Legacy of Ages: The Colony

Chapters 2 + 3

Chapter 2

Ela sits up straighter in her chair and looks around the room. "Did you feel that?'

"Feel what?" asks Set.

"I don't know, it felt like a presence in the room."

He smiles at her. "I think you have been studying those reports for far too long on our new home."

Ela puts the small info pad down on the table in front of her. "It is not our home yet. We still have to decide if it is safe for us, and a place we can modify if we need to."

"I thought that was decided a long time ago, even before we left Earth, and traveled all these thousands of years," adds Set, knowing that even though this is their third attempt at finding a suitable home, so far this is their best candidate. It is also an old argument that has most of the inhabitants of the generational ships divided. Most believe that what ever they find this time can

either be changed or guarded against, because the journey needs to come to an end.

"Think about Nel," pleads Ela. "Do you want to place our daughter in danger settling on a planet that could be dangerous just to please a few people who are bored?"

Set gets up and goes behind her chair and starts to rub her shoulders. "I don't need to worry about that, because you are going to travel to our new home next week and make sure there are no man-eating plants or bugs that will attack us."

Ela allows him to massage her neck for a few minutes, as she lets the tension drain from her upper shoulder muscles. "It has been a very stressful two weeks since the announcement was made that I would be the one going to scout out the surface and atmosphere for any potential threats."

Set closes his eyes and lets the connection between them through the Way relax her mind. He has her slumped in the chair before adding, "you are the obvious choice. There is no other with the medical talent that you have. Why, the work you have done with the plants and animals in the habitats has increased our food supply by almost twenty percent. There are people eating a lot better because of you."

Ela opens her eyes and turns to him. "They are plants and animals that we are familiar with. This is a whole new world with an entirely different evolution from ours."

"You will have six months to figure it all out," smiles Set. "But right now, I think you should go put your daughter to bed for the night."

"You're right of course," concedes Ela, as she gets up and goes to Nel's quarters off the main room. She enters to see her daughter reading a book in bed, or at least looking at the pictures.

Nel looks up from the book as she enters. "Mommy, why do you have to leave us for so long; why can't you just look at it from here? Daddy showed it to me through the big glass, yesterday."

Ela sits down on the edge of the bed. "There are things I have to do on the planet that I can't do from here, like take samples of the soil and air for testing."

"But I will be so old when I see you again."

"Yes, you will be eight years old, and able to explore the surface of the planet with me and your father. But that is only if I go there first to make sure it is safe."

Nel thinks about it for a moment. "Will it be boring, sitting in that small ship for such a long time? My class went to see the ship yesterday and Ned said he would be afraid to stay in it for even a day. How long will you be in it, Mommy?"

Ela smiles at her daughter to put her at ease. "It will take one and a half years to get there, before I land and study the planet for six months before the ships