Quartus Van Der Hout
Outside Rigel City
Eternal Forest, Valuur Province
New Coalition of Earth
20.07.2204
The verdant hilled forest was lush and thick. Cascading around the Capitol City Rigel like a crescent moon shaped wall, tens of kilometers thick and more then a kilometer high leaving a lasting impression. The city spread out in its heart, protecting the citizens and government with the illusion of a barrier to the outside world. They called it the Eternal National Forest, and it was the spot where humanity landed to reclaim its home world. It was why Quartus had taken his family for a short vacation out of the city before he started his posting as a junior senator for the Coalition.
“I told you it would be gorgeous baby, look how big the trees are! And the fresh air, you don’t realize how lucky you are. When I was your age, I grew up under a dome, then a shuttle as a boy.” Quartus said looking at his daughter as the vehicle auto parked on what looked like a cushion of air keeping it floating above the ground. Landing, it dropped two balls like wheels on either side holding the vehicle to the ground similar to the cars of old earth.
“Daddy. Why couldn’t we go to a theme park? This place smells.” Beatrijs said to her father from the back seat with a smile in her voice and mischief in her eyes and a wrinkle in her nose as she smelled the air. Being an exact copy of her mothers bright red hair and deep green eyes, with matching fair alabaster skin made it hard to say no to his daughter, but he always would do what was best for her. As difficult as it was.
“Tris! Your father wanted to get away from the crowds before he starts his new job, and the fresh air will be good for you. Besides you have never seen butterflies, or beetles, birds and squirrels.” Margiet said to her daughter turning in the seat to look at her, matching dazzling green eyes staring at her daughter with the same mischievous smile.
“But roller coasters mom! Come on, zero gravity dome play houses! What could be better.” Tris said with pleading in her face as she matched her mother intense gaze.
“Have you ever jumped off a waterfall? Or fished? Baby I promise if you hate this trip, we will go to the vacation you want next time.” Quartus said disengaging the key and opening the door.
“Don’t make that promise Q. Now she will say she hates it regardless.” Margiet said exiting her door and glaring at her husband with mock anger.
Beatrijs rolled her eyes and laughed as she exited as well. Looking around she was surprised at how many people were at the park camping and hiking. Stopping she looked out at the large groups of people parking and walking out of the parking lot with signs. “Mom, why are they all here? They aren’t camping as well, are they?”
“They are here to protest the new laws restricting the evolved humans and their rights.” Margiet said looking awkwardly at her husband as she inadvertently kneaded her hands together before stopping.
“But why, and they are called Evo’s mom.” Tris said with pride in her voice.
“The thing is honey, when people have abilities. Especially ones they maybe can’t control. They could be a danger to people who live around them, go to school with them and ride the rail to work with them; and some people feel they could be in danger.” Quartus started to say looking up at the large groups of people forming on either side of the road protesting and counter protesting. “But this isn’t the time to talk about this, we need to start our trip, so let’s load up and start hiking the trail to our camp site.” He said putting on his most confident smile for his daughter and wife.
Tris groaned and rolled her eyes again before she walked to the back of the vehicle to help her parents unload the supplies. Being only twelve she wasn’t burdened with more then her backpack containing her clothes and a small electric cooler holding drinks. Quartus grabbed a large backpack that was almost as big as him and slung it over his shoulder. Then he grabbed what looked like a wagon with no wheels and then set is on the ground, the machine started to hum and lifted up off the gravel floating on a cushion of air. Quartus then loaded the rest of the supplies into the wagon other then the last backpack which he slung over her shoulders and shut the trunk.
“Are we all ready to go? Did everyone grab everything?” Margiet asked looking at her husband and daughter.
“Well you wouldn’t let me bring my terminal, so yea.” Tris said putting her hands on her hips attempting to look annoyed.
Quartus stifled his laugh with a hand before he waved his daughter and wife to follow him away from the crowds to the forest trials. As they walked they could hear the crowd getting louder for those moments before they started to get into the trees and the sounds dissipated as they made their way north up the trail to the mountain. The trails were gorgeous in the Eternal Forest, lush thick massive ferns trimmed the forest, made of Evergreens, Cedars, Pine and Spruce trees leaving a pungent sap and fresh smell in the air.
Mosses, grass, mushrooms, flowers, leaves and vines lined the paths, spreading hues of greens anywhere they looked. Soft sea foam blue greens to the dark dense colour of Olive being bathed in broken light from the sun, streaming through the canopy above making the image magical. Large winged insects similar to butterflies floated through patches of bushes, with sparkling lights laminating off them as they trail through the sun.
“Wow!” Tris said stopping and looking as they fluttered past. “What are they dad?”
“A lot of the insects and animals that live here are not the same as those when humanity left. When the asteroid hit the moon, and fractured it into thousands of pieces, some of that hit the earth, raining down rocks and fire, and what we suspect is alien DNA from another universe. The radiation, changes to the moon and planet caused everything that lived here to change dramatically. So, we are still finding and naming everything, and finding out its role in the ecosystem of our newly shaped world.” Quartus said slipping into his politician voice on accident and smiling as he caught himself.
“So that’s a no.” Tris said with a sarcastic smile before giggling and running down the path to chase after some of the bugs.
“She has your intelligence.” Margiet said twining her fingers into her husband’s hand and walking beside him.
“And your looks, your charm and heart.” He said giving her hand a tight squeeze as they walked on after their daughter.
A little over an hour later the family had made their way up the crest of a hill to where a small waterfall surged over the side into a small lake surrounded with camp sites. The natural cropping of the hill and the water flow mixed with the forest, transforming the site into a world upon itself. They all stopped and looked out over the camp site with smiles and appreciation.
They set up a site down at the bottom not more then a hundred feet from the base of the waterfall, giving them a background of soft rain that created a white noise effect that effectively separated them from the rest of the world.
“Ok I have to admit, this is pretty cool.” Tris said to her parents when they finished setting up and staking the pop-up tents and lounge tent that they would be staying for the weekend.
“I knew you would love it.” Quartus said smiling at his daughter.
“Slow down, I said it was cool. I didn’t say I loved it.” Tris said walking down the waters edge to explore some of the campsite further down that had children playing.
“I think she gets her sarcasm from you.” Quartus said to his wife with a quick smile and a wink. “But we should probably start making lunch, what are you hungry for?”
“Your cooking?” Margiet said looking at her husband. “How about you take charge of cleaning up and helping me when I need it, so we have something edible to eat.”
“I can cook! You love my cooking.” Quartus said with half a laugh in his voice as he started to unpack some hamburger buns, vegetables and condiments.
“If it wasn’t for me, you would have starved a long time ago Q. You had servants and chefs growing up, you never really learned.” Margiet said laughing. “Which is fine, because that means I get to cook for you.”
Quartus narrowed his eyes at his wife with mock outrage. “Are you saying that because I was raised wealthy, that I am useless?” He put his hands on his hips. “Your probably right. Ill go get some water to purify so I can clean the veggies.”
Margiet laughed as she watched her husband walk away and collect water for the food. Going back to unpacking everything and setting up the BBQ to cook the hamburgers.
Quartus was back in a few minuets and unpacked the purify pump that would pull all the water out of one jug and clean it leaving nothing harmful and spraying into another jug providing clean water. Setting up next to his wife they went about preparing lunch for their daughter.
After everything was consumed and cleaned up put away, Tris decided to go play with some kids she had maid friends with a few camp sites over. Mr. and Mrs. Van Der Hout went for a short walk around the waters edge, to take in the sites as the afternoon went on in beautiful bliss. A few hours went by as they enjoyed the waters edge, the waterfall and a few conversations with other campers the family had all made their way back to the camp site for dinner.
The waterfall, like some of the hills glowed, some of them glowed a faint crimson red, a dull yellow, an electric green and a deep ocean blue. Reacting with animals and the people that walked by, they were still a large mystery as to why they glowed, but the effect was beautiful. As they walked over the ridge they could see the whole camp site and beyond to the parking lot where their vehicle was parked, and the protest was getting larger.
“Why even protest here? This is a park.” Margiet said wrapping her hands around her husband’s waste looking out.
“It’s the landing site and the first living site before the city was built. With only two official ways into the city, its also a choke point for everyone coming in from the south, which is almost everyone. It makes a great statement to the government and gives their cause a lot of exposure.” He said looking out with her. “Its going to cause hell on the floor.”
“Do you really think this is going to cause issues in the Senate? Who cares if these people have the ability to fly or change what they look like.”
“A lot of people. I’m on the fence about it honestly. I think it could be dangerous, for the majority of people living here, and you and Beatrijs safety matters to me.” He said pulling his wife a little closer.
“Well we should head back down and grab Tris and see if she wants to play a game.” Margiet said patting his butt and grabbing his hand before pulling him down the path.
“We can start a fire, maybe roast marshmallows. There was a trend this from before the fall, it was cooking the marshmallow on a fire and putting it in between sweet crackers and chocolate, they call it S’mores. It was in the archive site for camping pastime activities.” He said following her with his smile that came back easily.
“You’re such a geek. How much time did you spend looking up stuff and making plans for this weekend?” She asked half laughing at her husband as she adored his gesture.
“Maybe six or seven hours. But it was more or less tricks and tips, advice and reviews on spots to camp. Neither of us had done it before so I thought we should be as prepared as possible.” Quartus said defensively not seeing the smile is his wife’s eyes.
They made it down to the camp site in a less then twenty minuets, saving time because they didn’t stop to chat with anyone as they made their way back. As they got to the bottom the sky had mostly set into a deep plum around the edges and a clear picture came into view of the broken moon, its pieces and the meteor field in the sky. Soft white lamps laminated the path and waters edge, so the campers could stay safe. Beatrijs was playing with friends she had made at their camp site when the showed up, the girl was the same age yet was a few inches taller with roughly the same thin yet healthy build.
“Dad, mom, this is Ashley. She is camping with her family a few sites over and I thought I would invite her over to play games with us if that’s ok.” She said with big doe eyes trapping her parents.
“Yea that should be fine hunny. I was just telling your mom about some of the things I read about camping on the archives from before.”
“You’re such a nerd dad.” Tris said with a laugh covering her mouth with her hand as her new friend followed suit, prompting them to dissolve into a series of giggles and snorts for a few minuets before they regained their composure. “Ok so what did you find out? Anything interesting?”
“They are called Smort’s or something.” Margiet said half laughing from behind her husband making his face go slightly red prompting the girls into another gale filled fit of laughter.
“S’mores.” He said correcting his wife with a devilish grin before turning back to his daughter and her new friend. “They are sweet crackers, marshmallows and chocolate. You roast the marshmallow in the fire until its golden brown and gooey in the center, then you place it between two crackers with the chocolate in the center making a kind of sandwich.” He said explaining it to all the girls with hand motions in the air.
“Sounds delicious.” Ashley said with a smile looking at Tris.
“OK, I’m game. Do we have everything dad?”
He just gave his daughter a flat look for a few moments before saying with a wounded voice. “When have I ever forgotten anything?”
“Like twice daily.” Tris said with an evil smile.
“I think your daughter is calling you out hunny.” Margiet said walking back up to everyone with chairs to sit around the fire.
“I get no respect around here.” Quartus said with a laugh as he grabbed a few metal rods about a meter long with wood handles, crackers, marshmallows and chocolate and dropped them at his feet as he sat down. “So, as I was saying, I brought everything.”
“He remembers once, and this is what we get.” Tris said to her friend with a laugh making Margiet and Ashley both laugh once more.
“Ok, so it’s comedy night at the forest.” He said to the girls, grabbing out the marshmallows and chocolate to start the process of making the S’mores. “Ok come and get the ingredients and lets all try this.”
A loud boom went off in the distance, followed by a lot of shouting and what sounded like gun fire causing everyone to flinch and look off in the distance searching for the source of the sound.
“Mom? Dad?” Margiet said looking at her parents with fear laminating in her eyes. “What’s happening?”
Quartus stood up and looked off in the distance towards where the parking lot was located, which was echoed by his fellow campers as they got out of their chairs, tents, and benches to see what was causing the commotion. “Ashley, I think it would be a good time for you to run back to your parents site.” Quartus said still looking off in the distance at the now glowing red area of forest.
“Yea, yea ok. I’ll see you later Beatrijs.” Ashley said practically running to her parent’s camp site.
Both Quartus and Margiet looked at each other as another round of gun shots went off followed by More shouts and screams that were no longer just angry sounding but also scared. A loud explosion went off as a huge arc of lime green energy with a fuzzy yellow glow cut through the forest and into the lake making it bubble and steam instantly before It disappeared in an instant. Leaving fire and scorched earth in the areas it effected.
“Ok we need to go now.” Margiet said walking over to her daughter and practically lifting her out of her chair.
“We are going to head up to the other side of the hill, it will provide us some cover from whatever this is.” Quartus said setting off in a walk with his daughter and wife in toe. Some of the campers caught on to Quartus line of thinking and started to follow as more shot started to ring out, followed by screaming and shouting from the forest.
Panicked eyes laminated the path, reflecting the lights discharged from the explosions off in the parking lot. Shallow breaths mixed with frightful whispers of the panicked campers was the only sounds that escaped anyone’s lips as they trekked up the hill. Quartus kept looking over his shoulder towards the explosions and bangs that were picking up in pace and volume.
“What’s happening?” Beatrijs asked again with more panic in her voice as she followed her parents. “Why are they hurting each other.”
Both Quartus and Margiet and looked at each other but didn’t reply. As they walked over the crest of the hill that was giving everyone a modicum of cover from the assault that was playing out; they laid down on the ground to get as much cover as possible. The rest of the campers followed suit lining up in groups together, huddled in fear as louder and brighter blasts started to ring out closer to their location.
A giant arc of reddish plasma rang out from the bangs like a stream of water from a hose. The plasma, super heated as it was carved out chunks of earth from the hill leaving large trenched smoking scares in the ground as the plasma moved around seemingly without a clear target or aim.
A deep rumble made the hill and everyone seeking cover on it shake as the hill seemed to shift, then becoming an earthquake that made everyone standing fall to the ground and hold on for dear life as the hill shifted, twisted and broke underneath them.
“RUN!” Quartus said on instinct grabbing his daughter and lifting her into his arms as his wife tried to get to her feet to follow. Making his way down the hill as fast as he could, stumbling due to the bone rattling shaking that was tearing the hill apart. Looking back, he watched his wife pick herself up off the ground with bloodied hands, stumbling after her husband.
Half of the way down the hill a great rip emanated from the hill as half of it became cleaved in two. Earth, rock and fire fell as everything started to fall apart around the family as they went down the hill seeking safety.
“Quartus!” Margiet screamed in a blood curdling call making Quartus turn to his wife’s voice just in time to watch her fall out of site as the earth collapsed underneath her in a cloud of smoke, ash and embers.
“No. No, NOO.” Quartus screamed with terror and pain with a despondency and disbelief etching every feature, then turning and running with his daughter still in his arms as tears started to leak out of his eyes.
Explosions started to go off everywhere as they made it to the bottom of the hill, just as Quartus made it to safety the hill finished it destruction as it collapsed into nothing, leaving a gaping hole in the earth that was draped in darkness.
“Daddy!” Screamed Beatrijs as her eyes got even bigger watching trees explode from an unseen force destroying everything around them.
“Get down.” Said Quartus as he pushed his daughter to the ground and hunched over her to protect her from the barrage of wooden shrapnel from the once full lush forest. Large pieces started to pepper him with great enough force that he was knocked side ways and to the ground with a grunt as lancing pain raked his ribs, head and legs.
Partially losing consciousness, Quartus looked up at his daughter. Just a few feet away sprawled out on the ground with fear in her big eyes as she looked around at the war like scene unfolding and destroying the world around her. Quartus tried to get up and couldn’t as his limbs trembled with the effort of trying to rise. “Bea!” He screamed out.
Beatrijs started to get up and dust her self off as the ground shook with the force of a destructive earthquake. Barley keeping her feet under her she squatted to keep her balance and went to step forward as gun shots started to ring out again as the screaming got closer. Bullets started to impact the ground only yards away from them as another large arc of red plasma swiped out killing and destroying everything it touched with screams being silenced sharply. Looking at each other Beatrijs smiled at her father as the plasma swiped her through its path, instantly vaporizing her leaving nothing but red mist to slowly drift to the ground.