The Old World

2

"We were assured of alien life when Zoey was distracted while Phillip spoke at the sight and call of what mostly resembled a hawk flying against the sky. It was a large winged and what appeared to be a feathered creature. It circled and flapped its wings, swooshing against the air. It was rather large, and in further speculation, we concluded that it was twice the size of eagles back on earth.

"From where we stood on the ground we could safely agree that the beast of the sky looked eerily like an eagle, although it was much too large. It roared and cried as it soared away into the sun towards the mountains in the east.

"I thought and wondered about the encounter for the entire day after that, and I'm sure everyone else did too. It was incredible, something so extraordinary. I'm afraid I can't elucidate what I felt about the encounter. There above me as I trembled with fear was an alien creature with its own alien history and evolution of millions and billions of years. Its own story of inhabiting and growing on its alien planet so far from earth. Life is so similar here it makes one wonder about its origins. Things we see in this world we can process, we can explain. We expected a world of beasts beyond recognition, instead, we have gotten ones all too familiar.

"The Feathered Dragon, as I called it, flew off eastward as if guiding us. Telling us where to go as our savior in this alien world. The dragon was the most beautiful creature I have ever laid my eyes on.

"We had agreed that the distant mountains which we could faintly see in the horizon had greenery and shrubbery along their sides. We knew it would be much more habitable and fertile to establish a base in the hills then, and so Phillip led another expedition further inland to the east and southeast.

"To see the dragon as we did was enough to shake our legs and send us running after it as it flew away. Our curiosity was almost deadly. We were trained to study everything we could. To ask as many questions as we could. We were travelers but we were trained in all the sciences and we needed to find more of these mighty beasts. We said little on our journey through the desert after that. The thought of seeing or even capturing the creature was always weighing on our minds.

"Each supply pack we carried had enough equipment and food to get us through the barren desert. Our journey of two days was long, bittern, and plain boring to say the least. We had each other to converse with and deploy tents which we would inflate come night and deflate come day. We were able to walk the extreme heat of the desert thanks to our thermal smart suits which were still intact. Our skin-tight clothes adapted to all weather and temperatures and kept us either cold or warm when it was needed. We slept only five hours each night, keeping our feet moving and rising before the sun.

"During the days we would sing as we marched, following our footprints in the sand. During the night, we would discuss our new home.

"'I've seen enough already to know this place is a paradise,' I Said to the others in our tent. 'I have high hopes for a colony here... Perhaps we ourselves should find partners among each other as well.'

"'Phillip nodded in agreement. Evan remained quiet as he had the trip so far, surely fighting the demons within him as the harsh reality was he would never see home again. Zoey shook her head with a smirk.

"'You're right,' Phillip agreed. 'Once we get the embryos and the base established, we can look forward to that.'

"Zoey stared at me long and hard. She was thinking. 'You like Christine, don't you?' She asked.

"I turned away. I was always trying to look and sound more professional than I truly was. 'I have said nothing about my personal relationships.'

"'You've said nothing but I can tell.'