Seeking Change

Once upon a time ago, Terre was covered in parasitic creatures, bent on destruction. They consumed and burned everything they touched, until the dirt itself had turned cold with death.

Terre had given up. She had gone so long with the parasites that she didn’t know how to live anymore. The cold death that followed the downfall of the parasites lulled Terre into a deep sleep from which she hoped to not wake up.

After the deep sleep began, the parasites started to die off, one by one. With each passing year, Terre froze a little more solid until she was as frozen as the ice craters of space.

At last, she thought. I am finally alone.

Millennia after millennia passed. Slowly, Terre started to awaken from her deep slumber. Her breath quickened and her pulse grew faster. The ice melted, bit by bit from her soul, and Terre was happy for it.

When the final bits of sleep were shaken from her soggy brain, she noticed a new friend had made their home nearby. Terre found herself trying to use her limited energy to greet the new friend, but they didn’t see her.

Maybe she was too far away? Terre tried to dress in her best robes and wear her best accessories, but still the mysterious neighbor remained cold and distant, just out of reach. Its metallic hum was the only sound for comfort.

Just as she had given up on receiving a greeting, Terre found herself enveloped in its warmth. With it, came a light, brilliant with laser-like focus. She could feel the energy within her surge to life, feel her skin glow, her hair thicken, and her core minerals change. Her eyes shone anew.

When the light faded, Terre turned around. Her beautiful, vibrant, new friend was nowhere to be seen. Knowing that she didn’t even get to say goodbye to her neighbour, Terre felt sad. She was alone once again.

Over the next few days, Terre would imagine she was talking to her missing friend, and would see its circular form, hovering over the way. Terre even got to talking to herself to try and pass the time in her solitude, to no avail. She couldn’t quench her thirst for companionship.

Terre decided that she would set out into the great beyond to find her long lost friend. Just as she was ready to make the trek, she noticed that she had a peculiar feeling running across her skin.

Parasites! Terre was scared. What if they ate away at her soul the way the previous ones did? Were these new Parasites of the same genus?

So many thoughts went through her head as she pondered what she should do.

Then, in the darkest part of her soul, she heard a whispering. It was a singing sort of melody and it started vibrating throughout her being.

The Parasites! They are speaking to me! Terre cried happily. She wasn’t alone.

Terre was reminded of an earlier age from long ago when the old Parasites used to speak with her and ask for her guidance. As they ate, the old parasytes’ greed for more destroyed her very core. Terre was scared to take a risk on these new free-loaders. She loved having someone talk to her again, but at the same time she knew how it played out the last time she trusted a being not her own.

Terre let out a sigh and looked inward, towards the melody and the music that called to her, tentatively waiting, watching, to see if these new creatures would harm her like the last.

As Terre’s view got closer to the parasites, she noticed that there were many smaller circular shapes hovering over various parts of her body. Inside these hovering circles, were smaller parasites that pressed their ear to her skin and whispered directly to her.

For the first time in a long time, Terre listened. They were giving her a new name. Madre. Terre liked it. She would be Madre. Madre chose to help these creatures and give them refuge. She would teach them and watch them grow.

**

Deep within her being, “the Parasites”- or rather the Water People, celebrated. They had found a new home. After travelling so far across the cosmos, they came across a barren world, ripe for the picking.

Their old world died off due to their own stupidity. Using their technology, The Water People sent ships out into the great beyond to look for a new home. The People’s leader had seen a vision where there was great water and land healthy enough to bear fruit - the perfect place to start over.

The Leader was determined to use this world to revitalize their lost civilization. The Water People would be powerful once again.

Outside the Leader’s hut, a rock researcher and a team of safe-keepers went off to explore the nearby metal caves. There were strange carvings inside, as they stepped carefully over broken bits of wall and cage.

The team’s footsteps echoed throughout the cave-structure as they made their way through. The Researcher scanned the front with his light, trying to make sense of the area. Some bits of the cave went down into the dirt, some went spiralling upwards to a collapsed cavern off to the side.

As they went deeper into the cave, they came across a passageway that had been barricaded. It took some time to get the debris moved out of the way. The Researcher took his blue hands and pulled open the remaining doorway that lay beyond the barricade.

Once the door was open, The Researcher, covered head-to-toe in a bio-containment suit to protect his from any unknown spores and viruses, stepped into the dark void beyond the barricade. One foot, after another, and another. Inside, he saw what looked to be an old non-natural wall of metal and glass. Strange squares covering most of it with more symbols that had all but worn off.

In a corner of that room, hidden beneath the multitude of tubals and vines, webs and strange rubble, there was a large, fluorescent seed pod.

Wait, called The Researcher as he motioned to the safe-keepers to stop their movement. The Researcher took a careful step over to the pod and glimpsed inside its translucent shell. he immediately took hold of it and gestured with his long blue hands for the safe-keepers to help carry it.

Take a look at this one’s findings. We must bring it back to show The Leader. They will want to know about this seed. It needs to be planted so it may grow.

The researcher hurriedly pulled himself out through the narrow entrance and back through the maze of dark tunnels that made up this cave’s interior. The safe-keepers helped him carry his prize.

Once they got outside and into the sun, the pod started to hum and vibrate. A strange glow emitted from it and a black rectangle sprouted from its top.

It’s growing! said The Researcher, excitedly, gesturing for the safe-keepers to help secure it in the soil a bit.

With the bottom half of the seed entrenched in the dirt, The Researcher stood near it and watched as the seed began to glow. The black rectangle that sprouted from its head didn’t get bigger, but The Researcher knew that patience was the key.

As the day grew long, the safe-keepers left The Researcher to watch the now-boring seed alone. They couldn’t be bothered with watching nothing happening. They could do that elsewhere.

The Researcher didn’t care, he noticed that small changes were happening within the seed and he would wait to see if it would sprout anymore. In the dark of the night, after the others had gone to sleep, The Researcher finally saw the shell of the seed had started to fade away, showing a soft curved interior. It still had bits of shell attached to it, but The Researcher thought it was beautiful even though he had never seen any plants like this one. Just when he was about to look around the soft flesh of the seed, something caught his eye.

Wrapped around the seed’s roots was a metallic-shaped object, like two crescent moons merging into one with a long tail on it. The Researcher went to pick it up and found that it was heavier than expected and made of a shiny sun-like metal, similar to their Leader’s metal staff. The moment his fingers touched it, it seemed to break in half. Inside the half still attached to the tail, The Researcher saw a small carving of this exact seed laying before him and beside it was with another similar seed.

The Researcher’s brow pinched together, trying to figure out what was going on.

Maybe it’s an animal of some kind? Is this a burial, maybe? The Researcher thought this option would be impossible. There were no signs of life but there did appear to be technology of some kind throughout the cave and across this world. He knew it wasn’t impossible, but maybe he had found a preserved body of a once native species that had gone extinct. He started to review his mental library.

The Researcher got closer to take a look and saw that it didn’t have features like his. This one looked land based in the way the root-legs were shaped. He reached out to touch it again, to get a better report ready for The Leader on his findings. When his blue hands touched the sand-colored flesh in front of him, he heard a sound come from the creature.

The Researcher watched as the eyes on the strange being opened, revealing eyes that were the same colour as his own skin. They blinked a couple of times before clarity formed in their watery eyes. The creature opened its mouth. An awful cry erupted from it. With their body still stiff from the seed’s long sleep, the creature tried, and failed, to go anywhere. The Researcher quickly put a hand over its mouth to silence the creature in front of him.

When the noise stopped, The Researcher pulled his hand away and noticed that this creature was a female, land-based, creature. He noted her hands hugged her rounded belly protectively.

“W-Where am I? W-Who are you?” she cried, feeling like something had gone wrong with the stasis.

The Researcher heard the musical quality to its voice, but couldn’t understand a thing it was trying to say - if it had intelligence at all. He stood up, brushed his hands over the printed mark on the side of his head. His tail swished behind him in irritation.

He tried to communicate with her as the camp came to life after the female’s screech.

A trail of keepers were making their way across the encampment bringing The Leader towards them.

What’s the meaning of this intrusion? he inquired.

The Researcher gave his report, gesturing to the female in front of him.

**

Claire was trembling in shock and fear. Their long blue tails, blue skin, lanky frame, dark scaled patterning, black eyes and no hair screamed alien.

I'm not in Kansas anymore, she thought.

She looked up in the sky, trying to find familiar stars. Even they were different.

Where am I? How much time had passed? she asked herself. Claire took deep calming breaths, trying not to panic. Her stasis pod was behind her. Her baby was still inside her and they were alive.

Claire gripped the open heart-shaped locket that sat in her hands. A noise echoed through the night, coming from the pod.

“NEW LANGUAGE DETECTED. INSTALLING LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR.”

Clair was surprised, but felt a buzz in her skull. The alien’s language began flooding her mind, catching them mid-sentence.

“- the last human in our records died thousands of solar cycles ago. A study will be required for her and the offspring.”