Snow, Ships and Sunsets

Four sat in his room in Europa’s little outpost, clicking through old ham radio channels while he watched some videos he had saved on his comm. In the five years since they’d lost contact with Earth, he’d tried everything to reach out to their missing home. Nothing had worked. No text messages had gone through, no emails had managed to send. The internet was down, and even after his best attempts, Four hadn’t managed to build a big enough server room to bring it back up again. The best he could manage was a few thousand YouTube videos, and even then, crusty old vines weren’t the same without 42.

His hand tightened on the radio receiver.

42 had stayed on Earth per Victor’s request, having been asked to translate some documents from his native language.

Knowing that Victor was gone now didn’t stop the pain from aching in his soul whenever he thought about it.

He shook himself, shooing away his thoughts and going back to clicking through frequency after frequency of static. This was important, he told himself, he hadn’t tried the ham radio yet.

Four knew he had already all but given up hope on making contact with the rest of humanity again.

Static.

He tuned the radio to the next frequency.

Static.

He did it again.

Static.

He moved his hand to change the frequency again but paused, listening in growing astonishment as a crackly voice cut distantly through the line. From what he could tell, it sounded feminine in nature.

“………Hello….? Is……..anyone there…..? My name is…….Vega…..I’m calling from……….America…….please………respond……”

He nearly dropped the receiver, hands shaking as he pressed the button to turn on his receiver.

“Hello!! This is Four, I’m calling from Europa, we’ve been trying to get into contact with Earth for five years. What’s going on? Is everyone okay? Are you okay?”

He couldn’t stop the rising hope from sneaking into his voice. Finally, a chance to figure the mystery out, after all these years!

“……….Four……….Europa…….?…….this…….sick joke……….guys………I……told you to leave my……..alone…….”

Four panicked at the way that the girl’s slightly staticky voice sounded irritated, how her tone indicated that she was about to put down the reciever and leave the radio.

“Wait,” he said frantically, “I swear this isn’t a joke. We’ve been stranded here for five years and I just want to know what’s going on. Please. You never have to contact me ever again afterwards, I don’t care, just please tell me what happened.”

There was silence on the line for a moment.

“……….you……..don’t know………apocalypse…….?”

Suddenly his throat ran dry. Four swallowed, questioning whether he really wanted to know or not. Maybe he was better off not knowing.

“….No? What apocalypse?”

“……..hold……second…….”

The line cut, going to static. He sat there anxiously, hands grasping the receiver with white knuckles.

“Don’t panic,” he mumbled to himself, trying not to let his sudden terror get the best of him. He probably misheard, right? There was no apocalypse! That was absurd!

Yet he knew in his heart that it was true. He hadn’t misheard, there was no other way that the entire web would have gone down.

“…….you……playing a joke…..on me….?”

The girl questioned suddenly on the line, making him jump.

“No! I swear I’m not lying,” he replied quickly, focusing back on the situation at hand. Four could’ve sworn he heard the girl huff, but it must have been his imagination because she quietly set into her story.

“…….nobody knows…….what happened……five years ago…….but…….all…..know…….Earth changed………tides rose………earthquakes shook……cities…….continents shifted……..and volcanoes………made the ground breathe………a living thing…………..not everyone………..made it……….only the best of us…….I……never lost hope……..find others………but………never did……until now……..with you……”

Four blinked, processing. He knew he had missed some of it through the long-distance static, but after a little bit he managed to piece things together well enough for it to click.

“I’m….I’m sorry,” he started, trailing off and looking down, not knowing what else he should say.

It was worse than he could have ever imagined it to be.

Silence on the line for a moment, then a soft sigh. He heard the slight crackle of a chip bag opening, and some idly detached part of him wondered what kind of chips this girl was eating. He opened his mouth to ask, but was interrupted by the sound of his alarm going off.

“Shit,” he started, “I have to go.”

“………can you……radio me……..again………?”

Four hesitated at the sound of the girl’s voice, halfway through putting on his jacket. He stopped, considered, then sighed and walked back over to the receiver.

“Yeah. Does tomorrow night at this same time work for you?”

“……….yeah…….perfect……….”

Four smiled slightly, leaning in close to the receiver and grinning.

“Alright, I look forward to it then, Vega”