Page 24 of A Million Stars and Shadows

Like molasses, I had to lift my legs up to take another jump. Then another. Then a few more before I was far enough away from the sinkhole.

Sally had inflated the suit back up into the bounciest level, and my boots lifted with a spring-like mechanism. “Whoa, Sally. What have you been keeping secret from me? All this time, my boots had these spring propulsion heels?”

“I didn’t know myself,” Sally said. “It was when I tapped into the ship that I also received an update. Jana must have built it into the boots but it was activated when I tapped in.”

“Well, let’s try it out!” I said excitedly. I leaped forward and it propelled me higher and further, moving at a faster pace and distance than before. I kept going and going. “This is great!”

Finally, I was in an area that never felt sweeter than anywhere else in the world to me. My home…the Shelter.

My suit deflated, and I opened the latch to the Shelter’s opening and climbed down the ladder. At the last rung, I lost my grip and fell, falling to the concrete hard ground where I landed with a thud.

“Ouch!” I groaned as I laid sprawled out on the floor. I felt so heavy, and my legs felt like jelly. “Sally, why do I feel so heavy?”

Silence.

“Sally? Did you hear me?” I asked again. After a beat, I rolled over, despite the pain I felt in my left foot. I got up on my knees and pushed myself up. “Sally? Are you functioning?”

She didn’t answer back.

I quickly removed my suit and examined it.

“Sally! No!” I cried out. “No! No! No!”

The computer chip had torn off of Sally. The brain of Sally was missing. And so was all the memories that she held, instructions from my mother, knowledge about Red Genesis.

I looked around. I felt all alone. Sally was gone.

So was the ship, Red Genesis.

“Why? Why? Why?” I wailed. I sat on the floor for a while as I sobbed.

I couldn’t find Mom. Nor could I find another person on the ship.

No one. Not even any skeletons.

What had happened to the rest of the passengers on the Red Genesis besides my mother?

Where did they go?

The rooms I found seemed untouched, as though they were waiting for their owners to come back. Did they step out just to abandon what they had in their rooms?

Mom’s journal ended with her preparing to fight against the Monsters. I know Mom made it alive and well off the Red Genesis so she can give birth to me. She ended up building the Shelter and then raising me in there with her.

But there were only the two of us. Even Thomas wasn’t there.

What happened to the rest of the crew and passengers?

Was I the only living being on New Earth and of Old Earth in the entire universe?

I was exhausted and hungry. I wanted to sleep, but I needed to find out more.

But the ship sank, disappeared into the depth of New Earth. Fortunately, it seemed that Mom had already left the ship long before I found it. But she had left me some clues.

My eyes fell on the backpack I found from the engine room from the ship. Mother’s hologram told me to get it and bring it back home.

I went to it and opened it.

Inside were seeds from all kinds of plants, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Freeze-dried snacks, candies, meats, and ice cream. Some tools and a little silver packet.

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