinds of plants, animals, and species of humans on the planet. All of these plants and animals carried the genetic codes of their progenitors in a more primitive form. They had even moved an artificial satellite into orbit that we thought of as the moon, to make sure conditions were favorable for life and the evolution of the beings. The Earth was important to the whole galaxy as a library so they continued to keep watch over it. Then something strange happened.

Life on the planet began to evolve by itself, and some of the advanced ETs, without the knowledge of the others, began to sneak down to the planet interacting with the inhabitants and doing experiments that would have been outlawed on their own planets. Out of the experiments came the humans who would ultimately threaten the survival of the library and the whole galaxy. That is exactly what happened. The Earth was dying. Some people would be whisked away to other planets and the others left here to die.

It didn’t take long, but it was a hard walk to the pond. It was frozen solid, but still beautiful. I had a melancholy feeling looking out over the frozen pond surrounded by skeletons of pines and a curdled milky gray sky. The wind was blowing hard. I didn’t see one living thing…probably too cold for anything with sense to be out there. I heard a sound and looked up above the trees. Some type of craft was heading in my direction. Not more aliens, I thought to myself, crouching down and trying to hide the best I could. It hovered over me for a moment and then moved on toward my cabin. I didn’t know if I should go back there or not.

I thought of Darla. She was a mean creature, but I didn’t want to see her get hurt and I didn’t know who they were. I patted my gun holster hanging from my hip and rushed back as quickly as I could. When I got to the door things seemed normal, though the craft was just sitting there near the house. It was a large saucer shaped object almost 30’ in diameter and about 15’ high, not really big compared to some I had seen. I climbed the steps, took off my snowshoes, and cautiously entered. There were two men and a woman standing there facing Darla, who was still sitting there as cool as a cucumber. I came in and removed my coat as quickly as possible.

“This is Berry, my charge,” she said to the others. They nodded in my direction. The woman, who was quite tall for a woman, and muscular, put her hands on her hips and turned her attention back to Darla.

“Well are you coming or not? We’ve come a long way for you, Your Highness.”

Your Highness. What was she talking about?

“Surely you're coming home,” one of the men added. “Your exile is over.”

“Maybe I don’t want it to be.”

“Come on, Sis, Don’t be an idiot,” the other man added. She remained seated and just looked up at them. She stood.

“All right. Only if I can take this.” She held up the book she was reading.

“Of course, Your Highness,” the woman responded. Darla pointed to me with her chin.

“And that too.”

“Of course, Darla,” her brother said.

“Wait a minute, I’m not going with her to some strange planet. She can stay here.”

She walked pass and paused. “You won’t need your coat,” she said. She continued out the door. The three looked at each other, confused. Her brother shook his head and I noticed a hint of a smile on the woman’s face. They headed in my direction.”

He stopped in front of me. “Well, get your things. We don’t have all day.”

“You don’t. I’m not going anywhere.” I stepped around him and headed toward the fireplace. “I can tell you’re from the same family because you’re both rude as Hell.” The other man started to smile. I felt a sharp pain and blacked out. I awakened slumped down in a chair streaking through space in a spaceship. I was groggy at first. I couldn’t believe it.

I better not wake up, I said to myself, Or I’m gonna start swinging. I opened my eyes and saw her brother standing there, and I started swinging. The whole ship erupted for five or ten minutes until I was overpowered and strapped to a chair.

“Leave it to you to want to bring a mad man home,” her brother pointedly commented. Darla just shrugged and continued to read her book. He turned to me. “You’re so lucky that I’m too embarrassed to tell anyone about this. I’m a prince. I hope you know you struck a prince. The penalty is death. Your penalty will be having to live with her forever.”

“Please kill me,” I said. He almost laughed but held back. He turned to the pilot. Let’s get the Hell out of here, Fritz.” We zoomed off into space.

The End (Part 1)