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I grip the next rung—the last rung, the one I’ve never grabbed onto before—and pull myself up. Holding onto the rungs makes me feel like I’m holding onto Pam’s hand. But I have to let go, if I’m going to go all the way onto the surface.
I exhale shakily. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck…Rhen.”
I push the portal open and am instantly blinded.
ChapterFour
Rhen
The world is beautiful. Beautiful in the way a desert is beautiful, to be sure, but it’s still gobsmackingly lovely. Discombobulatingly so. I could paint it all day. I know my paints will run out eventually, but it’s hard for me to ration them.
It’s been twenty-eight days since my first trip to the surface and I haven’t gone more than thirty feet away from the portal. I’ve been too scared—mostly of the wind, which has been violent, and of getting lost, which would be easy. But even from here, the vantage point leaves so much to see.
We’re on a wide plain. There’s nothing but sand here. No trees, but off in the distance—somewhere west? I think?—stand tall mountains with jagged cliffs. To the east, there’s nothing but the curve of the earth. Still round.
But…that’s not what’s beautiful.
What’s beautiful are the colors of the sky. The atmospheric shifts produce colors that astound. My paints don’t do them justice. They are cataclysmically lovely. Sharp greens, like the Northern Lights. Maybe we are north. I don’t know. I don’t have any sense of geography here. I know we were put to ground somewhere in Europe—for security reasons, the participants were never told exactly where—but the Earth has changed so much anyway, west could be east, up could be down.
I haven’t seen many signs of life, but I have seen some in the days I’ve been tentatively exploring the surface world. There was a hugethingmoving off in the distance. I don’t know what it was—I thought it was a sandstorm at first, until it got closer, and I saw it glisten. Like some sort of insect, but like—not at that size—at that distance? What the fuck?
So, I went underground for three more days until I was sure it passed. I saw a couple more things that looked like big bugs, but they were too far away to be a bother. I also saw something shining in the distance, like a large shard of glass, but I think that might have just been another aurora borealis.
Gonna try to open up the solar panels and the instruction manual. If I can get one single panel going up there, I can use it to power my shower and the water filtration system, so I don’t have to take power from the Chamber. In fact, I can even help recharge it so that if anybody else wakes up before it’s time they can use all the power they need on board the Chamber without worrying about depleting it for the next person.
I can also try to grow some of the vegetables. They’re too water-intensive to operate the pump using Sucere energy. I have to install the solar panel for that. Getting something to grow in this soil would be a game changer, a huge coup. Let’s see how I do. Pam’s supportive.
* * *
Olá sobreviventes!
Success! I got one solar panel installed. Granted, it took me eight days to figure it out, but I didn’t break anything, so that’s good. Pam told me I was doing a good job. You know? She’s alright. Good people. Real good people.
Remember that strange flashing light I thought was a reflective surface before? It might be some sort of animal. I don’t really know. It moves, sometimes appearing farther east, then west. It isn’t getting closer, though.
Thank fuck.
* * *
Fuck. Flag on the play. That shiny reflective thing? It’s definitely getting closer. I still can’t tell what it is. The light it refracts is blinding. I tried going up in the night instead to avoid seeing it, but there were weird, freaky-ass noises on the wind that sounded like people screaming, but too high pitched. Anyways, will try again tomorrow.
* * *
Checked the window. The shiny light was really bright today. Looked like it was only a football pitch’s length away, maybe an American football pitch. I don’t know their lengths. I just know what they looked like in history books of a world where things like sports were played instead of war.
* * *
Still there. Not moving away. Not coming closer. I found some binoculars with Pam’s help. Through them, it looks like a huge sheet of glass, only it also looks like a pirate ship’s gigantic sail. I can’t tell what it is. But it’s big and creepy and well…just nope. Nope nope nope. Will wait another couple days before trying again. I did find the green bean seeds, though.
* * *
Hm. It’s been three days. I woke up today fully expecting it to still be there, but it looks like it’s gone. Will still give it another day or so. Also—WHOA! I don’t have to worry about going one second without Pam anymore. I found a way to communicate with the Sucere Chamber through this nifty watch-looking thing. Also, will be helpful because I can report my findings directly into the Sucere log, so I can include everything, even stuff I don’t feel like taking down in my notes. Or drawing. Or painting. Or sculpting. I’m thinking I’ll try to use some of the earth from topside to make a sort of ceramic variant. I can use sand and ash for a glaze if I can get a fire hot enough. I’ll have to do it with the ancient Chinese method, unless Pam can think of another way.
* * *
It’s been five days since I’ve seen it. I think I’m in the clear. Gonna go plant my green beans now! Wish me luck, sobreviventes! This could change everything!
