The inhabitants of Planet Zorg have always dreamed of Utopia- a place with all they don't have, or don't have in abundance...
Twins Zing and Fila Arduch dreamt of going out of Planet Zorg to explore since they were kids.
When they get shortlisted fo...
"Let's go?" I ask more than tell Zing, who waves me ahead.
I look around the cabin as if it's my last time here and I walk out. Zing does the same.
For all we know, this could be our last time here in our cabin.
Today is the day. The day Zing and I head out into the great unknown. Not exactly, but all we know is what happens in our system here. Once we're out of our system, there's really no telling what's ahead, let alone at the other end of our galaxy.
But we're doing this. Even if it means our lives, we're going to do as much as we can for the sake of our fellow Zorgians.
Now we're heading to the emergency cabin to check up on our vitals and deem us fit to go on this mission. Zing and I walk silently to the cabin, hand in hand, and take in all that we can see now.
When we near the emergency cabin, everyone near us wear somber faces. I know what's going on everyone's minds: "Why do they have to go?"
Everyone seems to hate that we're leaving.
True, we aren't all that well-known, but we sure did get around here a lot in all the time we've been here. A lot of people have, at the very least, seen or exchanged a couple of words with us, especially me as I did do a lot of odd errands now and then.
Here in Zorg, we have a system of fixing up anything that's broken or maintenance: we let the people in the central service cabin know and they assign somebody to take care of it.
Once, I had nothing much to do that was interesting, so I volunteered at the cabin. That day, I was assigned three places.
Pretty soon, people didn't even go to the cabin for minor issues: they just came to me and I fixed it up at the earliest possible. I'm pretty sure that if I weren't going on this mission, or couldn't find something to do with the DSR, I would have had a big role in the central service cabin.
Now, though, there's no turning back.
For the longest while that I've been here, I've always felt alone and lonely. Sure, Zing was there, and many people regularly chatted me up as well, but I'd always had this feeling that no one but Zing were to care if I just vanished one day.
Zing taps my shoulder. I look up to see that we've reached the emergency cabin. Shrugging off my thoughts, I enter the cabin.
More somber faces inside.
I take off my mask and settle down, trying to stay calm while the members of the cabin assess me.
One of them points at a bruise on my hand and says, "You can't go."
"Please. That's a healing bruise I got from the meteor debris the other day."
When she stares at me, I snap again, "That can't make me unfit to go!!"
"Sorry, I'm sorry." she says.
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She knows it's the truth. She, not unlike many others, is just trying to get me not to go.
"It's not going to work." Zing tells her, "Don't waste your energy."
"I am stubborn." I add.
The rest of the assessment goes by without any adventures and I am deemed fit. So is Zing.
"Thank you for your concern, but this is for your good!!" I say before we walk out.
Many of them wish us luck and say they'll remember us till they die.
"Thank you." we say and then head back to the DSR cabin.
On this walk, though, Zing and I take in all we can of our planet together, talking about it and showing each other the stuff the other missed.
On the way, we pass by the cabin in which we sat and waited for Zippin and then fled because of the meteoroid streams. Of course it's no longer a cabin, but we can see the earlier door that's now more or less a wall in that it's permanently sealed.
Zing pauses there. I turn around to see that his face now wears grief, anger, tension and relief all at once. I guess that's how he felt throughout the incident.
"You know, Fila, I figured you would be on the first out the door seeing that you realized we all had to get out and told us. I thought, maybe, in the flurry that followed, when everyone was trying to get out, that you'd already gone out. I didn't look back. When I was outside and the door was shut, I realized I couldn't see you. I panicked and began looking for you again and again and again. Ulso also seemed to be looking for Petry. And that's when we realized. But why were you there?"
This is the first Zing's asking me about this. I reckon he must have been curious, but thought it could be traumatic for me, so he didn't ask.
"I wore my mask, and was about to leave right behind you but I heard Petry scream. Her tank was caught up in something and she couldn't lift it. She'd already worn her mask and I went over to help her lift her tank. That's when the door shut and the meteoroid stream broke down the relatively thinner barrier."
I related the entire story from my perspective to Zing, which was actually quite different from Petry's mainly because I see things in a different manner. Plus I knew exactly what everything was, unlike Petry.
Zing listens to everything wide-eyed.
When we finally make it to the cabin, we see everything's been set up and ready to go. And, there's a huge crowd here.
It's really nice of all these people to come wish us luck. They perform the Zorgian salute again and we give our quick goodbyes to everyone.
The last thing we hear is Zippin saying, "Don't be a stranger to Wick!!"
It's funny to hear formidable Zippin refer to himself in the third person!!
We've spent the past couple of days setting everything up and getting acclimatized. Now we're truly ready. We board the spacecraft and get set.
With one last look at our planet Zorg, we take off.
