Terminus Part I: The Journey There (Draft)

Chapter 22: The Promised Planet

 It was many thousands of years ago, that a young Phenos attended Higher Learning Institution #973581204, on the planet of Clastron. Back then, his colleagues thought of him as 'the cool guy' and everyone knew him as Phe.

He walked into class one day to be greeted by one of his friends. The day's lecture was planetary history.

"Greetings, students. Last week, we covered the Civil War between Plastron and Carapace that ended in the unison of the nations. Today, we discuss the ramifications of a united world, and the problems we face as a society."

"Anarchy offers no palpable solutions!" hollered Phe.

"Yes, well, thank you for that, Phe. Indeed, the Separatists propose anarchy as a societal model, and yet, they offer no explanations as to how or why that would be beneficial to anyone. However, the Separatists are a recent movement, and this is planetary history. Now, can anybody tell me the name of a movement that began shortly after the two nations united?"

It was at that moment, that alarm bells started to ring. They rang in a variant of Morse code that meant it was time to evacuate the school.

When Phe and his friends made it outside the classroom with the others, the sky, normally a bright green, had turned red.

"Dude, I must be tripping," said one of Phe's friends.

"This isn't right, man. I gotta see her," said Phe.

"Yeah, dude, talk to Hazel. You might not get another chance."

His friends started to talk about their new watches. A watch on Clastron was a device that you could wrap around your wrist, and it would project news bulletins in front of you. It was called a watch because you watched the news it gave you.

Phe started running to Hazel's house, a girl he had strong affection for, but not yet worked up the courage to ask her out. He checked his watch as he ran.

"The end of the world?" began a reporter. "Everyone denied the meteor's existence, apart from the scientists observing it, and now it is close enough to change the colour of the sky. Its projected path puts it right through one of the many crevices of Clastron – and subsequently – straight to the core of the planet. Our chances of survival are zero. It is at times like this, you have to wonder whether life ever had any meaning. But, in this dark time, I am here to say – yes. Life is what you make of it. And now we have mere hours until our destruction, so I say, go out there, and do that thing. Before this calamity renders you completely unable to regret it."

Shit, Phe thought. I have to tell her now. He picked up the pace to get to her house faster, and rang her doorbell as soon as he got there. A few minutes later, she opened the door. She recognised Phe and came out and gave him a hug.

"Phe! I'm so glad you're here! I have something I want to show you," she said. She led him through her house to her backyard, where to his surprise, she was housing a rocket.

"Whoa. When did you get this?" Phe asked.

"I just finished building it. Impeccable timing, wouldn't you say? I wanna get out of here... and you're coming with me!"

"Why me?"

"I don't want to be alone, and of all the people on this aching planet... I'd miss you the most, Phe."

"You would miss me?"

"Yes, I would. I know you, Phe. Better than you know yourself. You think you're the cool guy that everyone loves, but that's because you allow yourself to believe about yourself what others believe about you. You're really just a guy who can't admit to himself that he's in love with his oldest friend."