The Expansion

18 thousand years ago, Venus:

Elijas said: "Oh God, we are doomed to get locked in from tomorrow." "I have a lot of things to do this week."

Silence descended over the crowd. It was obvious that everybody was down in the dumps. Not because of a forced holiday. Every occasion something like that happened an alarm would be provoked among us, because storm went hand in hand with the extermination of animals, plants, and even humans.

Gazing at the television with an open mouth, I felt my finger was burning. My cigarette burned to the butt and I failed to pay attention. Gritting my teeth, I extinguished my cigarette in the ashtray. I shouted, "I wish we could rein in this calamity."

Buddies started to talk again. We decided to gather at the house of a friend in order not to get bored. We arranged for everyone to bring foodstuff as much as they need so that we wouldn't have a shortage of food in case the situation took a long time to improve. After a few minutes, we began to exchange idea over the days to come. However, I kept thinking "What help can I offer?"

I always believed that if I repeated a sentence again and again in my mind, I would learn it by heart, and unconsciously the mind would be engaged with it, so, without too much effort, you would find a solution to that issue. Therefore, I tried to focus on the hot temperature of Venus to have my mind find a solution to it.

I bid farewell to my friends. I went home on foot. As soon as I entered the room, I got onto the bed. My mind was in a turmoil. Lying on the bed, I turned the tablet on and searched the reason why Venus was getting hot.

I learned that the main reasons were car emissions, factory pollution, and greenhouse phenomenon from the past until then. There was a theory about the increasing mass of the Sun which had led to a rise in the temperature of Venus.

I was thinking that, "as far as I remembered, all cars have run on electricity and all factories polluting the air have been shut down across Venus for years." "Apparently the air used to be so polluted, but its effect has just risen to surface."

I was wondering why human being failed to come up with a solution to hinder air pollution. "Human being has always sought to gain momentary interests and has failed to think about the problems made for the generations to come."

What a pity neither I nor anybody else could do anything about that. Governments had controlled air pollution for years, yet the rise in temperature on Venus was spiraling out of control. Perhaps we all should be resigned to fate.

What a dreadful fate we were facing. I imagined the last years when Venus would be unbearably hot. What a dreadful death! I drifted into sleep with this in mind.

I woke up at 6 when my mobile ringtone went off. I didn't feel well when I opened my eyes. The whole night I dreamed about getting mired in the middle of an inhospitable desert, seeking someone to help me, and I was not able to find anyone.

I put on my clothes, took a sour apple from the fridge, and walked towards my office as I nibbled at it. I was haunted by the dream of the night before.

I didn't feel like working, but we should get half-finished tasks done, because the whole town would be placed under curfew from the following day. Thomas sent me a message, calling on me to take whatever I need for a few days off and go to his place, where all friends were about to gather.

I replied, "OK." I continued working with the time hanging heavy on my hands. After work, I went shopping.

First signs of an impending storm appeared. A hot wind was blowing. I ran all the way home. I just put my clothes and toothbrush into my bag, rushing to the Thomas' house.