Spaceman

The screen flickered on, and John saw his own image in the body hugging uniform reflected back on him. The darkened bridge of the ship, a hexagonal room with a raised level sitting just behind the forward consoles, was behind him. John cleared his throat, unsure of where to begin, and then spoke whatever came to mind:

“This is Second Lieutenant John McKenzie of the Federal Alliance Aerospace Exploration Division, on board the spacecraft ASN Taylor. Exactly 100 years ago, on the 8th of May in the year 2284, I departed on what was considered a high-priority mission to explore what was believed to be a cosmic source of energy on the very edge of the galaxy.”

John swallowed hard.

“I knew the risks, and they had no qualms about accepting me. I was a highly regarded energy expert, and the Earth was facing an energy crisis the likes of which hadn’t been known in recent history. I had no family to leave behind, basically no one to miss me for 50 years. My career was my life. I-”

John paused, then let out his held breath.

“I don’t know what’s happened, but we’ve landed in the middle of this vast forest. I was outside no longer than ten minutes, then boarded the ship to find out I had been exposed to small amounts of radiation. The atmosphere has more hydrogen than it used to, and the soil composition for a place like Chicago is all wrong. Yet, the computer insists that we’ve landed at the specified coordinates programmed into this ship 50 years ago.”

John shrugged.

“Someone got things wrong, but there’s nobody around to blame but myself. Yet I know I couldn’t have done anything wrong, because I’ve been asleep for the past 50 years.”

The lone man let out a sigh.

“All things considered? Could be worse. Damage to the ship was mostly external, some wiring and things knocked loose inside. Power cells are intact, and there were no visible breaches when I was outside. Even though the cells on board the Taylor are designed to last 125 years, I’m not taking any chances. Well, except for one-”

John leaned back in the chair, arms folded behind him.

“Tomorrow, at first light, I’m properly suiting up and taking a look around outside. Maybe I can find out where we’ve actually landed?”

He sat up and reached for the square shaped camera in front of the monitor.

“End transmission for now.”

John switched the camera off, and the monitor went dark.

-

Light from the screen, and the lone spaceman was looking at himself once again; a towel was around his neck, still wet from the water of his anti-radiation shower.

“This is Second Lieutenant John McKenzie of the ASN Taylor, day two after landing in an unknown location my on board computer insists is O’Hare Airport in Chicago. I had a better look at the outside today, walking around in a mildly radiated 60 degrees Celsius really does wonders for the body. Especially in a 7 kilo suit that’s airtight.”

John held up a prepackaged pouch of water with a straw and took a long sip.

“That’s not even actual water anymore, come to think of it. Entirely my own pee.”

He shrugged.

“Water cycle seems a bit more messed up now, but that’s the excitement you discover when you travel in space.”

With a sigh, John continued.

“Based on the presence of fauna, I almost want to guess I’ve somehow landed in South America, but the topographical layout doesn’t exactly make sense. This place, save for a few hills and upward inclines, is flat. I mean, precisely flat. And the temperature isn’t even this high at the Equator. Yet, last night, I opened the blast shield and looked out at the stars. You know what they told me? That I’m in the Northern Hemisphere.”

The spaceman let out a chuckle.

“Northern Hemisphere and it’s over 60 Celsius. I know global warming was bad for a while, but it never got to those levels of bad. I’m missing some detail somewhere, and I think the answer may very well be under my feet.”

John waggled his eyebrows.

“Tomorrow, I think I’ll play in the dirt and see what comes up. Haven’t played in the dirt since I was a kid.”

John eased himself back in the seat.

“If it rains, I’m gonna be so pissed.”

-

Once again, John saw himself on screen and crossed his eyes.

“There he is,” he said. “The idiot who jinxed himself, Second Lieutenant John McKenzie of the ANS Taylor. Day five after a bumpy landing, and day three of attempting to take soil samples and dig through entangled undergrowth in the WORST RAIN OF MY LIFE.”

John flipped himself off in the camera.

“Although, for what it’s worth? 50 years without rain really makes you realize how much you miss it. That first day it rained, I about cried. Then by today, I was crying because it wasn’t stopping. Anyway, the initial soil samples confirmed what the ship sensors detected. High levels of hydrogen, some traces of nitrogen and- quite the presence of igneous rocks. Almost makes me wonder if we’ve landed near a volcano, but I surely would have seen one by now.”

John laughed.

“God, I sound like some kind of Geologist. I remember just enough from my basic crash course at the Alliance Aerospace Academy to do my best right here, right now. That was how I got through that geological survey in Baja.”

Then he paused.

“I was never told why they had me do that- well, I guess I can’t expect an answer on that right away.”

John looked up.

“Unless my shipboard computer would like to speak?” he asked.

Silence.

“She’s mad at me,” he quipped. “I called her 3PO earlier today. Guess they didn’t think to add a sense of humors to these units.”

-

John positioned the rock on the console and angled the camera down so that it was completely on screen.

“Second Lieutenant John McKenzie of the ANS Taylor, and thank you for joining us today on America’s favorite game show: What The Fuck Is That?”

John raised the camera up, and he was in frame again.

“A little surprise washed up by the rain, which finally let up this morning. Also, for the first time since crashing here 7 days ago, the temperature is below 60 degrees Celsius.”

John now held the rock in his hand.

“Now, the question of the hour is: what the fuck is this? No composition similar to an igneous rock, or a sandstone, or any naturally occurring rock. You know why? It’s not natural.”

John nodded.

“It’s concrete, and look here-”

He turned it around and held the rock close; faint specks of white were on the back.

“That’s paint. This is a piece from a road, and it turned up underneath all of these trees and vegetation. That means we didn’t just land in the middle of nowhere, we’re right on top of a man-made city.”

John lowered the rock out of frame.

“Now, the next question? Which city is it? Are we still off-course, or-?”

He hesitated.

“Or am I in trouble?”

-

“Second Lieutenant John McKenzie of the ANS Taylor,” he spoke in a familiar cadence. “Day 12 since my arrival here, and things have been pretty uneventful for the past few days. Discovering the fragment of road was the only evidence I had to support my theory that we landed in a city, until two days ago. I finally wandered far enough from the ship to find a natural water source. Huge, polluted lake full of man-made debris and a large amount of ash. Then, I found a shaft of some kind buried in the overgrowth nearby. Looks like an elevator shaft leading further down, into a structure buried underneath all of this fauna.”

John nodded, then let out a sigh.

“These huge tree roots are blocking my way down, but I think I can get through them if I re-purpose some of the equipment in the surgical unit. If I can reach another floor of this building, then I could possibly discover what kind of city is buried underneath me. I suppose this is where I should admit the obvious, but-”

John swallowed hard, looked away from the camera, then faced it once again.

“I’m scared to learn the truth. I wasn’t this petrified when I was launched into space, but I can feel it coming. The detail I’ve overlooked for so long is getting harder to overlook, especially because I’m walking along these overgrown roads and entombed buildings and it all feels so- familiar. Like I’ve dug through the dirt enough to know this place.”

With a shuddering breath, he admitted:

“If that feeling is right, then I don’t know what I’ll do.”

John reached for the camera.

“Oh,” he remembered, easing back. “One more thing of interest to report. Someone is clearly using that lake as a water source, because I found the remains of a campfire between there and this mysterious shaft. Maybe they’ll be nice enough to tell me where the hell I am and save me a lot of trouble?”

John shrugged.

“Or maybe they’ll impale me and roast me alive? Hard to say.”

-

With a trembling hand, John switched on the camera; he stared back at himself, bleary eyed and breathing raggedly.

“Day 19,” he said, voice quivering. “It was-...it was slow going on the elevator shaft, because I had to find a way to carefully suspend myself over the roots while I used the hijacked surgical equipment to cut them away. First day was spent rigging the little pulley system that helped me in and out of the shaft, then most of the other days were spent cutting away roots until I found another elevator door on a lower level. Took about two days to finally get that open and see what was on the other side.”

John wiped the tears out of his eyes.

“I should have left them closed, maybe it would have postponed the truth a little longer. There-”

He paused to collect himself.

“There wasn’t much on the other side, but I did find a sign- no really, a literal sign that indicated the building I was in. When I first read it, I didn’t know how to react until I got back to the ship and had a well-deserved breakdown. I-...I’ll let it explain for itself.”

John then reached below him and held up a half-charred sign with the letters IGLEY still visible through the carbon scoring.

“Wrigley Field,” he said. “Buried like a relic. The coordinates didn’t change, but the city where we were landing sure as hell did. Then I got the idea to check the central processor for the shipboard computer, because how can a city like Chicago come to look like this in just 50 years?”

The lone spaceman gave a wry laugh.

“That’s when I found out that, during the return leg of the trip, the craft lost power and drifted aimlessly. Following protocol, the ship kicked on the emergency power and kept us on course via maneuvering thrusters. The computer is then programmed to deploy solar panels to keep itself powered up, but-...well, I guess we were pretty far from a sun at the time. 50 years far, as a matter of fact. We came within range of one and the computer reactivated, unaware of the time that had passed.”

John then buried his face in his hands and let out a groan.

“I’ve been gone 100 years instead of just 50. It’s 2384, and something happened to the Earth while I was away. Something burned across this city so hot and so fast that it left traces like a volcanic eruption, then the Earth did what it does best and grows plants where there weren’t any previously.”

John looked up at the camera.

“It’s one thing to have nobody to miss you, but another to come back and find that you’re the only one left. I-...I have no idea what to do now.”

The lone spaceman looked up at the ceiling of the bridge, then around at the darkened consoles and empty chairs.

“Where the hell do I go from here?”

-

John’s eyes were tear-filled when the screen clicked on; he stared dead on into the camera, anger seething from every pore. The lone spaceman gritted his teeth.

“This message goes to the reckless and destructive fools of the Federal Alliance of Earth Nations, because the blood of the very planet you named yourself after is on your hands. I was like many of my science colleagues when we first heard a rumor about a secret project in development, regarding geothermal energy harnessed right from the planet’s core. The Eden Colony on Mars attempted to do that decades before, but all they did was wind up creating a weapon from nature itself. That weapon is why we were facing the damn energy crisis in the first place!”

John sniffed, then wiped at his nose with his sleeve.

“Then I thought back to that mysterious survey in Baja, and I realized there was more to that. I’m willing to bet that’s where you built the facility- I bet that’s where you rooted all your damn lies, telling people it was to help the energy crisis and restore civilization. Assuring everyone that you had no intention to let the Eden Conflict repeat itself. The whole time, however, you were setting things up for what you saw as the ultimate weapon. Now look at what you have to show for it-”

The lone spaceman let out a wheezy breath, then stopped and counted to five before continuing.

“You used the planet to kill the planet and everyone on it, but you missed one.”

John reached below him and pulled a gun-shaped device into view.

“Surgical laser,” he said. “Point and cut anything of your choice.”

He placed the projector barrel against the side of his head.

“Instant at this close of a range. I do this, and your failure is complete. The human race, the very body you were sworn to protect, dies out.”

John sneered.

“Why shouldn’t I?” he asked. “It’s what you deserve, after all. It’s what I deserve, because I-”

John’s face dropped.

“I can’t stand being alone anymore. I had no one to miss me, no one left to care for me, and now there’s no hope of ever finding those. There’s no hope-”

John looked down, then met the camera again.

“There’s no hope anymore.”

Then, suddenly, a hollow thumping noise from the background; John turned around and gasped, dropping the surgical laser at once.

Someone was knocking on the rear of the ship.

“Wha-?” he asked. “What the-?”

John turned around and switched off the camera.

-

When he saw his image on the screen, John cleared his throat.

“It’s currently 21 days since my return to a desolate Chicago. I’m aware that my last entry was-...well, it certainly didn’t show me at my best. At the end, there was a knocking sound that I went to investigate. Much to my surprise, I lowered the ramp to find a group of people outside. I mean people like-”

John gestured to himself.

“Looked just like me, talked just like me, and were desperate just like me. It was unbelievable, because I saw those campfires and imagined the worst possible outcome.”

He cleared his throat.

“A child in their camp had taken a drink from the lake near where I found Wrigley Field, and had fallen sick with radiation poisoning. They had seen me during my numerous walks in the past, but weren’t sure what to make of me. Can’t say I blame them, because it’s not every day some jackass crashes into your backyard after 100 years in space. Anyway-”

Jack eased back in the chair.

“I had anti-radiation meds that I gave the kid, and he’s recovered in the two days since then. That’s when I learned that the radiation initially detected by the sensors wasn’t as bad as I assumed it to be. I was out of the ship for hours without protection, and I didn’t even feel any slight symptoms. Those people have been out there for who knows how long, and they’re just fine. Maybe that’s not the case right now, but it’s made me realize that I can’t spend the rest of my life hiding in this wreck of a vessel. The ship was modified to suit just one person, but-”

John gave a wry smile.

“I’m not going to be just one person anymore. The people that I helped are in need of someone with medical supplies, and offered to provide me passage on one of their wagons to a distant settlement with clean drinking water. I agreed, and we leave in the morning. My world is not dead, and neither am I.”

John placed his hand on top of the camera.

“This is Second Lieu-” he stopped. “This is John McKenzie, ending his final report.”

He clicked the switch, and the screen went dark.