SWNOVELS Chapter 10
Change
Scarlett’s POV
Three Months Later
‘Be careful! The edge is sticking out a lot more!’ I call out to T’wain, who’s holding a beam for the new green house. We’ve been working on farming land and building homes for the frozen. So far we have Forty out of five hundred people unfrozen, and introduced to the virus. The virus is what we call the serum that L’wazi and Dr. Antonio created three months ago, in order to let humans change their bodies into bodies similar to the Omn. With these bodies we are stronger, more agile, and our minds can do amazing things! I thought we humans were advanced, but the things the Omn can do… A single Omn can climb the empire state building if it were still standing within two minutes, and not even bat an eye.
‘Duck Scarlette!’ yells Reggie. I duck my head as a stray beam goes flying. Two HuOmn catch it before it goes flying down the hill. HuOmn (Hue-Oh-Mmm) are what we are calling the humans that have become Omn like. We’re not totally like them however; the HuOmn’s keep they’re natural eye color, and they’re natural hair color. So Marie, being as beautiful as she is, is even more so because her eyes now have a natural orange glow to them. My green eyes have glowing orange/gold in them now too, as well as flakes of blue and tiny specs of bronze. Everyone here is different now, and unique. Needless to say, nobody is the same now.
‘Status report on the building?’ Reggie says, from on a huge twenty foot tree. I look up at him and smile.
‘Everything’s going great! Nobody’s gotten hit by a steel beam yet, and the diggers are making great time. Ten more humans are scheduled to be unfrozen by tomorrow, and by the end of next week we should have about forty more humans unfrozen. There’s a lot more to go though.’ I answer. Reggie nods, and tells Marcelo who’s a mile away in the spaceship. He’s been monitoring Earth 2.0 and looking for any sign of the ship that should have been right behind us.
‘Hey! They’re three weeks away!’ Marcelo says. I nod and make my way the long journey to the ship. I pass by people who are working together to create a net for the Se, so they don’t have to cash the fish everywhere. Some of the female Se are watching from the cliff side, while some of the males help us with the nets and creating cement. The soil here on Earth 2.0 is…. Richer than our own Earth’s was. It’s a lot stronger too, so it takes more energy to dig now.
When I enter the spaceship, I see Marie in the corner talking with some more HuOmn. They’re suggesting taking the ship apart to help build more stable housing, but Marie says we can’t until the humans are unfrozen, and we have no more need for the tracking device. I stay out of their conversation and make my way over to Marcelo.
‘Hey, you said they’re three weeks away? Can I see their ship?’ I ask. He nods and scoots over. Being that we are much taller than before, everything we made as humans feels tight, or too small. Just like the rolling chair that Marcelo’s using.
As I stare out of the telescope, I can practically see everything in the ship. Like ours, one side of theirs has a thick see through glass. I see people working in a garden, and others talking to each other. They don’t seem the least bit worried right now. I wonder what adventures they’ve had…
’Have you established an ear piece to connect with then? Tell them they might be up there for a few months?’ I ask. Marcelo nods, and hands the ear piece to me. At first there’s static, then a small voice.
“Hello this is commanding officer and captain of this ship, Eric. Beside me is the co-captain Nila and Edna. Is this the leader of UNA-1?” he asks. I laugh, which comes out sort of like a screech. I lower my voice pitch, and take a deep breath.
“This is co-captain of UNA-1. We have landed, and are establishing a base. However, there have been some changes… You might want to take a seat.’ I tell him. I hear muttering on the side before finally the sit. I tell them of our adventure here upon Earth 2.0 and how we are no longer all humans. I explain the Omn, the Se, and the Healots which don’t attack us if we feed them fish. Turns out both the Se and the Healots like sea food. However, like geniuses, we’ve gotten sections of the ocean that are just for the young growing fish, and the pregnant fish. This will allow for them to breed and prosper to a certain age, before being caught and eaten.
Earth 2.0 is very… different then when we first discovered it. The cold and hot spots are only like that for a few days every month, and then they become normal. The plant and wild life is pretty docile, although I haven’t seen any Earth like animals yet. That doesn’t mean anything though, since just yesterday I found a Chinchilla running through a desert area, searching for something. I caught it and talked to L’wazi about it. Turns out a lot of these animals that are here, are afraid of the Omn. I think it’s they’re predators like appearances that they are afraid of.
Needless to say, were discovering a lot here, and building a lot too. We’ve decided we won’t tear down any plant life; instead were going to live with and around it. Some of the Omn have moved from living under ground to living in things are pretty much working out.
When I finish telling the Humans everything, they’re silent. I leave them be for a few minutes to soak up the new information. I know if it was us up their hearing that when we reach the Earth, we’ll be transformed into something new. However, it’s still a home we live on. It’s better than space, that’s for sure! Humans have always been able to adapt during evolution. We can do it now, in a new place.
Three Months Later
Standing tall, I wait on the edge of the cliff. In space the airship holding the other humans is scheduled to land today. We’ve finished unfreezing the humans in our ship, which was dismantled shortly after of everything except the radio; in case anyone else finds their way here. Marcelo and Reggie laugh as some of the younger HuOmns run around, chasing each other and laughing in the wind. Today it’s very sunny, and the win is just perfect. It reminds me of a summer’s evening back on Earth.
Flowers now grow in more places by our colony that we’ve built on the ground. Like promised, we live within nature, and we didn’t cut down a single tree. Some grass might be swooshed, but that’s the worst of what we’ve done to the new Earth. We made a promise to the Omn not to take over, and they promised to help us learn to survive. I think it’s a pretty fair deal, especially since were learning so much from one another.
’Come back!’ Yells a young Omn to a HuOmn. The Omn must not have learned to control his thoughts yet, because he yells some human like curse words. Some of the elderly Omn shake their heads, and a few HuOmns laugh.
‘Chara! Lowend! Come back here right now!’ Neesa, an elderly Omn who’s taking care of the two kids. Chara and Lowend race each other back to Neesa, who hugs them.
’Watch out!’ I hear. I look around and I see Marie tumble into me. I laugh as we both end up on the ground.
’I swear walking like this is almost as hard as being in heels…’ She mutters, but smiles at me. I stand up and help her stand. Dr. Antonio is stumbling his way toward us, his hands full with boxes. I help him by taking two boxes, and Marie takes one too. These boxes are actually woven baskets made out of grass, and strong reeds from by a lake some twenty miles or so away. Turns out spreading out was a great idea, we’ve found more about this planet by doing just that. The Omn warned us there are more of them all over the world, who aren’t as accepting as they are. We took that as don’t take a mile when they give us an inch.
’Are you brining supplies to the new building?’ I ask Antonio as we walk. He nods and smiles.
‘I enjoy the fact that were helping create a new history. It’s… assuring for me.’ Antonio says. I nod in agreement.
‘I new home outside of home…’ I answer. There’s static in my ear piece and someone’s calling me to prepare for the humans landing. I warn them that we look a bit different, but not to be afraid. Before long in the sky I see the space craft.
This world is vast and mysterious. It’s full of dangers and chaos. It holds the greatest wonders of this world, and it is my home. This is where I belong, with my new family. I smile at them and they smile back. Finally... I’m here. I’m ready.
’Earth 2.0 is ready to receive guest!′ my ear piece says. I nod, and turn to my side. Time to get this new adventure started! I wave my hands in the air signaling the ready for landing. The ship begins to move toward the planet, and I smile to myself. This is going to be one heck of an adventure.