To Where the Sun Rises (Part 2 of 'A Tale of People and Apples' Trilogy)

Chapter 20: The Lost Continent

34 years ago.

Before him, a great glass door of blue and energy lurched open, creaking slowly and welcoming in the Scientist.

Before he entered the great blue shimmering doors, he looked back towards the shore of the new continent. He could no longer see the submarine that he stole from his uncle and that landed upon the Lost Continent, nor the shore, so deep in the forest terrain, bewildered every step he took upon a land mass that never existed, hiding somehow in plain sight, and now stumbling upon the incredible hall with his tiny quad vehicle.

But somehow Solan knew that the place he now walked upon and into always existed. With a tablet he held, he mapped his journey from his arrival on the shore to the great castle he just found.

As the shining blue door shut behind him, his eyes adjusted to the great light of the gigantic hall. The floor stretched forth and was of shining gold marble, pillars of crystal stood like giants to his right and left. In front and at the very end of the marble hall was a great door, somewhat out of place, with black iron laced upon a wooden door.

"Greetings. Our modelling has indicated you are right on time. We have been expecting you."

Solan was not shocked by the booming voice in the hall, but he was shocked at whose voice it was. It was his mother's, but Gwenta was still on the old continent. He knew after several seconds passed that the voice was calibrating and translating in his mind to someone he knew and a language he understood. His people, or any people he knew for that matter, did not build such a fortress, nor were they capable of what he knew these people were capable of. Their ability to hide the planet from the cosmos was a man-made discovery. And Solan was finally among the creators.

"I sense pupil dilation, a galvanic skin response, and a quickened heart rate. Is this voice more to your liking?" The voice said to Solan, switching to his uncle Felix's mid sentence.

Solan shook his head again within the shining hall as he continued to walk towards the door at the end.

"Does this voice suffice...? I am glad."

The voice must have sensed Solan calm at its final selection, as he noticed himself calm as well.

It was Thaia's voice.

"Where am I?" Solan asked the voice. He knew whoever he found himself among were the authors of the cave drawings on his home continent. That they wanted to be found here, and they finally were by Solan.

"I know you have questions, and my sincerest apologies. But my programmers have ensured you are aware of the rules constraining this chamber before you have your inquiries."

Solan looked around the great hall and nodded for the voice to continue.

"Thank you. There are three rules in this chamber. The first is that you may stay and ask as many questions as you want, but the longer you stay, the more time passes between you and your loved ones on the Other Continent. The more time you stay here, the more time you waste there. And it is the most precious currency of all... to some."

Solan didn't bother asking about the difference in the perception of time on either continent. As he raced across the ocean in his uncle's submarine, he noticed the sun stop moving, even though his heart beat at the same rhythm. His mental calculations told him that a year his body spent on the new continent would be a day spent on the old, realizing the time change happened the moment he no longer could see the coast of his departure.

When he returned, the sun would have barely moved, yet his body would have aged many, many days. It was why the depictions in the cave that his uncle Felix and aunt Mayla discovered had one sun above the new continent and many upon the old. It wasn't showing the number of suns - it was showing how a human perceived it moving though the sky depending on the continent that they stood upon.