Fruit of the Summer Fields

Chapter One - Emma's Story

"There weren't always dragons in the Valley", Emma whispered, wistfully wiping away grey spider-like hairs from her forehead.

"We came here as children to play with our friends, we had music and festivals and bright sunshine that birthed lovely purple flowers that we took home to our mothers. Beautiful strange fruits grew here, which we ate after the scientists said they were OK"

"What happened Grandma?", asked the small, waiflike girl child at her knee. Her brother, smaller, with a mop of blondish hair exclaimed, "Please tell us, we are so scared!".

Emma stroked her chin thoughtfully, taking a moment to pet the tiny kitten that was insistently brushing against her bare leg.

"People have stories, lots of stories", she continued, "but since the Great Darkness, no one knows for sure."

"Grandma, what do YOU think happened?" exclaimed the elven boy.

" Your Momma is going to want you to go to bed soon"

"Please do tell us, and how long will the Great Darkness last?"

"Ok", she said resigning herself to a long night, "let me tell your Momma what we are doing, and make sure the fence is on. Go get your jammies on and come back to see me."

Emma walked through the long, single story home and glanced outside at the twenty feet tall electrified fence that had been built around every home after ten years after human settlers arrived on the planet Mirdar. Earth telescopes first detected this inhabitable planet in the late 2050s; after the great American Civil War, people were delighted and signed up for the long journey and land grants in droves.

The "Sun" of this planet and Mirdar's orbit were different from Earth; light was constant for a period of six months, and then darkness for six months. Emma remembered visiting Finland on Earth many years ago as a small child in the summer, where there was only two hours of partial darkness. Partiers and revilers painted the night as if the morrow would never come. During the winter, the opposite would happen but she was never there to experience it. And at 12 years of age, she came to Mirdar with her parents.

She was sure Mirdar's darkness was different. It was totally pitch black, with no hint of the ensuing light. The first year, many settlers had committed suicide, unable to escape the seething, all consuming depression that covered their minds and souls. Emma knew light would return, just as she knew now that the Great Darkness was not permanent.

But a year ago, the darkness didn't go away after 6 months. The colony was self sustaining and had artificial lighting for the plants and livestock. Colonists panicked, predicting doom and even turning to worshipping ancient Earth Gods and Goddesses in their effort to bring back the light.

Then the calves started disappearing from their mothers, one by one. The flapping of wings was heard in the darkness; it grew louder, and more insistent every day.

"OK Grandma, we're back. What do YOU think happened?"

" When the light didn't return after six of our Earth months like usual, some of us thought the worst and panicked. Your Grandpa got busy and rigged lights in the stables for the animals, and secured more power sources for the house. Six more Earth months went by, and our headlamps picked up colorful iridescent floating bubbles coming down over the Valley."

" People saw that as a sign the Gods had favored us again, they ran to the Valley, chasing them, laughing and singing. They stopped coming down after four days, but the Valley floor was full of them, rolling over and over each other like children playing".

" OOoooooh, Grandma, could they have been dragon eggs?" exclaimed little Anna, licking the last bit of her evening snack from her fingers.

"That is what I thought, but they all disappeared after two more weeks. All was peaceful but dark for several months. Then Mara's new calf disappeared. And two more in our colony over the next few days. The flapping sounds, and earthquakes began over the next few weeks. The first dragon was seen by headlamp as it took a full grown cow from the Philip's compound. "

" It was small then, only about 2-3 feet tall and actually would have been cute if it hadn't been stealing our meat."

"We had a townhall meeting, and built these fences you now see and electrified them. Each fence can detect a flyer 100 feet overhead and send an electrical charge. At first it killed the dragons. Then, they adapted and only were stunned. Now, we live with them in a kind of strained peace. We cannot go into the Valley anymore, we stay in our compounds and are thankful our first founders anticipated such a crisis and provided for us".

"Your Grandpa is in his lab, analyzing the wing segment of the dead dragon that fell into our compound last year, to see if we can learn why they are here and what can repell or kill them".

"One other thing I found very curious - on the exact day the light was supposed to return, I felt a very fast vibration and a small earthquake. I suppose I can't really call it an "earth"quake since we are no longer on Earth, but let's just say it jarred me. I felt like there was some kind of fundamental shift. But when I asked others, they told me they didn't feel I thing so I thought I might be imagining things".

Emma looked over to see the tiny eyes of her grandchildren starting to flutter and close.

"To bed with you both, you are tired and you have your lessons in the morning".

She was relieved she didn't get plied again with the question about how long the Great Darkness would last. Or one they hadn't asked, when will the dragons grow larger and more resilient?