Pastel Skies

January-31-2016

In the grand scheme of things the planet was not a large one; far from it in fact. It was relatively small and it had barely seen human presence. Its pastel magenta atmosphere covered a rocky wasteland adorned with little to no vegetation.

In the eyes of the alliance the planet was worthless; there were no worthwhile resources under the crust and the planet's surface been judged unworthy of habitation. There was no one there and no reason to go there. It really was the perfect place in which to disappear; should one wish to anyways. Or sometimes be forced into.

For one boy, arguably old enough to be called a man, it hadn’t been a choice.

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The boy in question sat staring out across the sheltered valley. On the opposite ridge sat an enormous structure, all steel and gently glowing alloys. From all that he knew he was sure that that building should not have been there. This planet had never seen terraforming and neither had it seen colonization. There was no life here and never had been. The air itself was barely breathable.

Yet there it was; a blot on the horizon against the pink and aqua sky.

He had been abandoned here because they had known that this planet held nothing. They had wanted him gone but couldn’t bring themselves to kill him. Instead they did the next best thing; abandoned him in a place where he could not possibly survive. They’d wanted to give him a “fighting chance”.

In the boy’s mind their mercy was reminiscent of the old stories from earth that was. It reminded him of the era of the savage seas that his ancestors had gone through so long ago. Those timeworn tales were full of marooned captains and shipmates left to die on deserted islands. That was before this new era of space exploration that had started after humans had explored all they could on their own planet. Once they ran out of new frontiers to explore they had turned their eyes to the skies above. Just as their aspirations had changed so had their method of abandonment, but the message it sent was still the same.

He got the message; he was not wanted.

But that building; in the face of their hatred that structure was a beacon of hope. On a planet where there should be nothing there was this. It was so close to his crash site as well. Of all the places he could have landed he had landed near a structure. It was as though someone had wanted him to find it.

The boy was cautious however; so he sat and watched the structure. Silently he watched as the walls glowed pulsingly. The wave of light started somewhere near the top of the structure and slowly swept down along the pillars and graceful beams that formed the outer lattice surrounding the smooth walls. Eventually the light faded into the ground and then a fresh wave began anew from the top. The structure itself was of an alien design; that is to say he had never seen its like.

He was waiting for something bad to happen. Waiting for something to go wrong and show that this newfound hope was but a curse. But nothing seemed wrong; the opposite ridge remained still. That structure still seemed like his best chance. If he could find his way inside maybe there would be some food or water. Maybe there would even be a ship within those walls. He could only hope.

Slowly the boy stood, dusted off his weathered jeans, and set off down the ridge. He'd find a way across the valley and get up onto that opposite ridge. There was bound to be a path down or around eventually. It might take a while but he'd find it.

Perhaps there was hope after all.