The last date I remember is September 29, 2300, until that day my life had been comfortable and luxurious, but after that morning, the whole world changed, and there were many times I wished it had all ended for me that day.
My name is Wilfred Aarden, and for ten years I was an executive in charge of marketing Ether services for Hilbert Technologies in the southern territories of the American continent.
My job was to establish business alliances with local companies for the distribution of energy, food, technology and any other Ether product through terminals manufactured by manufacturers based in the Rioplatense commonwealth, in the territories of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Normally I didn't have to leave my office in Oslo, Scandinavia, to do my job, but that week I had to pay a visit to a new manufacturer in Mendoza, who was hoping to get licenses to distribute Ether products.
My assistant, Tatiana Goren, and I evaluated the factory facilities, a former subsidiary, which had gone bankrupt and was reactivated by a workers' cooperative. The facilities were not the most modern, nor the best equipped, so we decided to license them for the supply and distribution of electricity and the manufacture of portable food and medicine generators, something much needed in this impoverished region. This was on the promise of re-evaluating their facilities soon, with the possibility of extending licenses to other products; although Tatiana and I knew that this would probably never happen, it was highly unlikely that their dilapidated facilities would ever be licensed for other products. This happened on September 28, 2300.
That was the morning of the last day we would spend in that sorry place. I had nothing against South America, at least it was not Africa or Indochina, where internal wars were wiping out everything and famine and insalubrity reigned in every corner. South America could still be considered a relatively civilized place, although the frequent revolts and occasional terrorist attacks prevented it from being a prosperous place, like Europe, the North American Confederacy or Russia.
Ready to head for the airport, Tatiana and I entered the basement parking lot of the hotel where we had been staying, a building that had seen better days, now practically unoccupied, with only a few guests staying in their rooms at the time, possibly because of the high rates and the scarcity of tourism in the region.
In Mendoza, the autonomous transportation service provider had closed down several years ago, so it was not possible to use Ether to provide transportation, a real shame at the time, so Tatiana and I had to rent an old autonomous Citroën at the airport upon our arrival. We were on our way to meet our vehicle, the only one in the parking lot, when it all happened.
Suddenly the lights in the basement went out and some old and almost moribund battery emergency lamps were the only elimination of the place, Tatiana, who was walking in front of me, turned to see me with a disjointed face, astonished by that, she continued moving forward and it was then when the earth began to shake violently, emitting a terrifying buzzing sound that echoed through the body, I saw how my assistant fell to the ground, after stumbling, I tried to run towards her, but then the basement ceiling began to collapse.
I remember that I myself fell to the floor and stayed there, hiding my head under the notepad I was carrying in my hands, everything around me was creaking and buzzing and the floor kept shaking with extreme violence. I did not dare to open my eyes and could only wait for the worst, until for some reason I lost consciousness.
I woke up in the middle of absolute darkness, I felt a terrible pain go through my whole body, I was lying on my side with my legs cramped, I stretched them out and felt that I touched something hard like a wall with them, I lay on my back and stretched my arms to the sides and I could feel with my right hand, what looked like loose rocks and I guessed that they had come off the ceiling. I screamed, calling out to Tatiana and asking for help, but received no response. I tried to get up and when I tried to get up, I immediately bumped into the ceiling, I calculated that I was no more than a meter from the floor, how had that happened?
I kept feeling around me, while I moved on all fours, until I felt with my left hand the notepad, I tried to turn it on, but I didn't get any response, I guessed that it had been hit and broken. It was then when the roar of a gigantic explosion resounded throughout the place, making everything shake again, I felt how earth and stones fell on me.
I kept feeling around me, while I moved on all fours, until I felt with my left hand the notepad, I tried to turn it on, but I got no response, I guessed that it had been hit and broke down. It was then when the roar of a gigantic explosion resounded throughout the place, making everything shake again, I felt how earth and stones fell on me, fortunately, without hurting me more than I was already.
I rummaged in my pocket and found my phone, I tried to turn it on, but the same thing happened as with the tablet, it did not work at all, what the hell had happened, as far as I knew, Mendoza was not a region of seismic risk, and even more, why the emergency services did not make the respective notifications, ten minutes before it happened. Or because the electric service had been suspended, that was something that should not happen, the whole hotel, as well as my tablet and phone were taking power from the Ether.
I remembered that in the inside pocket of my jacket I was carrying a battery powered lighter, an accessory that always accompanied me, because of my anachronistic vice of smoking tobacco cigarettes, I took it out and pressed the ignition button, I could see how two small electric arcs formed a tiny and bright blue x in the middle of the unfathomable darkness that enveloped me.
I continued searching in my pockets and found my handkerchief, I put one of its corners between my fingers and rolled it up to see if I could light it, when exposed to the electric arc, it quickly caught fire. I picked up the flaming piece of cloth and used it to illuminate my surroundings.
Above me the ceiling formed an inverted slope that touched the ground a few meters from my feet, apparently, one of the ceiling slabs had come loose and fallen without cracking completely, fortunately for me, because it had stayed right above me and had not crushed me.
While, at my feet, the fallen ceiling slab closed the passage where it touched the floor, to my left, right and where my head was pointing, I could see piles of debris that also blocked the passage.
I kept looking around and among the debris, to my right, I could see something metallic looking peeking out from under the debris, at floor level. I dropped the handkerchief on the floor, so that it would continue to burn there and I advanced on all fours until I was close to the object, I felt it with my hand, and immediately identified the shape of a woman's shoe, shuddering, I stretched out my hand again to touch around where I had picked it up and then a shiver ran down my back, I quickly went back to where I had dropped the burning handkerchief.
I felt my whole body suddenly tremble, seized by terror, as if for the first time, my mind realized the gravity of the situation I was in. I stood in shock with my thighs pressed against my chest, breathing shakily and trembling, until the fire of the handkerchief was completely extinguished. In the midst of that rubble, among the dirt and rocks of the collapsed roof, I could feel the cold foot of Tatiana, who had been walled in by the debris.
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-I think that's enough for today Aurora, -said the teacher, who attentively, listened to the girl reading from a thick, leather bound tome.
-Did I do well, Professor Jensen? -asked Aurora, rubbing her hands together.
-Of course Aurora, your interpretation of English has improved tremendously, - said the woman, as she looked at Aurora through her large, bead-rimmed glasses -. You may go.
Aurora took her bag, which was hanging on the back of the chair, and left the room, after which Professor Morelli entered.
-How did Aurora do? -he asked.
-In two years she's already reading old Spanish, English and French perfectly, -answered Daria Jensen.
-I think I had a good eye in attracting her to the school, I'm sure Julia would have been very happy -continued Morelli.
-I never got to know Julia Roberti, but I know that Dr. Casado was very fond of her and was very sorry to see her go, -said Daria
-Yes, Benjamin loved her very much, he never recovered from her death, I think he always hoped that she would return to the university.
-I'm surprised she hadn't initiated her niece, at least in old Spanish, -said Daria.
-From what Aurora has told me, I think Julia never wanted to make the girl's mother uncomfortable, she never agreed with her sister coming to Alessia, I don't think she would have liked her trying to teach her daughter dead languages.