The Diary of Zartoon

ENTRY 39

ENTRY 39

18.04.63.23.13

The moons are directly above us. We had been walking for two days now, our supplies are running low, and we were lucky we found a place with a lot of water yesterday, but there weren't any plants that we could have been able to eat. I have been giving Pandorica most of my food. She needs it more than I do, I don't want anything to happen to her or the baby.

One thing we found this morning were the remains of some ancient town. It was mostly just stone and some very roughly carved tiles. There were carvings on the wall, but they were not in the Zartoon language. They were pictographs and, from what I could decipher, what they were saying was good. I think it talked about their last days before the Sane came in and took over their town, still, that was long ago, and nothing they said back then was going to do us any good. There was one other thing in that town, we did find food containers from Pandorica's village. Despite the fact that there were no tracks, instantly I knew that her people had been through that town and that at least we were on the right course.

When we left the abandoned town, there was a large sand- dune in front of us, and it was not the rocky kind of sand we had traveled through up till now. It was loose, grainy sand that we knew would be nearly impossible to walk through. My thoughts went back to the travelers we had so long ago, with them it would have been no trouble as they could, when needed fly up above the ground.

I still wasn't feeling fully recovered from the poisoned plant I had eaten, but I took Pandorica by the hand and led her onto the dune. It was hot and drier than anything we hand experienced before. I could feel my lips cracking as we climbed, yeah, I did have some water, but I gave it to Pandorica as I wanted it to last as long as possible. Pandorica and the baby, they were all that mattered at that moment.

It took us over an hour to climb the dune. My hands and knees were bloody, and Pandorica's were not much better! So, when we reached the top and started down the opposite side, we just sat down and slid down the dune, just like I did as a kid whenever it snowed. To tell the truth, that was the most fun we had since we left the temple.

At the bottom of the dune was a small stream that we decided to follow, and we were lucky that we did. A couple of hours from the dune, we found a small group of plants with rather large insects flying around them. They looked a lot like the dragonflies from back home. Now, the plants we knew couldn't be eaten, but those insects were a different story. Pandorica and I both caught and ate our fill, they didn't taste all that great, but at least it sustained us.

We were semi-refreshed, yet still very tired, but we decided not to stop and rest, as Pandorica said that she saw some faint traces of smoke coming from not too far away, so we started walking in that direction.

t wasn't far before we could see a very large campsite. There were fires and the smell of food filled the air. Pandorica's ears perked up as if she could hear something that I couldn't.

"Father," she yelled as she ran into the campsite. It was almost a miracle, yes, we had been smart enough to find her people on a planet that is covered with miles and miles of nothing.

I followed her as she led me directly to her father. "Father, this is Fa Nex," she said. He told her that he remembered me. Then she told him that I was her husband and that she was pregnant. I did not get the response I expected from him, instead of yelling he hugged me and wished us both luck.

Later he held a party for us with the entire camp. There was food and drink, music and dancing. It was all in celebration of the union of Pandorica and I, and it lasted well into the night. As soon as we could get away, we started to fall asleep in the sand, but I am forcing myself to stay awake as I want to record this entry before I sleep, just in case I forget anything.