STUDY - Technical - WRITING

a nEW mORNING from an old Sentinel

Episode 2— The memory of an old protector of places

Through a gap in the forest and winter clouds, he observes the moon and the debris belt from the collision with the asteroid.

It had hit Earth from the south, somewhere near Antarctica.

But it had hit her almost tangentially, as if it wanted to avoid Terra at the last moment, and… It failed.

Earth’s attraction has finalized the impact...

It plowed the Pacific Ocean to the north from some journals that remain with us. Rolling like a lump until... It was all over...

As if fate wanted to trace the earth's axis, from south to north.

But the equatorial curvature opposed... And the asteroid left only half of the northern hemisphere, scattering orbitally…

The amount of matter thrown up into space was immense. Even now, after hundreds of years since then, there are still remnants like a belt, like a ring around the Earth.

But then, after the impact, the orbital ejected matter was present over the entire surface of the Earth.

A strange effect was represented by the fact that, over time, the Moon appeared closer to the Earth. But maybe it just seemed...

And this matter, returning to Earth, brought the greatest human or natural losses. Not the earthquakes that almost flattened every man-made building, not the tsunamis that exceeded tens of meters in height, maybe over a hundred... No…

Nor the volcanoes, which erupted widely, starting from the Pacific belt almost wherever there were active or extinct volcanoes...

It was a whole chain of events… At least this has reached us after so long.

But after the “Armageddon” of nature, came the “Apocalypse” of those who became the “Absolutes” and their "Predators." Apart from the robbers, murderers, and rapists of the mob...

Human nature unleashed unimaginable reactions to the course of history up until then…

Those who would become the “Absolutes” knew about the arrival of the asteroid long enough in advance... And took shelter... Bunkers, food reserves, food production, protection, labor slaves, etc.

But an astronomer from the Antarctic area managed to bypass the already organized worldwide censorship. The common people were not supposed to know...

And the journalists began to link the information. “Absolutes” were not too many, but their future slaves were. The disappearance of a large mass of people gave thought, then attracted the discovery of evidence.

Being a worldwide organization of "Absolutes,” it is obvious that there were points of "yielding." Especially due to the crimes that were done to protect some kind of “absolute secret”… For whose peace?

But it was too late. Until the impact, there were less than 10 days... It may pass by the Earth without hitting it…

Certain states, not being notified, requested “last minute” help and in the ensuing frenzy, nuclear bombs were also launched. Mostly “in revenge”... Only a few hit their target. Less than a hundred on Earth... Only four are around or in the asteroid…

But it was enough for the intentions of the “Absolutes” to be quite disturbed.

And the impact came...

What the slaves of the “Absolutes” didn’t calculate was the level of havoc an asteroid half the size of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs could wreak…

The common people, in their great majority, halved from the first day... What was left of them… They had problems to the maximum anyway…

But the “Absolutes” were left without the entire network of satellites in a few days due to the debris from the Earth level that reached the orbital level and literally shaved absolutely every satellite.

Then, the devastation caused by tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes irreversibly destroyed any industrial facilities that would have increased the sixth of a rapid recovery of the “lifestyle” of the "Absolutes."

Plus, they had secured slaves almost exclusively for their maintenance and the scientists and technical staff were more than insufficient and too dispersed to be able to intervene effectively…

Even the raiding expeditions had nowhere to “gather” slaves for a quick reconstruction…

It took almost seven generations for the “Absolutes” to “move” outside their circle of slaves…

But they began to expand, from one city to another, from one continent to another…

But their lust for “life” returned. And the time came for the “Great Robbery” of the "Predators." Organized and efficient... Not the looters of the common plebeians, however many there were...

Anyway, the population of Earth, I don’t think, was more than a billion. Spread out all over the place... The vast majority being free, hidden, or “unimportant”…

With the “Great Robbery,” they made a big mistake... They showed the plebeian looters where the main resources of the “Absolutes” were… And in the generations that followed, the fighting was of epic proportions…

How many of them, or us, were left?

We passed the “Mane of the Bells”… Bald vegetation, like the head of a bald man but with hair on the rest of the head…

Somewhere, at the edge of the forest, there were the crossing signals. So, he was free. He could go down to the “Valley between the Islands”.

To be sure, I will stop by the cave of the “Sentinel”. I hope to find him. That old man amazed him at every meeting with his gift of hiding, and camouflage, and always took him by surprise.

His name was Sentinel. And he protected us on the way down to the valley since I knew each other since I was a child, he being my father’s lifelong comrade, Stubborn.

Plus, everything I knew about the impact and what followed, I knew from my father’s stories and Sentinel…

I was surprised to see that he was waiting for me indifferently, but carefully watching the valley.

The crunch of the snow under my steps, no matter how carefully I walked, made him turn his head to look at me from the side, after which he resumed his surveillance until I got close to him, remaining hidden between the trees of the edge of the “Great Path."

Did you bring something for me? The Sentinel asked without looking back at me.

Leave the package there, and hurry! You’ve been walking like a snail and you’ll barely make it to the meeting in time! Do not run! You will leave traces and that’s all you need! We’ll talk when you get back, tell me what was discussed.

He said before I could say anything. And the Sentinel did not like to repeat himself! Plus, I respected him as much as my late father.

I left the package with the fermented hemp dumplings and left...

To be continued…

Note: Images are created by me, Merticaru Dorin Nicolae, using Microsoft Bing Image Creator.

Dorin, Merticaru (04.30, 2024)