Planet
The moon loomed in the sky, looking a lot like the florescent lights that lit up the streets, but giving off a softer light. Between the humid air and the quiet waves of the ocean, there was a sense of laziness that brought out the lax side of everyone.
“How could so little people have so much luggage?” I muttered to myself.
"It’s actually a reasonably good number of people." a sweet voice behind me said.
Behind me stood a girl, maybe 10 or so, she was the perfect image of an angel. She had perfectly curled blonde hair, and large, innocent sky colored eyes.
"What? Are you joking? There’s only 50 people..."
"Only 50 passengers, 20 more crew." I sighed.
“Miss, I don’t think you have time to chat at the moment.” a tall man said. He resembled a giant, tall and arrogant, looming over even the people who were considered tall. He ushered her toward the door, and as she disappeared inside, he glared at me.
I sat at a table, looking at all the animals in the pen. I had one of the most interesting jobs on the ship, to take care of the passengers’ pets and the exotic animals who might be able to live on another planet, their existence on Earth hadn’t worked. Most of the passengers came for the same reason. They were an odd bunch of people. I knew only a few of them, and those were quite eccentric. I started grooming one of the pets, a small, white dog. It seems as if each pet portrayed their owner in some special way. I looked at the name tag on the dog’s collar and read it aloud.
“Mimi.” I smiled down at the dog, wondering who was the owner this adorable dog.
I began brushing her soft fur, absentmindedly. I looked up, hearing metallic footsteps and found myself facing a young girl, 10 or so. Her face was barely familiar, where had I seen her before?
“Mimi!” she cried out, breaking my thoughts. While hugging her dog, she looked up at me.
“You’re the caretaker of the animals, right?”
“Yes.” I said, hiding a sharp jab of jealousy. This was little Mimi’s owner. She did look a lot like Mimi.
“I’m Avery.” she said, smiling radiantly. The smile on her face reflected pure joy and made her look even more angelic. I then remembered who the girl was. She was the girl I met outside the ship. Footsteps echoed down the halls.
“It must be Orion.” she said, while petting Mimi.
“Orion?”
“He’s my bodyguard, Mother said for me to take him.”
“Oh.” there was a small silence.
“Why are you here, anyway?” I asked, taking a small kitten from his cage.
“My parents thought it would be a good idea-” she was interrupted by Orion,
“Miss.” Avery sighed.
“Yes?”
“Would you like sauce on your salad?” he was being polite, but as he said it I saw him glare at me. Avery smiled to herself.
“I suppose that mean he wants me to go with him.” I smiled back at her.
“Come visit us sometime, it gets rather lonely here-”
“Miss,” he said quietly. She let out an exasperated sigh, smiled at me, then began walking down the cold hall she had come from. What a strange girl, I wonder why her bodyguard was so protective around her. Hearing a meow, I looked down. There was the kitten I had been grooming. I picked him up and put him on my lap, and began again combing his soft fur.
I stood, looking out the large glass window. I could see the stars; they were closer than I could ever than I could ever imagine. The ship had a relatively strong heat proof shield, but not close enough to actually see the texture of the stars. The ship was definitely luxurious, with comfortable seats and snack bars at every room, yet it had a coldness. The ship was meant for rich people who had extra money and were willing to use it. Around me stood two tiger cubs, playing with each other rather ferociously. They're mother had died on the way up here, she had caught an unrecognizable disease on Earth and it was too late to save her.
"We will be stopping in a short while, we think we have spotted a livable planet." The speaker crackled. Out in the cold void of darkness, there was a small marble like planet, floating in the ocean of nothing. Like Earth, it was mostly covered in water, but had instead of having large continents, there were little dots of islands sprinkled around.
"Please begin to buckle your seat belts, we will be landing in about 50 minutes, prepare yourself for turbulence." I sat down on the seat.
I took a step outside, not trusting the ground of the planet.
"The ground seems stable enough." Dr. Jein said, looking around. The dirt was loose, but there were still some plants growing. Most of them resembled aloe plants, the others, weeds.
The crew of scientists began walking.
"Let's go, we want to go see if the water is pure enough, this almost exactly like Earth." Then, they ran off, cheering and shaking hands. Dr. Jein sat on a fold up chair in the shadow of the ship, observing the people actions. He had a book in his hand, but his eyes were moving toward the range of caves in the distance. They were large bumps in the earth, disrupting the flat ground. They looked like large eggs that had been plunged in the ground, then cemented.
My curiosity finally gave in, and I began walking toward the "eggs." Hearing footsteps, I turned around,
"Hello, Andria, may I join you?" Dr. Jein said, looking at me strangely.
"Of course." We began walking, but Dr. Jein seemed to be walking in a diagonal making me turn the other direction.
"Ah, Dr. Jein-"
"John, if you don't mind. People calling me Dr. Jein makes me feel rather old." he smiled absentmindedly.
"Right. If you don't mind, I think it's time we began walking back."
"But we've just begun walking-" he protested.
"I'm just a bit tired." I smiled sweetly.
"All right, let's go back." He started back to the space ship, expecting me to follow. He began talking to what he though was me, but I had already left. After 10 minutes or so, I heard him call my name.
"Andria!"
I laughed to myself, and looked over to the caves.
I looked inside the cave, trying to catch a glimpse of the inside. I slipped in something went and slippery, and tried to catch myself, grabbing at the sides of the cave. Pain shot through my hands, and I dropped my hands completely numb.