Ripped from her remote jungle home by the population preserving organization Yetsibee, young Gerine is thrust headfirst into a universe chock-full of expectations she isn't prepared to meet, and forced to shoulder the burdens placed upon her not onl...
As much as Gerine otherwise marveled at the parallax streamers of starlight whizzing past the porthole of her pod, she simply couldn't pull her attention away from the potential consequences of her split-second decision to immigrate to planet Earth.
What were the living conditions like? Would the air even be breathable? The humans she was descended from may have been able to survive and even thrive there, but then, she wasn't entirely human, was she? Of course, if her mother had been able to breathe the Lianhuan air, the same must have held true vice-versa. Granted, Gerine wasn't certain what killed her mother (or if her mother was really dead, for that matter), so for all she knew, incompatible lungs could have very well been the cause.
On the other hand, Jileeta seemed like a smart lady, Gerine was sure she never would have suggested this change of scenery if she had any doubts about the young girl's body being able to handle it. So, for the time being, at least, Gerine would set this problem aside.
But just because oxygen wasn't a cause for concern didn't discount the hundreds of thousands of other tinier concerns to take care of once she set foot on the...
What is the Earth made of? she wondered.
Now there was an interesting thought. Who was to say that the surface of the Earth would be identical to that of Lianhua; dirt, wood, grass, water, or stone? Maybe it was made of glass or metal, two substances she'd never seen before meeting Rewll, but was quickly becoming familiar with. But truth be told, the Earth could turn out not to be built from any of those things! It could be composed of some totally new element that she'd never even considered simply because she didn't have the mental capacity to conceptualize it. The idea was alarming, but admittedly intriguing.
She could feel her heart pounding against her knees, which were pressed to her chest by the confined craft. How would she sustain herself after arriving? What would she eat? What would she drink? Was there even water on Earth?
Her train of thought was derailed by a faint blue light in the distance, eclipsed by an asteroid up ahead. As her pod maneuvered around the obstruction, the full force of the object's fluorescence hit her like a ton of bricks. When her eyes finally adjusted to its blinding appearance, it was to the sight of a dazzling blue ball reflecting the radiant light cast by a sun some millions of miles away. A shimmering silver ring encircled the planet, curving smoothly around its left side, stretching all the way out to the moon over on the planet's right, and then wrapping around again. Even from this far out, she could clearly discern the splashes of greens, whites, oranges and browns that perfectly complemented the planet's cobalt base coat.
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That's it.
There was no question, that was where she needed to be, that was Earth.
She felt that same sense of comfort radiating from the core of her being that she felt seeing her mother. To put it simply, this planet gave off a strong maternal energy.
