The Old Barn

The grass beneath ver feet felt like plastic--but then again, it always did. It shouldn’t have surprised Kaydn at this point. Apparently fake grass was something you never got used to.

The sun was still rising in the sky, and Kaydn rushed to ver barn. Ve needed to tend to ver animals before ve went into town; ve had an appointment with the bank, and ve couldn’t miss it.

Kaydn stopped in front of the barn. It was an old building--not terribly so, but it was enough to harass the bank. Some of the roofing had flown off in a bad storm a few days ago, and was now replaced by a hole. The poor animals were scared half to death, but fortunately no one was hurt.

Ve continued into the barn. Two cows, six chickens, a sheep--everyone was accounted for. Ve poured the feed into the trough and watched the animals gather.

Kaydn remembered what life was like before Earth became inhabitable. One of the few people old enough to remember it, as a matter of fact. Ve was only a child at the time. Ver family grabbed the first ship to Saturn they could, and have been living there ever since. Saturn was nice: in fact, it was ver home. While Kaydn remembered some things about Earth, it wasn’t enough to make ve miss it.

Well, besides the grass. Ve missed the grass. The fake grass that covered the planet was the only thing that really bothered Kaydn about living on Saturn, but it was better than a dying planet. Besides, something about it made it possible for people to actually live on the gaseous planet (Kadyn didn’t know how it worked exactly. Ve was not much for science, and as long as ve could live ver life, ve didn’t care).

How difficult it's been to keep the farm afloat lately is also a thing to hate. But that definitely would have been worse on Earth.

Something rustled behind a haystack, causing Kaydn to jump back. The animals didn’t seem to pay it any mind, but that did nothing to calm ver nerves. Ve grabbed a nearby pitchfork and slowly inched towards where the noise came from.

A loud screech erupted, and Kaydn doubled over, covering ver ears. It stopped as soon as it started.

The animals were all visibly upset by the noise, but instead of rampaging around like what would have been expected, they were all cowered against the wall.

Kaydn had dropped the pitchfork in the commotion. As ve bent down to retrieve it, ve heard footsteps approaching.

“Please don’t hurt me. I come in peace.”

Standing in front of Kaydn was a small, green being. They had huge black eyes, three fingers on each hand, and a tail. Their clothes were a little tattered, but nothing too extreme. Kaydn didn’t know what this creature was, but they looked rather…

“How old are you?” ve blurted out. That probably wasn’t the best question to start with, but it was too late now.

The creature was obviously taken aback. “How… how old? Seventy-five.” The shock on Kaydn’s face must have been apparent, because the creature said, “Well, seventy-five in my species' years. I think that would translate somewhere around eleven here.”

Well, that certainly made more sense. “What are you doing here?”

The creature rung their hands. “My ship crashed here… I’ve been trying to fix it up, but, well… I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Kaydn ran ver hand through ver hair. “Did you crash during the storm?”

The creature nodded. “I was expecting you to search the barn as soon as the hole was discovered, but you never did.”

Ve laughed at that, making the creature jump. “I thought the storm just took off the roofing and some debris fell through! Say, if your ship crashed, where did it go.”

The creature rubbed their arm, then pointed behind the haystack. Kaydn followed their finger, only to see nothing there.

“The cloaking mechanism got stuck. Which has only made fixing it impossible!” The creature sunk down to the floor, pouting.

Kaydn sat down next to them. “You got a name?”

“Ghagi.”

“Well, Ghagi,” Kaydn said, putting ver hand out. “Name’s Kaydn. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Ghagi hesitated for a moment, then shook ver hand.

“How about this: we go to my house and get some breakfast. I’m going into town later, but when I get back, I’ll call one of my friend’s up. She’s a mechanic, and I’m sure she can help you out.”

Ghagi smiled and bobbed their head up and down. They had to help Kaydn up, then the two set off to the house.