"Is the airlock ready?" Asked Captain Nevil.
"Yes, sir," replied Aquila. The robot had just finished construction and already spread itself out against the ground to regenerate under the sunlight. "Might I suggest that you use me as an insulating layer? Your spacesuit is not adequately equipped for absolute zero environments."
Nevil consented. And waited a few minutes for Aquila to recharge. His thoughts began to wander as to the question: What happened to Earth? It was moving gravitically, so it was evident that someone else had tried again after the Aquila's disappearance... And failed even more tragically than Nevil had. Nevil had always thought that Earth had just continued without him, that humanity had expended its natural lifespan, and that Nevil had merely missed out. As opposed to leaving before a disaster.
Once Aquila was ready. Nevil donned his spacesuit, a difficult ordeal. Aquila waited patiently at the airlock door; it had made the airlock quite elaborate, there was even a control panel to adjust the location of the portal on the opposite end. Nevil nodded to Aquila, Aquila then quickly liquefied its form to envelop Nevil's suited body in a thin layer of transparent goo. "I will keep you warm, sir." remarked the robot, "I can also shield you against impacts or other forms of injury."
"I'm sure you can." Replied Nevil. "Now, let's go." Nevil climbed into the airlock and activated the control panel. "Okay... Where did you put the depressurize button, Aquila?"
"On the top-left corner, sir."
"Thanks, and please stop calling me 'sir'. I don't need formalities. My first name is James."
"I know that... James."
Nevil's lips twitched into a faint smile. He reached out and pressed the button. Red lights blinked rapidly, and a siren blared to signify the act. The doors leading outside closed, and all the air was sucked out. The sound of the siren became increasingly faint until it was nothing more than a garbled murmur heard directly through vibrations of the metal into Nevil's body. "Now, how do I open the portal?"
"The second button to the right."
"Okay," Nevil pressed it, and the wall ahead suddenly disappeared. Replaced by an open window into space, the nebulous disk of the Milky Way hung suspended, its bulk partially eclipsed by the darkened planet, Earth. "How do I move the portal?"
"There are ten keys at the bottom. Look closely."
Nevil squinted at the small keys. There were, indeed, eight keys used for navigation. Two for forward and backward movement, two for pitch, two for yaw, two for roll, and two for acceleration and deceleration. Aquila had done a good job. Using the keys, Nevil steered the portal down to the surface of the planet, it was like piloting a spaceship; except without following Newtonian physics, the portal moved like a camera. "Can you illuminate the area ahead?" Aquila did so, it fired a wide-angle beam of white light forward. Nevil had no idea what area of Earth he was over and inquired about it.
"You are over the Pacific ocean." Said Aquila, nonchalantly.
"Guide me," Asked the Captain. "Tell me what I'm flying over when I fly over it." Nevil started flying laterally in a random direction. Slowly, he flew onward for several minutes before Aquila spoke up.
"You are now just above the city of Seattle."
Nevil halted, oriented straight down, and headed straight down, slowly. "Aquila, if I crash this, do we get a face full of rock?"
"If you are referring to the possibility of ground material passing through the portal and crushing us inside the airlock, it is a possibility." Said Aquila. For a moment it seemed he was finished, then. "But I must inform you that you are also likely to get a face full of nitrogen, James."
"Tell me when I'm five kilometers above the surface."
Nevil accelerated slightly. Continuing on downward for several minutes before Aquila told him. Nevil then requested to be told at the one-kilometer mark. He continued onwards. A bit more slowly. Soon, he had reached that altitude as well. Then, even more slowly, Nevil descended further. It wasn't long before the bright beam of light coming from Aquila began to reflect off of the surface, evidently, Nevil was landing in one of the denser areas of the city. Tall buildings poked out of the snow; snow that had once been the planet's air. The rooftops were covered in the snow, nearly a meter thick. Careful to avoid crashing into anything, Nevil steered the portal down to the ground and re-oriented it so that the 'door' would stand upright. "I think I'll need snowshoes," he observed, then, feeling a slight tingling, looked down to find that Aquila had reshaped itself to produce snowshoes. "Thank you, Aquila."
"Just acting in accordance with your whim." It replied.
Nevil took his first steps through the portal, laying his feet down upon... Home. His feet sunk into the snow slightly, but the snowshoes were adequate, and he only sank a few centimeters. He'd never imagined that homecoming would be like this. He looked around the scene before him, he was standing in a street, it was almost like a usual winters night -- except that everything was dark and without a single sign of life. The sky itself was nearly clear black, except for the Large Magellanic cloud hovering above, casting a slight reflection in the frosty windows of the buildings. There were cars parked along the sides of the road, Nevil checked each of them, they were all empty, evidently, the people had had enough time to die on their own terms. Despite Aquila's efforts at insulation, Nevil could feel the cool through his boots, only slightly. Nevil turned around to look back at the portal, a frameless hole in space. Nevil knew the edges would be dangerous. Out of curiosity, he rolled up a snowball in his hands and threw it at the portal's edge. Half of the snowball traveled through the portal, splattering against the door of the airlock. The other half flew onward a few meters further before impacting the rear window of a car and shattering it, things became brittle only a few degrees above absolute zero. Nevil would have to make some sort of safety precaution from now on.
With Aquila lighting the way, Nevil traversed the streets, everything was calm, quiet, and dead. Everything frozen solid, everything perfectly preserved. A lone speck of life among a forest of cold steel. A rather amusing thought came to him, he was walking on air! A form of gallows humor he had developed.
There were shops, businesses, apartments, and lots of abandoned vehicles. Meanwhile, the Earth was moving gravitically at half-C, leaving the galaxy. How did this happen? There were no winds, for there was no air. He barely remembered a poem that reminded himself of this. "Aquila. What was that poem called," he asked, "the one about the woods being lovely and dark and deep?"
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost." the robot replied, "Do you want me to recite it?"
"Alright."
"Whose woods these are I think I know..." Aquila recited the poem slowly, using the exact emotions to make it sound perfect.
While listening, Nevil tried the door to one of the buildings, it was unlocked, but the hinges were frozen. After a minute of hard pulling, he managed to force the door open wide enough for himself to enter.
The lobby was deserted, everything so perfectly preserved as to appear like this calamity had only happened yesterday. With obviously no power, the elevator was useless, Nevil took the stairs. This building was multi purpose, some floors rented as apartments, others rented to businesses, the apartments were higher up, this was a classy establishment. Nevil climbed the many flights of stairs until he reached the top. After several minutes of laborious climbing, he arrived at the top-floor penthouse, a luxurious apartment. Everything was stylish, nearly everything was gold-plated, the walls themselves used gold-leaf wallpaper. This kind of style was not exactly to Nevil's tastes, but it oozed wealth. He peered into the master bedroom, the bed was already occupied, Nevil didn't dare come close enough to see who it was. He went to the living room, a large room, everything gold-plated, as usual. A little too much gold plating. The room was dominated by a single window, spanning an entire wall, from ceiling to floor. The absolute darkness of this dead world showed, no sign of distance or depth, just a black eternity. This planet was a mausoleum.
Nevil left the penthouse and went down stairs, stopping at one of the business levels, the light from Aquila illuminated the area in wide swaths, there were many cubicles and desks. On one of the desks, a newspaper. It's headline:
Is this the End?
President Harrison announces that our planets departure from the Sun's warmth is irreversible. The Gravitics team at MIT is has been held responsible. "We never intended for this to happen," answers team head, Franklin Mendez, "there was a fault in the programming of the gravitic device. As leader and representative of my group, I take full responsibility."
According to the US Military, the gravitic device is impossible to even approach. The malfunctioning machine has surrounded itself with spatial distortions that have already ripped everything surrounding it to shreds, nothing has gotten through. Not even nuclear weapons.
Scientists report that we have only a few more days before temperatures drop below freezing. Afterward, soon the sky itself will begin to snow down. Though it is highly doubted that many will live to see the finale of this tragedy.
The world leaders came together, Tuesday, to make a joint address to the human race. President Harrison's speech:
"I speak to the people of Earth. Unfortunately, I have no good news to give. All attempts to halt or control the gravitic device have failed. It is my solemn duty to inform the world alongside my fellow peers, that we have little time left. Already the sun is setting, forever. It's little more than a point in the sky now, barely brighter than moonlight, soon it will be no brighter than any other star. Astronomers say we're leaving the galaxy in the direction of the Large Magellanic cloud, perhaps someday this gravitic drive will finally decay and fail, perhaps our world may drift into the warm embrace of some new sun, perhaps the ice will melt, the snow will recede, the skies will rise from the ground and give life once again. But these are uncertain hopes.
"I wish to reassure everyone, that this is not the end of the human race, our colonies will continue without us. Mars, Venus, the Moon, they are all home to thousands, millions of people, they are all self-sufficient, perhaps the loss of Earth will stimulate their desire to grow, encourage them to become more than colonies. Perhaps an empire will rise in our memory. Or perhaps we'll be forgotten. I can guarantee nothing, nothing but our eventual deaths. Yours, and mine, we all die together.
"Live like you're dying, because you are. We all are. Worldwide, we are legalizing nearly everything, what point is law when we're all soon to be dead anyway? Nothing costs anything, any luxury one demands, one will receive without delay, without a bias for social class. Everything is free. Live! Live as much as you can! Make up for the years you will miss! This is President Joel Harrison, bidding the world farewell."
Harrison then departed for his home in Wisconsin to spend the end-times with his close relatives and friends. The Prime Minister of the UK, George Turnwright, made a similar statement, encouraging "Hard partying, and whatever else pleases the soul.".
There has been a significant spike in homicides, suicides, and terror attacks. Numerous Churches, Mosques, and Synagogues have issued statements claiming the gravitic incident to be "God's punishment for the sinful behavior of humanity." It is their opinion that God and Allah are destroying Earth because of its 'corruption and decadence' and spared the colonies because the colonists were "pure, hardworking people. Uncorrupted by the taint of superfluous luxury." Either way, whatever this is all because of, the results are the same. The Times fully endorses the suggestions of the President, do everything you can, sail a boat before the oceans freeze! Fly a plane before the skies fall! Anything! We have less than a week left to live, make the most of it!
The rest of the newspaper was dedicated entirely to the oncoming death of Earth. Telling the same story from numerous vantage points. The date, July 5th, 2978. July 5th, 2978, Earth's last year. Nevil put the rigid paper down, a little too roughly, and it shattered. "Aquila, did you get everything?" He asked, having a hard time speaking.
"Yes, James. I recorded all the information of that paper. If you wish I can build a copy once we're back on the other side of the portal.
So much loss, already. Nevil's emotions had virtually turned to stone by this point. But even stone has some flexibility. A single tear ran down his cheek before freezing against the helmet glass. Nevil left the building and returned to the portal, stepping into the airlock. He closed the portal and repressurized. Then, he opened the outer door. Bright sunlight flowed into his eyes, he squinted hard. He felt somewhat more comfortable, lost again. Worlds like Odysseus and Dagger were more like home than Earth was. Earth was a cemetery. But he was reminded of something, President Harrison's words, "perhaps our world may drift into the warm embrace of some new sun, perhaps the ice will melt, the snow will recede, the skies will rise from the ground and give life once again." struck a chord, Nevil would do exactly that. Relocate Earth, free it from the grasp of a rogue gravitic drive, and maneuver it into the warm embrace... of some new sun.
How long he'd been working, Nevil did not know. He'd been trying to shut off the Earth's gravitic drive for nearly a year now. Many attempts had been made. First, he had sent drones through, small robots built by Aquila, each one tried to reach the drive, each one failed. Then he tried gravitic methods, such as attempting to lift the drive away from the planet, but that, too, failed.
He also had other things to worry about. Dagger was condemned to the fate of Venus, outgassing vapors from beneath the planet's crust -- the crust that tidal forces had so rudely cracked -- were transforming the planet. Already, the atmosphere was nearly twice as thick as it had been when Nevil had first arrived. Soon, it would be uninhabitable.
Over the course of time, Nevil had deactivated more and more of Aquila's subservient programming, mainly because Nevil wanted an equal to be his partner. Not a slave.
Needing a break from the stress, Nevil decided to go for a hike. Leaving Aquila to experiment with new methods of freeing Earth. Nevil left Excelsior and its surroundings to hike up the nearest mountain, Mt. Halsey, as Nevil had named it. The air was soupy, and uncomfortably hot, about forty degrees. The pebbles crunched beneath his feet. The sky was beginning to get overcast, a bad omen for the future of this world.
He was drenched in sweat as he climbed over a ledge. The rock was dusty, and his hands were coated in the dust. He had already fallen once, and pierced one of the pockets of his air reservoir, best to be more careful. Aquila would have to patch that up.
When he finally climbed over the ledge and stood just beneath the peak. He looked out at the torn vista of Dagger, once a world of ice, rapidly evolving into a world of fire. But right now, it was beautiful, the shredded rocks held a majestic beauty, like spires of a church, tall thin shards poked out of the ground, stabbing the sky. But above all, was the tallest mountain. Nevil thought of a name, Mt. Alvis, After the foolish young scientist who had stranded the Aquila in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
His reverie in the view was suddenly interrupted. Aquila, in the shape of a bird, flew up to him, calling his name. "James!"
Nevil answered, his voice muffled by the mask over his mouth. "What?"
"I've solved the problem on Earth! I've done it!" it shouted. the excitement seemed genuine. Did Aquila actually have emotions?
Nevil was shocked, "How did you do it?" He asked, barely holding in his own excitement.
Aquila landed in front of him and took human form, "I created a second -- inverted -- spatial distortion in the same area, they canceled each other out and I was able to deactivate the drive with a drone."
Grinning, Nevil rapidly shook Aquila's gelatinous hand. "Good job!" He shouted over and over again. Then, once he'd calmed down somewhat, he inquired. "How was it getting power all these years?"
"It was drawing power from nowhere, just as you've done, James." Answered Aquila.
"But... How did it not decay after all these years?"
"The spatial distortion, while fatal to anything around the edges, had a preservative effect on material in its center. The drive is virtually brand-new, still!"
"I would like it dismantled, please. We can build as many drives as we want, and there is obviously something wrong with this one."
Aquila agreed, "Right away, James." And then offered to take Nevil back to the Excelsior, Nevil accepted, and they went. Aquila reshaped itself into a bird again, creating a seat for Nevil on its back. Nevil climbed in, and Aquila held him in with a seatbelt. And off they went.
Upon arriving at the Excelsior, Nevil asked, "So, Earth is no longer moving?"
"Yes, James, it has completely stopped."
Nevil released himself from the seat and went into the ship, he immediately began fiddling with the computer, experimenting with teleportation. Already quite experienced, Nevil discovered the answer in a matter of minutes. He ordered a third large drive from Aquila and waited.
A week later, "James!" Called Aquila, "It is ready!"
Nevil had already been informed earlier that the drive was nearly complete, and he had been waiting patiently for the last two hours. Now, it was time. "Is it plugged in?" He asked Aquila, it answered in the affirmative.
With excited rapidity, Nevil copied the data into the new drive, locked onto Earth. Now, just to pick a new star. He could put Earth somewhere in the same system as himself. But the tidal consequences would be risky for Earth and all the other planets in the system.
He asked Aquila. "There is a red dwarf star just a few light years away." It answered, "It is a class M0, rather big for a red dwarf, and quite stable."
It sounded perfect to Nevil. Not only would the red dwarf be adequate, but its light would cast a sunset effect on the surface. It would be quite beautiful and also match the situation, it would give a moody feel. Exactly what Nevil wanted. "Give me the coordinates, please." He requested. Aquila gave them up freely. And Nevil input them into the drive, translating them into the necessary values, orbital altitude, velocity, inclination, and eccentricity. Aquila told him the dimensions of the habitable zone, and Nevil put the information to use.
"Alright," he said, "When I press this button, Earth will instantly teleport into orbit around the star." Aquilla nodded in understanding. And Nevil pressed it. Unsure of the results, he donned his spacesuit quickly and went to the airlock. Aquila wrapped itself around him, and he quickly depressurized the airlock and opened the portal. It had kept its lock on Earth, and followed it to its new destination. What Nevil saw left him breathless.
A bright red star hung large in the sky. The cityscape of Seattle was bathed in red light, and Nevil stepped out into the streets. The snow was rapidly evaporating, within minutes, it had disappeared entirely. The sky began to turn a grayish blue, and strong gusts began to blow objects around. "Soon, Aquila. She'll be a verdant world again. I hope I live to see the first trees grow again."
"How do you know there'll be trees?" Asked Aquila.
"Because nature works that way. Many forms of plant life evolved to tolerate the cold, some even to freeze entirely, then to thaw."
"So, life will return?"
"Oh yes, it always does. Earth was never dead, merely sleeping. It's even possible that the human population may have survived somewhere. Waiting for the world to thaw." Nevil looked at his surroundings and smiled. It was not the end! And somewhere, he knew, the human race continued. Life Continued.
But he was not done. As dark, lovely, and deep the woods were. He had things left to do. And lightyears to go before he could sleep.
Lightyears to go.