Ouroboros

Dark Waters

     Coda-9994 jolted awake. Cold, dark water surrounded him. He looked down and saw the remnants of his vessel sinking to the bottom of a void. Certain that he was dreaming, Coda bit his tongue in an attempt to wake himself up. When nothing happened, he came to the slow realization that it was all real. He had landed on Ouroboros.

     The whale rushed to the surface and took a massive breath. He lingered for a moment, then raised his head out of the water to look around. It must have been night on the planet, because the sky was dark except for the trillions of stars and two blue-tinted moons. Two moons? He wondered what this planet's sun looked like, but for that, he had to wait until morning.

     He lowered his head back under the water. Tiny flares of light flashed around him as he swam. He tried to remember what the explanation was for things glowing in the ocean. Bioluminescence, typically, but this was not Earth. This was Ouroboros. The laws of this world were beyond all Earth knowledge.

     He glided through the water, carving wispy trails of light with his flippers. A message showed up on his eye-screen. Turn on headlight?

     He turned it on, and what he saw both startled and amazed him. Tiny, flashing plankton swarmed around his light, then scattered as something else approached. It had a segmented shell and long, bristled limbs, which it shoved into its mouth every few seconds. Filter-feeding, Coda presumed. He stared at the creature in wonder and awe for as long as he could keep himself still. It was his first time seeing another living ocean creature in the flesh.

     The creature hovered in front of his light for a while, then darted off into the depths. As Coda processed what he had seen, he decided that perhaps this planet was not so terrible after all. He wondered how beautiful it would be in daylight. Yet, despite his amazement, his heart still longed for Earth.

     His heart would always be with Earth, no matter how twisted and ruined it became in human hands. Earth was home and always would be. He could not fathom how humans could destroy such a beautiful and sacred place, then, instead of picking up the pieces, they wanted a new planet to plunder and ruin. He wondered about Jim back on Earth. Did Jim even know that he was alive? Was he still there at the facility? Waiting?

     He stopped swimming and asked his headset if there were any messages. After a couple minutes, it spoke back to him. New messages found. Play audio?

     Coda affirmed.

     Dear Coda,

     Honestly, I don't know what to say. No words can express how much you've changed my life. Without you, I would never have been the man I am today. Because of you, I finally ditched the anthropocentrism that I accepted for far too long. It is with profound sorrow that I say goodbye. Know that I will fight with everything I've got to make sure that your story never repeats.

     By the time you receive this, I imagine you'll be exploring the superocean of Ouroboros. I hope you find wonder and delight in everything you see. I hope you indulge your curiosity in ways you were never able to before. Enjoy every little thing. I'll never forget you, pal. No matter what.

Sincerely,

James Morris

     The whale shut his eyes and whimpered. The message was dated the day of his departure, but he had only seen it now. So much could have changed in that year and a half of silence, but here was a tiny memento of the Jim he loved. There were more messages along with that one, but he opted to listen another time. There was only so much his mind could take in the first few hours on a new planet.