Halapatov

Chapter One

Time. It's an interesting concept, isn't it? Only sentient beings measure it, but all matter in the universe is subject to it; all events bound within the parameters of a constant flow that always moves forward, never back. In our lives, time has control. We age because of it, and change as it speeds past. We shape our lives around it. Friendships flare and fade, loss and grief occur and are forgotten and the things that make us happiest and saddest flash and pass by as time marches ever forwards, and yet we continue to soldier on, bowing to it as we should, because although time is merely a name for the inevitable, we know that it is one of the most integral part of our lives.

I remember being a child, and wishing for time to slow or stand still. I knew that was impossible of course, being a Paladanian, a native of the planet Flauraan where we are all born with insane intuition which allowed us to understand things beyond the limits of many races in the universe. But despite my knowledge, that time could not plausibly stop, I was still a child and that made me irrational. Many a time I would desire for the progression of time to cease, hoping to live in a moment forever, such as when I used to play with my best friend Leila, or on those nights when I would stargaze, dreading bedtime when I would have to head indoors once again and leave the entrancing reaches of space behind. Evidently, my wishes never came true and life continued to run its course, bringing me through many events since.

One particular event where time was not kind to me was a pretty important one too. The fate of the entire Staarus System, where my planet was situated, was at stake because of a group of human beings from the planet Earth who had convinced themselves that we deserved attacking. With barely two days to work out what was going on, time was short and I almost felt like cursing it. But with the help of a human friend, an explorer named Sophie, I managed to uncover the truth; they had been coerced by an evil race known as Weraynians into attacking us so that the Weraynians could escape their imprisonment and wage war on the universe. So yes, while in that particular instance I managed to stop the battle before it begun in the small amount of time I had, time could have been more lenient.

Recently though, time had been quite nice to me. In the weeks following the conclusion of the event, Sophie decided to stay on Flauraan with me. She quickly developed into my best friend, and we were inseparable. This, of course, could not last forever, and one thing I knew to be true but refused to acknowledge was that my time with Sophie was running out...

*

"Rise and shine!" I was woken one morning to a pillow to the face. Blearily, I opened my eyes to see Sophie standing beside my bed, fully dressed but with her hair resembling a bird's nest. I glanced out the window, taking in the position of the sun.

"It's so early." I groaned and rolled over, dragging my blanket closer to my chest.

Sophie scoffed. "Then it's a good time to start the day! Come on, Abigail!" She urged me impatiently. "I wanna get stuff done today."

"Fine." I caved, hurling off my doona, sliding my legs off the bed and planting my feet firmly on the floor. I dragged myself out of bed, feeling as tired as one of the legendary Slumbering Jackij's which occupied the northern forests.

Quickly pulling on clothes appropriate for the day, I followed Sophie out into the kitchen. My mother and father were both still asleep, mainly because Sophie had decided to wake me up before even birds were up and chirping, but also because, I think, after everything that had happened in recent times, we all needed a rest.

I cooked us up some healthy warm grain mixed with blat for breakfast, and placed the two steaming bowls on the table, where Sophie sat, consulting a 'digi-file', as she called it, although in reality it was a digital touch-activated glass tablet which operated similarly to a computer. She stored all her research on there, as Sophie's job was for the most part to search the universe looking for a lost science expedition, and also partly to gather information on the many places she visited. Whilst staying on Flauraan, she'd been spending a fair sum of time learning details with which to put in her report on our planetary system, though only when she wasn't doing something with me.