PLANET ETAM

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say…

“Val.. Val.. Valarie can you hear me?”

The high pitched interference was so great the audio attachment jumped the static and went silent before I could even respond.

Maybe… maybe now no one could hear me, but the “First Ones” watched on as my heart melted within me and fear turned into terror, for a fate some, even myself always knew, however its timing remained a mystery until now.

Somehow in all the chaos of my mind I mustered up enough strength to appear undefeated and mouthed the words, I Love You, to those precious to me.

As the darkness of infinity wrapped itself around me, I felt myself pulling away faster and faster. My travel pod named Chehe, the name of my father, lies in my view, a mangled pile among the rocks of the blood orange planet without a name. I felt I was lifting out of myself, watching right along with the First Ones of the new world. Our planet had made so many great achievements over its history, we’d reached the year 2035 and every new innovation seemed to be more and more deity-like. The latest one is the ability to engage all six crossed-human senses in experiencing space and the heavenly galaxies once closed off to only the finest well-suited space-walkers. From wherever you are you can experience what you choose in a flash, the sites, the sounds, the feelings, limitless encounters, including taking a stroll among the constellations up close.

The great minds of our species had created a way to teleport the embodiment of humanity to any and every experience past, present, and future by reconnecting the sixth consciousness within the human mind usually lost during birth. The atmosphere of our planet once entered allows the human body to experience an upgraded DNA reconstruction that restores the original state of being. This rebirth allows for the restoration of the sixth sense to be reactivated for a new living experience, astral projection, virtual reality, and spirituality altogether. Supreme technology changed the game for not only learning but discovering new planets, new beings, and resources to help improve and advance the state of our planet.

The new life wasn’t always this way, I studied how years prior a previous planet experienced a plague so deadly a third of the inhabitants were wiped off. Things were so severe they called the plague R.I.T.A which they declared to mean: Rage In The Air. It was a miracle anyone had even survived, the very air itself became the enemy of humankind, it had become tainted from all the misuse of land resources and much chemical warfare. The very thing that once gave life had now turned and began to take it away, a sad story but a wise lesson to understand we are always at the mercy of the place we inhabit by how we treat it. So many were lost that those who remained knew the only way to survive would be to find another planet to start over and build again in a better way.

The last safety tether snapped as easily as a thin rubber band, as simple as two fingers pulling you out of a daydream, yet this was far from it. For a minute it felt like I heard the gasps of the disembodied lookers all at once as they surrounded me. There was nothing more holding me together, tethering me to stability I once knew the confidence I carried of always being able to return home. I felt the life force easily beginning to drain from my body and all the onlookers went from surrounding me to turning into memories. A cold sensation began to run through my body starting at my feet and heading north. I remember this part, they always talked about this part at training in the courtyards back on the Planet ETAM where I lived, where I was born first. My mothers name was Dianne, she was one of only a few who walked among the survivors of Rita, who they deemed stable enough to go along to the new planet, Planet ETAM. If you are wondering who they are, my people refer to them as: “The Granters”. A governing board of our planet that consists of some of the brightest minds, inventors, seeresses, healers, explorers, and wealthy councils that supplied the start-up of our planet graciously.

My father Chehe sat among the wise board as one of the explorers. During that time he saw my mother for the first time brought before them and immediately he fell in love. They named me Valerie in memory of my grandmother, my mothers mom on earth who had passed on long ago, and like her, for short they called me Val and I was among the firstborn of the new planet. I learned so much from my parents and I wanted to be an explorer like my father. He taught me everything he knew and I soaked it in, we walked across galaxies and traveled to many places gaining more and more knowledge to share back home. One day my father took me out into space in a travel pod, I was so excited, it was reminiscent of a spacecraft I heard of but only smaller. While coasting over the seas of the sky we stumbled upon a small blood orange colored planet, there wasn’t much to it but we noticed a small light sat in the midst of its soft sand.

Stopping to admire its beauty, my father studied the light and saw it indeed was a star, he named it: “ENAH”, the shining star.

Edging a little closer to take a final look at the light my father began to maneuver the pod back toward home. As he turned the light grew brighter and brighter and as it grew the light overtook our view so we could barely see our path out. I heard my father yell out, “ Val hold on!”, those were the last words I heard him say. I don’t remember much after, just waking up in my mothers arms, I can’t recall how I even got there, the only thing I remembered was my fathers voice and the only thing I knew was that he was gone.

I dedicated my entire self to getting back to that blood-orange planet with no name. I used the excuse of exploration with my entire planet watching to gain glory and honor my father. My truth however seemed to maybe be close to my father one more time even if for a moment. In my eagerness, I have not only found this planet with no name but once again it has taken something precious from me, first my father and now my life.

The cold sensation has reached north within me and the pull of gravity remains constant into the dark. As I close my eyes I meet a warmth that is familiar to me, looking one more time I see a small light sitting in the midst of soft sand getting brighter and brighter till it draws me in. With tears in my eyes as if the galaxy is giving me a warm goodbye I hear my fathers voice, “Val, hold on!”