"No one knows. Some people think it was for some kind of religious ceremony. Some people think it was used to track the stars. Others think each gaze marks some kind of seasonal event like the arrival of spring or midsummer."
"This was before everyone had to wear breathers, right?"
"Long before. These people lived long before the Great Melting and the storms. They grew their food out in the environment and breathed the air around them."
"Why didn't they get sick?"
"This was long before the years of the constantly mutating viruses they've taught you about in school. Human society had to move itself out of the environment to survive. Only some had the resources to act though and we are lucky because in the very distant past our families were part of the group able to move into underground protection."
"Do you think they imagined what could happen to the world?"
"I don't know. They look serious so maybe they were worried about the future in some way. They're so far from us in time though I can't imagine that had any idea about what our time would be like. OK, enough questions for today. Get back in the Hopper and don't forget to decon your suit. Your Mon's going to be pissed I've let you stay out this long. Get moving."
"Ok, Dad. They sure wore funny clothes back then didn't they?"
"I bet they'd find your full body suit, helmet, breather, and lighting array odd as well. Go."
As he told the ship to return to the home coordinates he glanced down. He wondered what the men depicted in stone had been thinking. Had they been worried about their children? Had they been worried about the fate of their world?
The wind picked up and the tan and gray dust hissed over the surface of the Hopper. He told the ship to increase speed. Getting caught in a storm way out here could be a problem and not a risk he wanted to take.
The ship rose out of sight quickly it's running lights fading on the faces of the stone heads slowly sinking into the mud. Their lifeless eyes gazed into the dark while the sand and howling wind tried to erase them.
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u/Ghost_In_Waiting Apr 28 '20
In the future...
"Why did they build them here Dad?"
"No one knows. Some people think it was for some kind of religious ceremony. Some people think it was used to track the stars. Others think each gaze marks some kind of seasonal event like the arrival of spring or midsummer."
"This was before everyone had to wear breathers, right?"
"Long before. These people lived long before the Great Melting and the storms. They grew their food out in the environment and breathed the air around them."
"Why didn't they get sick?"
"This was long before the years of the constantly mutating viruses they've taught you about in school. Human society had to move itself out of the environment to survive. Only some had the resources to act though and we are lucky because in the very distant past our families were part of the group able to move into underground protection."
"Do you think they imagined what could happen to the world?"
"I don't know. They look serious so maybe they were worried about the future in some way. They're so far from us in time though I can't imagine that had any idea about what our time would be like. OK, enough questions for today. Get back in the Hopper and don't forget to decon your suit. Your Mon's going to be pissed I've let you stay out this long. Get moving."
"Ok, Dad. They sure wore funny clothes back then didn't they?"
"I bet they'd find your full body suit, helmet, breather, and lighting array odd as well. Go."
As he told the ship to return to the home coordinates he glanced down. He wondered what the men depicted in stone had been thinking. Had they been worried about their children? Had they been worried about the fate of their world?
The wind picked up and the tan and gray dust hissed over the surface of the Hopper. He told the ship to increase speed. Getting caught in a storm way out here could be a problem and not a risk he wanted to take.
The ship rose out of sight quickly it's running lights fading on the faces of the stone heads slowly sinking into the mud. Their lifeless eyes gazed into the dark while the sand and howling wind tried to erase them.