The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

scaled the slightly taller hill just beyond the trees to gain a vantage point while still being covered by the tall weeds. I wasn’t tired.

Chapter Fourteen

Looking up through the trees into the sky, I stared at the large globe that was Earth. It seemed so familiar, yet so distant. I thought about what life would be like on Earth now that things had changed. We had lived off of nothing, experienced the worst of human nature, and were about to ship off back towards an Earth that was overpopulated with assholes just like Leslie. For a moment, I felt terrible for thinking that, there were still good people in the world and I knew that, but then I remembered that even just one person with evil intent could have so much power over the many that were good and I didn’t feel so bad anymore.

I knew it was something we could never change. It made me hesitant to go back, but we had no other choice. We had exhausted every other option. We had fought our fight, and we had lost. The only hope we had at redemption now, was telling everyone back on Earth what a terrible person Leslie Marshal was, and what he had done, and hope for some justice.

I longed for the chance already, to come back to Circadia and try again. As crazy as it sounded, I would do it all over again if I was just given the opportunity. I would go into it knowing what I know now though, and I briefly wondered how that would have changed my journey this go around. Knowing what I knew now, I could pick out a few things I knew I would have done differently: the first being to open up to people more and make more friends. Even though there were bad people in the universe, people were what made everything worth it. Friendships, teams, and having a tribe to call your own couldn't even be described. The sense of belonging was huge, and if I had a second chance, I would have gotten to know more people and made more friends. The friendships I had would have been stronger, and the love I had would have been more engrossing. I would have let myself be more open to the idea, and invested more time in it. Especially now, knowing that I would lose it.

Gazing up into the sky once again, I made a vow to myself. I would come back here one day. I would make Circadia a new world, full of people who wanted to be here for the right reasons, to create a new way of life. One where happiness was a given and self-sustainability was a requirement. Earth’s lights twinkled as if in approval. I looked back down at the ground and smiled to myself. It was time to start over.

Then, a flash of light from above illuminated the ground below me, and I quickly shot my eyes up towards the sky. Rising just above the tree line, I saw a bright blast of light rising high into the night. I reached up to guard my eyes with my forearms until the light dimmed enough to see what was happening. It was our ship. Blasting to a million pieces. What the hell? Who was on our ship? I could hear the rest of the group panicking, trying to figure out who was on the ship. I ran down from the high ground to join in the commotion. Quickly, we realized a few of our members were missing. After lots of arguing and questioning, the only people found to be missing was two men from the space crew. They must have been scared to try and pack everyone onto the ship. It was going to be risky, and they weren’t willing to take the risk. They were deserters. We were undoubtedly stuck here on Circadia now.

The noise from their blasters roared over the woods as they slowly rose towards the atmosphere. Looking to the group, I heard muffled sobs and curses directed at them, barely audible through the growl from above. I looked up once more, to see them turning into a smaller and smaller object. They were rising without difficulty away from us.

Catching Smith’s eyes, I mouthed, “I’m sorry,” as a tear fell from my eye. He pursed his lips together and nodded. Looking back at me, he mouthed, “It’s okay. Doesn’t matter.” I knew he meant it, but I couldn’t bear it. That was our last hope falling away. I sat down on the crushed flower weed beneath me and watched as they slowly vanished. My heart broke. There were more evil people than I thought. Maybe they were just scared, but they had left all of us to die, and that had to have been a thought that crossed their minds—but they didn’t care.

I couldn’t help but be mad and hurt, but I wished them luck. Maybe they would at least make it back to Earth and tell people what happened. What really happened. Maybe they hadn’t had the thought of leaving us in their minds at all, and instead thought they would bring back help. Maybe they would go back to Earth and lead productive lives, meaning at least it wasn’t for nothing, but probably not.

Glancing back up towards the sky, angry and hopeful, I watched. I watched until I could no longer see the ship, then BOOM! The echo ricocheted through the trees, and we felt the force from the blast on our skin lightly. My eyes nearly went blind from the blast of light as they reached the atmosphere, and the ship exploded.

Fiery debris from the ship came crashing down, burning up before hitting the ground. Like a firework, it made a big light show for everyone and then burned up. Everyone sat silently, looking up, watching the show. The tears were still streaming. Both for the loss of our ship, and for the loss of