Yves Giraud - Kahnu

“ You’ve been to the sun? ” asked Liu amazed.

“ Our people have traveled to all the major planets and moons of your solar system, many times over, the sun included. But Gahneo, Jorh, and I have only been to Kesra. Only a selected few have traveled to other worlds. We’ve never been to Kahjuna either. We are looking forward to seeing your beautiful Earth ,” replied Mahhzee.

Refocusing her attention on the Zarfha, she went through another elaborate movement of hand, something the human group was now quite used to, and brought the sphere to an even faster spin. As the colorful light waves began their beautiful show, the spectators realized the outside view was changing gradually. The ship was slowly rising above the cavern’s floor, but the transition was so smooth, had they not seen the walls of the cavern move, they would have never known. They could not feel a thing. There were no vibrations or sensation of movement whatsoever. The ship began to turn slowly onto itself, until it faced the entrance of the cavern. Gahneo entered the room.

“ The path has been cleared ,” he confirmed, as he sat next to Jorh.

Through the large translucent wall of the cabin, they all watched the ship approach the mouth of the cave, hovering effortlessly under Mahhzee’s hand commands. The large boulders, that had until recently blocked the tunnel’s entrance, had been removed. Dedrick wondered how the aliens had managed to do so so quickly. Something he would have to asked, but later. For now, he was too captivated with the maneuver. The walls of the dark passage ahead, made clearly visible by the accentuated contrast and colors of the front window, appeared just wide enough for the vessel to move through without touching on either side, but barely. Gliding seamlessly along the corridor, the ship and its occupants eventually made their way to the other end of the tunnel. As they emerged far above the sheer drop of the cliff face, the large front window of the cabin adjusted accordingly, bringing the bright daylight down to a comfortable level for everyone’s eyes. The vessel began to rise vertically and a few seconds later, the travelers were racing above the plateau, quickly climbing towards the upper atmosphere of Mars, in absolute silence. Mahhzee waved another command, and the view changed to show the small Martian outpost, now visible in the distance, as they gained altitude.

“Mommy, look! The station,” said Chasma, pointing at the quickly shrinking dwellings. They all watched in silence. The small Mars First outpost had been their only home ever since their first landing. A strange feeling of sadness ran through them; a sense of loss. They would never come back, and they all knew it. As the ship began to reach space, the orange world Dedrick and his friends had called home for so many years began to move away. The Martian planet and its grand crater looked just as impressive as it had when they had first seen it from space, so many years ago. In the next few days, it would gradually shrink until becoming just another bright star.

“I’m gonna miss it, you know?” Sabrina said quietly to François.

“I know, me too, love.”

They stared a bit longer at the red planet slowly moving away, until Mahhzee returned to the view in front of the ship. Ahead, the amazing expanse of space was offering a starry spectacle like they had never experienced before. Beyond the large clear wall of the vessel, enhanced by the alien window, the stars appeared more dazzling than ever, their sparkling light accentuated by the ship’s view. Too small to make out yet, a pale blue dot was flickering far in the distance. They were on their way to Earth.

The next several weeks were long and quite frankly boring to most of the passengers. Nonetheless, Dedrick and his friends had learned to adapt to their new living quarters quite well by now. But there was nothing much to do on the ship, except attend to the small makeshift greenhouse they had managed to recreate in one of the ship’s cargo areas. If they took care of it, the temporary food storage would supply them adequately for a good month. Luckily, the trip to Earth was much faster on the Kahnu ship than any manmade rocket. The small human group was certainly looking forward to their home planet’s abundant supply of food and water, even if they knew Earth had been severely damaged by the last chemical war. No matter the situation back on the blue planet, their return would certainly be a cause for celebration. And if that wasn’t enough to get the attention of the powers at play, coming back with aliens and their amazing ship would undoubtedly do so, and force all human differences aside, resetting human values and our place in the universe in a big way. At least, that’s what Ladli was quite confident about, as she had mentioned to the team several times already.

Her Russian commander wasn’t so sure of it. He remembered too well the gut feeling he had experienced, during the last transmissions from Earth, almost six years ago. Things had not looked good for the blue planet, when Lars Bruininck had told them of the global destruction taking place, and the rate at which everything on Earth was dying. The more he had thought about it, the more he had realized the gravity of the situation. If anything, he knew for sure the situation on Earth had been catastrophic. Simple logic dictated that Lars would have tried to avoid panic in the small Martian station, at least for moral and psychological support for the team. Alone on a desert planet, almost a hundred million kilometers from their families, they knew better than to tell them everything. Then there was also the protocol. Dedrick remembered vividly the last transmission they had received. Lars himself had admitted he didn’t think Earth would “make it through this one,” as he had put it. The words were still ringing clearly in the commander’s mind. “ Every form of life on Earth is being affected. Even animals and plants are dying by the millions. Life is resilient, and the human race has survived countless catastrophes before, but this one… I don’t know. ”

The group had heard it just as he had, but it seemed to Dedrick that only he had really understood the true extent of the devastation. Now, on their way to Earth, he hoped with all his heart he was wrong. He shook his head and cleared the thought out of his mind.

“ Come on! What am I doing? This is no way to spend my time in this amazing ship. Look at this view! ”

He slowly got up from his hovering bed and walked to the giant window at the end of his room. Outside, the darkness of space was littered with the sparkling light of countless stars. The void was immense, yet, it was overpopulated with the startling beauty of a million solar systems. Each and every one of them was so distant from its closest neighbor that its light took anywhere from a few to thousands of years, to get from one to the other. But their source was so gigantic and powerful that they could be seen across thousands of light years in the emptiness of space.

“ What a magical sight! And here we are, traveling through this incomparably beautiful vista .” Lost in thoughts, Dedrick had not felt Mahhzee’s presence.

“Oh, I… I didn’t see you there.”

“ I know, Dedrick. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was listening to your beautiful thoughts. I hope you don’t mind .”

He smiled timidly. Even after so many weeks since their first encounter, he was still in awe of her majestic presence. She was truly an impressive being not only in size, but also in the way she moved and talked to his mind. He realized again that she was probably listening to that thought as well. Of course, she was. But she made sure not to show it.