Ashlyn Chronicles 1: 2287 A.D. by Glenn van Dyke, Renee van Dyke

me, Ashlyn, what’s the last thing that you remember before waking today?”
    Ashlyn paused for a long moment, focused thoughts not coming easily. “There was an alarm. Then they told us all to report to a chamber. There was a lot of confusion, people running around. No one seemed to know what was happening.”
    “You have no memory of the day we found you? Nothing at all?”
    Ashlyn shook her head slowly as she fought to recall.
    “I guess I’m not surprised,” said Renee. “We have a lot to discuss. First, I want you to know that you are safe. Just a few more days to get your strength back and you will be good as new. I must say—you are a very popular girl. You have a lot of friends that are anxious to see you.”
    Ashlyn smiled and nodded. “But first, I need to see Tynabo.”
    “Ashlyn, a lot has happened. Things have changed. You were in stasis a very long time!”
    “How long?”
    Renee winced. The intensity in Ashlyn’s eyes demanded an answer. “It’s been almost fifteen years.”
    “Fifteen?” Ashlyn swallowed, her eyes widening. Ashlyn dug deep, trying to remember. The set of her eyes deepened as hundreds of scattered images suddenly came flooding in. “We were attacked.” Her memories became clearer. “A small fleet of ships jumped into our system. They seeded the atmosphere with radioactive isotopes.”
    Her eyes watered as she recalled violent, torturous, horrifying scenes. “The radiation burned everyone. I remember all the children.” Coddling her belly, she vainly attempted to ease the emotional pain. She closed her eyes. “I can hear them screaming.” Ashlyn’s mind brought up thousands of images of melted, blistered, and charred faces. She saw the world’s cities in flames—entire continents hidden under a sky turned black from fire and ash—a world that was dead.
    Ashlyn opened her tear-filled eyes. “Spiders. There were spider-like creatures!”
    Renee again took Ashlyn’s hand. She drew in a deep breath, shocked by what she heard. “Yes, you’re right, on all counts. That is precisely what we watched happen on the video feeds from around the world. But, the big question is, how do you know all that? You were in stasis.”
    A cold chill raced through Ashlyn as she saw Renee shift uneasily in her seat. “It’s Tynabo, isn’t it? He’s dead. He wouldn’t have left us in stasis for fifteen years if he was alive.”
    With sympathetic eyes, Renee continued, “Yes, and there’s no easy way to say this, Ashlyn, but—you are the only survivor from the Foundation.”
    “Everyone died? Everyone?”
    Renee squeezed Ashlyn’s hand. “I’m truly sorry.”
    Ashlyn’s eyes closed. Her head dropped. A tear fell. “How many people died on Earth?”
    “Are you sure you’re ready for all this?”
    Ashlyn’s head rose. She nodded, her eyes wide, expectant of a hard-to-hear answer.
    After a brief hesitation Renee continued, “Almost nine billion. There’s only six thousand of us left.” Renee looked up, glancing at Ashlyn’s readouts.
    Disbelief flooded Ashlyn’s mind. The numbers were staggering. “How did you survive?”
    “We almost didn’t. It was a rough ride. We weren’t fully operational when the attack came. We still had major dependencies on the mainland. Everyone worked around-the-clock for months to get Sea Base up and running.”
    “Sea Base?” asked Ashlyn.
    “I’m so sorry. Yes, you are in the Challenger Deep Sea Base in the Pacific. We’re almost 11 kilometers down.”
    “Challenger Deep—we’re in the Mariana Trench?”
    Renee nodded. “You know your geography.”
    “History, actually. I’d read about the early Challenger expeditions to the trench,” said Ashlyn.
    “Okay. You know your history, then. The Trench is the reason we survived. Between the mineralized canyon walls and the enormous energy and heat being emitted by the thermal vents, the enemy ships couldn’t detect us. It’s also why the spiders can’t get to us.”
    Ashlyn