#way up on the surface chap by name of Clyde

[i-made-line]

“Read all about it! Read all about it”

[yvette3015]

《千年雨》 | A Thousand Years of Rain

By Julia Beurlet

He finally regained his memory. Although death was hovering, he knew he was indeed alive. The endless desert and dust surrounding him reminded him of what had just happened.

His name is Clyde Anders, and he was a space explorer from NO.07 Artificial Satellite City. Just a moment ago, he landed on Aleph Alpha for a two-hour reconnaissance. The planet had never been explored by humans. Although it was dry, desolate, and lifeless, the atmosphere was similar to Earth. The dry dust made him cough as he gazed at the colourful and legendary lava mountains.

A hoarse and desperate voice came from the radio receiver. It was the captain speaking from the mother ship that just sent his lander off. “Clyde, our spaceship is periodically being attacked by mysterious cosmic dust, and it’s damaging the hull. We have no choice but to leave you behind! I’m very sorry, but time is running out!”

Clyde stood alone staring at his receiver. He was speechless.

Although the team promised him that they would come back, he wouldn’t be able to survive for more than a few hours in a place like this.

Death was imminent. His lips were chapped, his eyes were empty, and his thirst was unbearable. He groaned as the breeze swept him with dust. He held wearily onto a pack of sample bags he brought over and crawled into a large cave. The cave was very spacious, and although its flat ground was covered with dust, the air was fresh and cool. In the middle of the cave, there was a heap of things that looked like ancient cannonballs. As he touched them, they cracked open after making several “click” sounds.

He lay there half-dead for a very, very long time, and after a very long time, he had a dream that it was raining.

The rain trickled down to the ground, bubbled up from little springs holes, flowed into the mossy and ferny cave, and formed pools that would have soaked him if he could drink even a drop of it. He turned his face sideways to sip the water. Slowly, he came to consciousness. A miracle happened! The cave was all wet, and there was water continuously flowing in.

He could see that the entire landscape of Aleph Alpha had changed, and the rain poured down like a torrential waterfall. This dry and waterless planet had finally rained, and it rained fiercely and wildly.

As the rain eased, the lake at the foot of the hill had cast a layer of radiance over the rocks, revealing their true colours: dark red, emerald green, bronze, and many more. Outside of the cave, a strange green substance was spreading. It was growing. It was life!

For the first time in his life, Clyde saw real plants take root in the rocks and grow tentacles like seaweed. He tasted them and got sweet juice all over his face.

The rain that had been falling for many hours had finally stopped. It was wet everywhere and the forest was full of vigour and vitality. The leaves were densely inlaid with crystal drops, the flowers were in full bloom, and the air was full of sweet fragrance.

He returned to the cave and saw that the "cannonballs" were softened by the moisture and seemed to be growing. At that moment, there was a rustling sound coming from the woods, and the air was suddenly full of buzzing and strange noises. Animals, like that of plants, sprang to life after the rain. Was there any intelligent life on such a vibrant planet? He pondered. No. If there were, they would’ve already ruined this harmonious atmosphere.

Humans had started ruining the Earth from more than two thousand years ago, and wisdom had stolen their own homeland! But it’d probably take a long time for wisdom to emerge on this planet.

He turned around and suddenly noticed that the cave was filled with variegated jellyfish that were floating as high as a man. The jellyfish were born from the “cannonballs” and each one of them was contracting and relaxing its bell and raising towards the sky. Then, the last "cannonball" cracked, revealing a large ball that bulged into a frilled skirt. All the other jellyfish leaned towards the newborn and formed a circle around it. They held on to each other on their bells and danced around the newborn jellyfish. Later, they twisted their bodies happily in the creek of the cave as if they were bathing. As they bathed, they were also making rhythmic hums that sounded like human chanting. Magically, Clyde seemed to understood them, and he named them -- Jelly. Then, each Jelly floated and clustered around him. Using tentacles that protrude from their skirt hems, they took turns and touched Clyde. As they touched him, they seemed to be thinking. After they sensed his friendliness, they crowded around him, escorted him towards succulent plant bushes, and stretched out their long arms to suck nectar from the flowers. The largest Jelly -- who looked like the Queen here -- was in rich purple and had gold speckles on her bell. She wrapped a flower with her bell and delivered the dew to his mouth. How pure and sweet! Each Jelly happily took turns and brought food to his mouth. As Clyde gradually got used to their life, the strange friendship between them grew strong.

When the Jellys weren’t dancing or eating, they played games together. The Queen always liked to float on one of the lakes. Over the lake, she looked like a beautiful giant lotus. She called the other Jellys over to join her one by one, and whenever that happened, her beautiful body would shine with great excitement.

It had stopped raining, and the water level in the lake had begun to fall. Patches of dry soil began to form on the ground.

At that time, the Jellys hummed, "The rain comes and goes, and all things grow and ripe." Then they lined up to play new games. Suddenly, they clustered together in a fight and growled in a voice full of terror. It was a battle song, "Fellows, the hateful worms are approaching. The enemies are coming, and we have to unite and defeat them! Never let them harm our future generations! Destroy them!"

The Queen rose from the surface of the lake, but her entire body was sinking heavily downward; she was full of eggs. The Jellys trooped after the Queen into the cave where she would lay her eggs. The battle hymn grew louder and louder as the Jellys closed up every entrance and exit of the cave with their bodies.

The sky became hot and dry, and all the green plants began to wither and fade. As the ground became drier and drier, piles and piles of worms emerged to the ground. They were all wriggling towards the inside of the cave and churning up the soil behind them. The scene was very sickening. Clyde walked up and down and trampled on them but was of no avail. As he wondered how the defenceless Jellys would react to the worms, the worms approached the defensive line! The Jellys bowed into defensive positions and quivered. They gathered up a group power and flashed out an electric arc which made the worms suddenly fell in a heap. But those that had survived rose again and clustered up for another thick wave of attack. The Jellys tenaciously defended their ground over and over again. However, the enemies were as fierce as ever, and the Jellys were extremely tired out.

After another electric attack, one of the Jellys collapsed. Although other Jellys quickly filled up its spot, some worms still broke through the defensive line and crawled into the cave.

Clyde hurried into the cave. The condition there was terrible; the Queen had just laid a large pile of eggs andwas now lying exhausted beside the sample bags Clyde brought over. The round eggs she laid were the same as the “cannonballs” Clyde had seen earlier, except that they were soft and transparent. The Jelly’s eggs were undoubtedly the most delicious food of worms. No wonder thousands of them were willing to sacrifice and desperately launch attacks. The worms which had entered the cave were squeezing themselves into the eggs and were gnawing. Clyde removed the worm one by one with disgust and placed the eggs in the well-knit sample bags. As he zipped the last bag he filled, he heard a shrill whistle from the Queen. The battle was over. The Queen and all the Jellys sang and danced happily. The Jelly eggs in his sample bags had hardened and were no longer afraid of worm attacks. He took them out and carefully piled them up. Then, he lay resting beside the Jellys who were suffering from fatigue. The ground was covered with dust, but soon he fell asleep.

An intense light stung his eyes, and Clyde woke up. The pavilions were gone, and large, shrivelled leaves drooped from the branches. All the plants died in the same way, and the bright, happy Jellys were darkened into little black heaps.

The Jelly’s willpower had become exceedingly weak, and they were humming, “We are a beautiful generation, but all things die, and they leave wisdom for posterity.” The Queen told Clyde breathlessly, "Your companions are coming. I can feel the shock of them coming."

Clyde could no longer constrain his excitement. In the distant sky, there was a faint trace of light. It was a spaceship. By this time, all living things on Aleph Alpha had dried up and died. Everything would turn to dust, and countless seeds, monkeys, and eggs would need to wait until life comes again.

His companions knew that the planet had just rained – a rain that had not fallen for a thousand years -- so they came to rescue him; they were sure he was still alive. When asked by his companions what had happened after the rain, Clyde calmly replied that it was all muddy.

He had made up his mind not to tell the truth. Otherwise, if people knew that there was life on Aleph Alpha, thousands of them would come to investigate it. Eventually, the whole environment would be ruined.

The world on this planet was astonishing. However, the good times were too short, so Clyde wouldn’t let them be trampled upon.