The Nightingale

Bar and Lounge

      In this building, in one of the chrome-and-leather booths, sat two men: Jonathan Blair and Antonio Sidney. Blair was wearing a dark suit, which clashed with his thick silver-blond hair. His eyes were green, his skin the same golden tone as his hair; tanned from days under the harsh sun, and from hours under the harsher lights of the tanning salon.

      Sidney was pale and dark: black hair, deep brown eyes, white skin. His jacket was made of supple black leather, his shirt pearl gray, and his baggy chinos of a darker shade.

      “How do you manage it, Tony?” asked Blair, laughing. “Me working in that Anti-Grav factory, bustin’ my brains with formulas and my boss breathin’ down my neck about time management and mission statements, not to mention the mission to Ganymede! And you! A cushy job at the university, teachin’ Earth history out of some dusty ol’ textbook that’s older ‘n you! An’ those college girls these days!” Blair whistled in admiration. “Beats me how you can keep your mind on your work.”

      “It’s deep stuff, Jon. They flooded their whole darn planet, for Pete’s sake! Then they went nuts from radiation and blew themselves to smithereens, ‘cause the few sane people left thought they were doing the right thing for humanity.” Blair’s eyes widened.

      “I thought they had a big nuclear war or somethin’!”

      Sidney glanced furtively around the bar. He leaned towards Blair.

      “I don’t really know myself. I found it in this big folder marked ‘Confidential.’ It seems the government wanted this stuff kept pretty hush-hush.” Blair raised his eyebrows. “Yep, there’s a lot that the Council knows that it doesn’t say, More than you or I can guess.

      “So it seems that the Earth’s inhabitants, our ancestors, had been getting most of their energy from fossil fuels, which release harmful gases in the atmosphere. These gases created a hole in the ozone layer, a section of the atmosphere that prevents harmful ultraviolet rays from reaching the surface of the planet. Scientists tried to warn the people of the impending threat and get them to help the scientists prevent it, but the majority of the people didn’t take them seriously, and continued their lifestyle as it had always been. In the very near future, for them, but still very long ago for us, the planet became hotter and hotter. There were droughts and floods, and many hurricanes. The planet evolved, in essence, into a gigantic greenhouse. The polar ice caps melted, and because of the magnitude of the ice, and the damage done by nuclear bombings, (which had obliterated nearly all mountains, leaving the Earth a flat wasteland) the entire surface of the Earth was under water!

      “The people adapted, and lived under huge glass domes on the ocean floor. But the ultraviolet radiation was still a threat.

      “Earth’s inhabitants mutated. They grew extra arms, extra eyes; gills that let them live outside their domes.

      “And then their brains were affected. People started doing strange things, committing suicide, thinking they could fly, or breathe water, when they had not the means to do so. Thinking other people were food.” Sidney broke off as Blair shivered.

      “So those that weren’t affected banded together. They decided that the best thing to do for humanity was to kill the mutants so they would stop the insanity and deformity. And so this dream was born: a colony on a planet, a colony unaffected by earth and its sorrows. They still had among them the scientists and materials made for such an endeavor. They built robots for the initial preparations, and encoded in them the know-how for terra forming and building biospheres so the humans that would be working on the surface of the planet would be protected. They built robots specifically for the ship: technicians, janitors, farmers, computer-programmers, and others to fill any jobs they felt necessary.

      “Then this colony was built. And it thrived, far greater then any of the original scientist’s dreams.

      “And the remaining scientists on Earth destroyed it, using weapons developed in secret. And thus ended no doubt one of the greatest civilizations in the history of the universe.”

      Blair whistled again, for an entirely different reason.

      “Jeeze! Glad we got away before the radiation hit us!” He looked at Sydney apprehensively. “There’s no way the colonists could’ve had radiation in their cells that they didn’t notice, is there? ‘Cause if there were, then we’d have the whole cycle again!” Jon shook his head.

      “Nope. Their testing systems were extremely accurate. It’s about a one in a billion in their favor. Probably more.” Blair looked relieved.

      “Whew! Still, even one in a kajillion is disquieting.”

      He got up, and shook hands with Sidney. “Well, it’s been good talking with you, Tony. Probably bad for my overall anxiety level, but good.” Sidney laughed.

      “Come over for dinner, sometime, maybe, or chat at the University. See you then.”

      The two men left The Nightingale at precisely eleven thirty at night. They were the last customers, so Aimee, a neo-Asian employee, started clearing up for the night crew.

      Setting empty glasses and bottles on a tray, Lei admired her nails. They were painted a beautiful silver blue, a color the bottle called Titanium Cobalt. It perfectly matched her eyeshadow, and complimented her silver and black uniform. She put the dirty dishes in the cleansing compartment and buffed her long, oval nails on an emery board. She tapped her fingers on the counter. All seven of them.