Twin Earth
Chapter 26

I must have lost consciousness because when I woke up my whole body was completely dry, and I was no longer surrounded by the heat and humidity of the jungle. If anything, I was cold, and my skin was stinging from the blood returning to my limbs from whatever the man had done to me. Panicking, I tried to sit up and groaned as a sharp pain suddenly shot up my spine and into my neck. Bending forward I tried to rub my eyes as I still couldn’t see. Wherever I was, it was pitch black, but thankfully my eyes were no longer welded closed, which I discovered quickly from poking myself in the eye.

‘Rachel,’ I suddenly remembered, hissing her name a few times in a vain attempt to try and find her in the darkness, but I was greeted with only silence. Crawling onto all fours I tried to feel around the space in front of me, but I could touch nothing but air. Shivering from the drop in temperature, I continued to try and blink to focus on something, anything nearby.

“Hello?” I finally whispered, my voice cracking from a dry throat, but no-one replied. “Is anyone there? Rachel?”

Then suddenly light filled the room. As first it was startling bright, and I flinched, covering my face until thankfully it was reduced to a softer glow. Blinking hard from the sudden flash I looked around. My eyes felt dry and scratchy, but I could tell I was in a small room, void of any furniture or people and sort of hexagonal in shape. It was difficult to tell, as the floor and the walls, and the ceiling for that matter all curved into each other, creating a feeling of being in a spaceship. There was also no door that I could see.

Panicking at my unusual prison, I spun around to look behind me, clambering to my feet as quickly as I could. I immediately noticed the wall behind me was strangely translucent, almost liquid-like and was displaying pictures on it or even behind it, I couldn’t tell. The images were of landscapes and objects from what looked like Earth and they were slowly changing as if it was a silent movie but in full colour. Walking up to the wall I touched it, half expecting my hand to go through it as if it was a doorway to the outside, but instead the image distorted as if I had disturbed a clear pool of water and then it returned to how it was.

“What is this place?” I whispered to myself.

Then I heard something sliding open behind me.

Spinning around, a female, of presumably the same species as the man from the jungle, entered the room through an opening that I swore hadn’t been there before. Then the wall sealed behind her, catching the light and sparkling as it did so. Taking a few steps back, I watched the woman cautiously.

Like her jungle friend she too was dressed in a green reflective type material, but this time it covered her whole body, even her hands and feet. It looked like a jump suit or dress of some kind. She was also tall, perhaps even more so than the man, and her face was covered in a mask of similar material to that of her dress, which obscured her nose and mouth, but you could still make out her incredibly dark skin and thin long eyes. She was also completely bald, but even so, she had a presence about her that was surprisingly non-threatening. She moved cautiously towards me as if every step was calculated, her long elegant fingers slowly caressing a tablet in her arms, and I found the whole spectacle weirdly calming.

“Who are you?” I whispered, but without replying she stopped and pointed to the screen behind me as if waiting for me to say something else. “Where is my friend?” I asked, but she ignored me, instead she brushed her hands over her face, causing the translucent material to twinkle in the light and disappear, revealing the rest of her face. Her skin looked even darker now, yet smooth with an almost porcelain structure to it. Her cheek bones were high and curved, tapering towards a long narrow nose with the tiniest of nostrils. Her mouth was small with almost no lips to speak of, but it curved in such a way it gave the impression that she was smiling. Maybe she was, but as I debated it, I felt a sudden sense of uneasiness.

“Where is my friend?” I repeated, uncomfortable at being ignored. Without replying the woman pointed again to the wall behind me and seemingly waited for me to respond.

“What is it? These pictures?” I asked, confused, turning around.

“Pictures,” the woman repeated softly, almost barely audible, but still taking me by surprise. Confused, I looked at the movie of images again and studied them more closely. They seemed to be on repeat whatever they were, starting with an ancient pot of some kind that was decorated with images of people and animals and held up by three stumpy legs. It was pretty, but I failed to understand what its meaning represented. The second image was of a pyramid, but not an Egyptian one as far as I could tell as it was much larger with steps leading up to a temple at the top. What was remarkable though were how new the items looked, as if they had just been made that week. The next image was even more random and was of a red pepper and some corn, and the last image looked like a sun symbol with a face on it.

“I don’t get it,” I replied, looking back at the woman, but she continued to look at me and then back at the screen, waiting for me to respond.

“What? A pot? Some kind of drinking vessel? I don’t know,” I mumbled annoyed, rubbing my face in frustration. “Where is my friend? What have you done with her?”

“Pot,” the woman replied looking down at the tablet and gently nodding.

“Yes, a fucking pot. What is this all about?” I grunted, but thinking I was on to something I decided to call out the names of the other items to see what would happen. “So, err... a pyramid?”

“Pyramid?”

“Pepper, corn, and what? Some kind of sun?”

“Sun?” the woman exclaimed looking up at me.

“Yeah, a sun? I think,” I paused. I had no idea what was going on, but it seemed to please her. Then she pointed to the screen again and waited for me to respond. Turning around I was surprised to see that the images had changed to other various objects from what I presumed was Earth, some of which I didn’t recognise, and I attempted to call out their names too. Then I waited as she made notes on her tablet. This went on for a while until eventually she nodded and left the room.

“What? Is that it?” I cried. “Where are you going?” but the woman ignored me, and the door once again sealed itself closed behind her. Banging on the wall left in its place I screamed, “You can’t leave me in here. Where is my friend? I want to know where she is,” but it was hopeless as no-one came back.

Sighing heavily, I slumped back down on the floor and waited. I was starving, cold and incredibly tired and I had no idea what my next move was going to be, but I didn’t have to wait long because suddenly the whole room disintegrated around me, revealing not only the woman, but also a whole team of the incredibly tall, dark-skinned aliens.

“Welcome,” a male humanoid announced, stepping forward and greeting me. “You have finally reached Mochuvia.”

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