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Thebe, Lucy and Slater hovered about 300 feet above main beach, Noosa, semi-comfortably ensconced within Thebe’s two-seater spaceship. The girls sat in the seats while Slater sat straddled on a duffel bag, full of clothes, between and behind them. The interior was packed with their most precious possessions such as levitation suits and surfboards.
They viewed the exterior on a spherical, holographic display, which perfectly rendered the outside of the ship in sharp, crystal-clear colour. It was 7.20am, September 24, 2023, East Australian Time.
‘Take a good look, guys,’ said Thebe, ‘I expect all this to disappear in exactly three minutes.’
‘There’s no one on the beach,’ observed Slater.
‘They’re all probably glued to their TVs watching the comet,’ suggested Lucy.
‘It is my guess that one would have to be living in a cave somewhere to not be tuned into the television broadcast right now,’ said Thebe. ‘Here we go … three … two … one . .’
She voiced the countdown as calmly as if she was counting down an egg timer.
In the blink of an eye, the town of Noosa was gone. It was replaced by pristine bushland. The course of the river, too, was instantly changed. Also, the two rocky groynes, which controlled the sand flow along the beach and the river channel, disappeared as if they were digitally erased.
‘Whoah, that wasn’t even a morph,’ exclaimed Slater. ‘That was a hard edit.’
‘Yes,’ said Thebe with amazement in her voice. Lucy and Slater both looked at her.
She reminded them, ‘You must remember that it is as incredible for me as it is for you.
I’ve never done this before either.’
Slater looked east and noted,
‘The points look the same and there is a small swell running … and there’s no one out!’
‘Let’s look for a good spot to land,’ suggested Thebe. She began to fly the ship very slowly upriver. ‘I can’t wait to see Kane,’ she sighed. ‘I know that it’s been just a week, but it feels like a hundred years.’
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‘It’s the longest he has ever been apart from us,’ added Slater who was also missing their son badly.
Almost immediately they noticed a circle of round, white tents located on the grassy bank at the junction where Weyba Creek flowed into Noosa River.
‘There they are!’ exclaimed Slater. ‘They’ve set up camp right on Munna Point. What a perfect spot. Wow, everything’s been washed away … all the bridges … and buildings …’
‘There are the ships,’ said Thebe excitedly.
‘I feel like I’m tripping,’ said Lucy.
‘The camp looks like tepees,’ observed Slater.
As they glided upriver towards the camp, they noticed people standing by the edge of the water, waving.
…….
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