Poignant Skies

Origins

Selena offered to wash the dishes after breakfast. Lee on the other hand took the time to vacuum the house.

After their chores, Selena and Lee sat in the living room to rest for a while.

"So what do you do after this? Watch news? Trim the outdoor plants?"

"I do my research work or prepare my lesson plans for the academy."

"So you are a professor?"

"Yes but I stopped half a year ago to focus on my research work in space."

"What was your research all about?"

"Novan viral and bacterial behaviour in space. But I'm just an assistant. Dr. Helga is the main proponent."

"I see." Then there was a brief silence between the two. "So what are we going to do now?"

Lee sensed that Selena was feeling a little bored. Lee took out the book he got from his shelf and gave it to her.

Selena gave her a look. "A children's book?"

"It's my favorite book - Novus Origins." Lee grinned as he opened the book for her. "I thought we could possibly start with the basic history of Novus. And what better way to do that than to start with an illustration book. Don't worry, I'm not going to read it to you like it's a children's book."

"Very well." Selena felt skeptical at the thought of it. But she knows Lee would know better. After all, he was a professor.

"So we are now at Novan year 495." Lee began. "495 years ago, ten families aboard the Altus Space Explorer were en route to the exoplanet Neo 3471a to inhabit and claim it as a new secondary planet. But a clash between two secondary planets, Bellum and Pax-2 forced the Altus to change course. When all hope seemed lost, they found an unknown exoplanet where they were able to safely land. Back then, the said planet was the farthest ever discovered from earth. The planet was habitable and fertile. There they established themselves as a new civilization in a secondary planet. The Intergallactic Confederation then recognized its establishment. The planet was named Novus which was Latin for 'New'."

Selena looked more fascinated with the illustrations in the book. There were basic drawings of the Altus, of the ten families arriving in Novus and how they cultivated the land.

"Here you can see the original species that dominated the planet." Lee told her as he moved to another page.

"The usual arthropods and annelids, huh."

"Yes. We leave them be but some encounters cannot be helped."

"So what happened next?" Selena asked.

Lee flipped to the next page. "And so word began to spread about the new secondary planet which was said to be one of, if not the most, very earth-like planets ever discovered. The atmosphere, planet radius, axis, water availability and many other factors made it very much viable to life.

But to retain its purity, the original ten families limited the access to the planet. They had learned the hard way that in order to create a new haven for human civilization, they had to control the colony's growth and impact to the planet."

"I'm sure that didn't go well with other planets."

"It sure did create some conflicts. But the Confederation recognized our autonomy and so the member planets must abide by our laws."

Selena paused for a moment. She was staring blankly into the book as if she froze.

"Selena, are you okay?"

She didn't respond.

"Selena? Selena!"

She suddenly snapped out. "What?"

All of a sudden, Lt. Han Phil rushed into their home.

"Ms. Marie, are you okay?"

"What's this? Why did you suddenly come here?" Lee asked him.

"We're monitoring her." He replied. "Her heartrate and brain activity suddenly spiked up."

"I'm okay. I just... I feel like memories are suddenly flashing back to me." She looked at Lee. "But they were all a blur."