Twin Earth

“But this place looks like a jungle. I was expecting something much more…” James remarked as we carefully climbed out from the cave rubble and inspected our surroundings.

“More what?” I asked in surprise.

“I don’t know, futuristic I guess. This place just looks overgrown and forgotten.”

”I have to admit, this isn’t the Mochuvia I remember. I mean there was jungle, but this…” I stated, looking around in confusion.

“This is helping no-one Tom. We need to get Yuki to safety,” James replied, grabbing my arm and forcing me back towards the cave.

“I’m fine James,” Yuki mumbled, climbing out from the ruins with the help of my father.

“Yuki!” James shouted, running over and immediately taking over from my father.

“Please, stop fussing. Would you be this concerned if Tom had been injured?” Yuki replied annoyed.

“No, but then I’m not married to Tom or in love with him,” James replied, clearly hurt at being pushed away.

“I’ll try not to take that too personally,” I muttered.

“Tom’s right, we should continue to investigate this planet. This is a monumental discovery and I’m not going to let a little bump on the head put a stop to that.”

“There’s people coming,” Hayden interrupted, drawing our attention to a commotion heading in our direction.

Through the mess of rubble and fallen trees, the man we had first seen upon our arrival was now waving his hand in our direction to a group of men and women who didn’t look at all pleased to see us.

“I don’t like the look of this,” James replied, still attempting to pull Yuki away from any perceivable threat.

“This is strange. Why are they so angry?” I whispered, confused.

Then a familiar voice shouted from behind the small crowd that was heading our way, and pushing his way through I was relieved to see Apo running towards us.

“Tom, is that you?” Apo shouted as he joined us, still wary of the group behind him, but clearly excited to see me. “Please excuse my people. Things have changed since you have been gone. We began to question if we would ever see you again.”

“How long has it been?” I asked nervously.

“Just over ten years.”

”That was the same on Earth, but like them, I only left you a few days ago!”

”It must be the time dilation in the great void. I cannot thank you enough for the sacrifice you made for all our people and for your people too. You saved us and you survived!”

“So why the angry mob?” I remarked, still uneasy at the batons being held by various members of the group behind Apo. “And where is Rachel? Is she okay? Is she safe?”

“Come, we should move away from here. The tension around this ellipse is too much for my people.”

We all followed Apo away from the crowd and down towards a clearing in the jungle that looked out over a large lake. I couldn’t remember if I had seen lakes on Mochuvia before and for a second I questioned if we were on the same planet.

“This is beautiful, but are we in the South?”

”A lot has changed Tom. After you left, the invasion and tsunami devastated our world. Only after your successful mission did the invaders from Earth finally leave, but some never made it back to Earth and my people turned them into slaves to help with the recovery of our planet. My people were so angry Tom and still are. When they saw your white faces they were ready to kill you on sight.”

”But don’t they know who we are? Who I am?”

“It’s been a long time Tom. Our world has changed so much. This lake alone was created by the vast tsunami. It wasn’t always a beautiful place either. We are still rebuilding our shelters and homes, our science facilities.”

“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but we have to know what that technology is that we just travelled through,” Yuki remarked, pushing me aside and pointing back to the remains of the cave. “What is that thing? How did we get here?”

“I understand you have many questions, but there is not enough time to explain.”

”But are there more of these portals? The maps suggest there are many on Earth as well as on your planet,” Yuki continued.

“There were some here yes, but they have all been destroyed now.”

”All of them?” I asked in surprise. “Was that the work of the North?”

”Not this time Tom. Many of the monks in the North died. We do not know how many of them survived. We have become more segregated than ever. Then the fear of another invasion amongst my people was so great that they began to research and destroy all the monuments that could possibly become a portal to Earth. Some of them I don’t believe even went to Earth, but they were still destroyed. I pleaded for them to leave at least this one open, so that you could return to us Tom if you had survived, but you took too long. You have been gone for so many years it became increasingly harder for us to justify leaving it open. The risk was too high.”

”But we’re here now. Was that why there were explosions? They were destroying the last ellipse known to exist that connects us together? But we have so much more to explore, to learn and to cultivate between our two worlds,” Yuki exclaimed in horror.

”I’m sorry, but my people will never be open to outsiders again. I never thought I would see my people become like those in the north, but we seem more closed off than ever now. We can’t even use the viewing lounges any more as they too are also destroyed. I feel so sad for my people.”

Sighing heavily, I paced the small sandy area by the edge of the lake with my hands on my hips. To me it felt like I had achieved nothing. I had saved two worlds, yet I could do nothing to join us together in peace. I knew Apo was right. Even if his people did accept us, I couldn’t trust the people on Earth to do the same.

“Then we have to leave,” James remarked finally. “Before we all get stuck here. It is a two way tunnel isn’t it? We can go home?”

”But we have so much more to discover,” Yuki protested, clearly distraught at the suggestion of having to give this all up.

“There is nothing left here for you to discover anyway,” Apo replied sadly. “Just jungle and desert. All our technology from the creators has been lost or destroyed.”

“And Rachel?” I enquired. “You still haven’t told me where she is?”

”She’s further down the lake. I will take you there. She will be so happy to see you.”

“So she’s alive then?” I replied in relief.

“She is,” Apo finally smiled.

We all followed Apo further down the lake and towards a small hut on a larger area of beach. The sky on Mochuvia was softer than I remembered and I realised that I had only ever experienced Mochuvia when it was suffering from the collapse of the sphere. Now the planet was safely enclosed, the light glowed a beautiful hue of yellow, almost golden light as if it had settled into its surroundings. It gave the impression of a permanent sunset although it was still too bright to see any stars or our nearby moon.

A fire pit was burning next to the wooden hut and I noticed a woman tending to some kind of experiment. At first I didn’t recognise her as Rachel as the woman looked older, wiser somehow and was dressed in a robe that draped like an ancient Greek sarong.

“Rachel?” I whispered in surprise, walking towards the woman whilst the rest of my group stood back, keen to let us be alone for a while.

“Tom?” the woman replied, looking up. Blinking at me in surprise she dropped a test tube in the sand instead of onto the wooden table by her side and laughing, I ran over to help.

“Is that really you Tom?” Rachel asked again, clearly flustered and brushing her wild hair away from her eyes. “We all thought you were dead,” she whispered.

”Very much alive,” I smiled, putting down the test tube I had picked up and turning to look at her. Rachel had aged, but only to match my years. A few wrinkles here and the odd grey hair there, she had matured. No-longer was there a nervous student in my presence but instead a seemingly experienced traveller and knowledgeable scientist. “What are you doing?”

”Fish, I’m reintroducing fish to this lake,” she stuttered, briefly looking down at her work and back to me again. “But that doesn’t matter. How… when… did you get here?”

”Well, I hear you left the door open for me?”

”The Scotland circle! Of course, but I heard they were planning to destroy it this month. I had given up all hope of you ever returning. I started to wonder if you even wanted to come back or if you had survived at all.”

”You knew it led to Scotland?”

”Yes, yes. It was all in the ancient texts. I thought if you were to find any of the ellipses on Earth, it would be that one and I was right.”

”Only just, by the looks of it.”

”But how have you not aged? I don’t understand. You don’t look like you’ve aged a day.”

“Apo seems to think time was affected by the black holes. I skipped a decade apparently.”

”And your father? Is he alive?”

”He’s right here,” I replied, moving away and motioning for the rest of the group to join us.

“James, Yuki,” Rachel exclaimed, almost in tears. “I thought I would never see you all again!”

“We almost didn’t,” Yuki replied. “Your people here seem to hate us apparently.”

“It’s good to see you again Rachel,” James remarked, briefly hugging an emotional Rachel.

”My people?” Rachel whispered, confused.

“He means the Mochuvians,” I added.

“I guess I have been here a long time now. I never thought of this as my home, but these people have become my family. It has taken us years to begin to try and mend the destruction of the war and the collapse of the sphere. Tom, you really did save us.”

”You certainly did your part too Rachel,” my father smiled, walking over and also hugging Rachel. “You are incredibly brave to have done what you did.”

”No, Tom’s the hero. I just… got on with things after it all happened.”

”Well, if you didn’t have your PHD before, then you have clearly earned it now. I will surely recommend you to the right people back home,” my father added.

”Oh,” Rachel replied.

“You are coming home with us aren’t you?” I asked in surprise.

“I… I… I haven’t thought about it. You arriving, it all seems to have happened so quickly.”

”I can’t hold off the closure Rachel any longer. We are already two years post destruction of this last ellipse. Now it is open and the longer it stays open, we are only delaying another war,” Apo replied.

”But Earth people aren’t coming are they?” Rachel asked confused.

“No, no-one even knows we’re here,” Yuki replied matter-of-factly and with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“And Magnus, Robert? What about Trevor and NASA? What happened to them? Magnus escaped you know, he made it back to Earth.”

”Robert is dead and Magnus was arrested. NASA is denying everything apparently,” I replied.

“And so is every other nation for that matter,” James added.

”But we will have to tell the UK government,” Yuki stated.

“No! You cannot tell anyone we are here,” Rachel exclaimed. “It’s too dangerous.”

“But there is so much to explore and learn. Think about the science. You are a scientist aren’t you?” Yuki remarked.

“Hey, go easy,” James remarked, pulling Yuki back.

”Science is only ever allowed within politics. You don’t know what these people here have been through and they’re my family. I won’t see them suffer any more than they have. You should leave now or stay, but if you do stay I cannot guarantee your safety,” Rachel argued.

”And what about you Rachel? How is it anymore safe you staying here?” James asked in confusion.

“They know me James and they know Tom, but they haven’t met any of you. There is so much distrust here now.”

”Rachel is right. It is better you leave and quickly,” Apo remarked, clearly agitated at the distant sounds of shouting. “I think they are continuing the closure.”

”But this will cut us off forever?” Yuki exclaimed.

”There are more ellipses on Earth, you can try to find them, but none will lead here,” Apo replied.

“But I’m not sure you should even try and find them to be honest. Can you really trust the governments to not do what they did here to other worlds?” Rachel added.

Dumbfounded, Yuki seemed unable to compute what was being said to her, to discover this planet and then minutes later give it all up, but I could see she understood as did everyone else because Hayden had already began to head back to the portal with his team.

“And you Tom? What are you going to do?” Yuki asked.

Unsure, I looked at Rachel and then back at Yuki. I had not expected to make such a decision so quickly.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, looking over to my father who nodded in my direction.