Reach Out

Earth had become virtually uninhabitable. People had been forced underground to escape the dangerous UV rays of the sun. Pollution levels made the air thin and nearly unbreathable. Clear-cutting rainforests had decimated ecosystems far and wide and caused frequent mass flooding. Agriculture suffered from droughts and a substantial increase in pests, so food was hard to acquire. Since the year 2000, forty percent of all plant and animal life had become extinct. Sickness spread easily as medicine became more difficult to find and the human population swelled.

It was in this shadow of the death of the earth that scientists hypothesized that the destruction of antimatter could increase spacecraft propulsion exponentially. In 2094, they discovered how to do it. This new capacity for speed offered them what they believed to be the only hope for human survival. “We must leave this earth and begin human civilization somewhere else,” experts reported.

Enormous vessels were constructed with monumental shields to protect the people onboard from radiation. The wealthy and famous were taken first. Passengers gathered their most precious belongings and in 2100 they ascended to the skies, gripping onto their hopes for the future like disappearing oxygen.

Residuals were all the leftover Humans on Earth. Some had desperately wanted to go to a new world but were deemed too insignificant or poor to be given seats on the ships. Some people had willingly elected to stay. Whatever the reasons, the two choices facing every Residual was to either fend for themselves in a dying world alone, or band together with other people and try to stay alive.

Saira’s grandparents, John and Maya, had chosen the latter of these options. They joined a handful of other like-minded Residuals and established a small settlement. They filled it with all the supplies they thought humans could ever need to survive. There was food, water, oxygen, medicine, and weapons. They called it Eden City.

John and Maya Solis had not wanted to go to space. They were rich enough that they could have easily purchased seats on a vessel and left, but they were steadfast in their faith. “Man has dominion over earth and nowhere else,” John asserted.  Leaving what God had created for them was blasphemy. They would remain on earth and the Lord would provide a way.

These beliefs were the foundations upon which Eden City was built. The leaders became known as the Elders of Eden. They taught the Residuals of Eden, Edenists, how to survive and think like them. They provided basic nutrition, and rationed medicine and water. They cultivated a modest garden of fruits and vegetables. They built tall walls around the city with four watchtowers for guards to keep the people inside safe and the dangers of the outside world out. For forty years, the city had grown.

There was a vast forest just beyond the gates of Eden City. Saira loved to climb to the top of the city’s walls and tuck herself away in the watchtowers. She would sit there for hours and stare out at the many trees and bushes. She could hear water somewhere inside the forest. She counted mushrooms. She drew everything she saw in a little sketchbook her father had made her.

Saira observed one lone sleepy guardswoman with a rifle on her back. She sat on another one of the protective walls and dangled her legs over the edge. The guard hadn’t seen Saira. She wasn’t trying to be sneaky, but she didn’t go out of her way to let her presence be known either. She enjoyed the feeling of being unseen.  

The moon was full tonight, so she was able to draw without getting out her flashlight. The beauty of nature always surprised and inspired Saira. Giant sequoia trees towered over the forest, and she perceived that they, too, were a type of guardian. She wondered what they were keeping in and out of their mossy kingdom. She wondered if she could ever touch one with her tiny hands.

She understood the rules: No one could leave Eden City, and no one could come in. If either of these were attempted, the offenders would be shot dead on the spot. There were not enough provisions to care for more Edensits. Their supplies were already steadily declining faster than they could be replaced. The Elders had even proclaimed that families should avoid reproducing.

Residuals living outside the city, Outsiders, were dangerous and carried diseases. The world had turned them feral and frightening. Leaving Eden City promised only suffering. Saira understood these rules better than most people in the city.

Five years ago, her father, Adam, had tried to leave to help find more supplies. He was shot and killed. The Elders asserted that was for his own good. They loved the members of their secluded community and would do anything to keep them safe. They had saved Adam from suffering the agonies of life outside. It was a blessing, the Elders had said. She missed her dad.

Saira knew these rules and the consequences for not minding them. Recently, however, something inside her seemed to be pulling her toward the forest that she now gazed upon. How would it feel to dip her hands into the stream or smell a flower on a bush? An owl hooted from a nearby tree, making Saira jump. She rolled her eyes at herself and closed her sketchbook. In her sixteen years as an Edenist, Saira realized she had never heard or seen any evidence of Outsiders. For the first time in her life, she thought that the Elders of Eden may be complete liars.

Saira sat there in the watchtower for a long time contemplating these new thoughts. Her father had been a great scientist. He had taught her everything she knew about the natural world. He had shown her diagrams of leaves and flowers in big books. He had taught her about the life cycles of frogs. He had taught her to think critically about the things around her. “Does it make sense?” “What do you think?” “Why?” “How?”

Saira suddenly came to the realization that her father had been planting seeds in her mind. He had hoped that someday, Saira would figure out that life was not just inside Eden City. She glanced at the guard again. She had not moved and was now fast asleep. Saira heard a soft snore, and that was the exact moment she decided to leave Eden City.

 She stuffed her sketchbook in her pouch and scanned the ground below the wall. On either side there was mud and a few rocks. Saira was used to climbing the walls and jumping down after years of practice. When she perceived that the guard was still passed out, she jumped off the wall and into a whole new world. She was outside.

She quickly scanned the immediate area. Her heart was racing wildly in her chest. No monsters appeared. There was no sound. She had done it. She saw an empty spot between two trees. Without hesitation, she started running full speed toward it. The mysterious forest was now only a few feet away. She could smell dirt, and she smiled. She felt free. Suddenly, a loud bang like lightning crashing rang out in the quiet of the night, and Saira collapsed to the ground.   

She couldn’t move. She had been shot in the chest. She could feel her heart slowing down and she watched her own blood seep into the mud that now cradled her face. She raised her eyes toward the walls of Eden City. The guard had been deeply sleeping. It had only been seconds. How could she be shot. Then she saw the man. Another guard had been somewhere else. How long had he been observing her. Her eyes became too heavy to keep open. She let them close.

It was early morning when Saira opened her eyes again. Immediately the pain in her chest throbbed. She tried to lift a hand to inspect the damage but realized that she was somehow stuck. She was paralyzed.  Her heart raced and her eyes darted from left to right. She was astonished to find a tall green person of some sort sitting on a log very near her. Its legs were roots woven together. Its hair was a variety of baby fern leaves, roots, and oak leaves. The Elders were right. There were Outsiders and now she sat right by one, at the mercy of its whims.

“Who…” Saira tried with all her might to communicate with the creature. It smiled tranquilly and nodded.

“You are awake,” this strange creature spoke. Its words were like wind blowing through leaves. It somehow comforted Saira. It stood up slowly. “I am We,” it said.

Saira’s voice was cracked and small. She asked, “We…?”

“We are the guardians of the forest, Saira. We are the trees and the soil and the beetles and the rain. We are healing your body now,” it, or rather, they gestured toward her torso, and Saira noticed that she could now turn her head easily. She looked down and gasped. Roots and mushrooms and leaves and clay covered her body. A centipede crawled across her foot. She wanted to scream from the shock, but something inside of her calmed her instantly and fully. She took a deep breath.

“What am I?” she was surprised that she was able to form the words so clearly this time. We smiled in response.

“You are matter and energy,” We told her. It was as though Saira was sensing We’s thoughts as they spoke. We communicated to Saira that a guard had shot her and that she had been very close to death when they found her. They brought her body into the forest. They pulled pure healing energy from their own being and began the healing process. The forest worked together to save Saira.

“You saved me?” she whispered. We nodded. Saira asked, “Why?”

“We needed to do something to get the attention of the humans,” We shared. “There were signs. We tried to warn you all of the dangerous choices you were making day by day. Only a very few humans felt us and understood. Not enough…” their voice seemed to trail off like a bubbling stream. “We must work together,” they said.

Saira was now able to freely move her arms and wiggle her woody toes. She felt no more pain. “How can I help?” she asked.

“When the last humans left the earth, ice caps had melted. So many, many creatures had died. There was flooding and the air was poisoned.” We glanced around the trees and moss. “This forest is just one of many. We reach out,” they said.

Saira must have looked confused because We continued, “We reach out to other life. We need a network of sorts to survive and thrive. Humans forgot that. They shut themselves away in high towers and ignored the plight of bees and coral reefs. Now, there is you, Saira.”

Saira was thoroughly confused. If this overwhelming sense of connection and oneness had not been calming her soul, she would have believed she was hallucinating. Here she was, shot and dying talking to a giant plant person. But it was real. She knew it. She could literally feel the truth and selflessness and safety. She glanced at her new leafy body and realized that she was now completely better. She stretched and rolled her shoulders back.

“Saira, little curious one, you are now We too,” We said. She could feel their wisdom and truth. “When your father died, his body went back to the earth. Bacteria and bugs and tiny animals received nourishment from him.”

Saira interrupted suddenly, “My father? Why didn’t you save him like you saved me?” Her heart ached momentarily. It wasn’t fair that she had survived, and her father had perished.

“We tried. Too many bullets. Too much damage.”

Saira’s felt tears filling her eyes. “I miss him,” she said.

We tilted their head and nodded. “He is still with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“When your father died, he nourished the forest. The bugs carried sustenance from your father with them and, in turn, nourished the birds. The birds took a part of him from the bugs, and, in turn, nourished the soil and other animals. When those animals died, flowers and fungus sprouted from their bodies. That is your father, too. Your father is still here. He is the flowers and the mushrooms and the leaves in the trees. It’s all connected here. He is We. We are one. A circle of life forever.”

Saira’s head should have been spinning, but for once in her life, everything was crystal clear. We was right. Her father was still here. “What can I do?”

We said gently, “Reach out. Help us connect to all life. Then, We can fix earth and thrive once more. Saira nodded and understood deep down in every cell that this was true and right. She hugged We and smiled. She felt a serenity she had had never experienced. As she left the forest, she turned back to see and feel We waving. Slowly they disintegrated back to dirt and bark and bunnies and moss.

Saira had been forever changed by the sequoias and all of nature. She stepped into the light outside the forest and began her new journey of connecting everything. The world could be saved. They could not only survive, but thrive if humans listen and feel what nature had been whispering forever.

“Reach out. Reach out.”