Tales of Earth That Was – Those Left Behind

In 2880 A.D, The last core-bound settlers abandoned Earth in search of a new beginning, free from the nuclear winter and natural retribution that had befallen her. She had finally taken her toll on mankind and like a virus, they had found a new host.

Gargantuan birds of Titanium were built for the interstellar journey that would take the better part of a decade. However, it would only seem like mere seconds in their cryogenic state. As the cruisers drifted gently through the endless vacuum of the black, escaping the inevitable death of their beloved planet, each traveler could not help but dream of the distant planet they would soon start to call ‘Earth That Was’

The story I am about to tell is not about those that left however, but those thousand left behind: Those that stood on Spaceport 1, New Mexico City and watched in horror as the last colony ship departed for destination unknown.

The crowd of people stood huddled around each other, suffering from the intense cold. Speech eluded them despite their common knowledge of English. Instead, they just remained there in icy silence. They had been left to die and await their deaths with anticipation. No such comfort came.

It was here, in the dilapidated space port that the last humans had flocked desperately to board The Sirius, last of the Alliance Colony ships. It was here that the alliance’s slight ‘miscalculation’ had resulted in a thousand humans being stranded on Earth’s forsaken surface. The thousand standing here had been political prisoners of the Alliance. They were considered the ringleaders of the resistance movement and had only been set free a month before The Sirius Voyage. Conveniently, there had not been enough space on the craft and anyone who tried to forcefully board was gunned down mercilessly by Blue Sun mercenaries. The Alliance had effectively ridded itself of any immediate threat to its existence and would later claim those that had been stranded ‘refused to leave’.

New Mexico was the last outpost of civilization left on Earth since the climate shift. Everything else was either enveloped in an inhabitable winter or a winter of the nuclear sort. The last scientists had predicted that within a month or so, the Earth would become completely frozen over, setting in motion a new ice age. The Alliance had built temporary bio-domes a year earlier in the New Mexican dessert for the launch of The Sirius. Folks had trekked as fast as they could through through 10 miles of the sand turned tundra to secure their place in the new solar system. However, their determination was unnecessary as only half of the Sirius’ full capacity was ever reached. Fuck the Alliance, Cholo thought to himself as he pulled the reflective blanket tighter around his body. Fuck the Union of Allied Planets, fuck everyone. What they have done to us…. It will not go unpunished in the greater scope of things to come. He was near the middle of the group, curled up next to the only fire. He felt the tundra trickle down his dark brown hands as it melted in the heat. A woman nearby broke into uncontrollable tears and he put a comforting hand around her shoulder. She hugged him close and he hugged back. “My name is Jo” She would later tell him.