Sunset
Abel Neto
Nature had finally revolted against the pale creatures. For too long had they been careless, feeding and stripping the Earth of its raw materials for profit. They had their suspicions about what would happen, of course. There were theories. There were protests, sometimes. But they knew. And their fate could’ve been avoided.
The pale creatures regarded themselves as intelligent, unchallenged. Yet they still flailed around recklessly. For when the first nuclear bombs was launched in the Nevada desert, the spectators would stare in bemusement at it falling down, unsure whether it would destroy the planet or whether it would merely create a mushroom cloud. They were children playing with a lethal weapon as though it were a ball.
Still they thought that their knowledge was great enough to overwhelm technology.
April, 1986. Evidence that those creatures knew nothing of what they were messing with. The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor had been left unattended, leaving the inevitable to happen. That month, clean-up teams would be sent to their death as they swept the area clean of nuclear fallout.
However, decades later, more Nuclear reactors would be built for their own needs. We were a secondary consideration. And apparently that was good enough. It was hard to believe that millions of years ago they were small, skinny and vulnerable to the elements around them.
And now they have the capability to destroy the very same ground that their ancestors had trodden on millions of years ago.
They had evolved slowly at first, and Mother Nature was as proud as a mother could’ve been. Eventually, her sons started to process ideas of moral good, and, like any other species, they hunted for their food, created fires for warmth, and camped in caves for comfort.
Now evolving rapidly, money, trade and small civilisations began to form, perhaps the start of a world of terror and greed.
Finally, we come to this. A planet of what some might call modern, but what others would call dystopia.
They haven’t changed much since then. That sunset does look good. And who knows if it’s our last?