26 April 2012
Then the wardens came. They sped past on their animals, cutting uncaringly close to my feet whilst trying to separate the audience from its entertainment. Within minutes the area was declared off limits. They warned that the cycle was becoming hostile, that more of these “Stones” could fall out of the sky at any time. I didn’t believe them.
That was the last we heard of the Stone, no more were seen that day, nor any other day after. No history papers ever taught about it, though many conspiracy theorists speculated of its existence. Some would claim it was aliens, others that it was a sign from God. The majority, however, simply shrugged it off into non-existence. Sometimes I would wonder whether it was just another dream, like the ones I’d had as a child.
As the cycles went by, society progressed to a level of intelligence that made my younger years seem practically primal. Somewhere along the way my vocation to discover the secrets behind the storm got lost. Instead I trained as an engineer, being one of the first in our sector to construct and pilot a Motorised Land Vehicle. From time to time I would pilot down to one of the adjacent sectors, to an unpopulated place under one of the epicentres, and just lay down, watching as the lightning carved wounds into the darkness.
After many more cycles of pioneering innovations in technology, the day finally came for me to discover the answers I had sought out for so long. A local science team had commissioned a project to investigate the behaviour of the storm. In order to accomplish this, they drafted a proposal that involved construction of a vehicle that could travel upwards through the air, bringing an array of equipment to take m readings from the clouds. After several passionate requests to manage the project, they eventually caved.
The time leading up to launch went so quickly, it felt like mere microns before we were in the air...
Weathered Worlds: 3/10 • Opuss № I