Lunarian

Chapter 2

"Ella. She found me and saved my life. One of the Domeheads she travelled with accidentally threw a sharp rock. It hit my head and I began to bleed. I was sure I was going to die, but she found me and put some weird thing on my head that stopped the bleeding. I owed her, so she said if anyone she knew needed help on the moon, she would tell them to find me." Kate stared at the planet that she knew as Earth.

Over the years she watched as the earths blue turned to purple, as the green turned gray and brown. She watched as the white that surrounds Earth turned brown. And she knew that her friend Ella lived there.

"How is Ella anyway?"

"She's long dead. She died of old age. How old are you?"

"1632 sun cycles, or Earth years. Or about 16 Lunar years. I'm not that old. About how long do Dome Heads live?"

"In the state the Earth is in now, about 30 years. But we used to live up to 100 years." Connor had now walked up beside Kate to look at the Earth. Kate stared off into the distance. Ella is dead? Dome Heads only live 100 years at most? Does that mean Connor will leave me too? Kate's thoughts were interrupted by a loud beep.

"No! I'm running out of oxygen! At this rate I'll die!"

"Oxygen? There is no oxygen on the moon. That's what Ella said. That means you'll die right?"

"Yeah. I've got about 30 more minutes. What do you breathe?"

"I don't know. Ella was confused about that too. And there are no longer any Lunarians left but me. So I can't ask."

"It was nice meeting you Kate." Kate looked over at Connor. She couldn't really see Connor's face very well due to the spacesuit, but Kate thought he looked sad.

"No! I will find Oxygen for you to breathe! I owe Ella, and anyone she knew! Even if you didn't know her, you knew her grand-daughter!"

"Kate... You barely know me."

"The Scrolls of Life! they might have something! Follow me!" Kate ran off towards the entrance to the underground, or the dome. Connor had gotten good at moving on the moon, and could now keep up with Kate. Kate ran towards a cave and went inside. Immediately Kate noticed that Connor no longer bounced around like a madman, and began to run like her. Something was different about the Underground and Connor was proof.

"Woah! The gravity is like Earth in here! Why didn't you tell me this before?"!" Kate answered as she ran.

"I don't notice any difference. But come on! We don't have much time left, knowing that Connor would die if she didn't find something soon. Eventually they came to the end of the tunnel and were at the dome. The dome was a huge space filled with houses made of rock, abandoned farms, and other empty buildings. Only one small farm was being used, and only one house was kept clean. In the centre of the dome was a fountain, and although the rock had broken over the years, the water still ran fine.

Kate ran into a large building. It was starting to fall down but was still usable. Kate ran to the centre of the building, where a shelf full of scrolls sat. Kate checked to make sure Connor was still following her and then she turned towards the shelf.

"There it is! The Scrolls of Life! They can save you! Now where is 'O'..." Kate began running her fingers over the symbols that label the areas where the different scrolls are being kept.

"There it is!" Kate looked through the only scroll in the category that she called 'O'.

"So, Connor, how long can you hold your breath for?"

"About a minute in dire situations."

"Good! Now take a deep breath and take off your helmet!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Nope. Now do as I say." Connor took a deep breath and pulled his helmet off.

"The air we breathe you can too, breathe it now and know it's true." At this point Connor was struggling to hold his breath.

"You can breathe now." Kate said. Connor let out the breath he was holding.

"How am I breathing? That's not possible!"

"I cast a spell on you. Now you can breathe what I breathe. So take off your spacesuit now." Connor took off his spacesuit. Kate was surprised by the way he looked. He had tan skin, although not exactly dark, it was much darker than Kate's. He has black hair and his eyes were a bright green. He wore strange clothes, a red shirt with blue pants. He looked surprisingly like a Lunarian, but without the pale skin or the pointed ears. And Kate had never seen anybody who didn't have pale blue eyes.

"Will you stop staring? I'm just human. I don't look that weird."

"I've never seen anyone like you. The Lunarians all looked similar to me. We didn't really look all that different from each other. We all had the same features, blond hair, blue eyes pale skin."

"What about Ella?"

"She had to leave shortly after she saved me. She just told me that she didn't have much time as she needed Oxygen. She told me she needed it to breathe. And then she left. Like they always do."

"What do you mean by 'like they always do'?" Kate just stared at Connor.

"They come, they take rocks, and they leave. I seen them do this everytime they come to the moon. They never stay. And every time they leave me alone." Kate blinked away tears.

"Kate. I won't leave you. Even if I could I wouldn't. You've been alone a long time. And now you aren't."

"Connor. Thank you."