The Outer Moon (A Sapphic Sci Fi Adventure)

Chapter 17

The trees were red. That was what Pepper's immediate thought was as they descended down into the grassland that they'd picked out as a landing spot when they reviewed the scans that Lena had done. At first, she thought it was fruit, like a ton of apples, but in reality it was the leaves. It didn't seem like autumn colors back on Earth either, but more of their natural color. As for the rest, the mountains to the northwest looked like any other mountain that the passengers were used to back home, but the water in both the large lake next to their landing zone, and in the shallows to the east were remarkably clear.

To the south was a good sized river with a small series of rapids, and then what appeared to be ruins near wild herds of the animals that had previously been discovered on the original fox colony ship. If the animals were edible, they would have a good source of protein, and hopefully there would be much more food available as they explored. Once there was contact with the fox town, they may be able to trade and learn what other mysteries the planet held.

Emily and Lena coordinated the landing. They both lowered their cargo containers carefully to the ground, and then maneuvered to watch the others, giving them directions on how close they were. Other than Nash landing a little hard on his first attempt, it went off without a hitch, and then the ships all moved to the side, and landed. It was a big moment, and Pepper was surprised when nobody moved once everything was still.

"Okay people! Let's go see our new home!" she announced, only to see everyone just staring at her with a smile.

Vanessa stood next to her, placing a hand on Pepper's shoulder. "We may have all decided that you get to be the first one to step on the planet. Your discovery made it all possible, and it was your idea to try this crazy venture. We've double checked the atmosphere, and we'll have no problem breathing it."

Pepper looked around the spaceship, seeing everyone nodding and smiling, and then couldn't help but hug Vanessa, tears unbidden in her eyes. "Thank you so much. I didn't even think of that. Will you come with me?"

"I'll be in the airlock with you. But you have to take the first step, and then I'll follow."

Pepper nodded, then took her wife by her hand, and headed towards the airlock as everyone parted to give her an avenue to walk down. She took a deep breath, then opened the airlock, stepping into it with Nessa and then closing it behind her.

"I can't believe we're really here." She had to shake her hands out to release some of her nerves. "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course. I've followed you all the way here from the first time I found you crashed outside my office like sleeping beauty." Vanessa leaned over, kissing her cheek, and then gave her a little nudge. "Now go claim your planet."

Pepper reached over, and palmed open the outer airlock, squinting at the bright light. Damnit! Sunglasses! That was something they should have brought! "I can't believe we forgot sunglasses!"

"Honey, make sure you say something a little more memorable for your first step onto the planet," Nessa snickered. "But you're right!"

Pepper grinned right back at her, having little doubt that someone would be recording this for posterity. Finally, she walked to the edge of the airlock, and stepped down into the grass. It was spongy under her feet, and the view was stunning. The sun was slightly whiter than she was used to back on Earth, and the giant bulk of the blue and green gas giant was dominating the western horizon. It was evident that there would be some spectacular views here in their new home. Holding her arms out wide, she spun in a circle taking everything in. "This is unbelievable! Get out here!"

Moments later, she was scooped into a hug by Vanessa who had joined her out in the field. Yelling from the other ships let them know that others were pouring out of the other airlocks as well, and within minutes, the large square between the ships was filled with hundreds of people celebrating their arrival. For many of them, there were tears of joy, high fives, cheering, or hugs and kisses as they celebrated with loved ones.

Over by their ship, Emma had Bree on her shoulders, while Lexi and Viv stood on either side of her, their arms around her waist as they stood together. They may not have quite committed to being a throuple yet, but all three had admitted they wanted to try, and could feel that it was going to happen. As for Bree, she was just drinking in all the sights of the screaming people and the beautiful moon they'd landed on. For her, it was like living in a Disney movie, with a crazy new world full of vivid colors, and sights that no one could have envisioned before they arrived.

"Welcome home," Emma said to her little family. "We're going to have a great life here, I can feel it."

"This is the craziest thing I've ever imagined," Lexi murmured. "A little over a month ago I was kicked out and living on the streets, and now I'm gonna be living on an exotic world with two hot babes, and the cutest daughter around." Yes, Lexi was all in on the throuple, and it seemed as though it just might work. They wouldn't be alone in that thought.

Lexi pulled both the girls around so that they were in a little circle a Bree hunched over them. "I want this to work too. I think we can get our happily ever after here."

"Like a princess!" Bree yelled.

"Yes, like you're our princess," Viv agreed. "And you're right. Lexi, we're really going to do our best to make this work. We both think you're great, and while we know there is a lot of work that needs to happen, we can do it."

Over by Lena's ship, Lena was holding the hands of both Miles and Lily, and all of them were looking around with big smiles. For Lena and Miles, it was new to see everything from this viewpoint, and exciting to have Lily interested in joining their relationship, and for Lily it was almost overwhelming. It had been thrilling to be courted by Miles and Lena for an entire month, and now that she was standing on their new home moon, it had become all the more real. Yes, she could have chosen to be with someone else here on the planet, but Miles and Lena were a perfect mix of fun and solid, and all of the people on the original mission raved about them. How could she not try? Besides, from a humor standpoint, Miles was the straight man to Lena's wit, and they kept her giggling the entire way here. Keeping things fun was going to be important while they got settled here.

But really, everyone was feeling the sense of excitement and adventure. Even some of the people who had lived outdoors and had gone to many destinations on Earth couldn't stop staring at everything. It was like when you see something majestic for the first time, and you just have to stare to drink it in, but magnified a thousand times more. Just having the gas giant in their view for large portions of the day would make things interesting, and the surroundings on the moon itself would take years to understand and get used to. When you considered that the moon was almost as large as Earth, it could take decades to explore, plus there was an entire solar system to check out too.

The biologists and other scientists were weeping, not even knowing where to start with all the new things that they couldn't wait to examine. The farmers were examining the ground, not knowing what they could potentially grow and harvest. There were several people with construction experience, and there were natural resources abounding with the local trees plus many rocks that were in craters that looked to have been made by a planetary bombardment. Nobody was immune to the wonders that were around them.

Bree and the other young children took it the best. To them, everything was a fairytale come to life, and they were living in it. Once the furor of the ships landing died down, birds started to fly overhead, some of which looked like small peacocks with a variety of colored feathers. To the north, some people could see curious creatures in the trees too, though they were skittish and hard to see. The world was going to be full of strange and wonderful things like that for them to discover, and they couldn't wait to see what came next.

"All right everyone!" Pepper yelled to the crowd. "We're going to take an hour to get everyone fed, and then we have a lot to do. Pilots, we're going to be getting the rest of our cargo down. Everyone else, we're going to be staking areas out for houses and shops. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we'll be ready to break ground on some buildings and everyone can start getting into their new positions. Let's get this going!"