Chapter Text
At 2:45pm on the 29th of October in 2092 A.D, Avariya destroyed the world.
The day had begun simply enough. At 7:30am she and her Mum took a taxi out of downtown London. Avariya had stared out the window, but she couldn't see anything. The fog hung thick and empty over the city. Still, if the morning had been clear, there would not have been much to see. Everyone who was anyone was headed the same way she and Mum were.
At 8:28am they were dropped off at the launch site. The compound was imposing, the walls far too high to see over. Avariya clutched her mother’s hand tighter. A guard directed them through the gate and to the left. For the next five hours they stood in a queue that wound in through the thick double doors of a cinderblock building and down hallway after crisp bright hallway until 11:32am when the two of them reached the security checkpoint.
The guard took their documents and looked down to consider them. Then back up at Mum. "Sorry, but is that natural?" she asked, "Your hair I mean—it's just gorgeous."
Mum smiled, and Avariya tuned out of the rest of the conversation. Years ago she had admired Mum's white blond hair just like everyone else. Then one day she had complained about her own dull hair. Smirking, Mum had shown her the cabinet in the bathroom where she kept the hair dye. Mum was something of an artist in front of a mirror, and now Avariya was a natural blonde too. Somehow it didn't feel as she'd imagined it would.
They got past security at 11:37am and came out into an open waiting area where hundreds of people were milling about. Windows lined the right side of the room, but there was nothing to see out of them. A few magazines lay scattered around the small tables and various seating arrangements. Avariya did not feel like reading. There were too many things in her head right now. She could not bear to put more meaningless words in. There was nothing to do now but wait until 1:00pm. Avariya sat down in a chair with black cushions and closed her eyes.
Nothing was how it used to be. She could feel it in the air—when the smog lifted, the sun was too bright and the wind too hot. Her parents were getting on in the world, but they were never home to talk to each other or to her. And at 1:00pm she and everyone else would walk into the room with the hypersleep capsules and prepare to be shipped off to—oh, she couldn't remember the name—that far inhabitable planet Da had helped to discover. Mum had said it would be just like the old fairy tale. Sure, they might sleep for a hundred years, but it would all pass in the blink of an eye. And when they awoke, the whole world would be brand new. All the mistakes of the past—wiped clean. They could all start over together. Avariya wanted that more than anything. So why was she so unsettled?
A loud noise startled her from her reverie. A man was standing on the other side of the windows on the right, near the emergency exit doors. He thumped his fist on the glass again and again. A few guards appeared as if from nowhere and walked over to deal with the situation.
"Excuse me," the man exclaimed. His voice was muffled through the glass. "I stepped out for a moment, and the door locked behind me."
"You'll have to go around through the front again," one of the guards explained.
The man looked crestfallen. "It’s too late—there isn't time to go through the queue."
"Sir, anyone from the street could walk up to this point. It would compromise the security of the area if we—"
"You have to let me in!" the man shouted, banging on the glass again. "I'll miss the flight! It's not like there's another I can catch later!"
Avariya knew he was right. Only part of the world would make it to this launch. The rest would be left to deal with the aftermath of everything. Maybe that's why it all felt wrong. The adults might be dyeing themselves a new world, but it was all a facade. At some point the old color was going to grow out again and they'd be back in the same place.
"Avariya," Mum said, tapping her shoulder, "it's time."
Avariya stood and began to walk after her mother. Then she spun on her heel and ran back the other way. Before anyone could react she had pushed her way past the guards and out the emergency exit doors. They thudded shut behind her.
"Avariya!" It was Mum. "Avariya, wait!" She ran up to the door, but a guard stepped in her way.
"Ma'am," the guard said, "you can't let her back in."
"She's my daughter! What do you mean I can't—"
"Mum, come with me!" Avariya yelled, "Come out with me!"
Mum and the guard froze in the middle of their budding argument and turned to stare at Avariya.
"I don't need everything to be perfect!" she continued, "I just need you and Da to be there! Don't go where all the important people will steal all your time! Stay here with me!"
Mum didn't say anything, didn't make a move to get around the guard. She just stood there with a blank expression.
"Ma'am," the guard said, "We can let you out. But not in again."
Mum shook her head slowly, tears forming in her eyes. Then she turned around and walked away from the doors.
"Mum?" Avariya said softly.
Mum kept walking.
"Mum! Mum come back!! Where are you going?!" Avariya slammed her palm onto the pane of the door, then again, and again. "Mum, don't leave me here alone!"
Mum never turned around. No one else seemed to notice what had happened. Avariya was still standing there when everyone in the waiting room had filed into the chamber with the hypersleep pods and she was left staring in at an empty room in silence.
Now what?
There was still a chance. Da was a part of this whole thing. Maybe he knew somehow that she hadn't made it to her pod. He was staff, so he had an apartment in the compound. Maybe he was there even now, waiting for her. She turned and ran across the concrete courtyard behind her. She'd never been here before, but she knew her Da's apartment number. That would be enough.
It took her a long time to find it. There were so many buildings and none of them looked particularly distinct. She never would have made it without being stopped, but all the guards had disappeared into a room like the one Mum had entered, never to return.
It was supposed to be a total exodus. Today, at similar locations worldwide, the first set of voyages would embark. But Avariya knew better. She'd heard her parents talking behind closed doors when they thought she was asleep. Only about half of the earth's population would leave today. But it was the half who had been able to secure a spot first—the ones with money or an education. People like her parents. With them gone, many of the organizations that had made this expedition possible would simply shut down. Earth wouldn't have the resources for another set of voyages. Not for a few centuries, at least.
When she finally found the apartment, she ran straight up and tried the door. It was locked. Next she peered in through the window. The blinds were down, and it didn't seem like any lights were on inside. Now she could hear a strange humming noise in the distance, growing louder every second. The ground under her feet began to vibrate. Suddenly the unexpected hope that had carried her all this way dropped out of her chest. The launch was happening now.
Avariya sat down on the doorstep. She didn’t want this—she hadn’t thought it through. Why did she run outside? Why did she not say anything to her parents this morning, or yesterday, or last week. Had she been afraid that they would not listen? What had made her think Mum would listen just now? Avariya bent over, buried her face in her knees, and sobbed. There didn’t seem to be anything else to do.
She was still there at 2:45pm when the rocket carrying her parents set off into the sky, destroying her world forever.