The Life of Gaia

CHAPTER 3: Flying Around Planets

Standing on the drone platform, Aries flew over Deep Reality for about an hour until she reached a place that seemed to have been taken out of a science fiction movie. If this world really is where our dreams take place, she thought, then there must be a visionary hand here. In the sky before her floated a trail of at least twelve giant spheres, much like small planets. 

They were lined up like a giant staircase, each one higher than the one before, and they were all different. The one that seemed to be the last in line was the largest, but it was so high up that it looked three times smaller than the ones below it.

<<We have arrived at our destination, Aries. From here on you will have to continue alone>> said the platform as it approached what resembled a metal docking point on the first sphere. <<The hospital is on the fourth of these planets. To reach it, use one of the elevators that you will find on the opposite side of the sphere.>>

The disc hooked perfectly to the station and stopped. Alongside her were numerous other identical ones.

"Can't you take me directly to the fourth planet?" Aries asked hesitantly.

<<My system prevents me from going any further. You have all the information you need to continue your journey. Good luck.>>

The girl tried to ask him a few more questions, but he didn't answer anymore. It must have been deactivated. She took a step forward and left it behind her, huffing in resignation, then looked around her cautiously. What she was standing on seemed to be some kind of small reception point: as far as she could see, it was the house of an information point and a bar. 

Although it was the middle of the night, there were still several people on the small planet, walking along a road that curved until it disappeared. The whole area was obviously pedestrianized, judging by the square floor tiles and the green flower beds that decorated the space. 

Aries looked to the left and read "Planet 1" on a plaque hanging in the information box. The word was written in a language she couldn't remember, but found strangely understandable. 

As she walked with cautious steps along the round surface, Aries looked back several times and thought about returning to the disk. Then she remembered that it was off. Some of the faces she passed seemed familiar, and someone waved at her (which she did not answer, confused). 

When she was level with the house, she looked for a few seconds through the large window that took up most of the main wall. An old, grey-haired man who was arranging things jovially invited her in from behind the glass. The girl politely declined as she turned and continued down the street.

"I don't need directions, I just need to reach this elevator and follow the drone's orders..." she said aloud, but she finished the sentence in her head: "... which are the only certain things I know".

She had to walk along this road for five minutes before she reached a large area that a sign beside it identified as the "Elevator Waiting Area". It appeared to be a small square surrounded by a wooden fence painted a dark yellow, with a series of platforms, also yellow, in the center, surrounded by a protective railing. 

As she entered the area, Aries saw a family of two adults and two children board an elevator, raise the railing, and press a button protruding from one of the sides: immediately, the platform rose into the air to the laughter of the children, heading directly to the second planet.

Easier than expected. The girl followed suit and found herself flying through the air again, this time heading for the second giant sphere.

"I don't even want to know how this thing works," she said to herself, "but thanks to whoever added the railing to it."