The spacecraft rocked, and the medal swayed a few times. He reached to catch it, but it slipped mercilessly through his fingertips and shattered. The large words on its surface became fragments of glass too, lying on the floor in silent accusation.
On Water Mirror Star.
Beneath the Monument, a mother strained to hold her child up, hoping in vain to keep her child alive; atop the school building, teachers and students had shouted themselves hoarse. A teacher watched the ships recede, not knowing how to face the young faces behind them.
Inside an underground shelter, an engineer smashed the control console before dying. Eyes that had not closed for days and nights shut with hatred and despair; a farmer with nowhere to flee clutched the last of his grain and was swallowed by the merciless tsunami, never understanding, even in death, what he had done wrong.
Why could effort and hard work not earn them peace and security? Why did those rules and regulations always favor evil?
The blue-haired girl made her final stand. She looked at her companions behind her and made her choice.
"If people can mutate, can a planet do the same? I once met a friend from Panshi Star. She told me they survived because a warrior sacrificed himself. This is our last resort."
A water mirror spread out, and blue curls swept past. Before her companions could stop her, she stepped into the planet's core and plunged into the blue waves.
Our home planet, on which we depend for survival, if you truly have a consciousness, please shelter the last seeds. Let our civilization remain in the river of time and carve an indelible mark.
A splash rose, a planet died, and a Calamity was born.
The desperately struggling people were peeled away. Streams