The Weight of Hope

I ran my fingers ever so gently along the stem of the world, lifting the soft, arced leaves and studying its delicate, magnificent beauty. It dawned on me that many before me would have simply walked by such a precious thing, maybe they would have trodden on it or pushed it aside. Who could blame them? There were plenty of these wonders back then. Taking advantage of such a treasure was commonplace and defending it was considered outlandish. How foolish they were. I sighed as I stared into the beauty of its glowing flower bud, “I bet you miss all your brothers and sisters…I’m so sorry.”

Footsteps grew louder, echoing through the cave system and rebounding off the damp stone walls. The dirt crunched beneath heavy boots as they hastened toward my position, “Raina! Where are you?”

It was my companion, Cohen, who had travelled across vast landscapes and terrain with me in search of signs of mother Earth’s regrowth. Every hope, it seemed, had been squashed out of our very souls until today.

“Over here,” I called back, “But be careful – I found one.”

A sharp inhale revealed the disbelief of my claim, “Are you sure?”

His eyes followed my pointed finger to the small sprout that had only just pushed itself above the surface of the earth. Such an incredible feat, to reach the part of the world where no others could and to thrive enough to form a bud. I only hoped that it continued to thrive, that it wouldn’t become victim to the desperate and greedy eyes of those who only knew its value in currency.

I stared into its glory with wet eyes, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Cohen nodded slowly; he had also fallen victim to the allure of its wonder. He crouched down beside me and reached out to the tip of its leaf. A strange sense of sadness washed over me, it was an exceptionally rare find and the fact that it was so hard to come by was an ever-growing worry. We were in a state of chaos with the natural world and it was far beyond repair.

“We’ve got to hide this…” Cohen whispered, checking over his shoulder.

Concern stirred in my stomach, forcing a series of decisions to play out in my mind, “How are we going to hide it? We can’t move it.”

Cohen swallowed. There was no known solution to the problem of keeping plants safe. Every single discovery had led to corporations holding plants hostage for ransom and failing to nurture them in their quest for dominance and praise. I checked the oxygen levels in my suit and flashed Cohen a desperate glance.

“Shit, again already?” he said, noticing his levels were also nearing the low mark.

“I knew I wasn’t just woozy from excitement…let’s head to the checkpoint and refuel,” I said stretching up and away from the plant. As I came to my feet a wave of darkness flooded my vision and weighed the back of my head down.

“Easy, Raina,” Cohen called, keeping me upright as I stumbled forward, “We really need to fix your alert beeper.”

I hunched over and held my head in pain, “No, it could alert other people.”

“Yeah, or it could save your life?”

“Just mark the location…”

Cohen propped his armlet up and marked the location on his holo-grid. The light from the projection made me paranoid about people being drawn to our location. I tripped forward, barely grasping consciousness.

“Raina?” Cohen dropped beside me and held tender fingers to the side of my neck, “Here, just take mine.”

He transferred a small amount of oxygen into my tank and then lifted me off the ground. I kept my eyes closed tight as a high-pitched buzzing filled my ears.

The journey back to the refuel station wasn’t long but it was dreadfully silent. I knew Cohen could see my obsession with trying to save the natural world came at the cost of my own well-being. I hadn’t eaten since the night before and my water bottle was used more as a desperate watering can, flooding the dry earth in the hopes of drawing life to the surface again. The self-neglect hurt him; having to watch me almost die every time my oxygen was low, carrying my body back to checkpoints when I passed out from a lack of food and water, watching me vomit with migraines upon reaching dehydration. He had told me once that my search would be more fruitful if I would eat some damn fruit. It didn’t matter though. All the food they grew and important to our state was considered endangered or was chemically engineered to appear like the real thing. Either way, there was no fruit I could eat and feel good about.

“We’re here,” Cohen whispered, helping me off the glider and beelining for the oxygen supply tanks. The checkpoint attendant waved from the kiosk, wishing us a safe journey thus far. Cohen began refuelling his main and spare tanks without so much of a word.

“It’s lovely out here, isn’t it?” she called out, smiling gleefully. She was correct about being out in the middle of nowhere, but that was about it. From what I had seen in photos and descriptions of the past world, this lovely untouched land was reaped of all nutrients and growth.

“What brings a cute couple like yourselves all the way out here?” she asked, trying very hard to make polite conversation. Cohen’s left brow ascended from the planet at the word couple. I gave in to her efforts, “We’re just trying to distract ourselves from the state of the world.”

She nodded understandingly, “Well, you’re more than welcome to hang out here as long as you want. The four lodges out there are fully sealed if you’re after some breathing space and bed for the night.”

I smiled at the attendant wearily and looked out to the lodges, imagining how green and prosperous the scene would have been back when the world was healthy.

Cohen gestured for me to come and refuel. As the machine pumped oxygen into my tanks, I couldn’t help but feel as though I was taking blood from the already sick and injured planet. The purging of my ancestors destroyed everything beautiful about the world and here I was still taking from it.

“Cohen… I…can’t,” I crouched to the ground and buried my head in my hands. The attendant shot a look of distress and began moving our way. Cohen promptly raised his hand at her, “It’s okay, we’ve just had a long trip….”

He patted me on the back and squatted down, “Let’s check-in for a night.”

“No. Please, I have to go back, I want to make sure it’s okay.”

Cohen’s face warped and twisted as he held back the urge to knock sense into me. He reluctantly agreed to my request.

“We’re going to do some final sightseeing before the sunset and then we’ll take you up on your offer with the lodges,” Cohen explained to the attendant, pulling up his armlet and transferring tokens to the checkpoint account.

“Wonderful, I’ll send you the passcode for the lodge on the very left,” she said, excited to have made a sale in such a remote area.

I thanked Cohen as we jumped back onto the glider and took off towards the cavern entrance in a misleading twisting pattern until we were well hidden amongst the mountainside. We came close to the ground when Cohen gently tapped my leg and pointed to the dirt. There laid a series of footprints leading towards the cavern. The sun was deep behind the hills now and daylight was running short.

“Go, go!” I urged him. I leapt off the glider and snuck quickly towards the entrance. Cohen struggled to keep up. He activated the light sensor on his armlet and pointed it into the cavern.

“No!” I whispered, forcing his arm down, “I want to catch them off-guard.”

With no option but to adhere, Cohen shrugged and followed my lead through the darkness. As we came closer to the corridor that contained the plant, I steadied my breathing and removed my shoes. Following suit, Cohen also tiptoed behind me in bare socks. A shadow hung on the wall of the cave; it hinted at a tall figure, clad in some strange helmet. Both Cohen and I stopped dead still as we laid eyes on the figure. It stared straight back into our souls as the tendrils from its head floated on a non-existent wind.