The Blue Planet (English)

Chapter 7

"Cronia, dear. Wake up."

Cronia was startled when she heard her father's voice.

"Papa?" She said as she sat down. She looked around but to her dismay, she didn't see her father.

"Cronia, listen."

Cronia was even surprised to her mama's voice.

"Mama? You're alive? Where are you?" She said looking around.

"Cronia, listen to what we are going to say," Zeus' voice echoed in the sleeping capsule. 

Cronia took a deep breath. She was scared. Why can she hear her parents' voice when they're not even around. Was she hallucinating?

"Sweetie, the fact that you are listening to this means that we're already gone. You've slept in our sleeping capsule, didn't you?" Zeus said.

"We, well your father, set a device in our sleeping capsule that will be triggered once your scent is detected. It is set to play this recorded voice message for you," Hera explained.

"We knew that this time will come, dear. The  time that we'll leave you alone. I hope that it wasn't too early, was it? We did prepare for this, because we knew that this will happen sooner or later. We've left some useful things hidden under your sleeping capsule. Have you found them already? I hope that you did, and if not, go get if it after this message," Zeus said.

"Oh, have you found our book, The Blue Planet, already sweetie? If not, you should look for it. You should finish reading it. Do you understand, sweetie?" Hera said, which made her wonder. It was a book meant for her, but why?

"Mama, papa? I can't sleep. Where are you?" She heard her own voice in the recorded message.

"Heard that sweetie? Yes, it was you. We really did record this when you were much younger. We gotta drift, hon. Make sure to read that book, understood?" Hera said.

"Bye, sweetie. We love you. We really do," her parents said in unison before the voice message ended.

Cronia was speechless. Her parents somewhat knew what was going to happen. 'Was it pure intuition?' She asked herself. 

"I need to finish reading the book, but why?" She grabbed the book from her bag, but it seemed impossible to finish it in one reading. "This is quite a big book," she added.

She knew that she needed time to finish the book, and that she needed to find a suitable place to live first - the desert isn't one. She grabbed all her things, and bid goodbye to her parents' memories in their nook. Then, she went to their space kitchen to savage whatever is left. She found two bottles of water left unharmed so she put those in her bag, as well as five space snack and five space meals. She found an almost empty water gallon, so she desperately tried to get the remaining water and transfer it to her empty water bottle, the one she found hidden under her sleeping capsule.

"This is going to be long, long journey, especially for someone like me," she told herself. "But I need to be strong. I shouldn't pity myself. I need to do this," she added.

She cautiously walked out of their space cube, not bothering to look at the dock area where her mother's corpse lay peacefully, but she did look back at the ship when she was far enough.

"Goodbye, mama. Goodbye papa. I love you both, and I'll miss you," she uttered.

She wasn't sure if her father was really gone, but she did say goodbye to his memories left in the ship. She slowly but surely walked away from the ship, hoping to find a place for herself.

Not so far away, two beings were watching her carefully.

"See? I've told you. She's ready for this."

"I still don't think so. I'm still worried."

"Just trust me. Just trust her."