SciFiShitIDunno

‘What were they like?’

The question was sudden and completely out of the blue. Nera lowered her holo-tablet and looked up from her novel and towards her daughter, who was crouched by the viewport. The planet the Fleet had designated “Vanora” after the woman who had discovered it, dominated the scene; a sapphire gem that stood alone within the inky black void of space. Its closest companion was a red, angry world so hostile and unfit for life that it hadn’t even warranted a designation. It was simply there.

Nera took in the profile of her daughter; leaning against the reinforced nanoglass of the viewport in her purple bodyglove with its grey trim and teal highlights, along with her long, luscious blonde ponytail, she cut an almost tragic figure. Her sea green eyes were wide and alight with wonder, but also sadness. A hand was placed against the glass, as though she wished she might feel the planet and all of its wonders through the cold, uncaring vacuum.

‘What were who like, my love?’ Nera asked.

‘You know. The aliens,’ Rhian said, turning to face her mother. Nera felt a stab in her heart, as she always did, when her daughter looked directly at her. She looked so much like Piet that it hurt.

‘Technically we’re the aliens my love,’ Nera told her, forcing aside the heartache once more. After four years, she’d have thought it would get easier. She hated being so wrong.

‘You’re not answering my question.’

Nera sighed and put the holo-tablet down. The adventures of the adventurous Captain Wylde and her crew of ragged, but soft-hearted misfits would have to wait. She felt something in her arm twitch and growled at it, flexing the steel fingers and finding the index finger would not move. She’d need to go to see Elias about it, and he’d no doubt want another favour done.

‘Is your arm okay mom?’ Rhian asked, her voice tinged with concern as she rose from the window and approached her parent.

‘Just another fra– darn glitch,’ Nera assured her with a wave. ‘I’ll need to go see Elias before the end of this cycle.’

Rhian frowned. ‘I don’t like Elias,’ she told her, ‘every time I see him he gives me strange looks.’

Nera sighed. It was a heavy, leaden sound.

‘Neither do I Starshine,’ Nera confided, ‘but he’s the only one on the *Venture* who’ll see to this for an affordable price.’

‘Can’t we ask Uncle Saum for help?’

Nera shook her head.

‘Saum… he…’ she faltered, unsure of how to tell her daughter that her uncle wanted nothing to do with her mother. ‘I’m sorry Rhian but that’s not an option.’

‘Okay.’

And that was that. Nera found it so strange and so terribly like Piet the way she would relentlessly pursue a topic for hours one day, and drop another as if it were utterly inconsequential the next.

‘But really,’ she continued, her young face alight with curiosity. ‘What were they like?’

Nera took a breath through her nose and leaned back against her chair, digging through the memories she would require to indulge her daughter.

‘They were big,’ she began, ‘higher by a whole foot than even our tallest man.’ She noticed Rhian was lying down on her front and had propped her head up on her elbows. ‘They had blue skin, the sort of blue you colour gemstones. Each of them had four arms, large and muscly and strong. They utterly crushed Captain Illid’s hand.’

Rhian giggled and rubbed at her face before settling.

‘They were kind as well. Each of them possessed strength to rip us all to shreds with their bare hands, but they seemed unusually skittish around us, as if they were afraid of breaking us.’

‘They sound nice,’ Rhian breathed.

‘They were.’ Nera nodded, ‘They showed us their ritual dances – they dance before *everything* you know, it’s ever so strange – and fed us mountains of strange but glorious fruit. Kilmer couldn’t get enough of the stuff; I’m sure you’ll get to try some too at supper later on.’ Rhian looked most pleased at the prospect but didn’t say anything, so Nera continued.

‘They took us on their skimmers. They’re much like our own but they’re so much more… elegant; sleek, and so warm to the touch. It’s like they were grown from the very earth itself, and not merely built. They showed us their great glass plains, and the red coasts and an ocean that stretches all around the continent. All the while the blue sun beat down on us, lighting our every step. They don’t sleep; their planet spins so that the dark side of the planet is always dark, and the light is always light.’

‘They don’t sleep? Don’t they ever get tired?’ Rhian asked, her expression sceptical.

‘Not that we saw, Starshine. They were very confused and I think a little scared when we started to drift off. It was… difficult, explaining that we had to sleep and rest regularly in order to function. When we did though, they were entirely accommodating.’

‘But we’re not allowed to stay are we?’ Rhian whispered.

Nera paused for a moment, chewing the inside of her lip.

‘No,’ she told her. ‘No we’re not.’

‘Why?’

‘Our reputation as a species precedes us,’ Nera answered. It always did.

‘Do you think that we'll we ever find a home?’

It was a long time before Nera gave her a response.

‘In time, my love.’

Rhian picked herself up and sat down on her mother’s lap, leaning her head against Nera’s shoulder. Nera reached around her slender frame with her good arm – her real arm – and wrapped her fingers protectively about her side.

Together, the two gazed down at Vanora, watching as the blue gem grew steadily smaller as the Fleet – the last scraps of humanity – made ready to leave the solar system. In search of a new world.

In search of a new home.