In 2015 an asteroid about the size of a suburban house, large enough to do major damage to any metropolitan city, was spotted. It was found not by NASA or the European Space Agency, but by amateur astronomers. Five years earlier the United States government launch the top secret X-37, a small space shuttle carrying who knows what. But amateur astronomers could tell you where it was. Nothing in the sky’s quick enough to escape the watchful eyes of the network comprised of passionate and overly obsessed astronomers lugging their equipment around. Katie took pride in knowing that she and her respectable ‘scope were a small piece in this world-wide group.
She fell back into the hammock propped up by two rusty poles. Between the swings of creaking old rope, the hum of her ‘scope tracking the turning sky reminded her of a bee buzzing by at arm’s length. The white noise, calm of the dark desert night, and twinkling sky above was the perfect escape from the florescent light and monotony of her job filling Viagra prescriptions for young men hardly old enough to understand their 401k. Jobs in observatories were rarer than green comets and had more tedium in spreadsheets than fiancé. Like the young men stopping in the middle of foreplay to swallow Viagra they got from Katie earlier that day, the romance was gone.
She closed her eyes. By morning her ‘scope would have uploaded the transit of Ganymede across Jupiter, and in just an our she could watch it for herself. A little romance.
The hum of the tracker hummed a little more, like the sky was speeding up and the ‘scope was trying to catch up. “Come on.” Not wanting a blurred image, she swung her legs over the side of the hammock.
“What the shit?”
Something – what looked like a black cube the size of her house – hovered over her telescope, which was still happily tracking away at Jupiter. She looked at the ground to adjust her eyes to the dark, just in case, and looked back up. The cube hung humming along with the telescope that it hovered inches above.
“What the shit?”
Katie tilted her head at the thing just floating there, then she scrambled towards it. She had practiced taking her telescope apart in case of rain – god forbid the lens get water marks – but she had never moved as deftly as this. She couldn’t take the telescope and the mount, it was far too heavy, but her hands moved deftly to remove the tube to carry it away. That giant cube looked heavy, she thought, if it came down it could destroy thousands of dollars in equipment, equipment still mindlessly looking for that transit millions of miles away. “Twist off you fucker!” She was so focused on breaking down the telescope that Katie failed to notice the cube closing around her.
What little light the night offered was muffed out.
No! She scolded herself. You should’ve paid attention you idiot!
The outside world was extinguished. The cube completely covered her. She wasn’t sure if the edges extended to cover her or if the entire cube lowered, but she was inside. Inside of what? What the hell’s going on?
She clung to her telescope as the black squelched out any semblance of balance. The only promise of a nearby wall was the sound of her feet shuffling in the dirt. The sound was muffled, like foam walls soaked in any attempt at an echo.
“What the shit!?”
Light burst out from above. Katie hid her eyes from the sudden rapture, and her ears suffered at the low-pitch blaring of some kind of horn. Katie cried out as disorientation gave way to pain. And seemingly as an answer, the noise ceased. The light dimmed. Feeling like she just burst out of the core of a star, Katie opened her eyes and looked around. She was inside the cube.
It was all white. It reminded her of a mental patient’s room from the 50’s.
“What the shit.” She whispered under her breath.
A long, enduring beep gently filled the air. Then she heard the voice:
“Your world. It is not your world, no. It is ours.”
“What the.. hello?”
“We will only ask once for our world.”
She took a deep breath. “Is this.. Did an Apache helicopter land?” She didn’t know much if anything about helicopters, but she was pretty sure an Apache was one of them. “Am I in a semi? What’s going on?”
“What you recognize as Earth is not so. It is ours. Our world from an age before your life. Many worlds have born. Many worlds have died. But this one persists. Its star is good. We need it now.”
“Many worlds have died? What worlds?”
“This is not a discussion. We need our world.”
“Your world? Well, it’s kind of been taken – if you haven’t noticed.” Aliens don’t know English. Aliens can’t know our logic. “Listen. Just, drive away and we’ll forget about this? Alright?”
“NO!” The reply shook the ground and returned the pain of the horn. “OUR WORLD” The voice trembled.
Katie fell to the ground. Her hands covering her ears trying to hide them from the menace above.
“This star is good.”
“Yeah, we’ve got a good star.” She clung to the telescope and lifted herself back up. “But, you know, if you want a good world” she used air quotes, “there are two other terrestrial planets that don’t have the problem of life on them.”
“Yes. But this world is ours.”
“Ok, I get that. But the universe is a big place. A big place with many good stars. I mean, my favorite star is in a binary system. Go chill there.”
“You’ll watch us.”
“I’d rather –“ Katie felt a surge of energy flow through her body. Her head flung back and her eyes glazed over as she watched countless eons pass. Single celled organisms grew and became multi-celled. They multiplied and evolved in various creatures. Tube worms, small fish, trilobites. She knew this montage from COSMOS. But then the path diverged. No amphibian emerged from the water. But wings plucked up from the deep ocean and took to the sky. The winged beings took residence in the clouds. They assembled in groups, then colonies, creating a hierarchy and rules and beliefs. Soon they left the atmosphere to the heavens above. Down below a fish lurched out onto land.
Katie fell back into her body. The transition knocked her back onto the ground.
“What the shit.”
“Our world.” The voice bellowed.
Ok. Maybe this is real. “You lived here first –“
“Yes”
“Yes – let me finish.” She stood back up. “You lived here first. But, I mean, you left? You were gone for literally billions of years. You gave up this world for a better world. And now that you’re back you expect the world to simply forget that you left it? No!”
“It is ours!” It rang again like a gong, but Katie held her ground.
“No. If you wanted the world you would have stayed. Do you understand that? You did not want it, and the world grew up. It changed. It’s no longer the same world, so, you get it, it’s not yours anymore.”
“This world –“
“Belongs to itself, asshole!” She picked up some dirt and flung it at the white wall. “It doesn’t care too much for us, either. But guess what? We belong to this world, not the other way around. And you did too.”
The voice didn’t reply for a long time. Katie moved over to the end of the wall, moving her hand across the surface. Smooth, like marble on a cold day. But no sign of a crack for a door, no airflow coming from anywhere, she was stuck. Katie went back to her modest ‘scope. There were a few latched that could be sharp. If she could take them off somewhere, maybe she could begin scratching a way out. The walls couldn’t be that thick.
“This world.” The voice finally said, “Is its own. Are you are its. We leave.” The white walls dissipated like smoke in a windy room and the night sky dominated once again. The quick transition left Katie blind while her eyes transitioned back to the night. She could still make out her telescope by her
side.
“What the shit.”
The New Martian 