She stood at the edge staring out at the vast surging expanse stretched out before her. Inhaling the oceans sweet-salty scent as the breeze wrapped itself around her, caressing her face and her tresses with its cool, gentle touch. The rush of the churning ocean reached her ears, the sound of the eternal war between ocean and land as the waves crashed against the cliffs sending up a cool spray, pleasant against her warm skin.
“You’ll never get over your desire for these little luxuries it seems”, said a familiar voice. She didn’t bother to turn or reply, just quietly nodded her head. She’d felt him arrived in the split second for which the scene had seemingly paused.
“It’s good to remember what it was like to be human”, she finally replied.
“Maybe, but won’t all this show up? Won’t it make them wonder?”
“Then let them wonder”
He turned to stare at her.That flippant reply was so unlike her. She seemed so strange these days, even distracted at times. She was acting so differently recently, and he would know, after all he had been with her for what seemed like forever. But then again, these were unusual times.
“So what did you find?”
“Nothing definite, yet nothing good”, he paused, before continuing with a grim look on his face, “The problem seems to be different from what we thought it was.”
“Anything specific that you can give me?”
“No, not yet, I need some more time.”
Turning to glance at him, she noticed a hint of worry on his face even though he tried hard not disguise.
“Does it affect our schedule?” she asked.
Kicking a stone off the edge, he stared down, his eyes following it till it splashed into the mighty mass of the ocean before replying, “I can’t be sure. But we should begin as soon as possible. The way things are going, we can’t afford to take a risk.”
“Then I’ll start it tonight itself.”
He just nodded. “Good luck” he called out as began to fade out of sight.
“Be careful!” she called out to his rapidly vanishing form. He just smiled in return.
Returning her gaze to the ocean she sighed. Storm clouds began to gather above, casting a dark shadow over the waters as she stood brooding over the conversation.
A shiver of fear went down her spine as she recalled that look in his eyes. I hope it’s not that bad.
The storm clouds were directly overhead now, a black seething mass that seemed to swallow the cliffs whole. Loud thunder crackled through the sky and-suddenly stopped.
A full minute and a half after coming to life, the ocean and the cliffs disappeared, as did the woman.
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YOU ARE READING
Exodus
Science FictionSummary: Left a damaged husk, a pale shadow of all it once was by the last war, Earth, the cradle of our civilization is now populated by only a few million, living among the ruins of our former glories. As support and aid pours in from the colonies...
