The Haunted Traveler Vol. 1 Issue 1

36
against the red sky. I follow it with my eyes until it disappears
from my line of sight. Strange birds. Of all the species
we successfully brought, these green parrots have thrived.
They are now all over the place. They are New Earth City’s
pigeons.
The thought makes me chuckle and it hurts my sides. I
wince. Macrobiotic medicine does wonders for your life
span but it doesn’t make you younger. These old bones have
come a long way mind…
I breathe slowly and relax. Not yet. Not just yet…
I think back to how our lifestyle began to inevitably resemble
the one we left behind. We would gather in groups in
shelters equipped with televisions, to watch the news transmitted
daily from the SSP Base. Like those watching the first
Moon landing centuries before us we watched the preparations
for the forthcoming launch of Noah’s Ark IV.
But things were getting worse. Europe, Russia, North and
Central America were entirely under water. Earthquakes
were shaking the planet on a daily basis. Subsequent damages
kept delaying The Ark IV mission. SSP officials had announced
that the Ark IV mission was likely to be the last.
The last Ark never made it. And it wasn’t through TV but
with our own eyes that we witnessed the greatest tragedy
known to humankind.
We had developed a daily routine of facing Earth in the
“mornings”, while we could still make her out in the distance
in the dark, maroon sky. A tiny speck of blue amongst
the silver twinkles slowly fading away as maroon turned to
brighter red. Through a telescopic projection, we were also
allowed a closer view, which showed us wisps of clouds
floating across her flooded surface. Someone had once saluted,
hand on heart. Those who saw the gesture mirrored it
and it became our morning ritual. Our daily prayer.
That unforgettable morning, we were one moment looking
at the Earth, hands on hearts, the next she was gone. No
big bang, no flash of lightning, nothing. The whole planet