Wake Up, Maddalena

Maddalena plucked a cherry from the tree branch and dropped it into the overflowing bowl. She was gathering fruit for pie, like she did every day. But this day was different. The sky, which was always, always clear, was rapidly filling with dark clouds.

Perplexed, she gazed upward.

“Wake up, Maddalena,” a voice called.

She turned quickly, the cherries scattering.

And again, louder: “Wake up, Maddalena.”

Maddalena followed the sound of the voice. There was something familiar about it—something she trusted innately, as though it held the answer to a question she couldn’t recall asking.

The voice led her past the tree and into the fields beyond. All was quiet and still. No bird chirped. No mosquito buzzed. By now, the sky had unleashed a steady rain, but even that was silent, as though someone had turned down the volume on the world.

After a while, Maddalena came to a slab of concrete on the ground, with a metal door.

“Open the door, Maddalena,” the voice said.

She hefted the door open to find a deep, narrow hole. A ladder was bolted to one side.

“Climb down the ladder, Maddalena,” the voice instructed from the darkness below.

And so she did. At the bottom of the ladder, she came to a tunnel, about four feet high, illuminated by a green glow.

“This way, Maddalena,” the voice said.

She climbed into the tunnel and began to crawl. Musty air filled her nose. It smelled like a box that had been closed for many years.

Slam!

Looking back, Maddalena saw that the tunnel’s opening had been sealed. Next there was a rushing sound, followed by a gush of water. Fighting panic, she gulped down air—and then the water took her, dragging her through a labyrinth of tunnels. Right turns. Left turns. Up. Down. Twisting. Tumbling. And then she was falling for a very long time . . .

When Maddalena opened her eyes, she was slumped in a hard chair, a taste like cardboard on her tongue. Groggy, she looked around. Rows of computer consoles stretched as far as she could see. People in red suits walked this way and that, their steps tapping on the metal floor.

“Welcome back, Maddalena,” the voice said, cutting through the cacophony.

The voice belonged to an older woman sitting next to her. She too was wearing a red suit. A bar on her shoulder indicated the rank of captain.

“How did you—why—” Maddalena stammered.

“I know it can be disorienting,” the woman said. “I myself woke up just yesterday. Most of the crew too.”

The woman smiled, as if that explained everything. “Do you remember how you got here?” she asked.

“There was a voice—your voice—a ladder and—”

“That was the computer simulation. Do you recall before that? Do you remember going to sleep?”

Maddalena felt dizzy.

“Look,” the woman said, pointing.

Maddalena turned and saw an enormous window. It held an impossible sight: a planet, blue and green and glowing, suspended within an expanse of darkness.

Maddalena’s head began to ache. Memories flashed across her mind—fuzzy feelings and hazy images that slowly came into focus. The powdery purple dirt of home between her toes. The excitement of her teacher talking about distant galaxies. Tearful goodbyes. Boarding a ship. The tart synthetic cherry pie she had eaten before climbing into her sleeping pod.

“Mom?” Maddalena whispered.

“You do remember,” her mom said. “Oh honey, we made it. We finally made it.”

Maddalena walked, legs wobbly, to the window. She squinted at the planet below. She remembered now. Everything. There had been a signal. The astronomers had traced its origin to what they believed was the place they all came from—the place of their ancestors, who left thousands of years ago. According to myth, their ancestors had lost all communication with their home planet after receiving one final message: “Not safe. Don’t return. Good luck.” And so they hadn’t. Instead they’d pushed deeper into the cosmos until the location of their ancestral home had faded from knowledge.

Until the signal.

“Earth,” Maddalena said softly.

For a moment, Maddalena thought of the cherry tree—the simulation that had been her reality for the past 200 years, while she slept in stasis and their ship sailed across the stars.

“What do you think we’ll find down there, Mom?”

Her mom stood beside her and took her hand.

“I think it’s time we find out.”

^{This story was originally published in the March 2022 issue.}