Pompeii

“Lord, Lord! It’s started again. All over the city, there are some columns of gas coming out of the houses. Hot gas! I heard that one of the merchants stole building material yesterday from the Lords. And that’s why the gods were angry with him. The whole city will suffer because of him!” Mr Rakos shouted in fear from the door. He was a small man with a thick black beard and ridiculously frowning eyebrows. “But dear Mr Rakos, it wasn’t the cowardly thief who angered the gods. I’ve already read about it somewhere. Somewhere in the fables of the old Earth, it’s written about the famous city - at first, long-forgotten - Pompeii. What’s happening outside now, my friend, is a harbinger of doom. Not its last word. It will catch up with us soon.

“8 dead!” Mr Rakos entered the house again that evening, angry and with the greatest sadness. He looked at his wise Lord, who was just sitting in a chair with his hands folded, thinking imploringly. “Everyone will go tomorrow,” whispered the Lord of the House, as if only to himself. But Rakos heard it and squirmed nervously on the spot as if imitating the bee’s dance. There is some prayer that summons ancient ancestors from Earth,” At that the Lord of the house raised his head and watched the unsuspecting threshold flicker in the sunlight illuminating the bookshelves full of writings and ancient fables about a distant planet that was said to have once been inhabited by their ancestors. The idea of ​​sending them a message had crossed his mind so many times, but he always rejected it - it seemed cowardly to resort to a civilization that, according to fables, had to face all the suffering alone. Perhaps his colony is a little less? Of course, if other people knew about it, they would most certainly have drowned him out for not taking advantage of this opportunity when there was hunger or terrible battles.

“None of the soothsayers testified about this. But this is an emergency. It is my duty to take every opportunity to protect the colony. I have to send a signal. ...Maybe it’s our fault! We didn’t think of that. We armed ourselves against our enemies. Enemies? Tomorrow the mountain will break and its ash will cover us all together nicely. Not! I have to use that device.” Rakos saw well the struggle that was going on in the Lord’s head. He sat in the chair for hours until he stood up and opened the curtain that covered the device. It was not known who and when he had built it - as if he had always been there. But he was nobody has used it yet.

That night, frightened townspeople ran through the streets of the city, screaming and terrified. Nobody slept. Even if they lay down in bed, they wouldn’t fall asleep - for fear that heated gas would shoot out from under their bed. Mr Rakos and his Master also left the house to see what was happening. “Dear Mr Rakos, take a good look at this unfriendly place.” the Lord gave this sentence to Rakos as a turning point when even he stopped believing that it was possible for any of them to be saved. His eyes waded through the fog caused by the gas gushing from the Earth every few meters. The flickering light from the lamps held tightly in the hands of the screaming people on the street reflected in his eyes as if trying to burn away every hope he still held.

“Such a fool. How could I have thought they would help us? I spent my whole life imitating their wisdom and as an artist, I wanted to please the gods. All this time I overlooked that my faithful companion Mr Rakos gave me the right advice. He advised me to research, to find out about the mountain where our gods dwell. And now it will destroy us all - my stupidity.”

“SHUT UP!” Pan shouted at the top of his lungs when he was snapped out of his thoughts by the fact that there was no gas hissing around and the fog was gradually disappearing. Some of them ran around for a while, but when they noticed that no one was yelling anymore, they also had the urge to stop and listen. Immediately, the whole city was quiet like never before. The only sound that spread was the heartbeat of each of the frightened citizens.

“You are safe now. We apologize for any inconvenience that has befallen you.” Mr Rakos turned decisively to the crowd to the surprise of many. It was not proper for him to express himself in this way in public. This was the task of the Gentlemen, not their companions. However, no one interrupted him. After a short silence, somewhere from the woods came a terrible sound - like thunder but 10 times stronger.

“Don’t worry, it’s a ship. It was built by us - your earthly ancestors.” At that, the Lord of Mr Rakos looked up to take a good look at his friend, because what he had just shared with the city was astonishing. “That ship is coming here for you, and you can decide if you want to continue to lead your life similar to the one here on this planet or if you will join our civilization. Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience you experienced here. However, you were never in real danger. This was just a so-called simulated environment.” Wasn’t she threatening? And what about the dead?” Usually, the Lord acted very calm and determined, but at this moment he was bursting with anger, which scared even Mr Rakos - if that’s what he was called. “They died believing that it was a fact, so it won’t break their minds. We will do our best to help you cope with this experience. Sure, it’s sad. But we gained a lot of valuable knowledge.” He answered the Lord’s question in a diplomatic, even learned tone.

When the ship landed on the ground, all the townspeople gradually converged towards the entrance with quite confused expressions on their faces and kept looking behind each other in fear. After only a few hours - it had barely begun to dawn - the ship soared into the sky. Then Mr Rakos turned off all the devices that ensured the slowing down of the mountain’s explosion, and the entire new crew watched as their city - everything they had built - died under the dust.

“They gave us everything, whatever we needed to save ourselves. Fables, tools, instructions, and books, and someone was sent to my house to guide me on what needed to be done. Indeed, it must have been an interesting observation for them - to find out that even if they had given all the wise Lords and companions to them, who, as those familiar with the truth, should guide the Lords, and they had also given them books so that they could learn about everything through them, but still our the city ended up just like the fairy tale city. Oh, what an unusual, intriguing observation. But still, may the gods drown them out for what they have done to us to satisfy their curiosity. “