Ushuaia
A day trip to an abandoned city in a desolate region of the Earth quickly turns into a bewildering experience.
A zillion incarnations ago one of my embodied selves decided to emerge from the caverns of Ant-Arctica and embark on a day voyage to the ruins of a city the ancients called Ushuaia. It was a balmy day at the bottom of the Earth, the last habitable corner of this forsaken planet.
I boarded my Space Glider and scanned my biometrics. Instantly, my presence triggered Emmett, my virtual starboard officer, to self-activate. The AR dashboard lit up and I promptly selected the flight path and set the codes for clearances and speed modes.
“Good morning, Rhett. All systems are operational,” Emmett announced. “Would you like me to proceed with a final diagnostic check before takeoff?”
“Yes. Run the check,” I responded.
“Diagnostic in progress. Engines, navigation, and communication systems functioning within optimal parameters.”
“Start auto-thrust,” I commanded.
“Engaging auto-thrust in 3... 2... 1. Ready for manual control when you’re set, Rhett.”
“Taking manual control. Let’s ascend.”
Seconds later, we soared and merged onto the Hyperstream.
“We are now at cruising speed, Rhett. Would you like me to engage the autopilot?”
“Affirmative.”
My 15-minute journey to Ushuaia had begun. I stretched my arms as I listened to one of Emmett’s routine declarations: “Heavy traffic ahead.”
“As expected,” I replied. “Everyone craves a jolly old time at the ruins.”
Feeling my eyelids grow heavy, I peered out through the main viewport. Below us, a familiar scene: stark and barren landscapes of parched, cracked ground, stirred by occasional wind gusts that turned the air thick with pale brown dust. Dried-up riverbeds snaked through rocky terrain, flanked by skeletal remnants of tree trunks with brittle branches reaching toward the sky like twisted, broken fingers. No sign of life except for patches of shrubs, their leaves shrunken and shriveled.
A languorous wave of drowsiness washed over me. I yawned and closed my eyes. Astonished, instead of falling into slumber, my sight had become sharper and brighter, as if a hidden veil had peeled away and a new light had been cast on my reality. Suddenly, I heard a soft hiss as the hatch of the Glider popped open. “What the fuck? Emmett! What’s happening?” No response. Aghast, I watched a mob of spectral beings barreling toward the open hatch. For a fraction of a second, I thought I recognized them... Certain my mind had gone rogue, panic assailed me.
Out of nowhere, an invisible shield blocked the ghostly entities. “Emmett, who did this? We have no temporal cloaks!” I mumbled frantically, my ears impaled with the creatures’ shrieks and howls. Abruptly, they went quiet and a familiar voice echoed in my head.
“Rhett, awake. We are approaching an area of potential turbulence.”
I stirred.
“Based on real-time weather analysis, we can either adjust altitude or reduce speed. What is your preference, Rhett?”
I rubbed my eyes and straightened in my flight pod. “Let’s reduce speed for now.”
“Reducing speed by 10%. Monitoring turbulence for further adjustments.”
A moment later, Emmett issued a rare alert. “Nearby vessels appear to be maneuvering erratically.”
I looked out just as a Hyperloop Space vehicle whizzed by and swiftly veered off course. Multiple lights on the dashboard lit up and began flashing as Emmett’s voice stuttered: “Su-sudden pressure drop de-detected in engine two. Shh-shall I divert power to engine one and initiate em-em-emergency descent protocols?”
“Affirmative.”
Alas, it was too late. Fear flooded my guts as the Space Glider careened off the Hyperstream, my eyes locked in a gaze at the sun rising in the distance. Wails from my ancestors in the caves reverberated all around me as we plunged to the ground. The specters! It was them all along! Images of infinite iterations of myself traversing through the universe flashed before my eyes.
I heard a grunt before I realized it was my last breath. Inertia crept in, then deep, deep silence. Until... ethereal energies converged and lifted me above the wreck. Hovering above it, I stared at the broken shell where I had lodged for years. Lifeless eyes still open as specks of memories kept dribbling from the corpse’s lips. “Oh well, a lifetime ends exactly when and where it's meant to,” I cogitated, just as a cosmic wind ripped the fabric of space-time and hurled me into an open threshold.
I went across it and floated into a great hall packed with creatures who bowed and curtsied to me symbiotically. The elders indicated an iridescent throne on a dais. A silver urn in the shape of my Glider was set on a pedestal beside it. Naturally, I sat on the throne and read their minds: “Hail Rhett, High Priest and Overlord of all the Inner Realms! Welcome back to Ushuaia!”
DCW
Thank you for this short story. The opening hint was fulfilled. This wasn't a simple science fiction space adventure but a metaphysical experience of death and rebirth.
I'm sorry Ray, my comment was not accurate. Rhett is one of many reincarnations as the beginning of the story explains. But when he dies he returns to a dimension in the Inner Realms, where he is a High Priest. I apologize for the confusion.