ANTHRO XII

Despite my detesting of joining the EPTC, solely upon the proposition that I may become separated from Abigale; she submitted the paperwork anyway. I had the notion that I would join the archeological team aboard ANTHRO; the very team with which I had an affiliation with via Branson and Terrence. It was the very branch which took me from Earth and brought me back so that I may see its current dilapidated state – how nuclear war had devastated it and left it inhospitable for life.

But she was having none of it, she knew this was my passion, the desire to join the coalition to terraform Prora – this hellacious frozen ball of a planet into a new Earth, and no matter what she was going to push until I at least gave it a chance.

“They need you, Ray, you’re the only one in the past 300 years who knew of Earth, what it was like first-hand!” she proclaimed vehemently, adding that sassy sway to her hips as I began to pace around. But the awkwardness was thoroughly interrupted by a high pitch tone emanating from my wrist.

My PES system – that little wristwatch of a computer – began to come to life, indicating I had an incoming communications request. Once I answered it, the screen lit up to reveal an automated message, one made by what I could presume as the head honcho of the EPTC – a rather formally dressed white tiger, he was clean cut and his fur neatly groomed. His bright blue eyes captivated my attention, almost hypnotizing me and making me ignore his message;

“Attention to all residents and ANTHRO connoisseurs; there is a mandatory assembling of all new recruits to the Extra-Planetary Terraform Coalition, the EPTC, being held aboard the ‘New Horizon’ stationed at Dock 8. Failure to attend this assembly within the next hour will result in the termination of your application; you must bring your PES system with you for verification. I repeat, all new recruits for the EPTC are required to assemble upon Dock 8 where the ‘New Horizon’ is stationed within the next hour – sincerely, Captain Vance J. Raul of the New Horizon”

“Sounds to me like you need to get going! Dock 8 is just down the ways from ANTHRO, you can’t miss it.” The sweet arctic fox said, putting her hand on her hips, Abigale seemed all too adamant that I pursue this career. It is what I want but I was just hoping I could spend the rest of my days with her aboard ANTHRO, not this ship…the “New Horizon”.

“Ok…but what about the New Horizon?”

“It’s a ship sanctioned for the EPTC and its functions, there’s no guarantee you will be stationed aboard her…there are a few of their scientists and contemporaries who are stationed aboard ANTHRO as well, you may be one of the lucky ones to be assigned there.” She reassured, but I still had my doubts. Either way, I found myself venturing back out into the cold unsavory conditions of Prora.

The planet had a very thin atmosphere, but stable enough to keep at least minimal breathing air available in its ecosystem. One was to minimize their exposure, or else risk the fate of suffocation, and the effects of hypoxia and hypothermia to riddle their bodies as part of the landscape – frozen organic raisins.

The sky above was forever shrouded in a layer of gray clouds, sunlight percolated just enough through to provide a gloomy and eerie mood to the landscape which seemed to be encased in crystals. It was not snow or visible ice, but instead an encrusted layer of dark, earthen tone metallic dust. It gleamed with any light source emanating from the household apartments which lined the city, the streets and alleyways were lined with the stuff, crunching beneath a booted paw with every step.

After a few minutes I finally reached the docks, several large waterfronts, metallic ports lined along the embankments of an ammonia rich ocean. A very cold and bitter wind blew the frozen salt deposits which bombarded the body, acting like razor sharp projectiles which stung and abraded the fur and flesh. Luckily for me I had a spare protective suit provided by Abigale, it was lightweight but provided proper insulation against the cold and thick carbon fiber protective layers on the exterior.


Each dock was marked with an LED marquee sign which rattled off the Docking Number and the sanctioned ship. There were easily several dozen docks available, with less than half of them occupied by a single ship. Of course Dock 3 was occupied by a ship I was all too familiar with, the ANTHRO, a large universal hospital and medical research vessel which housed a small population of scientists and researches from abroad the spectrum of fields of study to ensure maximum efficiency of the ships functions and the duties of those professions should the ship happen to find or be in the neighborhood of a potential planet which could harbor life, or be recognized as a potential target for it.

Even though my destination was nearby in comparison to dock numbers, within walking distance and sheer size and expansion of the docks, the trek seemed to take forever. The ships and the docks they were harbored in, were unfathomably enormous, each ship and dock easily taking a couple of miles for each. Luckily once I reached the docks, there was a small shuttle available to safely transition people to their destinations. The docks were far busier than I remember when we landed here just a day ago, each ship’s crew steadily at work, wearing protective gear to allow for extended periods of exposure to Proras atmosphere. They were refueling the ship, shuttling resources, equipment and repairing the damaged hulls which had been struck by asteroids or immobile space debris.

A few members I seen as I passed by, were beginning to repair and reassemble mechanical components to some of the minor sized ships engines which were used as quick response crafts, or at least internally stored shuttles which were harbored within the main ship itself.

I was distracted from my sight seeing when a hovering craft stopped beside me, and a voice called out, “Hey! You here for the assembly on Dock 8? Get on!” I could see the individual was a rather mangey looking coyote, his fur all ruffled around his collar where his own protective suit stopped. His fur and suit were mottled and dirty looking, like he had been dipped in grease. The craft looked like a small ship, the hum of the engine and the haze of the heat it produced frizzed the air below it.

“Yes, I am, thanks!” I announced and took his paw which he held out. He pulled me up as I placed a foot paw upon the wing of the craft, causing it to slightly roll with my weight. Once I sat within the passenger seat behind him, he began to enclose the cockpit of the craft with its retractive sunroof.

“My name’s Cody, nice to meet ya!”

“Ray, pleasure’s all mine, so you’re a recruit as well?”

“Me? Naw, I’m just a mechanic, part of the crew for the ‘New Horizon’ makin’ sure she flies right and don’t fall outta the sky,” he said with a humorous chuckle, he had that certain way of talking that reminded me of an accent back on Earth, something called to me to say a ‘Southern’ accent, but I wasn’t sure. “So, you’re looking to change the world, eh? That’s good on ya man!”

He was almost to the point of being obnoxious, but he was giving me a free ride, I couldn’t be too rude to him, and being as rustic as he is, something tells me if I piss him off enough, he might knock me upside the head with a wrench.

“Yeah, at least that’s my hope…going to be a lifelong task to assemble this planet into something that could resemble Earth…”

“Earth? That radioactive wasteland of a planet? Tch, why in the universe would you want that here? We want to form a planet worth living on, not being scorched within!”

Now his annoyance became too much for me, “Earth wasn’t like that at all at one time! It was livable, with a stable environment, healthy ecosystem and flourishing fauna and life! It had fresh water and a comfortable temperature, unlike this frozen hellhole!”

“Ya don’t say? Well I’m no scientist as you can tell, how the hell would I know what Earth was like before?” he protested, beginning to dock the small craft within a large ships’ private docking port, “Well we’re here fella, I need to get back to work, ain’t got time to discuss matters beyond my pay grade…you have fun now and maybe I’ll see ya around sometime.”

“So, this is the New Horizon?” I asked, “Yup, just walk down the set of stairs there and it’ll bring you down to the port where they are having their nerdy meeting, good luck!” his voice trailing as he walked away, aiming his direction to the interior of the ship while I remained the shuttle for a moment.

The ship was massive, about twice the size easily as the ANTHRO. It took my breath away at the sheer size of her, decks upon decks stacked within, its own port capable of holding hundreds of smaller shuttle ships like Cody’s own, towering high above in multiple layers; all conjoined with multiple narrow open metal stairway all conjoined like the fire-escape walkways in an apartment building.

I clambered down the stairway he pointed to, amidst our argument, I had failed to realize the ship had elevated to a deck several floors above the dock. I had traversed 13 flights of stairs, each flight being leveled off with a platform connected to the seceding dock until I reached the bottom beneath the ship where I seen the mass of young, new ample bodies gathering in a large mosh pit.

‘This was it’, I thought, time to see how deep the proverbial rabbit hole goes and if this was the path I wish to take.
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My submission for this weeks  Thursday_Prompt this prompt was inspired by the word: Assembling.

The tale continues where it left off, and now the time has come for his calling into the new program for which he signed up for. The hardest decision of his life and one that will alter his future has come upon him, it seems as though he's not ready, yet. But he must be, goes to show you always get what you wish for.

Feedback is greatly appreciated on how I'm doing with the series and these stories individually.