Planet X (7 page)

They made it.
They survived the end of days. It would all be over soon. Within a
matter of days, the rogue planet and its moon would leave planet
earth behind as it continued its slingshot orbit around our sun and
into outer space again. The underground bunkers would open and
release those who hid and Stephen could see his family again. Life
would go back to normal any day now.

“I’ve been
waiting a long time to say goodbye to this bitch.” Stephen
said.

They looked at
each other for a moment and then Stephen raised his middle finger
at the soaring moon. Sam chuckled and then raised his middle finger
as well and they stood like that for a moment as the moon moved
further away and out of their lives, and though humanity would have
to start over from scratch again, life would go on.

EPILOGUE

And life
continued… when the underground sensors indicated that Planet X and
it’s moon’s gravitational pull decreased, the doors to the
underground bunkers opened; releasing those who it kept safe. At
first the people of the world united and watched as the rogue
planet decreased in size as it moved further away and then they
united to rebuild what was left in desolation.

Stephen
travelled back to Maine once the waters subsided and was reunited
with his wife and daughter and though Sam didn’t want to go with
him, he carried Sam in his heart.

Sam went his
own way and decided to travel and see more of the world seeing that
he received a second chance at life and it was during his travels
that he met Patrick at the Grand Canyon which was now the Grand
Canals and they had an instant connection that couldn’t be
ignored.

At night the
world could still see Planet X shining brightly in the starry sky
as a reminder that things could’ve been worse and night after night
it glowed dimmer and dimmer until it finally disappeared like a
distant memory, but just like a distant memory at the back of our
minds, Planet X returned to the farthest corner of our galaxy – out
of sight and out of mind, but never truly forgotten.

SIMILAR WORK
BY EDUARD JOSEPH:

Age of
Men

When the
entire continent of Australia disappears into thin air, Jack White,
a professor of unexplained phenomena and folk lore is contacted by
the government to assist them in cracking the case that has
officials baffled.

In a race
against time, Jack soon learns that the mysterious disappearances
that are now ravaging the world is not per chance and finds himself
transported to an earthlike planet billions of light-years from
earth. Seemingly being the only humans, Jack and his son sets out
to find other humans on the alien planet.

An excerpt
from the book follows on the next page.

EXCERPT: “Age
of Men” By Eduard Joseph

© 2016 Eduard
Joseph

Jack gasped
for air and opened his eyes. He was still holding on tightly to
Timmy… They were still alive and stood in a field with grass
greener than he had ever seen. What happened? When the nothingness
overpowered them he could feel his body tearing apart and every
part of his soul disappearing, and yet he was still standing in the
field.

He looked at
Timmy who looked up at Jack with fear in his eyes and smiled at him
as he ruffled his son’s hair… By some miracle they were alive.

“We made it.”
Jack said with a smile, “We’re alive.”

Jack kissed
Timmy on the forehead. He was relieved that his son was alive. He
couldn’t imagine life without Timmy. He wasn’t sure how exactly
they survived the nothingness, but he was relieved that they
did.

Jack glanced
at the field around them – it was completely unfamiliar to him. The
field was flat and there was no hill. What happened to the hill
they were standing on when the nothingness approached them from all
directions? The grass at his feet was lush and had millions of
small, yellow flowers scattered across the field that seemed to
stretch on for ever.

Jack felt his
pockets for his phone, but couldn’t find it and reckoned that he
must’ve lost it when the ash cloud descended upon them on the
highway and he ran for dear life. He could still hear the screams
for help as the ash and debris cloud consumed the people behind
them, but he couldn’t look back or help them. Those screams will be
etched in his mind forever.

The field
stretched out for miles in every direction. Where were they? Jack
studied their surroundings and then looked up at the sky which was
a bright, deep blue with scattered pink clouds so light one could
almost mistake it for white. He watched as a bird soared across the
sky and then noticed that there were two suns in the sky; the
larger sun was setting and stretched along the horizon for miles
while the smaller one was at least one tenth the size of the larger
one and was a few miles up higher in the sky.

Two
suns?
Jack wondered astounded.
Where are we?

His theory
about the worldwide disappearances was right; they had been
transported to another planet, but what planet was it? Why could
they breathe the air? Where were the other people? How could they
be the only ones around if he witnessed thousands of people
disappear into thin air? If they made it to this strange and
unknown planet, surely others would’ve made it too? Except for the
bird that soared across the sky, Jack didn’t see any other signs of
life.

He put Timmy
down and took him by the hand while they walked through the field
as Jack investigated their surroundings. He finally crouched down
and looked at the scattered small, yellow flowers tucked away
between the grass; their petals were unlike anything he had ever
seen – they seemed like little feathers and closed up at his
touch.

“Daddy, what
happened? Where are we?”

“I have no
idea.” Jack said in thought.

He picked one
of the delicate flowers and scrutinized it for a moment before it
withered and died between his fingers.
What a peculiar
plant
, Jack thought. Everything about their surroundings was
peculiar. They continued walking towards a small group of trees to
their left.

The branches
of the trees had no leaves – only small, pink blossoms and dangling
fruit. Jack plucked on of the fruits and hesitated as he inspected
it, but then took a bite of it. It was sweet and tasted a bit like
an apricot and when he was certain it wasn’t poisonous, he plucked
another fruit and handed it to Timmy whom was a bit more
hesitant.

“Go on.” Jack
said, “It’s sweet. You’ll like it.”

Timmy
inspected the fruit and warily took a bite while Jack stared back
at the field and noticed a lonely elephant grazing into the field.
Finally, he saw signs of life – life from earth. If an animal from
earth made it to this strange planet, humans must’ve made it too.
They simply had to locate others – they had to find Alicia.

A little
creature the size of a watermelon scurried across the grass at
their feet. It looked a bit like a hippo and had antlers that
looked more like tangled thorns. The little animal glanced up at
Jack who glanced down at it before it scurried away. It was
definitely a native animal of the strange planet.

A moment
passed and then a snake-like creature glided through the air like a
snake on the water’s surface; hovering a few feet from Jack’s face.
He stepped back and watched as the creature floated away on a
breeze.

“If we ended
up here,” Jack told Timmy, “Others must’ve made it as well. We have
to look for others. We have to find your mother.”

The thought of
finding others – of finding Alicia – was a comforting one; it meant
that life would continue. Jack stared at the two setting suns again
and was able to look at them without shielding his eyes. The
density of these suns had to be different from earth’s sun – which
meant they were definitely not in the same galaxy. He knew very
little about astronomy, but can’t remember any documentaries about
any known planets or galaxies with two suns.

“This place is
amazing.” Jack said; still in awe.

He took
Timmy’s hand and started walking again. He wasn’t sure how long
before nightfall came, but decided to make the most of the daylight
and find others. They came across more peculiar animals as they
made their way across the lush field of grass and flowers and
though the animals were wild, they seemed curious about the humans,
but kept their distance. A small, blue animal that looked like a
hybrid cat came close enough for Timmy to pet it with caution
before it disappeared into nearby undergrowth; making the boy
giggle. For a second the two of them forgot about the disaster that
ravaged earth and brought them there.

They were both
fascinated with the world they found themselves in; Timmy was
amazed by the majesty around them while Jack was dumbfounded about
where they were and how they got there. Though the world was
picture perfect, Jack was cautious as he had learned a long time
ago that looks can be deceiving – if something looked too good to
be true, chances were that it was.

He stopped and
watched in amazement as a school of brightly coloured
fish-creatures swam through the air about three feet away. The
creatures looked and moved like fish, but had wings instead of
fins. His eyes followed the school of fish as they swam up towards
the two suns and then Jack noticed that he was able to see stars in
the sky above them. Though it was daytime, they could clearly see a
constellation of faraway stars in the darkening sky.

About half a
mile to their right a vine rolled down from a low lying cloud and a
primate climbed down. Jack watched in astonishment as two more
monkey-like creature climbed down the vine before it retracted into
the cloud again. The primates glanced in their direction and then
scurried off towards the distant trees.

“Monkeys!”
Timmy exclaimed.

“I saw them,
but I don’t think they’re monkeys.”

What other
marvels awaited them in this alien world? Were all the creatures as
harmless as the ones they’ve encountered so far, or were there more
dangerous creatures out there just waiting to eat them? There were
many mysteries that awaited them and the biggest mystery of them
all was who brought them there and why?

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