Chapter 2: To See the Falling Stars

Dariel had regained his composure. He was sitting down on the couch while the girl put down a glass of water on the table in front of him.

“Water?”

Dariel hesitated for a moment, but in the end picked up the glass and slowly drank the water. After refreshing his dry throat, he put back down the glass and let out a tired sigh.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The girl patted her laps after sitting down beside him. “So, what exactly happened? Tell me.”

Dariel pursed his lips and clasped his hands together tightly. He was looking for the right words to say it. No, it was more like he was scared of saying it. But he shouldn’t hesitate when it comes to the girl.

“My sister…” He lowered his head, his hands trembling as they gripped each other tightly. “Her time is limited, Lena. The doctor said she may only have two months. There is nothing we can do…”

“Oh god…” Lena’s voice trailed off, she was in disbelief. However, if the doctor said it, then it must truly be the case. She didn’t know what to think or to say. So she only fell silent.

“To live such a short life,” Dariel muttered in a strained and pained voice. “It’s too cruel. My sister deserves a much better life than this.” He took in a shaky breath, clenching his fists. Perhaps he was angry. To what, precisely? He didn’t know. To himself? To the world? To everything? To fate?

“Dariel… I’m so sorry…” Lena slowly took him into her arms, wrapping him in her warm embrace. The corner of her eyes moistened with tears. “How is she?”

Dariel faintly chuckled. “As smiley as ever… I didn’t tell her about her condition.”

“... Why?”

“I… I don’t want to worry her. I don’t want her to be scared…”

Giving his little sister the fear of an inevitable death, telling that truth, would only add to her suffering. He didn’t want that at all. But more to it… It was also more like he was scared to tell his little sister that truth. For he himself was afraid of it.

“I see.”

“Did I do the right thing?”

Lena was silent as she kept her arms around him. “... I don’t know. I’m not sure what is the right choice.”

“...”

“But I know you’re doing it for her sake. Perhaps that, in and of itself, is right.” She slowly leaned back and looked softly into his eyes. “However, everyone also deserves to know the truth, don’t we?”

“... So, I should tell her?”

“It is up to you as her big brother.” It was not her place to make the choice for him.

“...” Dariel needed time to think of the matter.

“Is she in her room?”

Dariel nodded. “Yes, she’s sleeping.”

“Can I check up on her?”

“Sure.”

Dariel led her to Mila’s room and quietly opened the door for her. Lena quietly stepped inside and approached Mila with a gentle and caring smile. She sat down beside her and lightly caressed Mila’s head. The way she looked at Mila, it was like she was looking at her own little sister. It warmed Dariel’s heart to see it every time.

Lena subtly sniffed as tears slowly came out of her eyes. A hint of the pain she was feeling for the poor little girl. After a long, silent, tender moment, Lena gently kissed the sleeping Mila on the forehead. The little girl was sleeping deeply. It would seem she was terribly tired.

Lena left the room as she rubbed her eyes, and Dariel quietly closed the door.

“I wish I could do something,” Lena said. “But…” There was nothing they could do. Lena turned towards him with a small smile. “How about we go out for a while? Clear our minds.”

Dariel pondered for a moment. Mila was sleeping, so it was alright. Not like they rarely do it.

“Okay.”

And so together they left his home. The corridor was made of metal and glass. Strips of white light shone at the corners to light the room, along with the lines of light on the ceiling. Along the corridor were other rooms of people. Each home was shaped like rectangles next to each other, but they were fairly large themselves where an entire family could live comfortably. More than a thousand people lived in this underground facility.

As they made their way to the cafeteria, several people were standing and walking around the corridor. There were a couple of children giggling as one chased the other. A group of guys talking and having a laugh. A couple holding hands as they walked.

It was a lively place, despite being confined in this space beneath the ground.

Time passed, and they arrived at one of the facility’s cafeterias. There were a lot of food vendors offering a variety of fast food. For the moment, they had no shortage of food or any resources to make them. The facility had a large farm at the bottommost section, filled with crops and other agriculture, and with it were livestocks, beef, pig, or fishes. Things were fine. Besides that, they had emergency food to use. To be precise, lab grown meat.

This was a place designed to support humans for hundreds of years.

Dariel and Lena bought some fish balls with red sauce. They carried their steel plates to a table. There were still a lot of vacant seats available, so it didn’t take long for both of them to find a spot. Dariel used the fork to pick up and eat a fish ball.

“How’s the guarding job?” Lena asked Dariel as she dipped a fish ball into the sauce.

“It’s fine. Well, not like we have much work to do here.” There was indeed not much to do, as everyone was safe.

“Isn’t that good, though?”

“Of course. But boredom is terrible to have…” He let out a frustrated sigh. “You tend to think of bad things.” Losing one’s self to their own mind was a daunting thing. You could end up thinking about the most negative things. And it wasn’t always a pleasant experience.

“Hm, is that so?” Lena casually said with her mouth full. Once she swallowed her food, she continued, “Training is hard yet?”

“Yes. Though I do have a particularly good record.”

“Impressive. Bet you can beat those machines pretty easily.”

Dariel let out a wry smile. “I doubt that. We never actually faced one, so I’d never know how scary those things truly are.”

A long time ago, machines had taken over planet Earth. From what Dariel knew, the machines were terrifying. They could obliterate armies with ease. And they came in various forms, big and small. Given the machines’ power, humanity was given no choice but to hide. It had been more than a couple of centuries since the machines won.

“Come on, you got to at least pump up yourself. Have confidence.”

Dariel groaned. “That reminds me, your job involves monitoring the surface, right? How is it?”

Lena looked around before leaning closer to him. And then she whispered, “Machines have been less prominent than decades before. Lesser activities on the surface.”

“Why?”

“We don’t know. But we theorize they’ve gathered in the capital cities that humans occupied once. Or they could have found a new purpose.”

“Purpose aside from wiping us out?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded.

“Is that even possible?”

“Could be. Everything changes to something else. Maybe even the behavior of computers. Even more so if they are artificial intelligences.”

“I see…”

“Oh yeah, with our covert drone, we’ve also observed the stars.”

“The stars again?”

“Why not? We’re curious creatures. Astronomy was a big thing in the past, you know. And the stars are beautiful! You should see them. With our special drone’s powerful telescope, we could really take a good look at outer space.” She was all smiles and so enthusiastic telling about it.

“Is it really that beautiful?”

“Of course. But not just the stars, even the surface is so pretty and colorful. It feels so good to see them.”

“Wow, that’s pretty lucky of you to have a job like that.”

Surface monitoring was an operation that was started several decades after the humans hid themselves. It was to check the surface for any changes. One shouldn’t be fully ignorant of their surroundings after all. Gathering data and learning the state of things were important. But there was another reason for it.

It was for hope. That one day, perhaps they would discover that they could come out to the surface once again. To live again in the world they were born into.

“Right? You get to see a lot of beautiful things. How things look, shaped, how they grow and how things change. So full of wonder. Unlike in this place, so dull and never changing.”

“Well, it is for our safety.”

“True, but still…” She let out a long, exasperated sigh.

Dariel chuckled mildly. “Your food is getting cold. Eat.”

“... Okay.” She bit on her food. “Oh yeah, the biggest thing we discovered from observing the stars…”

“What?”

“A meteor shower is about to happen.”

“A meteor shower?”

“Yeah. Falling stars, in other words. Would have been nice if we were completely under the event, we could have a good angle with the camera. But alas, apparently, the good spot is not here. We could have moved the drone, but it would be too far.”

“Falling stars. That’s interesting. I heard stories about that.”

“Riiiight?” She groaned in frustration. “Uuuh, so disappointing.”

“When is it supposed to happen?”

“We calculated it would be in more or less than two months.”

“You were able to calculate that with your tools?”

“Hey, don’t underestimate our tech. We could have made a civilization on Mars if it weren’t for those damn machines.”

“Hm. Falling stars, huh… Yeah, it would have been nice to see them, even through a video.”

At least it would be a different view than in here. As he thought of their discussion, about the outside, about how beautiful it was, Dariel grew more curious. He had always been curious, but he wasn’t too interested in it. However, for some reason, this time, it was different.

It was then that an idea came to mind. He realized the reason as to why he was so interested. For why he wanted to see it.

This could be it…

It was something special.

***

Late afternoon, after hanging out with Lena, Dariel returned home. A steel box in his hand. He grabbed a spoon and fork from the kitchen and headed straight into his little sister’s room. And, as expected, she was already awake, fiddling around with her phone.

“Mila, didn’t I say to hold off on that?”

Mila flinched and pressed the phone to her chest. “Hehe,” she awkwardly chuckled. “Sorry.”

Dariel smiled and held out the box. “I brought food. Fish balls and some pork.”

“Wow!”

Dariel pulled in the rolling table, placing the box on the top and opened it. The smell of hot and newly cooked food permeated the air. Mila excitedly sat on the edge of her bed with a wide, excited smile. She picked up the spoon and fork and quickly began eating.

As she chewed on the food, her expression brightened so adorably. “Hmmm! So delicious!” She continued munching on the food.

Dariel grabbed a glass of water and placed it in front of her. “Hey now, slow down. Drink a little before you choke.”

Mila drank some water before continuing on her food. It warmed Dariel’s heart to see how happy she was. If only she could be like that for many years to come. However…

Dariel sat down on the bed beside her and watched her eat.

“Where did you go?” she asked.

“I hung out with Lena.”

She grinned widely. “Oooh, she was here. So you went out on a date?”

Dariel chuckled with a hint of shyness. “It wasn’t like that.” He rubbed Mila’s tiny head, ruffling her hair.

With a slightly annoyed face, the little girl quickly straightened her hair. And she continued eating. Meanwhile, Dariel was contemplating on his idea from before. It was a risky one, dangerous, but it was worth it. It would be an experience of a lifetime. Something truly special.

And so, he decided to go for it.

“Mila, do you know of the stars?”

“The stars? Of course. I see it sometimes on the phone. It’s very pretty in the photos.”

“You like it?”

She nodded. “Yup!”

“I see… Lena mentioned a special event that is about to happen. A meteor shower.”

Mila paused and stared at Dariel. “A meteor shower?! Wow, that sounds amazing!”

Dariel smiled and placed a hand on her head. “Would you like to see it?”

“Huh?” Mila was confused. “See it? But that would mean going to the surface.”

“Yes. I’m thinking of going to the place where we’ll see the meteor shower best. Not only that, but also to see what else the surface has. Lena said it is a beautiful place.”

Mila’s eyes widened, her pupils glimmering with wonder and curiosity.

“Would you like to go with me, Mila?”

In an instant, beaming with the innocence of a child, she nodded vigorously. Her hair bouncing up and down. “I want to! I would like to see it!”

Dariel smiled happily. “Then we’ll go to the surface, you and me. To see the falling stars.”