2199 Extinction

Alive!

        The first thing I notice is that I appear to be alive. I can feel something hard on my back. I'm still in that jail cell. It didn't work. A sinking feeling appears in the pit of my stomach. I take a couple of deep breaths and then open my eyes. I'm staring up into grey skies and not the rocky enclosure of the jail cell. It worked! It actually worked! I'm not sure if we traveled back in time, but I'm alive and that's all that matters to me. I sit up and look around me. Strange trees and flowers surround me, and I catch sight of small, furry, four-legged creatures running up trees and chattering.

       Where did I bring us? I was so panicked about getting out before we could get caught that I just entered the first set of coordinates that entered my mind. I climb unsteadily to my feet and start walking. I look up at the sky, as I go, hoping to catch sight of stars, moons, or suns, anything to give me a hint about where we are. Something liquid hits me between my eyes and I blink.

        What the? Soon, more liquid is falling from the sky and soaking me. We aren't in the Lynal Galaxy anymore. Back home, water doesn't fall from the sky. At some point, it starts to pool up from the ground. Early morning hours see swampy, muddy, ground until the plants soak it up close to midday.

       Whatever the plants don't suck up, the hot sun evaporates. This is true of all the planets in the eight or ten galaxies that surround us. Some planets have more groundwater than others, these planets have more lush vegetation. And some planets have a constant wet type feeling in the air, this humidity helps to water plants there. But liquid water from the sky, that's a first for me.

      "Astra? Astra!" I hear Amlican yelling for me.

        "Over here!" I call to him. The sky water starts falling harder and faster. And out of nowhere a memory hits me. I must have been five or six at the time.

                                                            **********************

         "I love early mornings. It's the best time to catch one-day frogs." I say laughing as the tadpoles tickle my bare toes.

         "Galipins." Mother corrects me. "And I love them too."

        "Are Gally Pinies on every planet in the entire universe?" I ask as I sit down in the water.

        "No dear. Galipins only exist on Terraqua planets like ours."

        "What's Terri Qa?" I reach out and carefully grab a tadpole in my chubby young hands.

         "Terraqua. It means land water. That's what you call planets like ours. It's where the water bubbles up from the ground every morning and is soaked up by the plants and sun by midday. Some planets are Calqua. Or sky water planets." She picks up a small fish that swims by, inspects it, and releases it back into the water.

        "Sky water? Does that mean the water just sits above everyone's head?" I ask, releasing the tadpole and watching it swim off.

        "Sort of." She laughs before continuing. "The water is just vapors that are in the air. Instead of their plants soaking up the vapors, it forms something called clouds."

        "We have clouds," I say.

        "Yes, we also have clouds, but the clouds on Calqua planets release the water back to the ground. Our clouds sink to the ground when they are full of water, theirs don't. The water falls from the sky and is called rain."

        "Like a shower?" I ask.

         "Like a shower," Mother says, taking me by the hand. She pulls me back to my feet and we skip through the early morning water, together.