Transcription Begin:

Clæra

Waterfront

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So, when we are done here, I’ll do my best to write all of this and… anything I happen to forget… down for you. It’s mostly what I can remember my father telling me when I was so very young but I’ll try to remember and pass along to you anything we don’t cover today in the near future. Please keep in mind that it has been a very long time since I have been asked about both my past and our collective past. Please don’t fault me for factual errors. I know how meticulous the youth are today///

 

Many years ago, a group of natives from Vohandis came to Ätlia. Prior to Vohandis, I do not know where or how our species developed. This was many, many, years before I was born so the details about this endeavor are vague to me but, from what I’ve been told, our race succeeded in landing on Ätlia, in a coastal area like the one we are sitting by today [Clæra motions to the sea], and developed a civilization without too much environmental difficulty. It took time, of course, and I’d like to hope that our race did its best to learn from the mistakes that were made on Vohandis, but eventually we expanded north and south, east and west, navigating the then-alien terrain, and forming new societies. The societies bloomed and our race flourished in ways that fathers, forefathers, and so on could only have dreamed possible. Things were stable and… well, it was a very pleasant time to be alive from what I understand//

 

Of course nothing ever happens quickly; what I’m telling you happened took place over generations and generations as our ancestors repopulated and developed civilizations on Ätlia. Like I said, life was good back then; full of prideful work and hope for the future. Our race vowed to keep on a steady track. Vows were made by every being not out of fear or consequence but out of knowledge and understanding of what came before. It was a truly benevolent time and… Well, it really does seem as though the best of times are forged through honest accomplishment. Life just tastes better when you really earn it///

 

Now, exceptional people are often forged out of exceptional circumstances and such was the case of an infamous General named Cocomin “Coco” Drehstedder. The General was a leader of one of the highest honors. Growing up through personal tragedies I do not know the full details of, he rose to become a respected soldier and, eventually, a prominent world power/

 

Though the time I’m describing now was a relative utopia on Ätlia, as far as I am aware, no time in any existence has been without pain, suffering, and, of course, violence… It’s almost as if we need these elements to justify, to balance, to appreciate how good life can be. So, as some lives are chanced with fortune and some are chanced with woe, the General’s life, as I mentioned, had its fair share of heartbreak. When he was approaching middle age, his children were tragically killed by an insurgent terrorist group, and this event, in a way, killed Coco as well. Slowly, the tightly-knit life he had worked so hard for began to unravel until, eventually, he pushed away all those who once stood by him and he was alone////

 

Coco was an extremely intelligent individual and, as the adage goes, with knowledge comes power. But what many fail to realize is that with power comes responsibility, and, if one begins to let their responsibilities falter… especially if they are the responsibilities of a world power… there are dire consequences/

 

The General, now aging, alone, and raging from a lifetime that he could only see as one full of anguish and innocence-lost, began to use the resources at his disposal for evil. A naturally charismatic individual, he began recruiting others with hatred in their eyes by telling fantastic tales of power and vengeance. He took the world he used to know in vain, extorting others into giving him access to privileged information and resources. Within the General was once was a beautiful flower, blooming with promise and forgiveness. As it was, the strongest among us turned out to be weak in the eyes of time and the flower inside withered into a lifeless core of darkness. Coco eventually became the most feared and detested being on Ätlia//

 

The utopia came to a sudden demise at the hand of the delusional General. His mind carried him to the ends of the world with his only desire, inflicting pain and misery onto anyone who was unfortunate enough to meet his lifeless eyes, paving the opaque road ahead of Ätlia//

 

I’m sorry if this is a lot to take in… I can see the sadness in your eyes… let me tell you about a glimmer of pride in our familial history [Clæra smiles]. I do remember my father telling me the story of a distant relative of his, and, therefore, mine and yours. As the General was tearing to pieces everything our species worked so hard to create, this relative… let’s just call her my Greatest Aunt… would come home and go out every day and night as if nothing devastating was happening around her. She would dance and sing, eat and laugh, and try her best to bring joy to those around her even when the world was heading toward certain doom. When asked how she carried on the way she did, my Aunt’s answer was so very simple, she said:

 

“Of course I am aware of what is happening around me… around us… and all I can ever do is hope that those who are creating such animosity will one day realize what I have and they will simply grow up and stop their radical, self-important, tantrum-driven ways. But, until then, until that fine day when we, as a society, see clearly again, the way I choose to go about my life comes down to this: I can laugh or I can cry. It’s completely up to me, and nobody can take that away.

What is happening around us is tragic… it’s so sad… and it might be the end of everything we, as a proud race, have accomplished, but, me standing here… and you standing here… is proof that there is still a chance that we will be safe tomorrow and, for that reason, I am going to continue living my life the way it was meant to be lived.

And, if things truly do end up taking a turn… the clouds fail to dissipate and we become strangers to the light… just look forward and keep breathing. Nobody has ever died on an inhale…”

 

// / //

 

Her fate, well, we will never know my Greatest Aunt’s fate but I like to think and to hope that her spirit lives on inside of us all in some mysterious way//

 

Now, as the Conflict raged on, day-by-day, Ätlia became more of a desolate and hostile world to live in. Those with the highest authority devised an insurance strategy for our species and this is the only reason we are here, speaking with each other, today. When it had become universally accepted that our race was making its thousand-yard stare, communication between individuals rapidly diminished and the governing political party used the last of its resources to create and launch a small group of crafts carrying a few fortunate individuals as well as some vegetation and wildlife from Ätlia. How and where those wise scientists decided to send the crafts will forever be lost in time, much like the long-lost horizon of beautiful Ätlia. Eventually, though, as our species somehow manages to, we survived the journey through time and space and landed here [Clæra gestures to the shoreline]. We have only been here for a few hundred years now but things have been progressing well… I think… I hope. Our companions here were a pleasant surprise and we have coexisted in harmony for some time. And that just about brings us to today [Clæra turns to me]. I hope this story helps you/|\

 

 

Transcription End.

 

 

 

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The preceding manuscript was found by a group of geologists engaged in research along Africa’s Angolan coast in 1994. The data recovered, here translated into the English language, has been under intensive investigation ever since its discovery. Carbon dating of the original text has proven the document to be over two hundred thousand years old. The text has been under the most severe scrutiny by the few scientists and translators who have had the privilege to be in contact. By all attesting accounts, the manuscript has proven to be authentic.

The identity of the recorder is still a mystery.

 

This is the legend of the Lost Horizon: Ätlia

 —

 

Lost Horizon: A Space Odyssey in Seven Parts

Stratosphere Blues and Whites

Northern Expansion

Ätlia

General Coco’s Loveless Delusion

She Dances While You Airstrike

Lost Horizon

Strange Affliction