As I write the sequel to my first novel, I have written and will continue to write a series of origin short stories about the land of Pangaea. Please enjoy the Pangaea Origins.
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In the far reaches of the snowy northern mountains of Pangaea the night sky was hidden above the dark clouds. The moonlight broke through a crack within the clouds and illuminated a desolate patch of snow within a darkened valley. In the middle of a thick blanket of snow stood an unusually large pine tree as wide as it was tall. The green leaves kept hidden anything that took refuge inside.
Not far from the ground concealed within the dense leaves a ten-year old boy sat on the edge of a large branch with his legs dangling in the air. Jacob was wrapped up warm in thick animal fur clothes with his head buried within a large hood. Behind him crouched against the tree trunk was his guardian. Beth too was clothed in animal fur with a scarf around her mouth to protect her face from the chill of the wind. She had taken care of Jacob since he was taken from his parents at birth.
They had come to the wilderness to hunt. Jacob had just turned ten and Beth decided he was old enough to learn how to stalk his prey. They had sat in the tree for over an hour. Unfortunately, during the winter there was not much light this far north except for that of the moon. In Jacob’s right hand he held a wooden bow and had a satchel of arrows attached to his back. In front, there was a gap within the leaves and Jacob could see enough of the land in front. There was a burrow of hare’s nearby and it was only a matter of time before one appeared. Neither Beth nor Jacob would speak, the air too cold to open their mouths.
Beth tapped her foot to get Jacob’s attention. He glanced at her as she pointed to another gap in the vegetation. He looked and saw one of the hare’s. The tall grey hare stood on its back legs and used its front legs to scratch its long floppy ear. Jacob made himself forget about the innocent nature of the animal and instead focused on what he had come to do. He delicately pulled an arrow from behind and raised his bow. He licked the end of his finger and thumb, and placed the end of the arrow between them. He closed one eye and rested the bow near his face. Jacob pulled back on the string and took aim.
A gust of wind howled throughout the valley and the tree swayed. A dusting of snow swept across the land but the hare was unmoved. Jacob calmed his breathing and closed one eye. In his head, he counted to ten and released his hand. The arrow flew from Jacob’s grasp and within a moment pieced the animal through the chest. The wind died down and against the silence of the valley Jacob could hear the hare kick out against the snow.
Jacob lay down his bow and took a leap from the tree. His feet disappeared within the deep blanket. The large leather boots helped protect his feet from the frost. He parted the branches with his hands and stepped out into the open space. The moonlight had once again fallen behind the clouds and Jacob was left in a vacuum of darkness. He could see the small paw prints of the hare in the snow and followed them until he could see the dying animal. It rested on a clump of blood soaked snow. Jacob was saddened by the purity he saw in its eyes. He pulled the arrow from its chest and used his coat to wipe the blood from the arrow.
Jacob lean't down to claim his prize but heard an unnerving sound before him. A growl murmured from within the darkness. Jacob could not see where the sound came from or from what animal. It was all too apparent when he spotted two dark crimson eyes appear. The growl came from the large intense mouth of a huge brown bear. Jacob felt the snow shiver with each step the bear took forward. Jacob gulped and stood backwards, he was frightened by the bear. He looked back to the tree for any sign of Beth but she did not appear. He remembered that before they came out to the wilderness that she had told him under no circumstance was he to ask for help. If he were to one day leave the northern mountains of Pangaea he would have to learn to overcome any danger he encountered.
The bear approached the dead hare and sniffed its carcass. It pushed the body with its nose. Jacob gained his composure and stood forward. He clenched his fist and stood tall. The bear looked up at Jacob and growled once more. To Jacob’s surprise two ravens squawked as they flew past the tree. They landed in front of the hare and squawked again this time at the bear. The bear did not respond to the ravens, it sniffed the hare again and walked away.
Jacob was relieved as the bear left into the night. He looked back at Beth but the tree had disappeared. In its placed a small fire flickered. The snow around it had melted to leave behind the dry dirt underneath. Behind the fire a man rose to his feet, his face was illuminated from the glow of the flame. His weathered face had a faded peculiar tattoo across the right side. His left eye was missing but he stared at Jacob with his right eye.
“Esau awaits,” the man whispered.
Jacob was confused, he had never heard of that name before. The two Ravens glided past Jacob and perched on the man’s shoulders. Jacob glanced back at the hare and when he turned back the tree returned. Jacob did not know what to make of his encounter, was he dreaming? At his age, Jacob did not think too much of it, instead he grabbed the hare and took his prize to Beth, ready to celebrate his coming of age.
The midday sun broke through the naked branches of the once lush forest. The only leaf, dry and decaying fell to the ground. It lay to rest with the other leaves that decayed into the cracks of the dried-out mud. A small grey rabbit rustled through the pile of leaves for vegetation that looked remotely alive. The shape of its spine showed through it fur, it had not eaten for several days. Its eyes widened as it kept a look for predators. In such a harsh environment, it was almost impossible for such a small creature to survive.
Amongst the leaves, it found a few strands of grass tall enough to nibble on. The grass allowed the rabbit to let its guard down for a moment. This gave the opportunity for a predator to react. Hidden behind a fallen tree crouched a young woman. Her small olive frame dressed in fur lined hide skirt with a fur lined cotton sleeveless shirt. She wore knee high pelt boots and wore a hide wrist band that reached to her elbow. Around her neck were several multi-coloured bead necklaces. Despite the plain clothes worn with an attempt to blend in to the environment, it was not helped by her long bright purple hair braided at the side and two crimson painted stripes below her eyes.
When she finally caught the perfect sight of the rabbit she lifted a wooden bow and picked up an arrow. With the end of the bow an inch from her face she held her nerve and released the arrow. It sailed through the air. Unable to react the rabbit was pieced through its stomach. The rabbit lay on the floor flinching as the blood drained from its body. The woman congratulated herself on her kill. She stood up and strapped the bow to her back.
Before she approached the rabbit, she heard the echo of a horn blown in the distance. This was not a good sign. Weeks ago, a party of four men had travelled far from the forest to scout the land afar. The horn was to only be blown as a signal of their return and impending danger. The woman ran over to the rabbit and pulled her arrow from its limp body.
“Run!” A loud male voice screamed from a distance.
The horn blew once more, she did not hang around any longer. With the arrow now secure in its pouch she bolted. She zigzagged through the decaying forest and jumped over fallen trees. She could hear more voices behind her. Shouting and screaming was followed by gun fire. The party had returned but it sounded like they were not alone.
Away from the woman a man lay on his back, his baggy clothes covered in dirt and blood. He had been shot in the leg and was unable to run any more. His pursuers soon caught up with him. Two larger burly men approached.
“Is he the one sir?” A masked soldier in black armour asked.
“No, put him to sleep,” the larger of the men replied. This was Atreus, the Commander of the Guardians of the Ark, an elite group of soldiers who served as an army directly for the Chancellor of the Ark. The Ark was the great city that looked down upon the decayed land of Pangaea. Unlike the solider Atreus’ armour was white.
The solider followed Atreus’ orders and placed the barrel of his gun against the man’s head. He pressed the trigger but nothing happened. He pressed it several times to no avail. The man cowered.
“It appears we are within the realms of Arcadia,” Atreus smirked.
“What does that mean?” the solider pulled away the gun.
Atreus pulled out a long-polished steel sword from his side. He grabbed the golden handle and thrust the blade into the chest of the man. He screamed out in agony and coughed blood. Within moments his head dropped and he stopped breathing.
“Since the formation of Arcadia, the land the it encompasses became unlike anything we have seen before. The change in the atmosphere in this part of the world means we are defenceless here, hence why we never come. Join the others and search for the last one, you may need your sword,” Atreus sent the soldier to the others. He wiped the blood from his sword with a cloth from his pocket. As he put the blade back in its sleeve he caught glimpse of the purple haired woman. He had always been taught that no enemy escapes the Guardians. With that in mind he sprinted after her.
The land had begun to slope downwards the further she ran. The ground sloped into a thick blanket of fog. Whilst this gave her the opportunity for cover it also meant she could not see where she was headed. She slowed down as the ground soaked up the moisture from the fog. Suddenly her foot slipped against a sharp rock and she lost her footing. She lost her balance and crashed into a tree. She fell to the ground and cried in agony as she hurt her leg. In the distance, she could hear Atreus approaching, she kept low and tried to stay quiet.
Atreus descended into the fog. He kept his balance on the tricky surface by holding onto the rotten branches. The sunlight faded above the forest, it was unusual given the midday sky was clear. The moon had moved before the sun and Atreus became engulfed by a total eclipse. For a moment, he was surround in darkness. To his surprise the forest lit up. Tiny microbes on the tree’s sparkled green in the darkness. Fireflies rose from the ground and danced in the air. He was mesmerised, the only colourful sights he was used to were the city lights from inside the Ark. The only colours he had seen on the ground were the pale brown and greys of the dying land.
Atreus walked for another minute until he decided it would turn back. As quick as the eclipse appeared it soon disappeared into the midday sun. The shadows moved across the forest and revealed the woman before Atreus’ eyes. She saw Atreus stood before her and froze in fear. Atreus placed his hand on his sword and stood tall and powerful. He careful looked at the threat in front of him.
“Please don’t hurt me, I was just hunting for food!” she cried out.
Atreus was confused, she was not the threat he had led to believe. Instead he was taken back by her beauty. From his birth, he had always been told the land dwellers of Pangaea were savages unwilling to accept the rule of the Chancellor. But here was a beautiful woman out on her own hunting to survive on scraps.
An animal growled from behind the woman. Atreus tightened his grip on the handle of his sword. From out the fog a large white wolf appeared. It was five-foot tall with a black stripe lined across hits back and its tail split in two. He was left speechless at the splendour he found in its emerald eyes. The wolf stood over the woman to protect her. If Atreus wanted to kill her he would have to go through the wolf first, something he did not want to do.
“Sir we have the prisoner,” a soldier spoke over the radio on Atreus’s waist. He took another look at the woman, the bond between her and an animal was inspiring. Pangaea had always appeared a waste land and yet in five minutes Atreus had saw such natural beauty to make him question what he had always been told.
“I’m heading back,” he spoke into his radio. “Leave,” Atreus told the woman. He turned his back and disappeared into the fog.
The wolf lowered its head and the woman used it to lift herself up. She got to her feet and slowly limped in the opposite direction of Atreus. She thought for sure she would die in that instant, she could not figure out why a man sent from the Ark would spare her life. Never had a Guardian showed remorse to one of her people, but he was different, he did not have the immoral look of the others. He had the look of a warrior like those of Arcadia, perhaps one day she would see him again.
Pangaea Origins: The Olympus
In the vacuum wilderness of space a small jagged piece of rock floated alone. It slowly span as light from the sun sparkled off tiny grains of sand. Five Hundred kilometres above the Earth on the edge of the thermosphere the rock impacted the outer shell of the huge space station Olympus. The main centrifuge of the station was a large circular orb. The thin outer walls were made from titanium and aluminium to create a lightweight puncture proof shell. It rotated at such a speed it created artificial gravity. Extended from either side of the station were two long compartments that stretched as far as a football field. These both rotated in the opposite direction to the rest of the station.
Inside, Olympus was comprised of several floors that started from the centre and made their way outwards. The orb was split into five different compartments, living quarters, a science lab, engine room, control deck and a large garden across the southern deck. Along one of the extended compartments was a docking station and on the other an array of satellite dishes.
Olympus was populated by one occupant. Alexis a Russian cosmonaut whom was half way through her twelve month tour in space. She was petite, slim with short dark hair, the perfect size for navigating cramp living quarters. Alexis had been alone for a month since the last crew departed and the next were due to arrive within twelve hours. She was not completely alone though, there was an on board computer programmed to help run and maintain the station. Selene was programmed with a strong dominating female voice.
Alexis was in the southern region of the station tending to her plants. Inside the large open room, tall green leafy plants reached up ten feet around the outside of the room. In the middle were rows of tables with vegetable plants, from tomatoes to raspberries there was enough for the station to be self-reliant. The plants were kept alive by ultraviolet lamps that hung from the ceiling. Under the glass flooring pipes carried recycled water to feed the plants. Oxygen given off by the plants was taken in by a ventilation shaft and stored in tanks. Alexis inspected every plant, pruned the leaves and sprayed them with a cool breeze of water. At the end of the table stood an over grown tomato plant. Alexis removed the stems that had grown toward the floor. She pulled off the five tomatoes that had grown from the stems. She wiped away the moisture off the skin and took a bite. The taste was refreshing.
Alexis placed the empty stems in the trash compactor near the exit. She press a red button and the stems were taken away. The door slide open and Alexis left the room. She entered a small narrow room with a ladder. The room was bare, the floor and walls all made from plain grey metal panels. Alexis held onto the ladder and made her way up. Alexis could never get use to the coldness in the ladder rooms. Each internal room was heated but the ladder rooms that connected each room were left with minimal heat barely just enough to breathe. She climbed past the next floor and toward the control deck.
For most part the control deck looked like an empty room that curved with the centre of the station and had a glass outer wall. A small part of the floor slid open and Alexis climbed up onto the deck. The open floor closed behind her. She walked to the edge of the deck and placed her hand against the glass wall. She took a long look at the picturesque Earth in front of her. The sun fell behind the curved horizon and for a moment she was submerged in complete darkness but for the unnatural light from the mass cities of earth. Spot lights in the ceiling switched on.
Alexis walked to the inner wall and placed her hand on the wall. She removed her hand and a faint blue hand print was left behind. The hand print slowly brightened and trickles of light spread out either side. Alexis turned to face the glass wall. In front of her a small spec of light appeared and sparkled mid-air. It expanded and stretched out ten meters wide and four meters tall. The light faded to expose an array of control panels and monitors. To the left Alexis could control the movements of the station, and to the right were monitors displaying each room. In the centre was a larger monitor.
“Selene, please can you connect me to Earth Base Alpha” Alexis spoke to the on board computer. Over recent years space exploration had become a unified program between nations. This particular station was the biggest ever constructed and kept contact with a newly built mission control in a neutral location on Earth.
“Connecting,” Selene replied.
The monitor switched on but the signal was poor, she could not make out who she was talking to, the image was fuzzy but the sound was clear.
“Ground control to Olympus do you read over,” the male voice spoke.
“I am here, but the picture isn’t coming through very well,” Alexis moved a dial to the right of the monitor to see if a slight change to the frequency would improve the signal.
“Sir, we are receiving a very poor signal and cannot make contact,” the man spoke to a colleague, before the signal cut out.
“Hello,” Alexis stepped back and waved her arms to no avail. “Selene what is going on, we have only powered down the systems for two days, why have we lost contact.”
“I have performed a diagnosis but all systems are reading ok,” Selene confirmed.
“Then what is going on…” Alexis took a moment to think about what could be happening.
The fuzzy image reappeared, “I repeat Alexis if you can hear me, power down the antimatter reactor, an unusually large solar storm is approaching and it will destabilise the reactor!” the voice shouted.
The signal cut out again. The science lab was at the centre of the station, it was used solely for the purpose of creating and stabilising antimatter. With a battle to find alternative fuels researching antimatter in space was a safer option then on Earth. The reactor would automatically resume once Olympus was powered up and antimatter would begin to be produced. If the storm was powerful enough it could cut power throughout the station and the antimatter would react with all around it and annihilate Olympus.
“Selene, why did you not see the storm approaching?” Alexis snarled.
“I only scanned the systems within Olympus, my sensors have not picked up any unusual solar activity.”
“Is it possible one of your antennas have been damaged and your sensors have not picked it up?”
“That is a small possibility, but the likelihood is doubtful.”
Alexis stepped over to the right side of the screen in front. She scanned over the monitors and rested her eyes on the science lab. She pressed her fingers on the monitor and dragged over the image. It expanded in the centre of the screen and she got a better look into the lab. It was a large circular room with a square reactor eight feet tall made from a solid heavy metal. Inside the reactor were thousands of smaller magnets to house the antimatter.
“Selene I want you to carefully power down the reactor, I cannot take the chance.”
“As you command,” Selene obeyed.
Alexis heard deep humming noise and the floor vibrated. She looked at the readings from the reactor and nothing had changed. “Where is that noise coming from?” she asked.
“The reactor does not appear to be shutting down,” Selene responded.
“What do you mean? You are the station’s computer you control everything,” Alexis became agitated.
“It would appear the reactor’s communication circuits have been damaged and I am no longer able to connect to it. If you wish to power down the reactor you will have to pull the manual override.”
Alexis did not hesitate, she hastily ran to the end of the control deck and waited for a door to slide open. On the other side was another ladder she had to climb to reach the lab but this was not a long as the one she had previously climbed. At the top she burst through the hatch and rolled into the lab. Much like the control deck the room was relatively sparse but for the reactor. Alexis was deafened by the hum from the reactor, and could feel an intense heat. She rested her hand against the grey wall and her hand print lit up. Another control panel became visible mid-air. She typed in a stream of code onto a keypad, once complete the words ‘access code accepted’ flashed red on the panel. The room became submerged in a red glow and a panel lifted up from the wall to reveal a yellow handle.
Alexis blinked rapidly as she began to see streams of light pass through the room. At first she thought she was seeing things but soon came to realise they were as a result of the solar flare. It wold only be a matter of minutes before her life was put in danger. Alexis pulled down on the heavy handle but nothing happened. She lifted it back up and repeated several times with no success.
“Selene what is happening? Why is this not working?” Alexis shouted.
“To power down the reactor safely you must continue to pull the switch several times. If that does not work then you much press the kill switch.”
“The kill switch? But that could be fatal?” Alexis feared.
“Whilst the probabilities of a fatal outcome are high, the likelihood of you powering down the reactor are now looking very unlikely.”
“So you are saying the kill switch is my only option?”
“I am saying it is the option with the least probability of a fatal outcome.”
Alexis typed another code into the keypad and a red button appeared on the screen. With her hand shaking she nervously pressed her finger against the button. A loud siren erupted every two seconds, a plume of steam vented from underneath the reactor. Olympus violently shook and Alexis failed to keep her balance. She fell to the floor and banged her head against the wall. Her vision became impaired and she slowly lost consciousness.
When Alexis regained consciousness she was surrounded by a dark solitude. The lights were out and the humming had ceased. She wiped her eyes and felt dry blood on her forehead. She felt her wrist and on her watch she managed to switch on a small practical torch. It gave off enough light that she could just about see. Oddly enough though there was less gravity then before and her body steadily floated an inch from the ground. She had not felt weightlessness since arriving to Olympus. Alexis gained her balance and looked around the room. She pushed herself along the floor and through the open hatch.
Alexis made her way back to the control deck. She climbed down the ladders to find the mid-air panel still illuminated. With that lack of things to grab onto it was difficult to navigate through the control deck.
“Selene are you there?” Alexis asked. She waited five minutes for a response but there was nothing. On the panel there was a section for Selene. It had been switched to hibernation, this was normally used for when the station was to be left for long periods of time. Alexis swiped her hand over the hibernation screen and green box appeared with ‘active’ written inside.
“Good morning Alexis,” Selene responded.
“Selene what has happened? How long was I out for?” Alexis asked.
“To your body it will have only appeared that you were unconscious for a matter of minutes.”
“What do you mean to my body?”
“When you switched off the reactor it caused the magnets to fail, the antimatter reacted with the particles from the solar flare. I am not sure how it has happened but whilst you were in that room time around you continued at an accelerated speed.”
“An accelerated speed?” Alexis was confused.
“You have travelled further in time Alexis.”
“Further in time…” Alexis murmured in disbelief. “Well what year is it?”
“I cannot tell you, once the reactor was switched off a lot of the circuits burned out including the time circuits.”
Alexis walked away from the panel and toward the clear outer wall. “Why hasn’t anyone come to get me?”
“Alexis the world you once knew has changed. Take a closer look for yourself.”
She stared deeply at the vast clear blue oceans of Earth that bathed in sunlight. “When you say changed how do you mean? It looks the same to me, blue sea, white clouds.”
“Can you see any land?” Selene asked.
Alexis scanned the image in front of her but could only see blue. “What’s going on why is there only water?”
“Wait for a few more moments and you will see.”
Alexis waited patiently as they flew across the Earth. After waiting for five minutes a large unrecognisable continent appeared. “I don’t understand Selene this cannot be Earth I do not recognise that land?”
“Our position has not changed Alexis; that is Earth you see before you. I cannot tell you much about what has happened. I was placed into hibernation a few years after you had switched off the reactor. My estimates from what has happened would suggest a catastrophic global event has wiped out a large majority of the Earth’s population.”
“So there are still people alive down there?”
“All of our communication servers appear to have been destroyed so I cannot radio a transmission to Earth. The station is running on a low power supply at the moment, now you are awake I would estimate you have six months before you run out of oxygen and about three months before you run out of food.”
“But what about the garden.”
“It has been destroyed.”
“How will I survive, I only have enough food for three months and no way of leaving this place? I don’t suppose the other crew ever reached Olympus?”
“The other crew docked with Olympus twelve hours after you switched off the reactor. However due to the power failure they were unable to leave their capsule and could not release themselves from the station. Soon after communication was lost with Earth and we have been in darkness ever since.”
Alexis walked back to the panel and looked at the monitors. “Why are some of the monitors switched off?”
“Those are from the docking bays. They have been switched off since the other crew arrived.”
Alexis pressed the monitor screens and they switched back on. She was horrified at what she saw. Three decayed bodies floated motionless in a small capsule. The crew were unable to escape. Alexis pushed herself back from the monitor and let out a cry. “Is the capsule capable of flying?” she wiped away her tears.
“The engines remain intact but it needs refuelling. However the navigation systems are destroyed. The Earth’s magnetic field has altered. You will need to re program the navigation systems to have any chance of surviving a flight back to Earth. I’m afraid my programming does not have the capabilities to do that. It would have to come from Earth.”
“That’s it I’m alone,” Alexis did her best to crouch against the wall and hold her head in her hands. She quietly remained still for an hour contemplating her options.
To Alexis’ surprise the main monitor switched on, she lifted her head and saw another fuzzy image on the screen. She looked at it for a moment to figure out what was happening. The picture switched on and off several times. The picture cleared up and remained on. In front of her was a young looking man with a trim beard and stocky shoulders. He was sat in a poorly lit room with what appeared to be a hologram of the Olympus behind him.
“I am making this call to anyone who is alive on the Olympus space station do you read over,” the man repeated over and over.
“Jacob give up will you no one is going to reply,” Alexis heard a female voice in the background.
“Quiet Freyja the read outs here are saying someone is alive on there,” Jacob replied to her.
Alexis’ eyes widened and for a moment she smiled. She rose to her feet and approached the monitor. “I read you over,” she replied.
“See I told you,” Jacob joyfully spoke.
“My name is Alexis Mikhailov and I am the sole occupant of the Olympus Space Station,” she spoke with hope that she would be saved from her isolation.
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