Chapter 2: Saviours

Asher was in a large room with ten other employees all tinkering away at their stations with various materials and alloys. The room was filled with numerous machines ranging from being as small as a handheld phone to the size of a small truck. This was the robotics repair section of Elpis Robotics and it is where Asher had worked for the last three years.

"Hey Asher can you help me with this for a sec?" A middle aged co-worker asked. 

"Yeah sure." Asher smiled, walking over to the man to help. 

Asher was often asked for help by the others, acting as almost a supervisor of sorts although that was not his role. He didn't really mind if he was being honest since he enjoyed repairing and building machines and robots. It also was the reason that he had been chosen from thousands of other employees to head his own division in the company. For Asher this would be life changing, allowing him much more freedom and resources to work with, as well as allowing him the opportunity to improve upon and create new machines and robots. Not to mention it was far better paying than his current role at the company was. 

Asher smiled to himself greedily thinking about all the food he could actually afford to buy once he was promoted. His face relaxed and his smile became more solemn. In truth the real reason he was happy was because he and his mother would be relocated from the Boundary to Elpis.

The Boundary was where Asher had grown up all his life and for as long as he could remember he had been jealous of all those who lived in Elpis. The Boundary was at the very edge of Elpia and the furthest district from the city of Elpis. The other districts in between still had some semblance of a functional society, and the closer one was to Elpis the more functional one was, however the Boundary was different. It contained well over ten million people all crammed together in crudely constructed buildings made from scrap metal and a variety of other materials. It was where the leftovers from society were. It was initially used as a place of sanctuary during Elpia's foundation for those seeking salvation from the harsh climate of the outside world. Over the years it had transformed into what Asher knew it as now, a place of disrepair, unsanitary conditions, crime and mainly… hunger. .Where Elpis had a plentiful supply of food, the Boundary had a scarce supply relying on porridge and protein gel. Protein gel was a grey jelly-like substance that supposedly contained forty grams of protein and a lot of the essential vitamins people required. Asher was never really that fond of it as it was basically tasteless. 

Thinking about the slimy texture of the protein gel Asher frowned, he really could not wait to be promoted. He had always been quite intelligent especially considering where he was born. To say the Boundary had a lacklustre educational system was an understatement but Asher had managed to soak up as much knowledge as he could from it, while also spending most if not all the money he ever had on better educating himself on robotics. It wasn't that he was overly interested in them if he was being honest with himself, it was more so that they just made sense to him and he knew if he was good enough he could make some money from it, which was more than most people from the Boundary could say. However once he started working he ended up thoroughly enjoying it. However he never imagined he would be heading his own small division in the main robotics provider in Elpia. He had never even thought such a thing was possible, in fact as far as he knew he was the only person in the company's history to be a division head that was not from Elpis itself. 

"Asher Woods, could you come into my office whenever you're ready?" A voice said over the intercom. Asher finished helping the employee for a few more minutes then headed towards the office at the front of the room. He knocked on the door and was invited in. 

"Hello sir, you wanted to see me?" Asher said brightly. 

A tall chubby man with grey hair and a small beard was sitting in a very fancy looking office chair. The man had a friendly face and rosy cheeks. "Ash my boy." The man said with a warm smile. "I see you're busy as usual." 

"Oh it's nothing sir, just another day." Asher replied. 

The man shook his head. "No need to undersell yourself boy, you have been an invaluable asset for me and the rest of the staff here. Oh and stop calling me sir! How many times do I hate to tell you to call me Ron". 

I am great in fairness. 

Asher awkwardly smiled and scratched the back of his head. He had always liked Ron, in fact Ron was the one who made a case for Asher to get a promotion in the first place, saying his talents were wasted. He owed him a lot and wanted to repay him someday if possible. Aside from his mother Ron was probably the person he was closest with, due to him taking him under his wing as soon as he joined his division. Ron was nice to everyone but he seemed to have a soft spot for Asher. Maybe it was pity due to his circumstances being from the Boundary or maybe he just saw him as a means to improve his own standing in the company. Asher did not really care either way since it had benefited him a great deal regardless of the man's motives. "Yes sir… I mean Ron I'll try not to in future." 

Ron sighed, shaking his head once more. "Anyway that's not why I called you in here, I wanted to let you know that all the preparations for your transfer are done and you will be starting next week." 

Asher was momentarily stunned. He had not expected things to move so fast he thought he'd be waiting another few months before transferring. Regaining his composure he asked "What happened? I thought it was going to take a few months sir?" 

Ron looked at him with a blank expression. Had he not just told him to call him Ron less than a minute ago? Shaking his head yet again. "Well apparently one of the other division heads left the company resulting in them speeding up your transfer to replace him. 

Asher couldn't help but smile hearing this. This meant that he and his mom could move into Elpis much sooner than he had initially thought. The company would have people over to their house in the following few days to collect their stuff and provide them with Citizenship cards to the city of Elpis. 

Ron looked at Asher who was still smiling to himself with a cheerful expression. He knew how much this promotion meant to him. "Don't get ahead of yourself now you still have to finish off the week here and I expect your usual standards." 

"Of course sir… Or Ron sir, yes you don't have to worry." Asher sheepishly said. 

Ron chucked to himself . "Alright now you can…" His thoughts were interrupted by an alert on his phone. He looked down at it for a moment, his eyes widening. "Turn on the monitor my boy, right now something incredible has happened." He said excitedly. 

Not wasting a second Asher grabbed the remote, pressed the power button and the monitor lit up automatically changing to the news channel. Asher was not sure what could have stirred such excitement in Ron. Ron was usually quite reserved so he himself was curious to what he had seen on his phone. Turning to look at the screen he saw a large space shuttle descending down at a moderate pace. The shuttle was constructed from a white alloy, with interwoven golden streaks across its surface, it had six thrusters at the back and several more on the bottom of the vessel slowing its descent. The shuttle's thrusters started to dim as they approached the ground until they cut off allowing the ship to safely land. Turning to Ron he saw that he was in awe looking at the screen. Asher could not blame him really, after all this meant that the company head and the brave souls that accompanied him on his journey had been on a mission across the stars looking for a world that could sustain humans had returned. This could only mean one thing… they had found it, the new world humanity would call it's home. 

It had been several hours since the news broke of humanities heroes coming home. Asher had finished work and was walking home, surrounded by dimly lit streets and crudely constructed shacks as far as the eye could see. Asher never liked his journey back from the city of Elpis and his subsequent walk home through the tattered streets of the Boundary. He always felt disappointed having to leave the city and return home to this miserable place, but today he did not think about that at all. All he could think about was the return of the heroes, and more importantly what this was going to mean for himself as well as everyone else on earth. Asher did not know what to think of their return if he was being honest. On one hand he was filled with excitement and joy as this could mean humanity could not just survive but prosper once again, however on the other hand things had just started going his way and he did not know how their arrival would impact upon his life. 

Asher was a mess of different thoughts and emotions as he walked through the desolate streets of the Boundary. Asher had only been eighteen years old when his company's head Elliot Elpis and the four other chosen saviours had left earth in search of a new home. Of course there was realistically more than just five of them involved in the expedition but the advertising had propped them above all others. They were all very important people after all and none more so than Elliot Elpis himself. It had been four years since then and they were not predicted to return for at least twenty years, so to say people were surprised by their sudden arrival was an understatement. Another thought was troubling Asher though, would the appearance of Elliot affect his transfer, possibly slowing it down greatly or god forbid stop his promotion entirely. Since they had landed Ron was so focused on preparing things for Elliots return that he had not mentioned anything else to Asher about his transfer. This was annoying Asher as he wanted him and his mother to move to Elpis as soon as humanly possible, but now things would inevitably slow down with everyone in the company scrambling to prepare for Elliots arrival. 

Asher grimaced. Damn it, just as things were looking good. 

No matter how much he thought about it, only time would tell what would happen, so he pushed all the thoughts aside as he approached home.

Asher came to a stop outside a quaint little house that while not exactly nice looking, was definitely more pleasing to the eye than the surrounding houses… if you could call them that. He walked towards his home and opened the door leading directly into his kitchen where his mother was sitting down. She had the radio on, which was discussing of course the arrival of humanity's saviours. It was all the same stuff being said from earlier so Asher paid it no attention instead sneaking up behind his mother who was listening intently to the radio host. "BOO." He yelled, causing Sarah to jump up out of her seat clutching her chest. 

She turned to look at him, her expression changing from being startled to a frown forming on her face. "One of these days I'm gonna scare you and I can't wait to see the look on your face." She said grumpily. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself." Asher replied, grinning as he did so. "Anyway I see you've heard the news." 

Sarah gave him a stern look before sighing and sitting back down. "Yes I did hear, in fact I was just listening to that very topic being discussed before somebody nearly gave me a heart attack. They were just saying how the saviours are making an announcement tonight, any idea what it could be about?" 

Asher replied "Isn't it obvious they have found a planet that can sustain human life, I mean why else would they come back so soon?"

Sarah looked at him, suddenly her face beamed with excitement. "That's what I was thinking as well. Maybe that means we can actually move out of this place some day." She smiled at the thought. 

Asher thought about telling his mother that they would be moving into Elpis soon hopefully, but decided not to until he knew for sure. He could not bear to see his mother be disappointed… not after what he had done only six months ago. So he kept it to himself. 

As the hours passed by everyone in the world anxiously awaiting the announcement Asher was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He had planned to take a nap but he too was anxiously awaiting the announcement. He stood up from his bed and walked out of his room to the kitchen where his mother had left a protein gel for him. Ignoring it he continued on his way and left his house to get some fresh air… well as fresh as the air in the Boundary could be. He sighed thinking about how much fresher the air seemed in Elpis. It was dark out now and Asher looked up to the sky which was only illuminated by the moon. Light pollution had long hidden the stars from view. Asher doubted that there were many places on earth left that one could gaze upon the stars. He had always wanted to see the stars even if just for a moment. 

Lamenting on this for a moment he felt a little solemn but who knows now that humanity might be leaving earth he may get to see them after all. That was a nice thought however he was not too positive about his chances of making it off earth, at least not for a very long time. Those from the major districts would undoubtedly be the first ones sent to colonise the planet, while the rest of them would have to wait their turn and hope to make it there in their lifetime. Those from Elpis who wished to leave would no doubt have the first choice. While Earth's population had decreased drastically through the dark times it would still take many years to transport the hundreds of millions of people left to an entirely new planet. Not to mention all the time it would take to prepare the planet for so many people to arrive. 

Thinking about all of the possibilities of what could happen was tiring Asher out, he looked at his digital watch to see what time it was. It was nine o'clock which was when the Saviours were supposed to give their announcement. Not wanting to miss it he turned to walk inside but just before he did he noticed from the corner of his eye that the moon looked a little strange. Turning back to look at it he was shocked to see that the moon suddenly disappeared, replaced by a wall of darkness spreading out across the sky. It almost instantly surrounded the entire Boundary making the sky look as though it had been painted on by some invisible giant. The only light remaining were the dim light sources spread throughout the Boundary. Asher could not see past the black veil that surrounded him, where one could usually see Elpis and the other districts across the horizon only darkness could be seen. It was like they had been swallowed up by an indescribable darkness. 

What the actual fuck?

"Ash sweetie what's going on?" Sarah asked as she walked outside, only to be greeted by the strange sight. 

"I… I don't know." Asher replied, still startled by what had just happened. He could hear the murmur of people around them taking notice, all equally as confused as he was. Looking back to where the moon had once been he noticed a ripple in the veil of darkness. Not being able to avert his gaze he watched as a red hue started to form in the sky, spreading out and changing shape as it did, until eventually they formed the number 10,075,965 and to its side another set of numbers had formed 9,068,322. Under the two sets of numbers one more thing had formed in the sky, a timer for twelve hours… which suddenly began to count down.