Earth’s Retaliation
On May 19, an international group of geologists by the name of ICE flew out to Antarctica with plans on drilling into earth to reach its mantel. Their operative was simple and with the advancement of technology the decade long mission was finally being launched with hopes of discovering further information about the planet. The announcement to the public first created concerns, but they were soon diminished once the intentions were made clear. With gathered information after the journey the prediction of natural disasters could come hours before they took place. Thousands of lives could be saved, new minerals from the mantel could replace harmful fuels, and understanding of the importance of earth could change the minds of humans from wasteful to frugal in order for the continuation of a sustainable planet. Little did ICE know, as they watched a mechanical drill tear through the hoarfrost of Antarctica, that they were going to cause worse than what the public was first concerned about.
Two months later…
“Why couldn’t we move the crap from your game room to the basement?” Meesha whined, snatched the handle of a birdcage, and raised it off a hook from which it was dangling from. She accidently slammed it against the doorframe of her bedroom and sent frightened Canary into a fluttering frensy. “I’m sorry. Daddy is taking you out of your space for now.”
With a soft sigh, Meesha’s boyfriend, Brian stepped around her as she stood in place until the bird calmed down.
“It’s only going to be for a while.” He said as he picked up a large bag of bird food. “And besides this use to be his old bedroom. It would be a shame for him to sleep on the couch during his stay.”
“You’ll be sleeping on the couch, then.” Meesha mumbled.
Brian rolled his eyes, started out of the bedroom, and down the hall with his girlfriend trailing behind him still complaining about a temporary room change. The unopened bag of bird food felt like it weighed a ton on his back. As he made his way down a set of steps into the basement of the three bedroom and two-story home, he took deep breaths in and out to ease the pressure. Upon hearing the voices of his parents, the Pomeranian pet, Biscuit, scurried out of the kitchen and joined them in the move.
“You better take cover.” Brian whispered to the dog. “Mother’s mad.”
“I’m not mad!” Meesha retorted. She wasn’t standing too far from Brain to not hear his comment. She placed down the birdcage on a stand and folded her arms across her chest. “I’m irritated. You don’t know how long it took me to change that room up.”
Brain let the bag slip from his shoulders onto the ground and exhaled. “It’s a pet room Meesh. I’m sure that bird and Biscuit won’t mind sleeping in the basement for a week.”
The young woman dropped her folded arms and shook her head. “Whatever.” She then turned her gaze to a large flat screen television displaying the morning broadcasting of the news. A small group of protesters were standing in front of the white house waving signs that read, “Save the Environment” “Leave Earth Alone” and “Quit Picking with Our Planet”. Brian scoffed and took a seat on an old beat up plaid pattered sofa.
“What are they fighting about now?” He said.
“Read the signs.” Meesha answered and took out her cell phone.
“I can see that. But what now about the environment? What are they trying to save now?”
“ICE is drilling into the planet.”
“ICE?” Brian raised one of his furry eyebrows.
“The International Caretakers of Earth or the Environment, something like that.” Meesha paused to huff. “It’s said that they are trying to drill into the mantel to see if they could dig up rocks or find any microscopic lifeforms to study. I’ve been following their progress on Twitter and they’re close to their destination.”
Meesha plopped down on the couch besides Brian. Biscuit, their Pomeranian dog follows behind her and forces himself between his owners.
“So, what’s the reason to protest?” Brian asked.
“I don’t know.” Meesha said with a shrug and kept her eyes glued to her cell phone. “My guess is, there’s so much other scientific shit to study that could help the environment, why make it worse by piercing a hole into the globe.”
Brian chuckled. “Well I need to protest about the construction going on in town. Did you know they’re tearing up the street to work on something in the sewage? It’s making the whole area smell like crap.”
Meesha didn’t respond to his complaint. Brian glanced at the screen of her phone to see what was causing her to zone out. As she scrolled a lengthy time line, he caught sight of a few photos. People bundled up in heavy winter gear standing around large steel pipe that disappeared into Antarctica’s surface.
Meesha placed her phone in rest mode and stood up from her place. “I better get the smell of animals out of the room.” She said and trotted upstairs.
Brian stood up as well and walked towards the basement window to see if his brother had already arrived. There was no indication that he had. The parking space was empty. Brian then focused his attention to the sky when his peripheral vision caught sight to a flock of birds scattering from a tree a few feet their home. They, like the Canary was flapping in a fury as if something startled them but stayed grouped together. There was an overcast moving in place of the clear blue sky and bright sun. Maybe the birds were getting away from the oncoming change of weather. Maybe a storm. Brian followed them while leaning on a wooden table underneath the window. It if was open, he would have been able to stick his head out.
As the birds traveled further and further into the air, they almost made it out of Brian’s sight and suddenly dropped all in union. He felt his eyes widen with shock and backed away from the window. Can birds randomly drop while flying? Brain glanced over at the Canary going crazy inside of its cage. Its tweets were louder than usual, and Biscuit was barking as well, but Brian wasn’t sure if the dog was disturbed by the bird’s cries or something else. He was barking at something in the air.
He stood in complete confusion when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and a chime sound off. The LED screen showed his brothers name and he swiped right to pick up the call.
“Hello.”
“BRIAN!” His brother’s panicked voice blared through the speaker. “Get somewhere underground! Now! I-I’m on my way. Move now! There’s so-
The phone went dead.
