Paradise

Six

3019, Earth

It was already sunny when Justine woke up from his sleep. The speedboat raced across the water with Ben looking at the front. It was open sea that surrounded them as the first rays of the sun hit them. Jones and Rizza sat across Justine. Justine stared at the ocean behind them, looking as if the cliff was still there.

They found the speedboat on a cave. It took them almost forty minutes to push the boat onto the water. Mostly because they heard the sudden hum of a spaceship like it was speeding away into the open sea. And when she got an attitude about the whole thing.

Hell no! she had said. I wouldn't ride this trash to Stonehenge. But eventually, the rest of the team forced her in.

He would had laughed at that moment, but he just kept silent instead.

"Where are we?" Justine finally asked Ben.

Jones interjected sarcastically. "I am happy to say we are lost in the sea."

"Jones, what the hell is wrong with you?" replied Justine.

"None of your business," she scoffed.

After a few more minutes of silence, Rizza said to Ben. "Why don't you call Richard and ask him where we are?"

"Good idea," Ben answered without bothering to look at her. Then he muttered to himself. "Action Key: Call." In seconds, his glove showed him a little holographic panel with the words: Connecting. Please wait.

Meanwhile, Justine looked at Jones, who was staring at the ocean, and asked her gently this time. "Are you okay? Is there anything wrong?"

"Shut up," Jones replied, without bothering to look at him. "Don't act gently on me."

"C'mon," he said. "Tell me."

She didn't reply. Jones looked at the sea with lumps of ice forming in her heart. She remembered her last few moments with her foster parents, who died on the ocean. She was ten back then, and she didn't know how to float, let alone swim.

It was a stormy night. Waves rocked the big cruise ship Midnight Angel, but she, her parents, and the rest of the passengers were having a banquet in the dining hall of the huge cruise ship. The foster father and the eight-year-old Jones were at the top deck, staring at the vast black blanket of water that spread miles away and the starry night above them while being drenched by the downpour.

"Daddy," she said, despite the raindrops annoying her. "It's beautiful tonight."

He smiled. "Of course, my little sunshine."

They were silent. It was his foster father that wanted to speak, but then the ship stopped and tilted to the right.

"What's wrong, daddy?" young Jones asked, her face  showing that she was worried.

"Nothing," he replied, still smiling. Jones, at this age, certainly knew this. She was used to his father saying that one mundane word that bothered her. It was like he was hiding something. . .

The ship rocked from left to right, followed by an explosion that reverberated on the Midnight Angel.

That was when the ship began to sink as the screams of men and women followed.

"Daddy?" Jones asked. "How about mommy? Will she be okay?"

He still smiled. "Of course. Of course. She'll be fine, really—" The ship lurched to the right, allowing Jones to slip as the Midnight Angel was positioned vertically. The ship was beginning to be taken by the waters. Fortunately, the father held the rung with his right hand as he grabbed Jones on the other. She screamed.