Senate Chambers
Atlantis
Before the fall
“We’ve heard the stories, yet we still do not heed the warnings. Entire cities wiped out by exploding mountains. Our own scouts have brought back the tales from other civilizations over the centuries, and now that we witness with our own eyes the very same thing happening on our island, we sit and do nothing, denying what is plain to see.”
Professor Ampheres strode around the perimeter of the Senate chamber, making eye contact with each and every one of the men and women elected to lead their people. “If we don’t start evacuating our people now, we could lose everything our ancestors struggled so hard to build.”
The President shook his head, waving his hand. “We will never abandon our city. It is all that we are.”
Ampheres stared at him as he strode closer to the man who would lead them all to their doom. “The city can be rebuilt, our way of life cannot. If we lose the population, then all that we have built over the centuries will be lost. Our ancestors came here to build a better way of life, and their descendants have succeeded tremendously. Look around you. We live in peace, our population can read and write, our children are educated in math, history, and philosophy, and our architecture is beyond anything imagined elsewhere. Our aqueducts provide us with fresh water, our farms provide us with plentiful food, and our isolation protects us from those who would take it.
“But you’ve felt the earthquakes, you’ve seen the steam itself rising from the top of the mountain that dominates our southern sky. What we only recently suspected has now been proven. Our city is built on the side of something that is awakening. If we do not take action now, it could kill us all.”
The President leaned forward, staring down at him from his elevated position of honor. “Let us focus on some things you just said. You mentioned our isolation, and how it protects us from our enemies who would take what we have created. It is for this very reason that we can never leave this place. It is the very reason why unapproved travel is strictly prohibited. Our ancestors fled war and constant need, and found this place by accident. It was so isolated, it allowed us to thrive, and by living in peace, and sharing what they had, they built this great civilization, unrivaled in any of the known lands. We tossed off the naiveté of a belief in multiple deities, and that trident, right there”—he leaned to the side, pointing at the artifact that dominated the center of the chamber—“that has sat untouched for centuries, is a constant reminder to us that it is science and knowledge, not superstition, that should guide us.
“Our scientists have said that these earthquakes are nothing to worry about, that they will pass, and that this exploding mountain story you refer to is just that, a story, and that the steam is nothing but water vapor caused by the friction of rocks rubbing together during the quakes. Only you seem to think that a calamity is imminent, and that we should ignore all the evidence to the contrary and abandon our civilization. We know from the reports our scouts bring back to us that the lands we abandoned ages ago are still filled with violent primitives. If we were to show up on their shores, what do you think would happen? Do you think they would welcome us with open arms? Or would they treat us as invaders, and slaughter every last one of us? Or would you have us turn into the conquerors of old, and take what we need from those primitives?” The President waved his hand, dismissing everything that had been said. “Professor, your allotted time is up, and I will kindly ask you to leave so the next person can be heard.”
Ampheres struggled to control his anger and disbelief at the ignorance and arrogance on display here today. He had little respect for politicians, always having felt they were too often out for themselves rather than the people, but the Senate was the greatest democratic institution known to man, elected every five years by the people in a one person, one vote fashion, and it had proven extremely successful for centuries. That these people would ignore his warnings, and threaten the lives of everyone they had sworn to serve, was infuriating. He jabbed a finger at their so-called leader. “Mr. President, yes indeed, my time is up, but so is all of yours. You, through your ignorance and inaction, have condemned us all to death, and Atlantis to the depths of the ocean that has protected us for so long!”
He spun on his heel and marched toward the doors to the massive chamber, the one hundred men and women elected to rule the island remaining in shocked silence. If any had been swayed by his words, it would appear none were brave enough to let their change of heart be known.
All they care about is reelection.
And his cynicism might be correct. Elections were only six months away, the campaigns had already begun, and with things going so well, nobody wanted to be seen as risking the status quo. He sometimes wondered if their logic was telling them that if he were right, and the island were to be destroyed, then it was better to lose one’s life, rather than lose the election if he were wrong.
Disgusting.
While he respected the institutions founded by his ancestors, they had become tired and staid. There were no challenges left. There was no war, no disease, no famine. Their isolation protected them from conflict or the arrival of new diseases, and they wisely stored large amounts of foodstuffs should a harvest fail, or the weather be uncooperative, a rare occurrence in these parts. The population was happy, and any change in their leadership might disrupt that, exploding mountain be damned.
He stared at the trident as he passed it, when an irrational anger swept over him. He strode toward it and grabbed it, the hushed silence surrounding him erupting in a collective gasp as he pulled the surprisingly heavy object from its sacred receptacle. He spun back toward the President, the man’s mouth agape, his eyes wide. “You say this is a reminder of the times of old when we worshipped the gods, and how foolish we were. But I say this! You have become the new gods, infallible only in your minds, and it is this arrogant belief that you can do no wrong, that will destroy us as surely as any god might have!”
He turned, storming toward the entrance, the trident gripped tightly in his hand, the senators erupting behind him in outrage. And as he cleared the doors, the shocked guards staring at him, not sure what to do, his heart hammered as he realized that no matter what happened over the coming days, eruption or not, he would likely be spending them in a prison cell, forced to watch all that he had known and loved destroyed, powerless to save even his own family.
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