The Heavens Above

The coldness ran through his body. His hands were balled into fists and shoved deep into the pockets of his coat. Jacob glanced around the crowd of people waiting in the evacuation area. Puffs of mist appeared from their mouths as they exhaled the ice cold air. He stamped his feet a few times hoping that the added circulation would create some warmth. He was still numb to the idea that he would be leaving this place. It was all he ever knew.

           Jacob was born in the settlement of New Butte. At least he thinks he was. He never knew his mother. He never knew anyone he would call family. His earliest memory was as a child in the work house. His early jobs were all domestic in nature: keeping the house in working order and taking care of the needs of the miners. Not that they got anything more than the basic requirements to stay alive, and even that was a stretch sometimes. When he was about ten, age being more or less a guess to him, he was taken from the house and put into the mines. His first job was basically what he did in the work houses except underground. He took care of the menial tasks to keep the miners working and often acted as a runner bringing messages and orders from the surface to the lower levels. After a few years, he was “promoted” to miner. He worked alongside the other men and women of New Butte blasting, pounding, and scraping the precious ore out the rocks. Jacob didn’t even know what the ore was for. Some of the miners told him it was fuel to heat the homes of the rich. Others told him it was for weapons production. Either way, there was no benefit to him on whether it stayed in the ground or was taken away on the trains.

           Everyday Jacob rose before the sun, if you could even say it had risen. All the sky did was turn from a dull black to a greyish hue that was slightly better to see in. The dullness was caused by the immense amount of smog that hung in the atmosphere. He roomed with the other miners in a large dormitory. They slept in bunk beds stacked three high. Each morning they woke to the sound of a klaxon blasting multiple times. Breakfast was served ten minutes after the alarm went quiet. After thirty minutes, they were to be at their work locations. Once there, that would be their spot for the next six hours until they were given about fifteen minutes to eat and drink before returning to work for another six hours. If they didn’t make their quota by that point, they remained in the mine until it was reached. When done, an evening meal was provided followed by lights out.

           This was the only life Jacob had known and now it was done. Mine “accidents”, or rather acts of gross negligence by the Company, happened often. Deaths didn’t occur on a daily basis, but you would never get through a full week without at least one happening. Cave-ins were also rampant. The Company wanted the ore out of the mine with the least amount of investment possible. Spending on safety was a waste, unless it was for the protection of the ore. If a few cave-ins happened and a few miners died, that was just the price of doing business. The cave-ins and accidents began happening more and more frequently to the point that the settlement itself was on the verge of catastrophic failure. Gravity was crumbling the ground above while magma and deadly gases were appearing from below. After escalating for months, evacuation was deemed the only course of action. The effects of the Company’s invasion of the earth had terrestrial impacts reaching far past the settlement so the only direction of escape was by sea.

           Jacob listened to the sounds of the earth cracking behind him as he stood by the dock. Smoke and bursts of lava shot into the sky. The large vessel was moored along the waterfront. Ship workers were busy loading Company files and equipment onto the boat. That had priority over the miners. If there was space left, then they would be boarded.

           “Fire! Fire!” screamed a voice behind Jacob. He glanced behind him and saw one of the wooden dormitories burst into flames after being struck by the spewing lava. The smell of sulphur hung heavy in the air. He instinctively shuffled slightly closer to the boat. As he watched the flames grow, the ground beneath gave way. The dormitory and several other buildings collapsed into themselves before being swallowed by the earth.

           “Load them now!” shouted the Executive Officer who was hanging out of the door of the boat’s bridge. He began to ring a bell that was attached to the wall of the ship.

           “Move! Move!” instructed the ship workers while waving to the waiting miners to start walking up the gangplank onto the boat. 

           The older miners had been placed closer to the dock. They started to make their way towards the vessel. It took less than a minute for order to fall apart and chaos to ensue. The older people were pushed to the sides as younger men began to rush the boat. One of the seamen tried to block the gangway while waving his arms in front of him appealing for calm. He was flung off the ramp by the advancing mob. Jacob watched as the seaman’s head struck the cement dock before rolling back into the dark water. No one tried to help. They continued to rush towards the ship.

           The Executive Officer saw the mayhem transpiring. Panicked, he ran back into the bridge telling the Captain of the crisis.

           “We sail now. Power up the engines and release the ropes,” ordered the Captain.

           “All hands, all hands! Underway! Release the moor lines,” said one of the bridge workers into a microphone.

           Jacob heard the order over the loud speakers as he pushed and shoved his way onto the deck of the ship. In addition to the up and down rocking, he could feel the boat begin to drift along the water under his feet. He kept moving with the crowd towards the bow of the ship. He could hear the rumble of the engines starting and felt himself fall back slightly as they propelled the boat towards the ocean. Jacob looked back at the dock as it fell away from the boat. The majority of the settlement was still standing there yelling and waving their fists as the boat began to move. Some launched themselves at the hull of the big ship in hopes of grasping onto one of the exposed ropes. Jacob leaned over the guard rail and watched as bodies bounced off the grey metal and into the water. Most didn’t even reach the boat and landed straight into the sea. No life ring buoys were thrown nor was any assistance offered. Everyone stood on the deck and watched as the group swam around trying to chase the boat. Jacob looked on as he saw the swimmers pulling those around them underwater in attempt to get to the front of the pack. He could look no more. He backed away from the railing and rested his back against the structure of the boat. He could see in the sky how much the erupting lava had increased. He could hear the groan of the earth as it shifted and moved.

           “Oh my god,” said one of the others standing on the deck.

           Jacob moved forward and looked again. The spurts of molten rock were falling all over the poor souls who were left behind. As they screamed and pleaded, Jacob watched the ground beneath them begin to fall into the sea. At first, it was pieces here and there before larger masses followed. In the blink of an eye, the settlement that Jacob called home collapsed into the water. The place had only caused him despair and agony throughout his life, but it was still all he knew. He brushed a tear off his cheek before turning and facing the open ocean. The sky slowly changed from black to dull grey.

           Jacob had no idea where the boat was headed. He heard some of the miners say they were being transferred to another mine. Some said that Company representatives told them they were being retired and moved to the city. Although he felt some strange attachment to New Butte, being all that he had known, he had no desire to start again in a new mining settlement. Jacob knew he had no choice and his wants did not come into play. His life was the Company’s life and would be until death.

           A deck hand walked around carrying a large plastic tote. It contained torn up pieces of moldy bread. He dispersed the food to the passengers. Jacob nodded to the deck hand and took his small offering. He wandered around the deck and found a place to sit under an overhang. He nibbled on the bread as he tried to get used to the rocking motion of the ship. Others were not faring so well. Puddles of vomit covered the deck while miners looked dazed with a green tint to their faces. After finishing the bread, he slid down onto his side, pulled his knees up to his body and fell asleep.

           Jacob awoke hours later and looked around. All he could see was water stretching out to the horizon on all sides. The water appeared strange and vibrant. It was bluer than it had been around the settlement. The waves and ripples created a shimmering effect with a brightness that made him squint. Wondering where this brightness was coming from, he looked up. The grey, smog filled sky he was used to seeing had been replaced by one that appeared light blue. As he looked toward the horizon on one side, the colour became slightly darker. On the opposite side, it went from the blue into almost a white before turning yellow that then shaded into a red where it met the ocean. For someone who lived in a world of black and white mixed with shades of grey, this was magnificent. He watched for the next hour as the dark blue began to take over the sky and force the yellow and red colours into a narrow line across the horizon.

           What came next was absolutely astounding. As the dark blue took over the sky it eventually turned black. It wasn’t the type of black he was used to though that reflected the ground light back towards the earth. This sky let whatever artificial light there was freely drift away into the emptiness above. As he stared into the vastness, he began to notice tiny specks of light. As the sky drew darker, the specks appeared brighter, and in greater numbers. Jacob began to count them. He quickly found that this was not possible. There must be millions of them, he thought. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was spectacular. The specks appeared far away from each other in some places and tightly grouped in others. In the groupings, he noticed the light from the specks banded together to form a milky blob with reds and pinks mixed within. The beauty of the sky was breathtaking. He stared in silent contemplation.

           “Amazing, right?” said a deck hand who noticed Jacob with his mouth agape staring at the sky.

           “I…I have never seen anything like this. Where are we? What does it mean?” Jacob asked.

           “The stars? The stars are always there. They are only visible when the sun sets. Have you never seen them before?” said the hand.

           “I have never seen the sun before,” said Jacob.

           “Hundreds of years ago, sailors used the stars to traverse the waters when the sun was down. It was called celestial navigation.” The hand looked silently at the sky for a moment. “There. You see that? The really bright one up there? That’s called the North Star. Now look at the other brighter stars below it. See how if you imagine a line that runs from star to star, it looks like a handle attached to a cup? The grouping is known as the Little Dipper. It’s one of the most important group of stars a navigator could know.” He again stayed silent appreciating the miracle of the sky above.

           “Is this the only place you can see them?” asked Jacob.

           “Well, once you get away from land, yes. On the open ocean they are always visible. Unfortunately, all the industrial destruction of the Company has made them disappear from the sky on any surface they have touched. Such a shame.” The deck hand broke his gaze from the sky and continued with duties.

           For the rest of the night, Jacob stared at the sky. He analyzed the groupings and made his own constellations in his head. He picked out his favourites and would stare at them for minutes at a time wondering how far away they were and if anyone was on those staring back at him. It was incredible.

           As the hours went by, Jacob noticed a change in the hue of the sky opposite where the red was the day before. At first, the black turned to a dark blue. This was quickly followed by a light blue, turning a purple before it became an orange and eventually a bright yellow. As the change occurred on the horizon, Jacob noticed the stars get dimmer and dimmer until only the brightest were left. Jacob began to detect the familiar odor of pollution creeping into his nose. The scent was very light, but Jacob knew it indicated that they were getting close to their destination. Jacob sat there thinking of the wonder he had just witnessed, knowing he would never see it again. Slowly, he rose and walked along the deck. He took another long look at the sky. He closed his eyes and exhaled lightly before leaping over the railing into the icy water.

Phil Browne