Tevun-Krus #31 - Dying Earth

Remnant Population - A Short Story by @elveloy

Click waited until he was certain everyone else was sound asleep before crawling out of the dormitory.

He stayed low to the floor, keeping his head down, out of sight of anyone stirring briefly in their sleep. Usually he hated being the smallest youngling, but right now his small size was going to be a distinct advantage. He reached the door, unchallenged.

On tenterhooks, he opened the door and slipped out of the room, moving quickly down the long tunnel and into the vast cavern that housed the food vats and air recycling units. He followed the well trodden path, looking neither right nor left as he hurried along. He calculated he had about six hours before anyone stirred—six hours to explore the forbidden tunnels. And what lay beyond.

The rust-red rock was warm beneath his feet, almost uncomfortably so. He reached the edge of the cavern and slowed his pace, his eyes scanning for the tiny opening to the old tunnel. Ah, there it was. He squeezed inside and paused for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the low light. The space was small and pale ochre with dust, after generations of small feet wearing away the hard surface.

Despite being declared off-limits, Click knew that most younglings ventured here at least one time in their childhood. It was a rite of passage. He was certain the Elders knew full well that younglings came here, but they turned a blind eye to this relatively safe rebellion, confident that the chamber was a dead end, that the tunnel back to their previous Home had been blocked. Filled with the rubble from digging out their new Home.

What the Elders didn't know however, was that a crack had opened in the sealed tunnel, high up and out of sight of the casual observer. It was so thin that even Click had difficulty squeezing his body through the opening, though fortunately the crack widened somewhat after several mets. Click had made the discovery a few sleep cycles ago and ventured inside only far enough to see that the crack was accessible.

Now though, he was going to explore. Excitement tingled throughout his body. Maybe the crack would lead all the way back to the Old Home, a place he had only heard about. What an adventure!

Click clambered up the wall and squeezed his slim body into the narrow opening. Once inside, it was pitch black but he used his sensors to gauge his surroundings, checking for obstacles in his path. It shouldn't be that hard, after all, there was only one way to go!

He crawled steadily along the fissure, knowing that he was climbing despite the fact that he could see nothing. The rock felt warm to his touch. Warmer than the rock he was used to. Click liked the warmth, but he was starting to feel uncomfortably hot. He tightened his jaw and went on. He couldn't stop now. Just a little further...

It was getting hotter. Heat was the reason his people had moved from their Old Home in the first place. The Old Home had become too hot to live in.

Click knew his people had changed over the centuries, evolving and adapting to their world. Aunty K'erra told him that previous generations would find the current temperature of New Home unbearable, possibly even fatal. And she thought the temperature was rising too fast in New Home and that it was time to move again.

Aunty K'erra had been muttering about the need to move further underground for weeks now, but the other Elders didn't want to move. This had been their home for generations. They knew where things were, every nook and cranny as familiar to them as their own faces. If they moved again, how many times would that make it? A hundred? A thousand? And every time, downwards. Click couldn't help wondering if one day they would come out on the other side of the world.

Trying to distract his thoughts from his present discomfort, Click thought back to the conversation he had overheard only a week ago.

"The Home is getting hotter," Aunty K'err insisted. "We have to start digging before it's too late."