What It's Like (part 6)

This is part 6 of a short story cut into shorter sections. To see part 1 and follow the entire story, click here.

At first the meteor’s pull on the Earth was as indefinable as emotion – little more than an idea tugging at his corners. Like happiness, fear, and excitement, it could be felt more than it could be explained.

As the meteor came closer, however, its gravity grew into something more concrete. The Earth’s oceans noticed it first. Suddenly disinterested with the moon, they found themselves attracted to the meteor, drawn to its rugged strength. Like crazed fans, they crowded the beaches and fought for the best view of its approach.

The Earth lit his northern lights to warn the meteor that it might be coming too close. Unfortunately, the stubborn forces of nature often ignore even the most heartfelt wishes and requests. The Earth didn’t know what to do. He had already done everything he could to control his future, and was worn out with the effort.

Until now, his path had been familiar and frictionless. Every day he moved through space carried by his own momentum, hardly working to spin through the seasons. In the vacuum, there was little need for effort or exertion. Nothing worked against him. Trusting his instincts and inertia, the Earth had taken for granted that he would always coast easily through life.

But now his forward motion was being interrupted by a sideways force. For the first time since he settled into the routine of orbit, The Earth felt resistance… friction… gravity pulling him in a direction other than the one he had always known.

As the meteor came closer, its gravity increased. Like a ball fighting to roll uphill, The Earth strained against its pull. When he tried to move forward, the meteor tugged him back. It didn’t matter how tightly he tried to hold to his orbit. The Earth was a movable object fighting an unstoppable force.

Finally, after weeks (or was it months? or years?) of straining against the meteor’s gravity, the Earth finally accepted what he could not change. He stopped fighting the invisible truth. Exhausted, he stopped running. For the first time since the meteor was sighted, the Earth relaxed and let nature take its course.

And as the meteor passed by – only 186 million miles away – its gravity wrapped around the Earth’s middle and slowly pulled him away from the sun and into the deep, dark unknown. The predictable curve of the his orbit was straightened into an infinite line. Like a hound chasing its quarry, the Earth left his home and followed the meteor into in the unknown of space.

When the meteor was first sighted, the Earth tried to save himself. He chose to run – to avoid the meteor rather than let it collide with him – and his plan worked. He hadn’t been destroyed by an impact. But despite his effort (or perhaps because of it), his path had been forever changed. Now, as the Earth followed the meteor past stars he had never seen, he wondered which was better, change or annihilation? He didn’t yet know.

He noticed, however, that the people weren’t saying anything about what happened. They weren’t admiring the view or complaining about the cold. They were all strangely quiet.

The Earth thought he liked them better that way.

The End.