The End of the World

A Story by Natasha Austin

The weather was all messed up, and Zoe knew why. Everything was unstable, and that was because the world was ending. It wouldn't be long.

Once upon a time, too many years ago to count, Man lived on the peaceful world of white-blue. At that time, the sun wasn't what Zoe's ancestors or the rest of the world knew it to be. It was the tiniest pinpoint of light, so the planet was somewhat cool, but the inhabitants knew how to harness that sunlight, and that of other stars, so they were not frozen.

The sky was perpetually night, but the people knew how to make light for daily living, and the line between day and night was blurred, so time was measured by clocks and gadgets that regulated such things. The people lived for a long, long time, and did not age as Zoe and her own people did. They knew the stars. Humans were brilliant, and at first did not fight or kill one another, as gentle and comfortable as family members in a loving home.

They learned how to make the planet warm and tropical in small areas, with gentle breezes and colorful fruits and the greenest grasses. But only for vacations, to allow families to get out of the cold at some part of the year, and it was free. The people took turns enjoying the change of seasons they created, and everyone cooperated.

And then some began to want more and more for themselves, and began to pay to have more. They began to build more things, and use the land wastefully. One man in particular felt he should rule the entire world. He began to feel that because he was so smart and even rich, all should be his, and he was smarter, better than anyone else could be. He was a scientist, as most the people on the planet were, but he was criminally insane, and so his ideas were soon rejected by society.

Man had turned on man.

Others agreed with the evil scientist, and there were two sides for the running of the planet. And then even more opinions and sides. And the uprisings. People began toying with and manipulating the planet and the people, causing, among other things, the seasons to change tremendously, in an effort to get things the way they felt it should be. It got out of hand, and the world became unstable.

One of the creations of the original evil man caused the planet to shift, in his attempt to make the world as he felt it should be, and before other scientists could figure out how to stop it, the planet had begun to shift toward a nearby star.

However, the people knew about the other planets in the system, and had long begun working on exploring the next one over, just in case there ever was a need to evacuate. That time had come, so the people had to leave.

The evil man refused to, because he wanted this world, and tried to stop the ship from leaving, as well as reverse, or improve upon, his creation. Unfortunately for him, he could do neither before the unstable world he knew exploded in the collision.

But Man had another place to live. However, on the next planet, after thousands of years since the first landing, the same thing happened. Man moved again, each time, slowly moving toward the sun, which became larger with each migration. Man's days were shorter, and decreased with each landing, with each new civilization. He aged faster, another thing that caused him to become more selfish.

With another planet, there was another armageddon, and the new world either was destroyed entirely, leaving nothing but debris in space, or a war would turn the planet into a wasteland. And always a select few thousand escaped.

Zoe knew this story from birth, because her parents had told it to her. She held on to it for years, and had tried to seriously begin the teaching to others, but many called her crazy. There were others who knew the story, and tried to get the world to understand, but most people did not want to listen to what they thought was ramblings and brainwashing.

She thought of how many worlds the ancestors had lived on, for millions of years now, with varying sky colors and life forms along the way. She remembered how blue and white this world's sky was, on most days, with the night sky reminding Man of his original star-lit home. But Man ignored it, too proud of himself, too pumped up with his own brilliance, and too arrogant to share his wealth.

She wondered why Man had to eventually destroy himself or his home, but figured it was too late to try and make people understand. She wished the old stories had not stopped being told, or rather believed, as she watched meteors and comets fly by the planet. Watching the asteroids bang into one another saddened her, the earthquakes and hurricanes kept her in a constant state of seeking safety, but it was too late to tell people to stop their warring. So the chaos would continue, until the world died.

Only a few days left, and everyone left on this planet, would die.

She met up with the others who would leave Earth for Venus, to start the next world. It ws a hotter planet, with a sky that was almost white, it would be so bright. She prayed that Man would learn this time, but considering he had left the other planets in the solar system either desolate and unihabitable, or in pieces floating in space, it wasn't likely.

She walked to her area on the ship she had been assigned to, and with a sigh looked out a large window. The world she knew was being destroyed and she cried. Billions would not make it. Most would be dead by tonight. But with the new world, she could only hope man would not make the same mistakes.