A Not So Distant Dream.. Nick Koehne

      Chapter 1

      The movement of the wisp like patterns were both terrifying and beautiful. The first time Jake saw them moving across the night sky he wondered if he had gone mad. He had never seen anything like it. It was only a week ago when he had been conducting a standard analysis of planets in an unexplored system. He had been searching for minerals, metals, crystals, oil and anything else that the Black-hole Protraction Company would find of value. When he saw the planet he knew he would get some good coin from BPCo for finding it. He had come in close so that his sensors would be able to easily access the data needed to be sent back to HQ. His eyes widened as the sensors on the ship began to relay the amount of valuable resources. Then everything had started to shut down. First, the sensors, then the engines, and then everything else. His ship had drifted into the gravitational pull of the planet. He must have blacked out for a while because when he woke he was lying among the smoldering remains of the ship wondering what the hell just happened. The lights above Jake were shifting and turning gracefully now. They were moving together in a swaying pattern. He looked out across the grass plains and listened to the calls of the wild animals. His heat sensor glasses allowed him to see further than normal and he enjoyed watching the various creatures moving about at night. The night lights had faded away and Jake walked back to the shelter he had assembled from the remains of his ship. He ate some of the emergency rations that always tasted like dry cardboard. He listened to the rain falling on the outside of the shelter and wondered why the distress signal from his ship hadn’t been picked up by BPCo. They had known his flight plan. But so far nothing had happened. Jake made himself as comfortable as he could. It was going to be another cold night. Jake woke to the sound of insects. There must have been a hundred of them circling the top of the shelter. The rain must have lured them in. He wondered why they didn’t try and sting him. It seemed they were afraid of him as he was of them. He opened the wire mesh door of the shelter and looked out at the dew settling on the grass. The silence outside was unsettling. He decided that he had to get used to the idea that he could be here for a long time and started to walk toward some mountains that were in the same direction as the rising sun. He had no compass, so he knew he had to be careful. Much of the area he walked though was full of tall thin grass that grew wild and bent easily under his boots. He let his hands rest on top of the grass and wondered why he hadn’t landed on any of the other palnets that were uninhabited and just taken the time to wander freely. Of course, it was strictly against the regulations of BPCo. If all their employees decided to wander around like this who knew what might happen. He grinned to himself and thought about all the times he had to be polite to his boss and all the other scum he worked with just to keep his job. If only they could see him now as free and happy as he had ever been. He stopped walking and his smile broadened. It was true he was feeling so peaceful now. He looked around at the tall grass and made his way to a small cluster of trees to his right to take a rest for a moment. It would only take him about ten minutes to get there. Half an hour later he reached the trees. They sky was clear and the weather humid. He had forgotten how such a flat stretch of ground could let you misjudge the distance of objects. Even though he was sweating and starting to breath heavily he still felt pretty good. He sat there under the trees and saw something moving in the branches above him. It moved swiftly and easily among the coiled branches and matted leaves. It was hard to make out its shape. Jake stood up cautiously and waited. When it dropped in front of him he almost let out a scream. Jake stood still and tried not to appear nervous or afraid. It was covered in sleek green fur with flecks of brown and it rolled toward him with most of its body being made up of an enormous torso. The legs and feet were thin as twigs. It had three splay fingers on the hands and three similarly long splayed fingers on its feet. It moved quickly. It wasn’t tall, but it appeared incredibly strong and agile. It looked up at him and slowly reached out one of its long fingers and prodded him in the stomach. Then it proceeded to sniff, prod and feel the skin on his arms and face. Jake wasn’t sure whether it was just curious or testing out if he was edible. He felt dizzy and crouched down. Now they were looking each other in the eye. Then Jake said, “Listen…I don’t know what you’re doing but I don’t think you and I are going to be friends.” The creature sniffed him one more time. It opened its mouth and let out a god-awful blech that smelt like rotting weeds and god knows what else it had been munching on. It climbed back into the trees. Jake waited a few more moments and then ran back into the open fields. As he ran a chorus of screams and howls echoed behind him. He didn’t look back. Jake kept running until he was sure nothing was following him. He threw himself into the grass and waited. There was nothing but the buzzing and whirring of the insects. A slight breeze began to shift across the grass plains. Streaks of sweat were rolling across his face and down his chest. He knew that he needed to get back to the shelter to change his clothes that were damp and making him shiver. He stood up and began to walk back. Clouds were starting to gather. It was late afternoon. Jake was afraid now and watched where he stepped. Every twig or clump of weeds made him look twice. He made it back to his shelter just as the sun was setting. He breathed out slowly and realised that he had been lucky and needed to be more careful the next time he decided to take a walk in the woods. The lights had been a raw scarlet colour the previous night. They had jolted about in mad whirling patterns. Jake hadn’t slept and felt like he was getting the flu. He was shivering every ten minutes. He turned onto his side in his sleeping bag. He closed his eyes and thought about the past and what had led him here.