Ku

The Arrival

The morning sun tried to break through the ash clouds above New York City as the black Limo drove down first avenue. Her once fiery glow muffled by the ash from the yellowstone eruption. There was beauty in this new sun. A light ring of blue haze seemed to dance around it’s circle. New Yorkers hustled about town with masks on and large umbrellas in their hands. They were grateful it had not yet rained today as it seemed to every day since the event. The rain that fell, a deep red from the salinity in the clouds being baked by the sun above. Scientists called it the Dunaliella Effect. This salty blood water infiltrated the fresh water supply and the government scrambled to build new desalination plants throughout the country to keep up with demand. In the beginning there was support from all over the world. Resources and aid poured in from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and even Russia. The majority of the funds were spent on rescue initiatives and food. The blast all but destroyed Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana and almost all of the rest of the country was covered in Ash within hours, killing crops everywhere. Soon after the livestock followed. It had been almost six months since the events and the temperature globally had dropped nearly eight degrees from average.

As the Limo pulled up to the U.N Headquarters in New York it began to rain again. The drop off point was mobbed by cameras, press, and protesters who all scrambled to put umbrellas or run to cover so as not to be stained by the falling rain. A voice came over the cars transmitter

“Wait until we are in position to exit Mr President.”

The president, a dark complected man with gray hair and a mustache, curled into points, looked at the chaos outside the window and then to his watch.

“Nonsense” he bellowed “The people need to see that we are not afraid, that I am not afraid.”

As he reached for the door handle his hand was grabbed swiftly but softly by a young woman with blonde hair and eyes as blue as the sky once was.

“Adam it is best that you wait. If there is an incident and you are unable to attend there will be no chance.”

The president gave her a half smile as he turned his hand over to grasp her pale slender hands into his.

“Jessica I am afraid that even if I convince them to continue the aide that it may be too late. One hundred and twenty six million already lost.”

They sat in silence for a moment and then the door of the Limo opened. Six Men with umbrellas stood outside the door.

“Mr President we are ready.”

The President and Jessica exited the car as the six men escorted them umbrellas up in a pyramid formation to the front of the building. One in the front, two on the sides, and three behind walking in lock step. The volley of flashes and questions roared as they walked to the door.

“President Alana has an answer been found to the rapid climate change?”

“Mr President what do you plan to do about the American people starving in Iowa and Arkansas?”

“Are there any new developments in the bone cancer epidemic?”

The President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services ignored the questions and walked swiftly to the door. As the front doors opened the flashes stopped just until the next black Limo pulled to the front. The Secretary looked behind her.

“It is Ivonov, should we wait?”

When they both looked back the press focused back on them.

“No, it may be seen as pandering.”

They walked down the hallway underneath a replica of Sputnik 1. “You know when that thing was launched, during the cold war, our biggest worry was that they would beat us to the moon.”

The escorted duo walked into the UN Security Council chamber and seated at the inner circle. The chamber was teeming with leaders from every country in the United Nations and chairs were added for others. The circular walls were lined with security. The President thought to himself that there has never been such a gathering of all the world leaders before now. His mind wandered as he looked up at the mural on the wall. Jessica noticed his worried eyes and said “It was painted by Per Krogh to represent all of the nations of the world and their willingness to lift each other up and out of poverty and as a reminder of the mission of the United Nations.” The President looked away and spoke softly as the Secretary General of the United Nations walked to the podium “I never thought we would be the one needing the lifting.”

The Secretary General was a tall, portly man with a double chin that shook as he walked. The Moroccon wore an all black suit with a red tie garnished with a green pentagram, the seal of solomon. He spoke in a deep commanding voice with a thick french-moroccan accent. “Good Morning heads of government and esteemed guests. My name is Secretary Azoulay. It is an honor to have the people from all over the world under one roof. It has been the goal of the United Nations since the beginning for all of the human race to come together and work together for the betterment of the world we live in. We find ourselves together now because all of us face the same threat and unless we can find a way together to turn the tides, the world as we know it will cease to exist. Since the Caldera explosion the temperature is dropping at an accelerated rate and most scientists agree that within the next eighteen months we will experience an ice age so brutal that it could mean a mass extinction event.” The chamber flared with chatter in dozens of languages. Secretary Azoulay pressed on by raising his volume. “Some of you may doubt the severity of the problem but today you will hear from scientists from all over the world who will provide the ….

In an instant a high pitched vibration engulfed the room drowning out the Secretary's words and deafening everyone in it. The leaders chaotically moved from their seats to the center ailes and towards the double doors to try and escape the sound. Mouths of statesmen, scientists, and security were open yelling but no sound but the buzzing could be heard. The doors were locked shut. The secret service furiously pushed and pulled on the door but it would not budge. A few pulled their sidearms and fired silent rounds into the door in a desperate attempt to escape the maddening sound. The mural on the wall was vibrating and flickering in hues of yellow and violet. The center split from top to bottom revealing the purest white light until it burst open in a cascade of of color and the sound stopped as quickly as it had come but was replaced with what can only be described as absence of noise.The President looked around as others were screaming and still clamoring for the door but there was only deafening silence. He could feel the accelerated beat of his heart. The movement of his eyes as he scanned the room trying to process what to do next. Just then, three figures appeared from the light and a sensation of peace came over him. He found himself sitting again. Still and focused, acutly aware that his heart beat had slowed to a beat per second. He calmly looked around the room to find everyone was seated again.

The three figures glided towards the podium. They were easily a foot taller than anyone in the room. Their hair was a lustrous copper color that created a halo effect around their long chiseled faces. Their skin seemed to sparkle gold as they moved in the light. They were dressed in all white robes adorned by colored shawls adorned with bright silver inlay draped at their shoulders that hung down to their midsection.The one with the blue shaw stepped to the podium as the one in deep purple and yellow stood next to him holding translucent tablets. His voice was clear and low.

“Leaders of men, we are the Vishnuals and we are here to help. I ask you cooperation and ask of you to please stay seated.” The Prime Minister from India and his secretary of interior bolted for the door. The purple cloaked Vishnuals pushed at his tablet and a gray blur zipped passed him and up the aisle. In a moment the Prime Minister and the secretary were still. They were more than still, they appeared to be frozen in time.

“Do not be afraid.” the voice sang. “We are not here to hurt you, we are here to save you but your salvation is solely up to you.” These audience sat as if they were paralyzed, not speaking, not moving, not believing their own eyes. “The first gift we give you is the knowledge of what has happened to your home and what will happen if you refuse our help.” The yellow cloak pushed on his tablet and small gray humanoids with large black eyes emerged from the light behind them. There were dozens of them and they swiftly made their way through the aisles placing a small copper colored disc on each forehead. “Do not be afraid we are here to help. The Ardums are giving you an information file that will explain and then you must vote and choose if we are to stay and help or leave you as you were.” Once the last disc was placed and the yellow cloak lifted his tablet and everyone’s head fell at once.

The President found himself floating high above the earth, below he could see what he recognized as YellowStone, he had looked at recon photos of the area every day for months but this was no photo. The air, thick and fetid, burned his eyes and nostrils.The sensation of floating and smoke made him dizzy and sick to his stomach. He felt he could vomit,but fought the urge, swallowing the bitterness, remembering how he got here, worrying...always worrying he would reveal weakness if someone was watching. The thought passed seeming silly now, fearing the powers of the world was yesterday’s worry. This was a new uneasiness. The thoughts of what he witnessed at the conference flashed through his brain. “They looked like Angels.” “Were they sent from God?” “Why now?” “Why not before the event?” His reasoning was interrupted when he felt the wind at his back and the blue hued sun above was eclipsed by what looked like a three fingered hand. At the center of the palm there were two circles inside of each other. As the hand positioned itself directly above him, he felt the wind change direction. The air pushed from below causing his suit pants to flutter as if each leg were a windsock at an airport. His tie went straight up and slapped against his face. The world below went dark revealing only the glowing ocean of fire below branching out into rivers in every direction and then into smaller streams. It looked as if the earth was shattered into a million pieces like a window that was shattered by a baseball. He was almost admiring the beauty of it when as quickly as the dark came it was light again. The world went from light to dark and dark to light over and over again, the only constants in the world was the object above him and the relentless wind from below. The lava streams below at night, and the clouds around him during the day shifted and moved. After some time he realized that his eyes had stopped watering and he could breathe a little easier. The transformation from light to dark moved faster and faster. The sun began to lose some of it’s blue hue and the glowing rivers below dimmed. Faster and faster from light to dark and then the wind just stopped. The hand above moved away revealing the full blinding illumination of the sun. He looked below again shielding his eyes from the light. The world was a carpet of lush green and the glowing red had transformed to crystal blue water shimmering in the sun. “They can can fix this” he thought. The President closed his eyes and let the sun warm his face as took a deep of the clean fresh air. He felt something that he had not felt in sometime. Hope.

Element 1223

When he opened his eyes he was sitting in his chair in his office. He spun his chair around to look out the tall windows out onto the South Lawn. “Had it been a dream?” he thought. The sky was still dark but he could make out the once lush southern magnolia as twilight pressed for the day. There were no lush green branches or sprouting white blooms. The trees were dead. They tried to cover them from the ash and rain but all of the efforts made to save them failed. As he tried to make sense of what was real and what was a dream there was a knock on the door.

“Mr President, are you ready for today’s breifing?” Jessica Lonegiski opened the door followed by a young man. His military issued glasses and buzz cut hair reminded the president of his days in the military but this was no soldier. The President opens the file and begins to read:

OFFICIAL BRIEF ELEMENT 1223

It has proven that superheavy elements are formed in nature through the main r process. Under the right conditions of high neutron density the nucleosynthesis directly aligns with the neutron drip line causing reverse fission and the elements half-life to be compounded exponentially by the number of protons within that element. After the Yellowstone Caldera explosion of 2028 everyone in a 700 mile radius of the blast developed bone cancer in weeks. Arial Geiger testing was inconclusive so my colleague Dr. James Randall and I were sent by HHS to collect samples. The samples did not look like traditional rock formations of a blast. Instead there were large tear dropped shaped black boulders that littered the countryside where the subjects were becoming ill. We airlifted the specimen to a lab in

Kentucky just outside the secondary ash zone. The Geiger meter did not detect any radioactivity and the specimen appeared to be completely cooled. Dr Randall’s decided to cut into the specimen under a controlled environment underground and insisted he be the only person in the room and that we watch from monitors above ground. As the diamond plated saw breached the exterior shell of the specimen

the room’s temperature rose at a rapid 22 degrees per second. Within moments Dr Randall was dead. My team and I were able to isolate and cool a small piece of the specimen using liquid helium and discovered element 1223. The element has a massive weight and becomes stable when cooled to -230 degrees. The half life of the element is what seems an impossible 442 years and an ounce can produce 1067.3 megatons of energy from 16 ounces of material. If we put that in perspective one ounce could power all of New York City for 37 years. We are just scratching the surface of what this element means for humanity.

“Mr President, this is Dr. Scadtide. He was working on the front line with Dr Randall when the accident occured.

Dr Randall was a good man. I have read the briefing. Can you tell me what happened in your own words and what exactly this element is?

“It appears to be our demise and our future. There is no way to reverse the damage that has been done from the eruption but this element has the potential to power the entire world and worlds beyond. If you want to put the potential of fuel in perspective. The element is what powers our sun. We had always assumed that the heaviest of the elements were collected in the sun during our universe’s creation which is why the sun is the most dense of all the celestial bodies and why we revolve around the sun but earth’s core has a massive amount of this element as well which helps explain our moon and tides. The explosion has revealed the element and now we need to work on how to safely harness its power. No different than oil and the combustion engine or nuclear energy and power plants. It’s my belief that it is mankind’s greatest chance for survival. Our world is dying. We need to find a new one.

“ Are you suggesting that we use this element to venture into space?”

“Well yes, that’s the only option really.” We could never dream of long-term space travel prior to this type of fuel source but now...well a few pounds of this could take multiple generations to the edge of the cosmos. We can build a new spaceship world until we find an actual one. I know that we, the Russians and Chinese, are all working on interstellar travel. I believe that if we work together, we can forge a new destiny with this element. The Russians have made huge advancements in cryo sleep and the Chinese in subsistence growth and management. We have the raw material and now we have the fuel. I do not see a way to save earth but there is a way to save human-kind.”

The President's mouth twitched as he looked out to the withered trees outside and then to a picture on his desk of him and a young girl on a beach.

“I can't give up on our world yet but I will make some calls about a joint project with the Russians and Chinese."

As the president reached for the phone he found himself back in his chair at the United Nations. Instead of a phone he was holding Jessica’s hand. He looked up to find everyone glaring at him and whispered….they all know.

The accusations and screaming erupted.

“ You were going to abandon us all here,'' said the Prime Minister of England.

“No we just wanted to make sure that the tech worked first.”

“Cazzate!” yelled the President of Italy.

President Ivonov walked to the podium.

“Fellow leaders, it is true that Russia, China, and the United States were working on a joint project to try to save as many people as possible. It is also true that our people would take priority given their contributions but no one ever said anything about abandoning any of you and your people. We came here today to create a unified human race and reveal our discovery but it seems that these things have beat us to that with what they have revealed. They promised us a solution when they arrived but as far as I can see they have only divided us before we even have had a chance to unite.

“So I ask you Vishuan...what is your solution. Are you here to divide us, conquer us, or help us?”

The angel walked towards President Ivinov as if floating in the air placing his hand on his shoulder.

“We were your salvation from the others but now they are already here.”

-“They?”

“The Others”