THAT LAND

Jane woke up in the middle of the night with a stiff back and heavy eyes. As she adjusted the pillows to rest her back on, she looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Warm, comfortable bed, crystal cups, cushy rugs, comfy pillows - this was definitely alien to her. Suddenly, it hit her. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be in the middle of the battlefield right now fighting for her country, leading her troops to glory.

She pressed her forehead with her fingers in an attempt to bring back the memory. The third world war was drawing to a close, not because one side was winning but because all sides were losing.

Where was she now? Surely the enemies wouldn’t keep her unbound and unguarded but her allies didn’t have the resources to arrange for such a maintained cottage. She couldn’t risk her chances. Having made up her mind in an instant which she had become used to after leading millions of soldiers for five years now, she slowly got out of the bed and searched for the nearest escape route. Not the door, of course. She tip-toed towards the window and looked out. She was about five metres from the ground, she could easily manage the jiump.

As she put one foot on the window-sill, an alarm went blazing and a moment later, a man entered the room.

That’s it - she thought and grabbed the nearest object, aiming to shoot it at the ‘intruder.’

“Relax.”, he said in a calm voice.

Jane scoffed and grasped the object tighter.

“Listen, that flower pot can’t hurt me. So why don’t you put it down and then we can talk.”

“Who are you?”, she asked.

“Well, my name’s Tronan. What would your name be?”, he asked trying to make conversation.

“What am I doing here?”

“Well, that would be pretty obvious. You’re standing and shouting. At the top of your voice, I must add.”

Is he for real?, she thought. He’s cracking jokes here.

“Oh, I would never have figured that out.”, she said with sarcasm clear in her tone.

“Really? When I was told humans were the most intelligent species on earth, I honestly considered them to have a little bit of logic.”

“So what are you - an alien?”, she scoffed.

“Yes.”, he said.

Jane waited for him to laugh, to give any indication that he was joking - again. But he didn’t. So he wasn’t human. Wait, WHAT?!!

“You are in Mars. All human life was killed on Earth in the war. It is no longer habitable.”

“This has to be a dream. Tht’s the only explanation.”, she told herslef to calm her heart.

“It isn’t. You are the last living human. You somehow survived the explosion that took the last of the human lives. We brought you here and healed you."

Suddenly, lacking her ability to speech, Jane nodded.

"Rest now. ", he said and Jane didn't even feel like arguing.

"And this is our healing center.", Tronan pointed out to a large campus that consisted of a wonderful collection of white and sky-blue coloured buildings.

"It's beautiful.", she commented.

"Surprised at all the things you can do with your resources when you aren't wasting them on wars and weapons. I wish mankind had learned its lesson earlier."

"You don't have military here!", Jane excalimed.

"No. Nor a single weapon and neither do we need to. We live peacefully here. We have no shortage of food, space, job. All our resources are used for research and upgrading our technology. Each year we make our planet a better place than before. We have all that we need."

And what exactly were we fighting the war for? - Jane thought as she looked up at the sky that didn't resemble that of Earth - a planet that was now a mere memory for her.