Chapter Four: a guest from the distant future
November 16, 2023 at 10:42 AM
Approaching the truck, Caroline pulled the lever, opening the ramp. As soon as the iron door was completely lowered, she went in and put her new find on the shelf, carefully adjusting the green leaf. And then she reached into her bag, took out a bottle and watered the sprout. As far as she knows, plants also need water for life, if you believe the words of the workers.
As much as Caroline did not want to stay and relax at home, but the working day was not over yet, and it was necessary to return to the directive. But before that, she laid out all the things she found to go light.
Leaving the dwelling, Lina suddenly noticed a red dot on the ground. She blinked a couple of times, checking to see if she had imagined it.
— "What is it?" — Caroline was perplexed, looking at the dot. Putting the bag on the edge of the ramp, Lina slowly approached the speck and as soon as she stretched out her hand, it abruptly moved to the right side of her. From surprise, Caroline shuddered, but did not give up trying to catch this miracle and find out what it was. I pulled my palm towards it again, but it ran away again, clockwise around Lina and further to the shore of the dried-up Hudson River. Trying to follow the movement, Caroline almost broke her neck. Alas, she doesn't have the ability of an owl.
Leaping to her feet, Lina ran up to the point and ... missed again, falling on her stomach. But I caught it the second time!
Stop.
The red dot was on the back of the palm. Waving her hand left and right, she turned the brush around, but the spot remained in place.
Wait. So it's light.
But where does this ray come from?
But before Caroline could think about it, Archie attacked the red beam, causing a frightened squeal from the hostess. The dot again ran away over the shore, to the bottom of the dried-up river. And the dog ran after her.
— Wait, Archie! — Caroline shouted, but Archie was no longer paying attention to the commands. And having already run after the pets to the descent to the river, Caroline tripped over some stone and flew straight down. But she was lucky! There was a mountain of garbage, which softened the skating head over heels.
Lina moaned painfully from the bottom, holding her head. Still, I bumped unsuccessfully, probably there will be a bump. But other than that, nothing bothers. It's been worse.
Archie, unlike Caroline, managed to stop and looked down at the hostess.
— Archie, stay there — Caroline said loudly, getting up and looking for a way to climb back in. But she was distracted by other rays that ran over her and raced on, into the middle of a deserted valley, surrounding the one that Caroline was chasing.
Curiosity overcame her and Lina went towards the rays, but the earth began to shake and the air temperature was rising. And then there was a deafening roar, as if a sandstorm would begin. And looking up, Caroline saw the source of the sound. Something gigantic was descending from the sky, ready to burn everything to the ground.
To say that Caroline was scared is to keep silent. Jumping to her feet, she rushed to a large stone and hid behind it. The body trembled treacherously, like an aspen leaf in the wind, and the heartbeat increased, which could be understood by the chirping of the pacemaker, which was trying to bring it back to normal.
As soon as everything was quiet and the smoke cleared, Caroline cautiously peeked out from behind the boulder and could not believe her eyes. In front of her stood something huge, made of iron, with three legs and an elongated body. On one of the sides there was an inscription «A.S.C.R.C.V.» but what exactly these letters meant to Caroline was not clear.
— "Rocket?" — Karolina has seen such spaceships only in children's books with drawings that her elder read to her. But why did she come?
But then a hatch opened from the bottom of the hull, the device descended and began to scan the area around. As soon as he made a clockwise circle, he rose and a mechanical arm with a translucent cylinder, about one meter seventy-five, descended after the scanner. Something or someone was in the capsule, but due to the great distance, Caroline could not see exactly what was inside.
A metal hand pressed buttons on the cylinder panel in turn. As soon as the last key was pressed, a slight buzzing of the capsule was heard, and then it opened, with a loud hissing sound, enveloping everything around with a misty haze. As soon as the smoke cleared, Caroline saw…
Was there... was there a guy in it?
Yeah, definitely a guy.
The first thing Caroline noticed was his bright red hair, which contrasted with his snow-white clothes and skin. The stranger was wearing a closed tight-fitting suit, similar to a motorcycle and something like headphones without a rim, and on his feet were strange kind of shoes. He was about six feet tall. Lina couldn't see anything else.
The young man in white was still in the capsule, recovering from prolonged cryosleep. He slowly opened his sky-blue eyes, which instantly fascinated Caroline, immediately squinting against the sunlight. Therefore, the stranger pressed something on the right earpiece and, as if out of nowhere, a helmet appeared completely covering his head. Standing on the ground, he stretched and turned to the capsule, entering a command on the panel.
And then you should have seen Caroline's face when she saw that the capsule began to fold like a telescope, becoming pocket and mobile size. The young man hung this incredible achievement of technology on his belt. Removing the tablet from it, he began to scan the area near him with the same scanner as on the ship.
Caroline stared at this guy, unable to look away. His movements were mesmerizing in their smoothness, as if a mysterious stranger was floating above the ground. And the suit was so dazzlingly clean that it almost hurt Lina to look at it. And his eyes… Caroline didn't find the right word to describe it. No. To describe the whole young man.
He was the living embodiment of beauty for Caroline.
The stranger in white had already moved a good distance away from the spaceship. Suddenly, the rocket's engines started up again, making the same roar as before. Startling Caroline, who immediately ducked lower. But this did not save her, Caroline was simply blown away by a stream of wind when the space shuttle took off. Lina managed to hide behind another stone.
The adrenaline became sobering, and with it came fear. What if he could be dangerous? Caroline doesn't know the guy at all. Caroline got burned once as a child when she met strangers, and she doesn't want it to happen again.
But now we need to see where that young man is in order to know which way to run. Caroline looks out slowly.
The stranger turned around and looked after the ship and, looking around, rose a couple of meters into the air.
— "Wow, can he fly?" — Caroline watched in fascination as the young man soared in the air, doing all sorts of tricks, barrels, dead somersaults, flying among the nearest garbage towers. It's like a free bird, after a long sleep, finally flies up. And confidence and professionalism could be the envy of any aerial acrobat.
So, no. Caroline, pull yourself together!
Lina, just in case, made sure that he flew somewhere into the sky and rushed to the shore of the bay as quickly as possible, praying to remain unnoticed.
She hoped in vain, because the aforementioned young man in white followed her with his eyes to the rusty stairs upstairs.
— "A human?! It can't be!" — What a pity that Caroline didn't see the shock on the stranger's face. His eyes widened and his lower jaw dropped. He just can't believe his eyes, how could Lina be here? She's clearly not from Axiom, judging by her clothes and appearance. A survivor?
But the flow of thoughts was interrupted by the roar of the ship's engine. Caroline was already on the embankment, and the stranger quickly flew to the other shore. As far as the guy in white understood, the survivor has no particular desire to make new acquaintances now, or maybe she just didn't notice him.
A cloud of dust covered almost the entire territory of the former bay and the space shuttle took off. Lina turned to look to make sure that she and Archie were safe, and then walked briskly in an uncertain direction. Caroline didn't even really know where she was going. There is only an overwhelming anxiety on her mind that something might happen to her or her pet, who knows what that young man is thinking?
