A Different Kind of Qualimn

     Earth isn’t the only planet in the universe that may face death because of an asteroid, meteor, comet, etc. Whether it’s a person-made disaster, a natural disaster, or one from beyond Earth, whatever happens here on Earth will happen on every other inhabited planet in the universe sooner or later.

     We call them asteroids, meteors, comets, etc. here on Earth. Most of the rest of the universe calls them SpaceRocks. The planet of Qualimn is one of those planets, thought SpaceFaction.

A Different Kind of Qualimn

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     A SpaceRock almost as big as the planet it is headed for hit it with enough force to destroy it completely. There is nothing left of it, but SpaceDust that is filling the large monitor in front of a large group of Qualimns watching their planet being destroyed. Standing right next to that monitor stood Manicolm.

     “This is one way for our planet to be destroyed in the next couple of months. It’s the worst that can happen to us, but it’s not the only thing that may happen.”

     Manicolm looked up at the large monitor again. It now showed their planet of Qualimn once more. The same SpaceRock was about to hit them. That time it didn’t destroy them completely. It only destroyed about half of it as it passed through it. “This is most likely what will happen to us in about two months.”

     Jaccine, a female Qualimn seated in the center of eight other Qualimns in a half circular desk facing the other Qualimns in that room, stood up. “How can we make this happen instead of us being completely destroyed?”

Eight Months Ago

“We are about ready to try to destroy the SpaceRock that is headed for us,” said Manicolm. “For the last six months, we have been watching this SpaceRock. Only now is it close enough we can try to destroy it.”

     Manicolm looked up at the monitor behind Jaccine and the other eight Qualimns beside her to see a very big SpaceWeapon in orbit around their planet. At that angle, everyone in that room could see about half of it was filled with SpaceWeapons. Only their tips and around a foot of them could be seen. The other half were being placed in empty holes there by floating into them without anyone or anything helping them do it.

     “Once we finish placing these SpaceWeapons in their holes, we will be ready to destroy that SpaceRock. I just hope we are close enough to destroy it. Still don’t think we are.”

     Manicolm never took his eyes off of the monitor as those SpaceWeapons were being placed in their hole. Once the last of these SpaceWeapons are placed, the SpaceWeapon turned away from Qualimn. A few seconds later the sounds of them being used could be heard by everyone in that room.

More SpaceWeapons Needed

     “I said that SpaceRock wasn’t close enough to be destroyed,” said Manicolm. “Unfortunately, I was right.”

     “It has been a month since we tried to destroy it,” said Jaccine. “What have you been doing to save our planet from it?”

     Manicolm stood in front of Jaccine and the other eight Qualimn behind a small, tall oblong round stand. “We have been doing a lot in the last sixty days.”

     “We have already started replacing the SpaceWeapons so that we can try again to destroy that SpaceRock once it gets closer to us. Unfortunately, it will be almost here before we can do it.”

     “That’s good to hear, but what if we can’t destroy it then? What are we going to do?” Jaccine asked.

     Manicolm smiled. “We haven’t just been making SpaceWeapons. We’ve also been thinking of other ways to save us. We have come up with a couple of other ways to survive what is about to happen to us in around seven months.”

Several Ways to Survive

     Manicolm sat behind a desk with no legs in a small room. Behind him was a large window that overlooked a scientific type of room. A lot of Qualimns are in there. In front of him, there was a large monitor with two moving images on it.

     After tapping a few buttons popping out of the desktop in front of him, the moving image on his right grew to take up the whole monitor. It was the one that showed an underground complex that was partially under construction. A lot of Qualimns are there too. Manicolm got a closer look at one of them.

     “How are things going down there?” Manicolm asked.

     “Everything is going as planned,” said Briena. “We should be finished long before that SpaceRock gets here.”

     After tapping a few more buttons, the image on the monitor now changed to a view of about fifteen spaceships that are being created in orbit on that side of Qualimn. Some look like they are about halfway finished, but most appear almost created. Manicolm smiled. “With only six months left, this looks like it’s coming along very well too.”

Living Underground

     Briena was looking at her small palm monitor when Manicolm came up to her. “What’s wrong?” Manicolm asked.

     “There’s nothing wrong,” answered Briena. “At least not yet, but there could be if what I have been hearing is true.”

     “What have you heard?” Manicolm asked.

     Briena looked at Manicolm. “That what we are trying to do here is for nothing. If the SpaceRock doesn’t destroy us, what we are going to do may do it too.”

     “You are correct about what you have been hearing,” said Manicolm. “What we are going to do could destroy us anyway.”

     “Then why are we doing it?” Briena asked.

     Manicolm started looking around that underground complex. “Because it and the spaceships we are creating are our best way to survive what is about to happen to us.”

     “If we could just use spaceships to get us all off of here, we would do that, but we can’t. At the most, we can save about half of our population. These underground complexes are the only way to save the rest of us, and we only have about five months to do it.”

###

Leaving Qualimn

     Looking out a large window, Manicolm could see quite a few spaceships in front of him. All of them looked almost created. “How much longer before we can start using them to get as many Qualimns as we can off this planet?”

     Kannia stood next to Manicolm looking out at the spaceships there. “We still have four months before this SpaceRock gets to us. If we continue the way we have been, we should be able to start using them in a couple of months.”

     “That doesn’t give us too much time to get us away from here before we are hit by that SpaceRock. Can we still get as many Qualimns away from here as we can by then?”

     “We should be able to do it,” answered Kannia. “It’s not going to be easy, but I think we can.”

     Manicolm started to walk away from Kannia. He only took a few steps before he stopped and turned toward Kannia. “If you can, get them finished sooner than that. The sooner they are finished the better.”

Three Months Ago

     Jaccine stood up and clapped her hands above her. The echo from that clap got everyone’s attention. After they calmed down, Jaccine looked at Manicolm standing in front of them and the rows of other Qualimns there. “What did you just say?” Jaccine asked.

     “I said we have the SpaceWeapons we need to destroy this SpaceRock, but I don’t think we should use them yet,” said Manicolm. “It still isn’t close enough for us to destroy it.”

     “I’m sure we can destroy it,” continued Manicolm. “We just need to wait until it gets closer to us before we can do it.”

     Jaccine sat back down. “How close does it need to get before we can destroy it?”

     “Another month and it should be close enough,” answered Manicolm. “That’s when we will destroy it.”

     “We can’t do that,” said Jaccine. “There must be another way to do it sooner than that. That will only give us two months to destroy it. That’s not enough time to save everyone.”

     Manicolm shook his head sadly. “I don’t think we will be able to do it sooner.”

Back to the Present

     The large monitors at both ends of that room showed Qualimn rotating on its axis slowly. After Manicolm tapped a few buttons on his palm monitor, the moving image of Qualimn changed to an inner view of it with thin lines from the ground lever at the top to the large clear hole in the center of it. A few more buttons and that view showed those lines as passageways leading to the open core of Qualimn.

     “As you can see these passageways lead to the center of our planet.” Manicolm tapped a few more buttons. Not taking his eyes off the large monitor behind Jaccine and the other eight Qualimn and in front of the rows of Qualimn in that room.

     Now the moving image showed the top of Qualimn where the holes came out of the ground. As the moving image moved everyone in that room could see a large metal tube pointed at those holes. At least most of the holes had a tube above them. “We still have a lot of Qualimn Tubes to place. Once they are placed over their passageways, we will be ready to destroy Qualimn ourselves.”

Qualimn Tubes

     Manicolm stood in front of a large tube hovering over a hole. In front of him were Jaccine and the other eight Qualimns behind a smaller desk. Behind those nine Qualimns were the rows of other Qualimns. Only they were no longer sitting too. “I have just been contacted. All the other Qualimn Tubes have been placed over their passageways.”

     “We are now ready to use them” continued Manicolm. “All I need is your approval to do it.”

     Jaccine looked at each one of her other Qualimns sitting on either side of her. Each one nodded their head once as she looked at them. After finishing with the eighth Qualimn, Jaccine looked back at Manicolm. “We still don’t like it, but we approve of what you are about to do.”

     “We just hope you are right about this,” continued Jaccine. “If not that SpaceRock won’t have to destroy us because you have already done it.”

     “My other Qualimn Experts and I aren’t wrong. This is our only way to survive that SpaceRock,” said Manicolm. “If we didn’t believe that, we would already be on one of those spaceships that are about to leave Qualimn.”

A Different Kind of Qualimn

     Once again, all the Qualimns in that room were watching the large monitors at the ends of it. What they were looking at were the passageways. Only now those Qualimn Tubes were going down the passageways. “Once these Qualimn Tubes get almost to the center of our planet, they will explode.”

     “Spitting Qualimn into smaller Land Masses. Each one will be hovering about a thousand feet from one another and the center part of Qualimn,” continued Manicolm.

     “Within those Land Masses, there is a complex. After that SpaceRock passes through our planet, we will be able to bring those Land Masses back together again.”

     Jaccine stood up. “What about these Qualimn Tubes? There is the possibility they will destroy us when they explode. Isn’t that correct?”

     “Anything is possible,” answered Manicolm. “It’s not going to happen, though.”

     “Even if everything happens like you think it will, what makes you think we can bring all those Land Masses back together again?” Jaccine asked.

     Manicolm turned toward Jaccine. “I know we can do it, but even if we can’t, we will still be Qualimn. It will just be a different kind of Qualimn.”

     “In a few minutes, we will know if we have created these Land Masses. If we are still here, we have done it. The moving images on these large monitors will show it too. Then all we need to do is wait for another month to see if that SpaceRock hits us or not.”

Word Count Including Section Headings = 1,944