Forward
Article from the New York Time, 5934

'signs for the end of the world. It is my upmost priority to inform you that, as it is now the year 5968, we should be on our guard for the end of the world. I have given my life to the Apocalypse, and it is in my opinion that we should look for signs of the end of the world. In my studies, I have uncovered that most likely; the signs will be as follows:
'
Clouds shall take on a purplish hue
'
Volcanoes will erupt after thousands of years of dormancy
'
The ocean will be abnormally still, as if before a storm
We should all take the necessary precautions'











The End



'Hurry up Karly!' my best friend Diana called. She raced off on her jet-scooter.

I sighed. Diana had a way of making things look so easy. She was good at everything: Glow ball, laser skating, cyber hop, you name it, she's awesome at it. In fact, Diana had taught me how to play jet-tag, which was what we were playing now.

I hovered for a moment, trying to decide which route to take. If I went past the History House, I'd have many twists and turns. Then again, if I went past the Cyber Stop, Mr. Green the grocer would stop me and ask me how my mom was, and I didn't want to answer. Basically everyone around here knew that my mom was dying of an unknown cause. People thought that maybe it was a case of pneumonia, but pneumonia had not been around since 3110, and it was now 5698.

I decided to take the history house route. I sped off, keeping my foot on the break. No matter how many times Diana told me I was being overly cautious, I still didn't feel safe without my foot close to the break. That was another thing about Diana. She was a dare-devil, taking risks left and right. I was a cautious girl, almost never taking unnecessary risks.

As I past by the history house, I realized that there was a new object in the window. The sign said it was a bicycle.

'Bi'cy'cle. Bicycle,' I mumbled to myself as I sped by. The history house uncovered many objects from thousands of years ago.

Suddenly, my cyber phone crackled. I lifted it off my jet-scooter and put it up to my ear.

'Yeah?' I spoke into the cyber phone.

Diana's voice came through the Speaker.

'Where are you?'

'By the history house.'

'You're that far away?'

'Yeah.'

'Were you talking to Alex?'

I blushed. Only Diana knew that I had a major crush on Alex.

'Of course not!'

'Do you want a hint on where I am?'

'Well''

'I'm by the old drugstore,' she interrupted.

'Alright,' I sighed as I clicked the cyber phone off and put it back on my jet-scooter. The drugstore had an amazing view of what was left of the Pacific Ocean. (About seventy-eight miles were left.) Just beyond the ocean, off in the distance, were the three tallest dormant volcanoes on earth, Jen, Samil and Hrothked.

I started to pass through the nicer country. Instead of having garbage piling up on the sides of the road and smoke from cyber appliances coming through the hologram chimneys, there was less garbage scattered around and less smoke.

I breathed in deeply as I raced along, enjoying the slight breeze. Usually, there was either no wind, or a polluted smelly breeze. But today the weather was beautiful, and the breeze smelled more like a fresh wind rolling across the sea.

When I finally reached the old drugstore, I saw Diana's jet-scooter lying on its side in the brown grass. I saw tracks leading through the garbage to the front door of the drugstore. I raced to the door and pushed it open. Maybe I would actually catch and tag her today!

Just then I saw her. I was about to go and surprise her, but then I stopped because of the look on her face. I turned to the open window in front of her and my heart literally stopped beating.

The pleasant wind had stopped, and a giant cloud was forming. The cloud was a sickly purple, and it was growing larger every second. Off in the distance, what was left of the Pacific Ocean was abnormally still, as if waiting for a signal to let loose its fury. I heard a rumble, like the sound of a volcano erupting. In fact, to my horror, it was a volcano erupting, because there was suddenly a gray cloud of ash sprinkling the ground. Because the ocean was so still, I was able to see hot orange lava running down the side of the volcanoes. (Though, from my position, it looked like orange fuzz.)

Diana and I looked at each other.

'Oh gosh'' I started

'But there are no volcanoes around here, except''

'The dormant ones,' I finished.

'The scientist said'' She stopped. We both knew what she was going to say.

The end of the world had come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Order! Order for pity's sake!' the governor yelled.

The room was instantly quiet. It was 9:00 that night, and everyone knew in our province what was going on. The end of the world was here. There was no doubt whatsoever. The question was, what were we going to do about it.

'As you all know, the world is coming to an end.
Everyone nodded.
'Does anyone have any ideas on what we should do?' he asked.
I turned toward Diana. We weren't supposed to be here, so we were hiding in the supply cyber basket. 'Bet you 300 dollars Mr. Shinlke is going to propose we stay here and face the weather.'
'I'm not going to take that bet, because you know he always proposes that, no matter what the weather!' She whispered.
'Shhhhhhhhh,' I hissed, 'he's talking to the governor!'
Sure enough, Mr. Shinlke started to rave about how humans had faced the weather in 3440, so why couldn't we face it now? The governor listened patiently while the rest of the audience groaned.
I sighed. The point was, we had polluted the earth so much, that the earth had gone crazy without the ozone layer. Why couldn't people just accept that death was looming closer and closer?
Mr. Penner interrupted Mr. Shinlke in the middle of his explanation of the human anatomy.
'You fool, can't you see that we are doomed! I suggest we send space travelers to recreate the ozone layer!'
An old woman stood up. 'I suggest we float up to space in our emergency space vehicle,' she said in a shaky cracking voice.
'Nonsense!' a lady shouted, 'we should investigate further this story that the girls told us! They are only 13, how can we trust them?'
'Yeah!' someone shouted.
'We have all seen the signs of the end of the world! According to our most reverent scientist, the end of the world will come when the clouds turn purple, volcanoes erupt after hundreds of years of silence, and the ocean is abnormally still!' cried my father from the back.
The debate continued for at least 2 hours, with neighbors insulting neighbors, friends scowling at friends, until finally I'd had enough. The answer was so simple. I had thought of it an hour ago, while trying to listen to everyone's crazy ideas.
I jumped out of the basket and screamed, 'QUIET!'
Everyone jumped.
'I don't see why you all don't get it! The world is ending, and there is nothing we can do about it. We can't remain here any more. We can't create a new ozone layer, and we can't float up in a space vehicle with all 100,000,000,000 of us. That leaves us one choice. No one has thought of it yet, and I highly doubt any of you would have had I not been here. The answer is simple; we have to move to a different planet.
After a moment of utter disbelief of my surprising appearance and/or my extremely controversial statement, the room erupted into shouts of
'This is outrageous!'
'The girl is mad!'
Still others disagreed.
'It's brilliant!' the governor cried.
'Just listen to me!' I begged. I was loosing it, major. 'We know that the planet Johkj is much like our own! Why can't we move there?'
'Do you know how much spending the government would have to spend in order to do that?' someone yelled.
'Yeah, and where would we get the oil to fly there?' cried another.
'The government has a hug reserve of oil'' I began.
'Oh, and they're just going to give it to the people so we can try a lunatic's idea?' jeered Mr. Shinklke.
'If we explain'' I tried again.
'And how're we gonna get all the other countries to evacuate?' yelled someone.
'Why do we care what happens? Where were they when we needed them? Why should we help them now?' yelled an old man.
'Because we're apart of this world!' I screamed at the top of my lungs, 'We all damaged it, not just one country! Where were they when we needed them? At our side, fighting right along with us during the thousand year war! If it were to be the end of the human race if we stayed here, shouldn't we at least warn them so we can keep the human race alive? If we do this as one big nation of trillions of people, wouldn't we have a better chance of survival than if we stood alone? For the good of our ancestors, for the good of our children, now is the time to forget old grudges, old deeds and the racism of others! I say that we take the chance for a better life! Who's with me?'
Everyone shut up after that. Silently, the governor stood.
'Although there have been many, er, creative ideas, I, for one, stand with leaving. In two minutes, the president will go to an annual meeting with congress. As it is my duty as governor, I will use the emergency phone line to contact her. She will most likely hold a meeting with the diplomatic leaders of the world to decide what to do. If they agree, everyone be prepared to leave on short notice. Although it would be to my great regret, you may choose to stay.
'So it is done,' I thought to myself as the room erupted into cries of 'impeach him!' 'He's mad' and 'I love it!' It was a mad house. Some threw purses at the governor; some ran out of the room. Still others tried to hug the governor. I, for one, stood stock still. I wasn't going any closer top anybody than I had to. I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, only to find Diana, finger to her lips, pointing toward the back door. I gave a thumbs-up sign. Anything was better than staying in this place!
When we were finally able to get outside, we ran to our secret spot. No one new of the place, except, of course, Diana and me. Not even our parents new about it!
Our secret spot, otherwise known as 'the clubhouse,' was situated on top of the tallest garbage hill. Diana and I had found it when climbing on a dare to the top. On top of the garbage heap was an old cyber supply basket. It was large enough to fit three people, with enough just enough room for three to stretch out their legs. Because there was just Diana and me, we were able to fit a small table inside, between us.
'Man, that was a nightmare,' I sighed as we settled in.
'Yeah,' agreed Diana.
I turned over on my back so I could look up at the partially covered sky. The sky was covered by our basket top, but the top had broken so we could still see the sky. Instead of the normal grayish hue, the sky was a deep violet. The air had become thick and muggy, and it became hard to breath.
I pulled out my emergency inhaler, and pushed it into my mouth. Diana did the same.
The emergency inhaler worked as a vent, trapping particles of air and pushing cleaner air into the lungs. It was big enough to be able to hold, yet small enough to fit into a purse or pocket. They had a unique shape so you could talk without much difficulty, but you couldn't pronounce the letter 'r'. Mine was pink, while Diana's was aqua.
'You hawdly see anyone without these anymowe,' she commented.
'Yeah, and you always see someone with it to theiw face!' I said.
She giggled. 'Mistew Yu pwobably sleeps with one in his mouth!'
I tried to keep from laughing. Mr. Yu was probably the most paranoid man in the world. If it was just the tiniest bit sunny, he'd load up on the sunscreen. If it was sprinkling rain, he would board up his windows to prepare for a flood. After a while, he got really annoying.
Then, in a more serious tone she said, 'Kawly, you wewe weally gweat back thewe. What you said to all those people' well, I could nevew do that.'
'Aww, it was nothing,' I sad modestly, but still I blushed.
The air soon became less congested, and we were able to remove our inhalers.
For a while, we satin silence, just enjoying the others company and not wanting to return to the mess of a world we called home. At ten, we finally decided to head back, especially since my parents became nervous wrecks if I was out past 10:30 pm. As we slid down the garbage heap on pieces of charred would we always kept up there, I heard a noise. It sounded like a crash, followed by the hiss of steam.
I looked at Diana. 'Another volcano?' she whispered.
'Unfortunately,' I said, 'And this time, closer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~