The Fall The Wall The Vault And The Mother - non-writer (LF2021)

The bus pulled up a short distance behind the bunker and kicked up a cloud of red dust that seemed to hang in the air rather than drift away or fall back to the ground. After a few seconds the front doors of the bus opened and the various officials, dignitaries and VIPs in attendance began to shuffle down the steps and gather amongst the dirt.

Clark queued with his 7 year old daughter at the back of the bus waiting for well over a minute before the rear doors opened. He cursed under his breath at the petty arrogant elitists at the front. Protocol demanded that their doors had to be opened first before the families and serving staff could be allowed to disembark from the rear.

It was a clear summer’s day without even the slightest breeze. Perfect for the launch that had been brought forward a few days to avoid the massive dust storm that was now coalescing in the south. The problem with dust storms that formed in this region was that they had a tendency to linger sometimes for weeks on end. Not only would the storm’s arrival put an end to the launch it would most likely cause the failure of one or more parts. The result, even assuming that spares could be sourced would be weeks of inspecting, fixing, testing, and general maintenance of the rocket and ground systems before a new launch could even be considered. In such circumstances it was probable that winter would have arrived and put an end to all launches until the following spring.

Clark grabbed his daughter’s hand “C’mon Ellie. Lets get some good seats at the front before they’re all gone.” She nodded enthusiastically as they hurriedly made their way to the bunker entrance overtaking anyone that was dawdling.

It was pleasantly cool inside the bunker but the air was dusty and there was a fine rusty coloured layer of it covering everything in the room. There were five rows of partially occupied seats facing a wide reinforced window that looked upon the rocket which was some 2km away. On the walls either side of the bunker window were two large screens. On the left was a close up view of the Seldon 4 rocket on the pad, while the right displayed the live feed of Joss Palmer the government announcer who was filling time until the launch which according to the countdown clock was now less than fifteen minutes away.

On each of the dusty seats were small signs with the names of the people for whom they had been reserved. Clark strode straight past the seats at the rear with his and Ellie’s name on them and went instead for the two empty seats in the centre of the front row. He picked up the signs from these seats and used them to brush the dust off before tossing them away with such exaggerated flamboyance that even The President who’s name was on one wouldn’t dare to challenge him about it. Nope, not even The President was going to get in the way of him securing the best seat in the house for Ellie to watch her mother make history commanding the first crewed mission to space in over 400 years.

“Why are we so far away?” Asked Ellie.

“You already know this Ellie, we’ve been over it. The rocket’s like a giant version of those fireworks we set off to commemorate Independence Day. We have to stand back from them once we light them and it’s the same with the rocket. It’s like a huge explosion-”

“But mom’s in the Aurora Capsule on the top.” Interrupted Ellie. “She’ll get hurt.”

“C’mon Ellie, there’s nothing to worry about. Your mom’s been over this with you as well. All the dangerous stuff’s happening far below her. She’s safe at the top.”

“What about those little bits of smoke coming off the rocket now? Is it on fire?”

“No Ellie we’ve been over this too. It’s just steam and gases venting. It’s normal.”

Clark became aware of some of the so called ‘important’ people behind him muttering about the seating arrangements in such a manner that he was clearly meant to overhear it. It was a bitter irony to him that those so called ‘Elites’ viewed the rest of us as ‘useless eaters’ yet they were the true parasites. They never worked, they produced nothing, they contributed nothing, they just used up resources far in excess of their needs while the rest of us real producers scraped by like peasants. Not a single one of them would ever put their life on the line for the benefit of others like Ellie’s mother was about to do. It seemed to Clark that as a society there were still lots of lessons from history that we had failed to learn.

“Daddy rockets are silly aren’t they?” Stated Ellie confidently.

“How’d you mean?” He responded.

“Using them destroys them. You have to chuck most of the rocket away. It doesn’t make sense. Imagine if the school bus had to be chucked away at the end of every day and every morning a new one had to be made.” Ellie explained.

“OK then what should they use instead of a rocket?” Clark replied.

“Well, they could make planes to fly up there. You can reuse a plane,” she replied.

“We used to Ellie. Many many years before you or I were born we used to build planes that could fly to space. But we forgot how for hundreds of years.” He explained. “But thanks to The Vault we’ve now got some of the old plans for building them, but it’ll be years before-”

“Then what about making big balloons to float up to space?” She interrupted. “Or why not send up a rocket first with a big rope and drop it down? No one would ever have to make another rocket. Or they could make tracks that go straight up to space and put trains on them. Or they could even make a big ladder to space for people to climb up.” She sighed and folded her arms across her chest satisfied that she’d made her case.

“You’ve really thought about this haven’t you?” She shrugged and not for the first time Clark was awed at the maturity and intellect of his little girl. “You’re right Ellie-”

Someone shushed them from behind and Clark bit his lip rather than do what he wanted to do. The volume on the right screen was turned up. “-we’re only minutes away from the historic moment when Martians finally return to space for the first since The Fall.” Pronounced the newsreader.

“What’s The Fall Daddy?” She whispered.

“Really? You want me to tell you about that...Now?” She nodded earnestly. Clark sighed a sigh of resignation. “OK then. The Fall was a very dark time when everything fell apart. There was no government, no schools, no healthcare, and no society. We became little more than hunter gatherers living in caves and after many many years passed people began to believe that the The Fall and the world as it was before it was just a legend,” replied Clark in the same hushed tone. “There used to be a rope to space just like you said Ellie. It was big and strong and hollow and trains went up and down the inside of it all day long. And large cargo platforms clung to the outside of it and went up and down just like the trains. We used it to travel to space and explore the solar system and mine the asteroids and the moons, and trade with other worlds and people even went up there just for fun.”

“But where is it now Daddy?” Ellie asked.

“Earth destroyed it-”

“Why?”

“What have they told you at school about Earth?” He asked.

“That’s where humans came from.” Ellie leaned into her Daddy’s shoulder and craned her neck to try and whisper in his ear. “Teacher said that there was an evil government there called The United People’s Of Earth which was a stupid name because they deliberately killed billions of their own people

and made slaves out of almost everyone else. But teacher said that even after all that there were still some good people left that wanted to be free from the evil government, so they ran away from Earth and came here.”

Clark now leaned down and whispered into her ear. “That’s right and we made Mars into a paradise and we built a rope to space and we called it The Space Elevator.”

“What happened to it Daddy?”

“Legend tells that The Gods of Earth became angry with The God of Mars for his lack of respect and devotion. These Gods demanded that Mars kneel before them and pay taxes on everything that Mars made and grew. But Earth offered nothing in return. So Mars declared independence from Earth and Earth declared war upon Mars. The Gods of Earth sent a vast armada of ships here to make us surrender and beg for Earth’s forgiveness. But Mars would not surrender so the armada destroyed almost every facility Mars had in space. They smashed up all the space stations. They blew up the space ships. And they tore apart the facilities that processed the asteroids that we captured. Every Martian in space was killed. But Mars still would not surrender and so they let loose their weapons once more and created a fiery Hell upon the land until all was destroyed and-”

“War is even more silly than rockets!” Interrupted Ellie again. “Wars are all death and blowing things up. If the people that started the wars had to fight in them warring would stop very quickly.”

“That’s true Ellie.” Clark glanced over at the countdown on the wall, still a few more minutes to go. “So Mars still refused to bow to Earth’s demands-”

Ellie interrupted again. “The armada sent down thousands of Metal Men to kill us-”

“So you do know about The Fall then?” Interrupted Clark.

“Of course Daddy! I’m not stupid. I’m Eleanor Arroway’s daughter!”

“Then why-” He couldn’t help but smile.

“Cuz you tell it best Daddy, go on...pleeeease.”

“Alright alright...So millions died when the armada attacked but there were still millions left and when the Metal Men came the remaining people fled into the caves, and the lava tubes, and the deep underground places of Mars. But the Metal Men followed them down and continued the killing.
However they weren’t able to find everyone, and after losing many battles we eventually learned how to fight them and beat them-”

“How many is millions Daddy?”

“A lot. Much more than all the people of New Alexandria. Now do you want to hear about this or not?” Despite Clark’s best efforts a little frustration was creeping into his voice.

“Yes,” she responded.

“Stop interrupting then.” Clark kissed the top of her head and gently squeezed her right cheek. “Eventually Earth decided that it wasn’t worth their time and energy to find and kill every citizen of Mars. They believed that without the air making machines, or the farming machines, or the irrigation pumps, or the crops and livestock we’d all die anyway. And besides there was nothing left to tax. So Earth declared victory, abandoned the remaining Metal Men and returned home. But as they were leaving they set loose an invisible weapon that killed any remaining machines and all electronics above ground that had not already been destroyed. And then in their final act of evil they tore The Space Elevator apart, and half of it fell down upon the land and wrapped itself around Mars like a serpent strangling its prey. And what did it become Ellie?”

“It became The Great Wall of Mars. And when the people that survived came out of the caves they were sad to find Mars was cut in two.”

“Yes exactly. And although there were probably caves that went beneath the wall, and many gaps in it where it had broken apart, it effectively cut off most of the survivors in the north from most of the survivors in the south. To this day hundreds of years later despite us all being Martians that had once lived and played and loved together many are still fearful and mistrusting of the people on the other side of the wall.” For a moment Clark was lost in his own thoughts.

“And…?” Ellie said eventually.

“And we fell into an age of darkness. We lost all knowledge of science and engineering and farming and construction and a million other things. Without the machines we knew not how to fly, or sail, or make electricity or even medicine. And without the air generators the air slowly began to thin once more. And just like that civilisation fell. And after a few years all that was left of the 23 million citizens of Mars from before The Fall was less than 23 thousand ignorant and fearful and superstitious people who survived by scavenging and foraging.”

“There weren’t any shops, or movies, or parks or cheeseburgers back then were there Daddy? Ellie Asked.

Before Clark could answer, someone from behind them began muttering again and eventually shushed them a little too loudly. Clark couldn’t help himself and turned around and snapped at the person like an aggressive dog. “DON’T. SHUSH. ME! Nothing’s happened yet! You haven’t missed anything and there’s nothing to hear,” he chided. “Sorry Ellie, you were saying,” he said loudly.

“Daddy if all knowledge from back then was lost how do we really know what happened and how did we fix the world?” She tilted her head a little pondering the conundrum.

“Because of The Great Mother, President Aurora Alexandria and because of a small group of brave and stubborn families that formed themselves into a tribe and dedicated their lives to recovering as much knowledge as they could from before The Fall. The Great Mother had been very wise and she knew that one day in the future civilisation would fall, either from a natural disaster or from an attack by Earth. She realised that in such a situation not only would the schools and the universities and the libraries and the museums be destroyed but also the air making machines, and that if they were not repaired quickly enough eventually everyone would die.”

“Everyone?” asked Ellie.

“Yes everyone. So everyone’s survival would be dependent on how quickly Mars could rise again from the dark age. So The Great Mother began preparing for that day by gathering together all the knowledge she could of Mars and Earth and the Universe. It was a never ending task and she made a law that there had to be physical books and paper versions of all our knowledge. She told the people of Mars of her project and of the library that she was building. But she needed help and so she gathered together Mars’s greatest minds, and as well as historians, scientists and scholars she asked for the help of the ordinary citizens of Mars. And so thousands from all over the world answered her call and came to help. And so it became that there was no greater calling in life for a Martian than to work at Alexandria’s Library.

“Many years into her project The Great Mother decided that it was finally time to find a permanent safe home for her library. It needed to be somewhere isolated, dry, secret and secure that would likely never be found by accident and that had a good chance of surviving war, flood, and disaster intact. In such a place she would build a vast vault to store everything in, and once a year from then on she would send her most trusted people to that vault to store away all the new knowledge that had been gathered during the last year.”

“She got killed by the Metal Men didn’t she Daddy? Ellie asked.

“Yes but that was many years later. First she had to-”

“Why didn’t Earth ever come back in all the time since The Fall?” She asked.

“No one knows but some people hope that the Earth too suffered a disaster and also fell in to a dark age. Anyway, so The Great Mother had to find somewhere to build her vault. So she travelled far and wide-”

“Ooo Daddy I know this bit.” Clark nodded to signal she should carry on. “And one day she found a big lake and called it The Dead Sea because it was too salty for fish. And in the middle of the lake was an island, and in the middle of the island was a big rocky mountain, and in the middle of the mountain was a cave, and in the middle of the cave she built the vault to hid away her library.”

“Yes exactly.” Clark nodded. “But how could she keep the location of the library hidden yet make sure someone would one day find it when it was needed?”

“She sent her most trusted people to live in all corners of the land to keep the knowledge of it’s location alive but hidden. And the knowledge was handed down by those people to their children and their children’s children...But Daddy it wasn’t enough and when the dark age came the place where the library was, was lost.”

“Yes. And so the families that had formed a tribe dedicated themselves to finding The Vault and to gather what knowledge they could from the ruins of Mars to make their own library. And for years they gathered knowledge and stored it in their sacred caves but they could not find The Great Mother’s Vault and Library. Eventually the tribe couldn’t even find anyone who knew of The Fall or of Aurora Alexandria, The Great Mother.

“A few years later there was an accident that started a fire and much of the knowledge the tribe had gathered was lost to the flames. So to prevent that loss from ever happening again the tribe decided that half of them would continue searching for The Vault, whilst the rest would make copies of all the knowledge they still had by painting it onto every surface of every lava tube and cave they could find. And before they were even halfway done the tribe were the only Martians left that could still read and write.

“Then one day while the tribe was painting knowledge on the walls of a cavern at the end of a very long cave tunnel they discovered high up on one surface an old cave painting. And instantly they knew what they had found-”

“It was a painting of a map with a big lake and an island and a mountain with a cave wasn’t it Daddy?” She asked.

“Yes and there was also a picture of The Great Mother surrounded by her library of books.” He answered.

“But they still couldn’t find The Vault could they?”

“Correct. The dead sea had long since dried up, so many more years passed until they found a mountain in the middle of what is now The Dead Sea Desert and there in the middle of the mountain was The Vault and The Library.”

“It wasn’t just a library Daddy. She put plant seeds and animal eggs and Dee-En-Ay in there too. But that stuff needed to stay cold so The Great Mother gave The Vault a giant refrigerator and a battery to power it for 10,000 years.”

“And when the tribe opened The Vault and saw the treasures that lay within they all broke down in tears for they were finally at the end of their 200 year quest to find The Vault and save Mars-”

“Hey Daddy look countdown’s nearly finished. Mom’s about to launch.” Interrupted Ellie as a hush fell over the bunker and everyone’s eyes were fixed on the Launchpad.

Clark suddenly remembered the ear plugs and handed a set to Ellie, not because of the noise of the launch but because of the loud and raucous celebration that would follow the launch and then erupt again when her Mom and her two crew mates reached orbit.

When the countdown hit four seconds the rocket engines fired, clouds of smoke billowed outwards and flames rushed out from the bottom of the rocket like a waterfall of fire. A second later the roar of the rocket and it’s shock wave hit the bunker making even the dust in the air vibrate. Despite being pre-warned Ellie looked to her father for reassurance that the noise and shaking was normal, he obliged. Then the tower released the rocket and when the countdown hit zero the it left the ground climbing very slowly. Once it cleared the height of the tower the bunker erupted into a cacophony of shouting cheering and clapping. Ellie let go of Clark’s hand and put her hands to her ears. Clark put an arm around Ellie and pulled her in close.

The roar and the vibrations seemed to take an eternity to subside and by the time they had the bunker was full of cigar smoke. The champagne wouldn’t flow until it achieved orbit. The rocket could no longer be observed directly through the window and everyone turned to the screen that was tracking it. Clark decided that the time was right to exit the bunker and watch from outside which was now a lot less noisy than inside.

“Where is it I can’t see it?” Said Ellie standing in the dirt and squinting skyward.

“Follow the smoke, your mom’s at the very top of it.”

“I see it I see it. It’s tiny. When do they throw away the bottom of the rocket?”

“Any time now but I don’t know if we’ll be able to see it.” And just as Clark spoke the tiny spec became two tiny specs that moved away from each other.

“There Daddy, it’s there.” She pointed.

Then another cheer came from the bunker. “She’s done it Ellie! She’s done it!” Both Ellie and Clark began jumping around in the dirt shouting and laughing and crying all at once while keeping their eyes fixed on where they believed the capsule to be, though they could no longer see it.

“She’s done it Ellie! Your mom’s just made history!” Ellie leant in toward her father and he scooped her into his arms and danced around in the dirt as tears began to roll down his cheek.

***

The Aurora Capsule attained it’s target orbit and the three crew members unclipped their seatbelts and began shouting and cheering and hugging and pumping fists in the air. Each one of them then floated to a window with a view of Mars, performing acrobatics in the zero gravity as they did so. It was glorious to behold and they were awed into silence by its beauty. A fragile red and green and blue jewel amongst the darkness. They had done it! They had only gone and done it!

In a much higher orbit and some 4800km away an object mostly as black as night and roughly the size and shape of Ellie’s school bus awoke from a very long slumber. On one side of it was a triangular insignia with a small blue and white circle in the middle and the letters UPE above it. The object burned two thrusters for a fraction of a second and effortlessly positioned itself to face the distant Martian craft. On the surface that was facing it a small square hatch less than 10cm a side opened and almost instantaneously the Alexandria Capsule disintegrated in a bright flash.

The End

Wow!
Welcome to writer's status.

a reply to: merkins
Stunning! Submissions like this make me wish I could star more than once.

Thanks very much for your kind words and taking the time to read it. I've sat on it for over a week gutted when I saw episode 1 of Foundation. I wasn't sure to post or not, but in the end I was persuaded to. Nobody in my life will get the references Ive sprinkled in the story but I'm sure the great minds of ATS will get them.

a reply to: merkins

I love sprinkles in the stories I read.

A very nice entry indeed


Good Luck in the Contest.. in fact your welcome to submit anytime!
Johnny

a reply to: JohnnyAnonymous

Thanks very much. Ive been lurking for most of the last decade but always wanted to enter but never seem to find the competition announcement thread until after the closing date. This time the thread found me.

a reply to: merkins

Awesome! Great story, I learned a lot reading it!!!

More please…………..😎

S&F’s

Good Luck!

a reply to: PiratesCut

Thank for taking the time to read it. In the last couple of months I started writing again for the first time since 2004, it's a longer sci-fi story for another day but this entry is the first thing I've written and completed since back then. So I've been very nervous about posting it. I love writing but it's hard and takes a heavy toll on me. That's why I switched to painting 16 years ago!

originally posted by: merkins
a reply to: PiratesCut

That's why I switched to painting 16 years ago!

Out of curiosity.. would your avatar be a sample of your work?

Johnny

a reply to: JohnnyAnonymous

I wish! I’m strictly non digital for my art although learning digital is near the top of my bucket list. My avatar is an image from an old game that I can’t remember the name of, and I owe the ATS Avatar creation peeps for it. It did however inspire me to paint a few black and white snowy wood pictures.