Manuel Martinez

Veteran Memorial Bridge short story

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11/2/09

In the midst of the tragedies that have occurred on the planet I find myself relieved when I write in this terribly tattered journal that I found in my parents storage cellar. The planet has suffered many things and people seem to have no hope any more. The occasion I feel I should write about is the gamma ray of the year 3001 not more than eight years ago. This ray struck the Earth causing many strange effects that seem to have merged with other abnormalities of this planet. The name I have given the strange occurrences that began happening are post Gamma Electromagnetic (GEM) effects. The gamma ray seemed to have some type of electromagnetic properties thus the name. The most noticeable and strange effect of the GEM rays was what happened on the veteran memorial Bridge. The bridge is what took my family’s life and the life’s of others.

The Compression arch suspended deck bridge was built by the old King Bridge Company and was completed in1917.The bridge has taken a liking to many tantrums that it performs almost at will. The time in between these tantrums is between a month or a month and a week. The most noted tantrum would be the bridge teleporting to any random part of the world and crushing anything under it, then it will simply transport back to its resting place. A rather unsettling paroxysm that I have taken interest to is when the bridge either warps people to random places and for all I know, dimensions or if not cripples the bodies of the people who wander within its perimeter. There have been cases in which the victim is transmutated with other organisms some strange and some denizens of the Earth itself. This bridge not only connects the center of the city and its outside, it connects sanity to insanity and could probably connect the world to justice. I have also theorized that this bridge is a bringer of justice of some sort, and punishes those who cross it. It may just warp those who are evil to the very underworld itself. Those who are transmutated may have committed crimes of some degree such as murder or any other type of sin. This idea of mine may be true to some degree; maybe this bridge has somehow adopted a sentient soul and is looking for some type of satisfaction by punishing those who have been evil. For this very reason I have taken interest in studying this bridge. I have conducted experiments revolving around this idea but I have not managed to disprove or prove my theory.

The bridge itself is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the oddities that have occurred and are occurring on this planet. Ever since the first fusion bomb things have not been the same. This fusion bomb was thirty times more destructive than a common nuclear bomb. People had become accustomed to radiation long before the fusion bomb with the invention of the radiation prevention implants. The sheer force of the bomb is what destroyed most of our population. The heat wave it emitted destroyed what was left of a once nearly sustainable climate. The planet itself is nearly completely destroyed and my colony and a few others still live on the unaffected side of our planet. This “side” of the planet only encompasses that which is what is left of Ohio and a few countries in Central and Southern America. Our small colonies consist of what is left of the human race on Earth. I say Earth because we humans have colonized the planet ST90 which is also known as the renaissance planet. I being the stubborn mule I am chose to stay on this stink hole of a planet thinking I could restore it to its former glory by trying to imitate the sentient soul of the bridge. I theorize that if I could imitate this, the planet could probably reconstruct itself in a way. Humans would only have to facilitate the process. The only thing I have gained in the end is just despair and fear of my imminent radiation implants failure. I write this journal for a simple reason. I am going to experience the bridges effects in the most efficient way; I am going to cross the bridge. I hope the thing will just put me out of my misery so I can part with this world and go to whatever other place a soul goes after its body has failed to survive.