First P O V
As far back as I can remember, I've always been alone. I have been a lonely soul all my life because I was not 'like the others'.
My birth, strangely I remember it... I was born, I cried, I saw the face of a gentle man in front of me and of a very beautiful woman on a bed resuming his breathing.
"Congratulations...it's a boy." The doctor had said.
Once well 'cleaned up', I was put on my mom's chest and I heard one of the nurses talking "Why does he have white hair."
"It's because he's 'special'." My father responded by stroking my cheek.
After the nurses left, I saw my parents looking at each other and they saw that I could understand what the others were saying. They said something that made me cry instantly.
"You must stay away from us."
I looked at them. I looked at my father crying and kissing me on the forehead, repeating to myself that he was sorry. I saw my mother kiss me in turn on my forehead asking for forgiveness but promising me that one day I would find them. Night came and when I woke up the next day, they were gone.
The nurse, who had arrived in the morning, held me in her arms with such coldness towards my parents that I thought she was going to freeze me to the spot. I cried trying to ask my parents not to abandon me and asking them why they were doing this. My mother and father had disappeared without a trace. No address, no messages, no clothes. Nothing.
"Don't worry, you little one, I'm sure they have a good reason for doing this." The nurse sniffled softly as she entered a nursery and I sniffled several times in turn.
I had left the hospital and I grew up in an orphanage. Growing up, I always kept my hair white which made me look like an old person. Even when I had several exams, there was nothing normal, but the other children and some nannies treat me differently. Strangely, my intelligence was more developed than the other children. I told teachers and my personal tutor dates of wars that others did not know, I knew how to cook pasta, meat and pancakes when the cooks were absent from the canteen and I could easily count up to 83,426,578,479 in less than 5 days.
Because of my intelligence, the children did not play with me. They always left me alone. So to kill my loneliness, I took the science books from the orphanage library and studied them again and again even though I had finished the books. I studied the different planets, and the other galaxies wondering if I would have the chance to travel in my turn. I watched science channels on TV when no one was watching, I created tools to help me escape from the orphanage and find my parents. And with each failure of my inventions, instead of letting myself down, I continued. To the point of creating a ship.
Even though I was alone, it was fine. Science was my only friend.
I grew up alone, I studied alone.
Even now I was alone.
One year ago, an incurable disease decimated 3/4 of the planet. People were infected with a kind of deadly virus and people were ordered not to leave their homes. Unfortunately, many people have died without me or other scientists finding anything. As my colleagues also died, the earth began to shake and villages began to disappear under the floods when it rained.
Then it was cities, then whole countries.
There was no one left. One night I woke up with a start and felt my bed shaking beneath me. I realized at the time that the earthquakes had come closer to my house in the mountains. According to my calculations, I would only have one hour to be able to escape from here. When I got up in my pajamas, I saw the walls crumbling around me. I took my notes from my bedside table, my food from my fridge and clothes from my closet and I rushed to the garage, where my ship was.
I opened the door and loaded everything I had into the passenger seat and took control. I then took a small remote control out of my pocket and opened the large garage doors. As I closed the ship's door, I saw the ground parting. This ship... it was double or nothing. I had only piloted it once and it had been moderately successful since my ship had not lasted an hour in flight. I fastened my seat belt and turned on the control panel.
"Come on big boy, I'm counting on you." I prayed.
Staring at the open doors, heart beating a thousand miles and trembling in my hands, I had to concentrate as much energy as possible. My vessel blowing air replacing the sounds of tremors. A jolt caused me to lose my concentration for a moment. I turned my head for a while to see pieces of wall collapsing.
I held my controller in one hand and the push lever in the other. Once my ship rose into the air, I huffed in relief for a moment. My ship was flying and that was good news as my floor was starting to disappear. I activated my turbo engine and gently pushed the crank forward.
Once the engine warmed up, I pushed the crank harder forward and it went straight into the air.
That's was close...
Looking back, I saw my house disappear underground, or rather what was left of it. I cast a brief glance in what remained of cities or countries but there was nothing. Not a single living soul. So, I assumed that everywhere on the planet, it was the same thing. And the hope of finding my parents was gradually disappearing.
I took a deep breath and continued to fly through the air, until I disappeared from the clouds. The higher I went, the more I felt my heart clench in my chest. Not only was I leaving Planet Earth, but it was also my ship's second flight. My panel was showing 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 feet. The more it increased, the more I saw the planet shrinking behind me. I checked the fuel gauge from time to time and was relieved to see that I had enough for a long time depending on my situation.
When I saw satellites trying to block my way, I quickly realized that I had finally left the earth. I quickly glanced around and the only thing I saw, other than the earth, was the sun. I flew around but my disappointment was immense when I saw no other planet like Neptune, Mars or Jupiter. Worse still, the planet earth disappears in turn in front of my eyes when I returned to my position seeing only the satellites.
Sighing, I gradually moved away from the sun, leaving it in the same situation as me: alone.
From the moment I left the Galaxy, I started counting the days in my calendar and my logbook. Even though I know there is no hope for humans anymore, I was hoping that at least somewhere there was a Galaxy for me.
Days followed, then weeks, then months. I made various trajectories, search the rare galaxies that I found to see nothing in the end. After 3 years, I could no longer find myself in space. But my greatest joy was knowing that my ship was holding up despite that.
My patience was rewarded when I found another galaxy and when entering I saw several planets. But my joy was short-lived.
While flying, I knew that one day my ship was going to drop me but I did not think that it was going to drop me so close to the goal. According to my calculations, it would have lasted at least for 5 or even 7 years with the fuel gauge I had. I panicked when I saw that the right engine had exploded and the landing brakes were out of service. Ignoring the flashing alarms, I steered my ship towards the first nearby planet.
It was a planet that ranged in color from white to tan, it was quite serviceable on the outside but as my nanny at the orphanage always said : never judge a book by its cover.
My ship's alarms were ringing and, like when I left my garage on Earth, I feared for my life. Once the clouds passed, I could see towns and creatures for a brief moment. Looking outside, my right mounter was still smoking and I veered off course to (crash) land in a deserted area. Luckily, there was one nearby.
My ship was falling and crashing into the dessert. The only relief is that there were hardly any locals there either. I stared at the billboard: 50,000 feet. 20,000 feet. 10,000 feet. 5,000 feet. The more I went down the more I felt the crash coming. There was very little chance that I would come out unscathed. Finally, the fatal blow came and my ship stopped. Even having fastened my seatbelt, my head hit the dashboard violently. A single blow can be fatal.
It's over...
My vision was blurred and I felt excruciating pain in my head. I still heard the dashboard sound the various alarms but my body refused to budge. Then I heard my door open with a crash and several voices around. I weakly turned my head and saw several yellow and gray shadows coming towards me and pulling me from my seat. The smaller yellow shadow hugged me while the other yellow and gray shadow spoke.
"Kaden, take those things too. He might need them to communicate."
"Okay, Alister."
I closed my eyes smiling that I was saved and maybe I had finally found a new home...