Fiction

By: Analia Fister

So this was the end of the world.

The comet in the sky flashed brightly, conjuring reminiscent images of iridium flares, a head pushed to grass, and a world swallowed in darkness, a comforting darkness, one she had not known for a long, long, time.

Stargazing had always been her favorite.

The world below, the people on the streets, screamed and writhed like an ant hill under a magnifying lens. Human beings could not handle more catastrophe, and had descended into a bloodbath of mayhem and pained revelry, as if running and praying and crying would stop the comet from bringing on the destruction of all life on earth. The girl could see people on their knees, people running, waving their arms in the air, frozen stiff, and several bodies lying in the streets. As she watched, a car plowed down the street, knocking several people but never slowing down.

The young girl listened to the raving panic with disinterest. She sat perched on the roof of her house, sitting calmly as few cared to. After all, in their fear-induced disquiet there was little room for thought or care. The people of earth broke into shards, flailing and yelping, reverted to their most primal state in the time of reckoning.

First, it had been a deadly virus that ravaged the planet, picking off people one by one, until the world’s population had significantly dwindled. After mass graves were filled and more had to be dug day after day, corpses were burning and rotting and stacked wherever they could be, putrefying the air and acting as if it were the earth itself that was decaying and turning to rot. The air smelled like burning flesh from the overworked cremators burning bodies and then breaking down after only a short time. The world staggered from the impact. Stock markets crashed, political opinions were more divided than ever, the prices of all health products doubled or even tripled, and tension was through the roof. After multiple presidents and government officials fell ill and died, it was almost as if a switch had been flipped, one that signaled all of mankind to lose their collective minds and turn to riots and destruction. They had decided that the end of the world was upon them, and any kind of order wasn’t going to stop it. The switch, now on this setting, was unflippable. There were no more authorities to tell people what to do, to keep them in line, and a movie-esque apocalypse was brought on. Cities burned. Death prevailed.

And now, on top of it all, the remaining scientists had noticed an anomaly in the charts. They had notified the people of the world that a comet was to wipe out all life on earth. There was nothing that could be done. The girl remembered their haggard faces vividly, broken by static on the television and in crackling voices, tears running down their faces, exhausted. These few scientists had been pushed to the side, obviously unable to put on a professional face. The face that filled the screen was a solemn one, his lip trembling slightly but his eyes burning coldly into her own. He sounded as if he’d expected this but could not care in the slightest. It was almost more terrifying than the realization she was going to die. In the moment before the broadcast ended, his voice caught in his throat and his face crumpled. In some sad way, it drove the point home. The thought that this was so terrifying even the strongest could not put on a brave face for long.

Admittedly, her streak of apathy had been broken by a few nights of crying herself to sleep, but now, as she sat above the streets and watched the world burn, she was ready. Her parents had already passed, she did not know where her friends were, or if they were even alive. It didn’t matter. Worrying would only spoil her final moments.

The girl let out a long, sad sigh. She reflected upon her past. Sure, there had been terrible moments, but there had been good ones, too. Mankind had certainly brought this upon itself, and she knew that even if none of this had happened, there would have been another catastrophe anyways.

What she would miss most was the night sky. For months and months, the sky had been a filthy brown color, the result of all the smoke from fires and vehicles, spitting their ashen exhaust into the air, only adding on to the poison that already filled it. The girl had many good memories of the night sky. Lying down and looking up into it, recognizing constellations, searching for shooting stars, making wishes she knew would not come true but still tried to believe in. Her heart ached to just be able to return to any of those calm nights, where she was enveloped in an interstellar peace, her eyes up towards space, towards the vast and unknown. She had always dreamt of someday joining the stars, taking the hand of the infinite and leaving her life behind.

She realized a tear had run down her cheek and she wiped it away, irritated. The girl looked up at the sky. The comet looked huge now, terrifying, and she felt hot, the world felt hot; the white-hot anger and fire of the comet was beginning to tickle the earth. In maybe a minute, maybe less, this would all go away. But still, she knew all of this was all for the best. She understood that it was inevitable, but she still felt an odd, empty sorrow. She felt a knot in her throat, and bit her lip. The girl looked up. The comet, massive, was so close it took up the entire sky, as if the sun itself had twisted and rose and grown to drown out the sky and claim the world as its domain. The screams around her grew to a rhythmless serenade of fear, twisting, guttural. Her heart began to pound, so harshly and quickly the fabric of her shirt danced in rhythm. She ground her teeth together. Thoughts of stars danced through her head, the bright lights of satellites and asteroids, of shooting stars glancing across the sky, of comets swallowing the earth whole.

In her last moments, the girl was quiet. The light of the comet was too bright to look at, so she buried her head in her arms, curling in on herself. The heat began to feel painful. A crackling sound filled the air, silencing all else.

The cosmos were waiting.

The Source

By: Hugh Koschwanez

Mysax scrambled along the corridor, holding the stack of paper. Consul Ormis was going to be very happy about this. Mysax knew that the Consul didn’t get excited easily. But this was really something special.

As he approached the perpetually clean, stark white door, Mysax stopped short. There was someone else in there. He slowly opened the door, peering in. Ormis’s tall frame almost reached the ceiling of the large office. Next to him stood the High Scientific Advisor.

“Master Ormis! I have something for you! The test results on the asteroid! The researchers say it’s a possible new energy source!” Mysax’s voice screeched as he entered the room.

“We don’t need it. There’s been a new… development.” The Advisor’s voice was simultaneously charming and disconcerting. “You may leave.”

Mysax left. The next day, he was assigned to a different post, working as secretary at the Academy.

The next few months passed fast. His new work was a bore, and he never heard from the Consul or Advisor. Mysax became used to his new life. But then, almost a year later, everything changed. A radio broadcast announced that Consul Ormis would be sharing his new work. That night, the Consul gave a speech.

“My dear friends, you well know that in the last few years, we have made scientific leaps unlike ever before. As you also likely know, there is a global fuel shortage. We seemed to have exhausted all the resources this planet had to offer. But my colleague and I have finally found a solution. We have discovered a form of bacteria that seemingly creates its own energy. This bacteria, which we have named corbatum ceirus, is the key to the future.”

The world rejoiced. Their problems had been solved. But Mysax knew something they didn’t. C. Ceirus was what he had been trying to show Ormis that day. Had they stolen his research?

A few nights later, Mysax returned to his old workplace. He still had the keycard to Ormis’s office. Nobody had bothered to take it from him. While the other workers left, Mysax entered the office.

The Consul’s office was empty. Mysax crept slowly towards the desk, and opened it. He stopped abruptly as the drawer creaked open. There were files upon files in there. Mysax flipped through them until he found one marked “Corbatum Ceirus.”

• Day 1: The bacteria is reacting well to lab conditions. Only slight amounts of power are generated.

• Day 2: Transfer to lower ward.

• Day 3: Production has increased. Possible outcome of proximity to the mantle?

• Day 4: It is generating more energy than we ever have been able to before. How is this possible?

This was what he had already seen. He kept reading.

• Day 5: This is impossible. Begin investigation of power source.

• Day 1: Apparently the people on this job got fired. Something about “Priorities.”

• Day 2: Where is this thing getting its power?

• Day 1: Apparently we’re the third group to take a crack at this bacteria.

• Day 2: This doesn’t make sense.

• Day 3: Investigation in progress.

• Day 4: Specimen seems to be drawing energy from the Planet itself. This could destroy us all!

• Day 1: How do people keep getting fired at this job?

A voice sounded outside the door. Mysax stumbled back. This was bad. He had to get out of here. He looked around frantically before grabbing a vial of C. Ceirus and jumping into a closet. It was very dark.

“Consul, we have little time.” It was the Advisor. “Scientific communities around the world have begun getting suspicious.”

Mysax turned on the light in the closet. The space he was in was big, much bigger than he expected. Odd assortments of symbols, buttons, and lights covered the walls of the circular room.

“Then we should be ready. Prepare the craft.” Ormis’s voice boomed through the office.

Mysax thought about what he had just discovered. Ormis must have known this would happen, but why would he destroy the Planet? He lives here! Unless…

…Unless he had a way to escape. This was a spacecraft! This must have been what they were really working on for that whole year.

Footsteps were coming. The door began to open. Mysax ducked behind a raised bench. It was the Advisor. He walked in, humming to himself, and proceeded to press various buttons.

“It’s ready!” He shouted back towards the office.

A calm female voice sounded. “Launch Protocol Activated.” Mysax gasped. The Advisor turned his head to look straight at him.

“What are you doing here?” He scowled. “You were supposed to be out of our hair a year ago.”

Mysax jumped up, squaring off with the scrunched-up face and thick neck of the Advisor.

“You’re putting the world in danger!”

“Whatcha going to do about it?” The Advisor laughed.

Mysax steadied his thin legs and lunged towards the advisor. He caught him in the chest, and knocked him through the open door. He slammed the door shut. As he sat on the floor of the spacecraft, panting, a metal slab rose up to seal off the door. The automated voice spoke again.

“Launch begins in one minute.”

As the spacecraft began to rumble, Mysax pounded at the metal sealing him inside. He needed to warn everyone! To save them!

The craft took off with a deafening roar. Mysax laid on the ground. There was no use fighting now. He had to go wherever the spaceship would take him.

Much later, Mysax awoke to the female voice repeating a sentence.

“Attention! We have landed!”

Mysax gasped. He was finally going to get out of the spacecraft. It had been so long since he had seen anyone else.

The door opened to blinding sunlight. Mysax realized that he still had the vial of C. Ceirus. He thought about it. It had destroyed his planet, but surely that was because Ormis had used it greedily. He could use it safely. He would be responsible. He would not give in to the impulse.

Then he realized, that’s probably exactly what Consul Ormis thought, too.

The Price of Kindness

By: Emmie Knippen

Riley and I take one last look at the house before pulling out into the dark empty road ahead of us.

“Good riddance,” she says, making a face at the receding picturesque little house in the suburbs. As I press on the gas, her foot bounces excitedly on the floor of the car, shaking our seats ever so slightly.

“Relax,” I say jokingly. “We’re only going on the greatest adventure of our lives!” I grin at her. “Yosemite here we come!” I say, pumping my fist in the air.

Riley laughs, and reaches over to put on some music, when she freezes. “Dad?” She whispers, in a voice that makes me stop the car in the middle of the empty street. “What’s that?” She lifts a shaking hand to point out my side window.

“Huh?” I squint at the darkness where she’s pointing. “I don’t see anything.” I squint harder, and suddenly I see it. The outline of a person, hunched over in pain.

“Oh Riley we gotta help them!” I exclaim. “They look like they’re in trouble!”

I start to open the car door, but Riley grips my arm with surprising strength. “No,” she gasps out. “We have to get out of here.”

I look over at her in concern. “You look super pale honey, are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” she says, eyes still fixed on the figure just outside the car. “I’ll be fine as long as you step on the gas and get us away from here right now.” Her voice is steady and commanding, but I can tell something has really shaken her.

“Okay,” I say, closing the door and starting the car again. “Let’s go have some fun this week huh?” I smile at her, and she nods mutely, her gaze still following the hunched figure until it’s out of sight.

Untitled

By: Anton Cioppa

Researcher Jack ‘Maxie’ Iterol is one of the most brilliant scientists in the world. However, like with most scientists in the world, Iterol had a questionable mental compass. So it was only natural that Krystal Trite would be assigned to his laboratory.

When she arrived at the lab, she was almost shocked at how different it was. The lab wasn’t sitting down in the middle of some canyon, nor was it placed inside a town. The laboratory of Doctor Irerol was quite literally hanging off a cliff, and the entrance was the only thing keeping it from falling.

What kind of person would work here?

Unfortunately, Krystal had to go inside, and of course, once inside, she found something.

Or rather, by ‘something,’ she found a tiny person in his underwear crouched down in the corner, audibly muttering nonsense to himself as he tinkered with...Was that blood or oil? She wasn’t able to tell.

Suddenly, the tiny person started to shout at something from his corner, and laughed maniacally while doing it.

“Aha! I’ve done it! I’ve done it I tell you!” the miniature man screamed, facing directly towards the wall. “This is incredible. Incredible, incredible, INCREDIBLE!”

Krystal hoped that this wasn’t Iterof. Please, tell me that it isn’t Iterof.

“I, JACK ITEROF, HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD!”

Oh god dammit.

Suddenly, the doctor spun around and looked straight at Krystal, showing her most of himself.

“Ah, and who are you? Did my assistant finally arrive? I was waiting for you, since my last one unfortunately…expired.” The small man clapped his dirty hands together, causing Krystal to flinch. “But no matter! I’ll be showing you what I’ve done.”

Iterof rubbed his hands together as he whirled around, picking up some kind of strange device. It was small, in the shape of a rectangle. In fact, it looked like a recent model of smartphone.

Krystal’s superior practically danced around as he walked back towards her, handing her the device.

“You may be wondering what this device is, correct? Well, since you asked nicely, I suppose I will tell you.”

What? Krystal hadn’t spoken yet…

Iterof took a few steps back, and dramatically raised his hands into the air

“I, JACK ITEROF, HAVE CREATED THE WORLD'S FIRST, FULLY FUNCTIONING, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!”

Krystal nearly gasped. That was quite an achievement.

“Erm, Doctor Iterof? That’s a really impressive thing that you’ve done. But, you’ve done something with it, right?” Krystal finally opened her mouth, expecting a tad bit of resistance. Most full-fledged scientists were prideful, and shouted at people who interrupted them. Strangely enough, the tiny man in front of her didn’t do anything. Actually, he smiled and nodded along with what she was saying.

“I made it watch Michael Bay movies, and it made its own.” He said bluntly.

Sorry… what?

“Yeah! It’s great! Here! Take a look!” Iterof grabbed her hand, and brought the device closer to her face. “Here! Read it!”

Krystal slowly brought her eyes to the screen, and saw a script for a movie.

-The camera is positioned in front of a small table. At the table, several different humanoids sat there.-

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Terminator]

Eyy! ‘Sup dude! How has everyone been?

[Optimus Prime]

Autobots, roll out

[Freddy-Voorhees]

What’s up with him?

[Optimus Prime]

Autobots, roll out!

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Terminator]

Oh. Don’t mind him. I think he’s a little bit waterlogged. Wait, do’ye think that somebody put too much oil?

[Optimus Prime]

Autobots, roll out!

[Malevolent Alien]

(Hissing noises)

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Terminator]

Yeah, you said it!

[Optimus Prime]

Autobots, roll out!

[Freddy-Voorhees]

By the way, does anyone notice that there always seems to be unnecessary, big explosions whenever we do something?

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Terminator]

I mean… yeah, now that you mention it, it does seem to happen a-lot!

[Optimus Prime]

(Clunking noises)

Ye… bot…

[Teenage Mutant Ninja Terminator]

Holy crap! I think Optimus Prime here might be fixing itself! Let’s all take a look!

[Optimus Prime]

(Falls down to the floor)

[Freddy-Voorhees]

Wow. I think it might’ve-

-a literal nuclear explosion erupts, killing everything nearby-

-Credits roll-

Krystal blinked several times, unsure as to what to think of this. The script was…awful.

“Well? What do you think? Isn’t it wonderful? I’m sure that-”

CRASH!

Krystal dropped the device, shattering it.

Jack Iterof looked at his assistant, unable to comprehend what just happened. The doctor shut his eyes, trying to keep himself from committing a certain crime. Eventually, he opened his eyes, only to see Krystal at the door, looking straight at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Krystal.

“Forget that.”