Blue Sun

Sitting on a levitating stool under the protection of her porch, she stares at the beads of water, continuously streaming down the sides of the nearby wall. The water vapor in the air condensates over the disaster proof screen surrounding the house. Wiping away the dew from rain, she looks down at the time implanted in her scarred forearm.

It's 2:46 pm. Storm clouds blanket itself entirely over the small town of Middleton, Wisconsin. showing no ambient glare. It has been raining for almost 22 years with no end in sight. The sheer amount of water cancels out all surrounding vibration waves, making the outside world inaccessible.

Hazel, 43, brown hair, blue eyes, and is relatively short. Stood upright and started back in her house. Laden, 45, Slick black hair, eyes and is around the same height as Hazel, his spouse. Sits on a similar chair while sipping his water. The rain dances.

"A typical afternoon," he says pleasantly exhaling.

"Yes, typical indeed. Hey, you hungry? I can turn on the kitchen system if you want?" Hazel replied.

"Sure. I'll have the normal seaweed and sawdust rations. You can eat the leftover sausage".

He stands up to walk to the kitchen. She trails him with her gaze.

"Are you sure? We can't recieve anymore meat till next June? You can have it if you want. I ate plenty yesterday".

Laden opens a cabinet and takes out a dense, rectangular object. He then inserts the block into a perfectly shaped slot in the wall. Hazel starts to heat up a packet of shelf stable ice.

"Yeah I'm sure. If only pleasure was as easily achieved as before".

Taking out the ration, Laden goes to the dining table between the couch and the kitchen. He sits on the opposite side of the window. Robotic limbs emerge from the floorboards, presenting him with a warm plate. Placing the now hydrated and warm block of food on the plate, she brings her serving, joining him at his side.

Three minutes pass. As they continue to eat in a draggy manner, Hazel notices something unusual, frozen in place, they both drop their utensils. Silence. As they begin to process the unprecedented phenomenon. Hazel dashes out of her seat, with Laden following closely. They open the door onto their porch. Behind the glistening screen, their eyes bloom into life.

"Hazy, is this-"

"Yes…." she interrupts, "Our time is up".

On Wednesday, July 3rd 2072, 2:52 pm. The clouds casually travel south east. The sun peeks shyly over the crest of clouds. Slowly releasing the first rays of light. Illuminating the shadowed earth. The rain has stopped.

Saturday, April 19th 2045, New York City, New York 11:27 am.

Studying for environmental science is a 16 year old Hazel. Her apartment is on the 16th floor near Gravesend. In her room, is a flatscreen, surrounding the surface area of the eastern wall. While studying, the TV reporter presents in the background:

"Statistics we received show us that if we don't do something about the melting ice in the next 4 years, the temperature would warm sea water to the point of evaporation," she looks at the TV and zooms her contacts, "causing precipitation for an estimated 10+ years following. But that's not counting the water that evaporates again. The temperature would be so hot that the rain on the ground would vaporize, repeating the cycle. And that's not all. The governm- "

She turns off the TV and continues her work. 27 minutes pass and her friend Aria calls abruptly, ringing her communication chip:

"Hazie, the number of life forms have gone down again. I know it kind of makes sense with almost 10 billion people but that's insane. The number yesterday was in the four digits!" Aria rants, "Why aren't people realizing this is a real problem? We should all be contributing to protect the planet. The ocean has completely flooded New Zealand while the government is promoting body mods".

"Yeah, but you know," she sighs. "People are lazy. Small organizations and pro Earth groups are growing by the day though". Hazel replies.

"Well thank Jesus the field you're studying helps with the situation".

"Not yet, I still have a couple years to go".

"Time flies. I'll be a proud friend of someone who helps the world. Anyways, want to meet up at Highland? We can fast-deliver some food and just hang".

"Ok, let me finish this topic first then I'll meet up with you at 1".

"Gotcha".

Aria disconnects.

12:31 pm. Hazel prepares to go outside. She slides open the curtain of her closet and takes out a fitted white bodysuit. She slips on the piece and walks to the front door, going down the platform entering the complex lobby. Before going out, she activates her face shield and circulation system.

The sun in the grey skies blazes down on the streets. No vegetation in sight. White suits are seen everywhere as the only way to stay cool is from the insulation suit. The implanted chip allows her to consciously recognize the path to the park. Hazel walks hastily.

"It's cooler than usual," she thinks to herself, "137 degrees is perfect. Any hotter and I'll be sweating in the suit".

Taking the cable northeast, she contacts Aria.

"How close are you to the park? I need 5 more minutes"

"I'm already there, This time I took an express since my dad was working, so I got here a few minutes ago. I also brought some edibles. What transport?"

"I'm taking public cable".

"Oh ok you'll arrive at the north side of the park right?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know when I'm there".

12:58 pm. Hazel arrives at the park. There is no natural vegetation in sight. The grass is a type of green insulated. The stubby, brown trees are made of synthetic wood that doesn't burn. Greeting her, is Aria. Black hair and eyes. A taller stature and skinnier body compared to 16 year old Hazel. She approaches Aria and they find a sport to settle down.

Hazel asks her, "So, what'd you bring?"

"Some persimmons and bread"

"Persimmons? Aren't those like $40 for each? Actually no. Your family can probably afford it. But where do you even buy those?".

"Bureaucrats have connections to some of the very few agricultural plants left," she said nonchalantly, "It's expensive, but engineered fresh fruit and meat is better than dried fr-".

A ringing interrupts their conversation.

"Hold on Hazie. My brother's calling me. Hello Laden. Do you need something? I'm out with Hazie at the moment".

Laden replies, "Oh, how's she? And I called to remind you not to return to the abode too late. A massive heat wave will come in the afternoon around 3".

"Oh ok. Got it thanks. I'll give her your remarks".

"Bye".

"Bye".

She ends the call.

"Laden says hi. He also mentioned something about a heat wave. I didn't see one when coming out. He's probably joking though. You know how he's always like that".

Hazel says unwillingly, "Yeah, I got to get back to studying pretty soon. My family is working so I have to prepare servings later on. I'll leave in 80. Sorry!"

"It's ok. I'll stay a bit longer. I don't want to deal with home assignments. Let's order . I'm sure the drone would arrive before your departure".

The drone arrives shortly after that conversation. Delivering fried bread, Talk to each other about their own problems for a bit. It's 2:38 pm.

"Ok, I've got to start home or people'll be mad. Enjoy the rest of the day!"

Hazel departs the park and arrives home around 2:54 pm. She takes her suit off and enters an antibacterial room, breathing from an oxygen tank. This cleans out her system and disinfects her skin. This process, taking 10 minutes of time, results in her rushing the nutrient servings. She enters the storage room, located on the far side of the kitchen. It is built with walls capable of surviving global meltdown. One is required in every household, protecting from the dangers of an unstable Earth.

Walking in the storage room, she closes the door behind her and starts picking from the selection of ingredients.

Hazel thinks to herself, "Broccoli cream soup? Or should I make everyone some steamed scallops? But we don't have a lot of scallops. Maybe some fried fish?"

As she contemplates what to prepare, there's a sudden tremble. She becomes startled and hastily positions herself near the walls of the room. She stands there frightened, for a good two minutes. Then just when she loosens up, a bigger tremble throws her off balance. She hits her head on the wall, leaving her unconscious.

The sudden crashes and sounds outside allowed her to regain consciousness. She stirs up and leans on her forearm.

"Where....?"

She feels a sharp pain as she moves her head sluggishly but steadily from side to side. Trying to figure out what exactly just happened.

"I'm in the storage room?"

At first, she has no idea what she's doing there, and then noticing the broccoli and a pack of scallops on the floor, she thinks to herself,

"Why is there food ou-. Oh. I think I remember a big tremble. My head sort of hurts. Maybe I hit my head on something. But what happened?"

She surveys the room to see if there are any clues to what might've just unfolded. At first glance, there isn't much to note other than the sound outside and the thermometer reading 71 degrees. Her mind was always sensitive, thus, when trying to rise from her despaired spot, her head began to ache. She also feels additional pain at her side.

While rubbing her head and caressing her side, she says, "Are my ribs broken? It's a little hard to breathe".

She stands up on her feet. Feeling a little like they want to slide, gave her the impression that the room is slightly tilted.

"What is going on?"

She checks the implant on her arm.

"5:56 pm"

"Wait, 5:56 pm?! Why is it so late!?"

As Hazel becomes startled again, she hurriedly walks towards the door and in a panicked manner, tries to exit. Not realizing until minutes later that the room was capsized.

After realizing her own stupidity, she calms down and unlocks the door, for a moment, letting the burning winds and scorching sunlight into the room.

Pain.

She shuts the door just as fast as she opened it. Feeling the after effects shortly. Inflammation and blisters form on the spot where her arms were exposed, causing extreme searing pain. A few minutes later she starts to profusely sweat. Only to look up at the thermometer, which now reads 83.

After drinking some water, she tries to access the situation.

"How should I get outside?" she thinks while panting from heat and lack of atmospheric oxygen, "If I stay here, I'm going to die".

She scans the room again, "Is there anything I can use here?"

Trying to remember things that are helpful located in the storage room, she remembers that there are always sets of emergency suits stored in a compartment. Hazel drowsily drags her limping body to the compartments.

"Let's see here. There are 4 suits set at 180. From the heat I felt, it was at least 450 degrees to blister skin instantly. These suits would only last a few minutes".

After thinking about the situation for a little bit she decides to call the emergency line. They pick up after half a minute.

"Hello? Please state your purpose of contacting".

"Please track my implant from this call. I'm in the storage unit from my house but I can't leave since the temperature is too hot for the emergency suits" she says emotionally.

"Ok, we'll get to you as fast as possible. All of our officers are deployed right now and it might take some time. We hope you understand".

"Yes ok. Please come soon"

The call ends. Immediately after she calls Aria several times. She never picks up. Anxious about the status of her friend, she called Laden. He picks up in a few seconds.

"Hi Laden, this is Hazel, did Aria get home in time? Have you heard from her? Is she ok?" Hazel asks concerningly.

��Wait, I thought you were with her? She never came home so I assumed she went back to your house?"

"She didn't come home with me...."

There was a silence for a few minutes.

"I told her that there was a heat wave coming. Our telegraphs pick up sudden transmissions whereas compared to the commercial ones are rather later.

"That's why we didn't see anything for the forecast.. I hope she'll be ok though."

"How about you? Are you ok..? I was trying to ring you earlier and didn't connect for some reason".

"Yeah. I was in my storage room luckily, so that saved me. You?"

"I'm in a shelter. But I don't know about the rest of my family" he says in a down tone, "But I can come pick you up right now. How's the situation outside?"

"Before you go outside, do you have level 4A body suits? The temperature is over 450. I couldn't accurately check but it's way too hot for me to even open my door. I only have four emergency suits which are rated 1B".

"I have two sets of them. I'll bring you one. I'll head over to your house right now. Before you exit the room, put on all four of the body suits on the highest level if possible. To prevent any unnecessary exposure".

"I'll arrive in around 10 minutes. Hang in there. I'll be there I promise".

"Thank you Laden.. I'll be waiting"

He ends the call. Hazel sits against the door in silence.

Desolation. Agony. Woe.

A couple minutes pass. She stands up and slowly treads toward the compartment cabinet. She takes out all four and tries to fit all of the suits on at once. With 2-3 minutes of fidgeting with the air pockets, she finally connects the final zipper. Although the clothing together has almost zero range of motion, she somehow manages to get back to the door.

Moments later, a knocking is heard at the door. Hazel opens the door and once again, feels the intensity of the environment outside. Even through her 4 layers of protection, it's almost like a person is in a room full of gas burners covering the floor. Laden grabs her hand and starts to move towards his transport.

As she starts to walk extremely slowly in her tight-fitted insulation suit, she can't begin to fathom what was before her eyes. She was on the 1st floor lobby full of rubble of her complex. Many globules of molten metal stand stationary where the original material was put. The buildings around her were collapsing and many had already fallen. Hazel suddenly realizes that she's only alive because her building has not completely melted through. The storage room she was in gave her a safe route down from the 16th floor preventing her from serious injuries or being crushed. Now comprehending her situation, she treks as fast as she could with Laden.

She wishes to keep going. Going, and going. Never stopping. To escape the wrath of the above.

Tuesday, February 4th 2047, Shokan, New York 5:09 pm.

After the accident, later named Heaven's Fall, she moved to Shokan with Laden. North of New York City. Nothing has been reported to the public since Heaven's Fall. Causing many speculations from the general public against the government on why they aren't updating them. But the truth of the matter is, the government is not informed of accurate numbers of the people gone missing. Scientists estimate around 3/4ths of the world's population has either vaporized from the initial tremble or has gone missing. At age 20, he works for the government agency in New York, getting information and choosing whether or not to disclose it for the good of the public. For the longest time Hazel wants to know a status update on her family.

When Laden comes home from this agency, Hazel asks him almost everyday without fail,

"Did you get any news about our families?"

But it's always an unsatisfied answer that Laden regretfully gives her,

"Nothing yet".

Today, Laden arrives home from work surprisingly fast and dashes through the door. Cleansing himself extremely swiftly, surprising Hazel with all of the energy.

"Hazie.." he says while panting from exhaustion, "I have news on our families".

"Wait, you do? Is Aria ok? Is My family ok? How about the rest of your family??"

As she continues to bombard him with questions, he struggles to catch his breath. When she finally calmed down, he told her the news.

"So, I found one of your relatives, who lives in Wisconsin. Says they know something about your family. They claim to have contacted them before Heaven's Fall".

"Well then let's go. Does anything have to be done here before we leave?"

"Nope. Already transferred my paperwork to switch agencies. I have nothing left in this state. I don't know the situation of my family but even getting information at all is very fortunate. And I've decided to see it through with you".

"If we do find information on Aria or the rest of your family, then I'll also stay by you along with it," she says reassuringly.

At 9:54 pm, wearing 5A insulation suits, the couple board a private plane and arrive in Wisconsin at 10:32 pm.

The moment they leave the landing strip, greeting them is Hazel's grandmother, Cathy. They take the cable back to Cathy's place and planned to talk about the situation the next day but Hazel's deep yearning got the best of her and nagged Cathy about the news.

"Please tell me Cath. What happened to my parents?"

"Hazel. We can talk about this tomorrow. I've already told you. Your health is more important. This can wait".

"Just please Cath. I beg of you. Even if the news is not good I just want to know the situation". Hazel pleaded desperately

For a half an hour, till 11:23 pm. Hazel begged till Cathy finally gives in and tells her.

"Your parents called me during the incident. Your mother and father were at a biofuel research lab in the city. Their normal work day schedule. Around 2 pm they gave me a call. Telling me the equator signatures are acting extremely strange and that something unprecedented might happen. Told me to prepare and stay in the storage shelter with protection. Which I did. And after they said they would call you Hazel. But something weird was happening with the line. It's almost like the days when we used wired connections. There was lots of static and I didn't know what was happening. So in truth I don't know where your mother and father is but it's not illogical to assume that they are victims. I would think so, if there weren't any news for all this time. I'm sorry Hazel".

"It's ok Grandma," Hazel replies sorrowfully, "I'm going to get back to my room and get some rest. You guys should too".

"Hazie-"

Not replying to Laden, she closes the door behind her.

Regret. Heartache. Despair.

That night in that house, many of her thoughts had been freed.

Wednesday, May 21 2050, Middleton, Wisconsin 4:58 pm.

From the time when Hazel learned about the news of her parents, she moved and bought a house with Laden to live out the rest of their lives together. During this three year span. The New York agency contacted Laden proclaiming his sister Aria and his family to be dead. That's when they decided to not go back. There was no reason to. The weather has also gotten so bad that going out was nearly impossible. All food rations were sent to homes individually from a distribution center underground. Laden is unable to work as he cannot go outside. It is a usual day beating the bush in their homes.

The central news station is the only way to get updates on weather conditions. Today is quite a special day. Looking at the glass, nothing comes through. Both Laden and Hazel watch the flatscreen casually.

"Hello lads and gents. Welcome. Today is not a regular forecast, as what I'm about to say is going to literally change the world. Now before everyone panics, I just want to say, nothing will change anything anymore. It is not too late for our species as a whole and this planet. Panicking is will and cannot fix anything. Please allow the people who want to hear it to know what has really happened. As secrets are no more of importance. 7.1 billion people out of 10 billion died in Heaven's Fall. It was caused by the rupture of the equator which spewed pressured gases throughout the world. The closer to the equator, the less likely the chance you would've survived"

He gives a moment of silence.

"Now, moving on to the Ever Falling Rain. As mentioned a few years ago, on the same day as Heaven's Fall, if we didn't change anything about the increasing temperature, then it would be too late and rain would fall on scorching temperatures for years to come. And it is with my deepest regret, for the current generation that this time has come. Almost all of the bodies of water on Earth have evaporated. We can expect the first rainfall to come at the end of the month. We, the government, will send families rations to last years after the rain. If one runs out, they would have to purchase more. We do not know when the rain will end but it is predicted that this cycle could go on for eternity. The chances are though, that the water would evaporate into space. Leaving Earth as a dry barren land with no water"

"When that time comes, there is a set of relievers assigned to each home. Taking into effect when sleeping. To save the suffering for another life".

Wednesday, July 3rd 2072, 2:55 pm Middleton, Wisconsin.

Hazel and Laden return to their dining table. Taking out their best choices of food. Hazel secretly saved up some stable meals for this very event.

"Hey Laden, just throw those away, I'm sorry if I hid this but I actually bought some gourmet dishes for our last meal".

"Ohhh ok," Laden says excitedly but in a monotone aura, "This is the first time we really threw something away in the house right? Other than ration packaging".

"Yeah. I got some steamed scallops and cream broccoli soup. Which do you prefer?" Hazel asks sadly as she cooks them.

"I take the cream broccoli soup"

She hands him the soup

"Thank you. To think my last would be home cooking. What a perfect ending".

They both sit down at the table, side by side, facing the window. Savoring the feel and flavor of food that will leave their conscience.

After dinner it is 5:45 pm, she goes to the medicine cabinet and looks for a long while. She comes out back into the kitchen and brings to the dining table, the last two glasses of shelf stable ice and two red pills. They both stare at the pills that would finally end many many years of suffering. The sun set shines through the window coloring a blue tint, casts a shadow over the pills side by side.

Partial to the last remaining humans on earth, they can't be more delighted seeing their species vanished. But they can't be more anguished seeing the creator of our species go along with us.

Reference - Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow, Kurt Vonnegut.

All Summer In a Day, Ray Bradbury.