Amaryah's Awakening

Chapter Three

Earth 2606 AD

Amaryah drew in a shaky breath and almost gagged on the acrid smell. Looking back, she realized she stood on a mountain, on top of which the surface of the dome sat like a perfectly poised egg. Fear clanged through her and she pulled the collar of her sweater over her nose and mouth, knowing it would do nothing for any radiation present but glad for the little comfort it gave. As far as she could see there were barren mountainous ranges, jagged protrusions from the earth that looked brutal and ready to hurt any unsuspecting prey. She was that prey. Her limbs shook, not only with fear but with an odd exhilaration.

She was not going back.

She was sick and probably dying anyway, so why not see if there was any truth to the conspiracy theories she'd scoffed at so often. A cackling laugh escaped her, she bent and clutched her knees; the laugh died with a rattling cough that almost caused her to keel over. She picked her way carefully but steadily among the jagged pathways that had been worn into the mountains by the winds and time. The air was cool and caressed her face with a siren's call, she would have doubted the violent history that had been taught to them inside the dome, if her mother hadn't shown her pictures of her ancestors involved in the fighting. The earth seemed hostile and deserted but so calm and finally at peace without the presence of humanity scattered throughout it. She'd been walking for around a half an hour when a gusting wind almost blew her off the precarious track she'd been trying to climb. Looking behind her she saw a behemoth, brown cloud approaching from below. So maybe the dust and possible radioactive storms were not made up, she thought blandly. She had to get into a cave soon or risk being cut to pieces by the razor-sharp winds and sand from the plains beyond the mountains.

Bright blue lights flashed in her peripheral vision causing her to stumble in her frantic scramble, her eyes were drawn to a cave that was directly above her, she wouldn't have noticed it otherwise.

She pulled her backpack tighter, grabbed onto the grooves in the rock face and pulled herself up grunting from the pain it caused her, but she continued to climb not wanting to die a painful death in that oncoming storm. Her muscles strained and she grimaced, still she pulled herself up, loosened pebbles fell from the mountain side with her efforts. Finally, she cleared the entrance to the den and collapsed. There were no signs of the lights that had drawn her eyes earlier. Maybe it had been a reflection on a shiny object left over from the time before.

Amaryah moved as deep as she could into the narrow cave, folding herself into the pathway until she was sure she'd be safe enough. Stretching her sweater collar over her head she huddled in on herself and wished she'd known the prayers of generations past, to help her feel even a little better.

Her mother had not bothered to teach her, stating that, "If God cared we wouldn't be in the dome in the first place." She'd then refused to speak on the subject again.

Curled in on herself and completely drained by the day's events, Amaryah fell asleep to the haunting howls of the vicious winds outside, unaware as the lights flashed again from within the cave.

EVOK SHIP

Fourth Quadrant, Andromeda Galaxy.

Amaryah was cold. Goosebumps blossomed along her arms and legs. She groaned and tried to curl in on herself finding her body was heavy and unwilling to cooperate. Her eyes fluttered open and stared at a matte black, concave ceiling.

She blinked, 'What the hell?'

Trying to push up from the cave ground, she instead felt a warm, humming squishy material beneath her. Amaryah sat up sharply and with a passing thought noted that her stomach did not protest at the movement. Looking around, she took note of the four black walls that encased her in a bare, cuboid room with a central vent that was the cause of the shivers wracking her body. Well, that and the flimsy paper bag she was dressed in. Had she been caught by the cleanser?