Proxima Terra

Untainted

Bastien entered their small,plain apartment. Light gray metal walls,black laminate floor,two bedrooms and small common area,you can barely call it like that. But it had glass-window-wall looking onto Earth. They were lucky ones to have such luxury, most apartments didn't have any windows. When Collectors started creating stations they didn't want to risk it with too much non-metallic elements because of exposure to Sun radiation and gases from the Earth,they knew we are fragile.

There she was, sitting on the floor in front of window like always, old yellow notebooks scattered around her. Most of the time she would sit there just watching the Earth, silently hopping that one day she would feel the pure air,sun on her skin, smell of fresh grass. She only knew about it because they're learning in school about Earth's history and what it was like before Collectors came.

-"I thought you'll never come." Aurora turned around and smiled at Bastian.

He laughed and spared her a smile-" You know that these days I'm busy with preparations for tomorrows mission."

-" Yeah I know, I'm too, in two weeks year of school is over and we'll have one month break. I think Mrs. Hathaway secretly wants to bury us with homework." She laughed.

-"I thought you loved History of Religion, at least until now." Bastian was always protective of his sister. She's just three years younger than him,but still. Now more than ever he was concerned, at the beginning of next year she's choosing path for her life. Not that she has many options, just three. Either she'll chose to be Watcher, Scientist or Professor. When she was little she wanted to be Watcher but over the years she developed passion for learning and examining collected data from Earth. If she chooses to be Scientist she'll be transported to other station and we won't see each other much more than once a year or two.

-" Yeah I do ,but I seriously need a break. They already started pressuring us of what career path we're supposed to choose." She sighed,looking worried.

-"Whatever you choose I'll support you, so will father. You're choosing for yourself and nobody else. Remember that."- Bastien smiled gently towards her. -" Now let's do that homework, what is confusing you?"

-" Well today we finished learning about Christianity and she gave us summary of whole religions teaching so we can prepare for final test. So now I don't understand how can I briefly explain what is Christianity about."

-" You can start by saying that Christianity is a monotheistic religion,that means they worshiped one God. Then put it in a time frame,when it began, that would be almost four thousand years ago, also you can talk about their teachings of love,respect,laws etc. When you finish give briefly your opinion about their teachings and that'll be it. But also remark that there is no religion in our present time."-

She punched him on the shoulder-" No religion,ha? Then what about those crazies that believe Collectors created us?" Aurora giggled.

Bastien laughed-" Well there is no religion except theirs."- " Listen, I have to go now we're making plans about tomorrows trip to the Earth. This is supposed to be a secret but I'll tell you anyways. Last time when we went down we put trackers on small pack of wolves, and two days ago they entered radiation zone,and they survived. Their vital signs remained same like before, there were no changes. It could mean that Red Zone finally cleansed from radiation."

Auroras' eyes widened looking surprised.-" But how? Shouldn't radiation linger around for like thousand years?"

" Yes it should, we started cleaning slowly last 90 years with cleansers that Collectors left us. But nobody expected for it to be cleaned in such a short time. Scientist assumed that it would take longer, not thousand years but not 90 years also. That's why we're going to investigate. Draco,Riley and me."

"How long will you stay? It's dangerous,please don't go,find someone else to replace you."- She pleaded with panic in her voice realizing that there's possibility that he wouldn't return. The very idea that her brother could die caused her heart to skip a beat or two.

" Everything will be fine, I promise. This could change our lives forever. We could finally descend to Earth." He told encouraging her to trust him.-"Now I have to go to the meeting, we'll talk more later."

"Fine, I'll be in my room." -She said feeling nervous and angry at the same time.

Bastien started walking toward Draco's and Riley's quarters to pick them up for meeting. They lived together down at the floor 153. Everyone understands why they live together, few years ago their parents died together when their shuttle malfunctioned on their way back to the station. One of the engine caught on fire due to heat in atmosphere,they crashed into the ocean but bodies were never found. Grand Council assumed animals from the ocean ate them.

Once again elevator's annoying sound disrupted Bastien thoughts.

He entered apartment without knocking, they were best friends since childhood so he didn't feel the need to announce himself. Both of them were siting on the couch passionately discussing comic books in which they're interested.

-" I'm telling you man, Thor would crush Hulk in second. Hulk is just an experiment that accidentally happened in lab. Our Scientist could probably design few of them now with not much effort."- Draco said amusingly, he liked to piss of Riley when it came to Hulk.

-" That's the point man, Hulk can be made. Your hero is just some made-up God who couldn't possibly exist like EVER.-" Riley said shaking his head.

Draco noticed that Bastien came, -" What do you think Bash, who's stronger Thor or Hulk?"-

" You seriously need to check out your priorities, you're in mid-twenties and discussing ancient comic books. I mean really?"- Bastien said teasing them both.

" I swear to Thor one day I'll get you up into liking this world. Once in a while one needs escape from this reality." Draco said frowningly while scratching his chin.

" So what's up ,why did you came, I thought we were meeting at canteen tonight?" Riley asked curiously.

Bastien walked up to them and sat across the couch on the floor.-" Yeah,well, change of plans. I was at Deck One this morning to see if plan for tomorrows mission was still on,and it is but in slightly different way. Tracked pack of wolves entered Red Zone two days ago,and they're still there alive and well. So do Scientist believe. Tomorrow instead of picking up examples like usual we should go check out that zone, I thought you two would be interested?"

Riley announced cheerfully -"Hell yeah" accompanied by Draco's laughter acting like he's the mature one. But Bastien could see excitement in his eyes. Three of them were together adrenalin junkies. There's no danger they'd put themselves into.