Supplementary Content

SCENE:

Nova found Kyle engrossed in an old textbook, his fingers carefully tracing the diagrams of forgotten machinery. She slid down next to him, her own ancient book of theology in hand.
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“Do you ever think about Eden?” she asked, catching him by surprise.
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“You mean from the old stories? Paradise lost?”
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“Exactly. What if we are living our own version? We’ve been expelled from the surface, just like Adam and Eve.”
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He chuckled at her comparison. “No one's been on the surface for hundreds of years, Nova. We’ve lost that world. We are, trying to reclaim it in bits and pieces.”
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Nova stared at him, her gaze steady. "What if we could return to it, Kyle?"
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Taken aback by her tone, he smirked, "Well, I am an engineer, I might be able to figure something out."
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Their laughter echoed through the cavernous underbelly of their world, but the seed of an idea had been planted, in Kyle's head, the promise of a new Eden waiting above.

.Six months later...

Holding his head in her lap, Nova asked, "What's happening to you Kyle? Is it...radiation?"

No, Nova," he replied, his words becoming sluggish, "snakebite...not radiation. The most surprising thing about all this... It's safe here...for everyone."
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"Kyle, your speech is slurred. What snakebite!?"
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Attempting to calm her, he replied, "Like in the bible. I guess snakes are real." even as his sight was fading and he grappled with forming coherent words. His body was awash with a wave of nausea and a sudden heat, yet he felt at peace knowing they had rediscovered paradise.
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"It's Eden, Nova. It's ours. We are the inheritors of the earth. We can be together now...like Adam and Eve."
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"Kyle, you're not making sense. How do we get back inside?"
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"Nova, feel the sunshine! We'll lead everyone up here to the surface...when the time is right. Just let me rest now. Later. I'll devise a solution. I'm an engineer."

As the sun sank below the horizon, Kyle slipped into a fevered state, mumbling, "I'm an engineer..." in a delirious loop. Nova held him tightly and gave him comfort.

POEM:

Rest now, my dear, beneath celestial veil,
Where ancient stories in the stars prevail,
Here on this hallowed, time-scorched sphere,
Before the twilight, shed not your tear.

Rest now, my love, in Eden's rebirth,
Upon this ground of celestial worth,
The scriptures old in our hands unfurled,
A prophetic echo in this underworld.

Rest here, beneath the firmament's kiss,
In a world that mirrors Genesis,
Fear not the darkness, for in its austere,
Stand I, your protector, your engineer.

I, the guardian of time-locked lore,
Keeper of the key to salvation's door,
In earth's underbelly, amidst shadows of fear,
Whispered truths tell, I am an engineer.

Look upon the shards of Luna's might,
Scattered testament of a celestial fight,

A mirror to a past we hold so dear,
In this dawn of ages, I am an engineer.

Behold the serpent, Eden's old foe,
A relic from the world we used to know,
Even as venom fills the air with dread,
Courage, for I am your engineer, I said.

Fever's dreams dance in my blurry sight,
A beacon flickers in the endless night,
Your voice, a psalm, to me so clear,
Rest now, my love, I am your engineer.

The surface ours, an Eden regained,
For the hopeful, the brave, those who remained,
Together we'll build a new frontier,
Rest now, in the arms of your engineer.

God mayhap be dead, but paradise is reclaimed,
Where tomorrow is birthed from the ashes of yesterday,
With faith and science, we'll conquer our fear,
Rest now, my dear, for I am an engineer.