Free Sojourn Sol (Eternal Sol) by Morgan Landsbury Page A

message, she left the room. She missed him so much that she couldn't bear to stay there any longer.
     
    The shipped landed with a soft boom, and it seemed to sink just a bit in the process. They had landed on sand, which meant that she was right to put on her space suit. They could be on an inhospitable planet.
     
    The hatch opened almost right away, and when she found his eyes staring at her, she felt a wave of electricity pulsing through her. She didn't even think about trying to hide herself. She had been too scared to even think about whether or not they saw her.
     
    “What are you doing here?” It was an elderly man with a rough voice.
     
    “I-I...”
     
    “It doesn't matter. You're here now and I don't have time to take you back to your parent's house. You're gonna die if you don't stick with me, so let's go.” He grabbed onto her hands and pulled her out with surprising force considering his tiny frame.
     
    The first thing Henny noticed was that the entire landscape was made up of blue sand that sparkled just a bit in the light of the tiny white sun which was shadowed by pure black clouds. Clearly this environment was far too cold for humans; it must've been lifeless. “What is this place,” she asked.
     
    “It's an unknown world. The Center discovered a strange lifeform here.”
     
    “Are they hostile?”
     
    “That's what we're here to find out. Can you wait in the ship?”
     
    “No,” she laughed. “This would be my first encounter with aliens. I'm not missing something this rare. If these guys are different, then I'm coming with you.”
     
    “It's too dangerous,” the man tried to take her hand, but she shook it off and stared him down.
     
    “What does it matter to you if I come or not?”
     
    “You're probably going to die anyways.” he started walking away and she followed.
     
    “How are you going to know whether or not they are hostile?”
     
    He struggled to make his way through the thin sand. “I have a device that will analyze them and their language in order to discover what they are saying.”
     
    “That's impossible. How will it know if they talk?” She went ahead of him to see where they were.
     
    “It will watch them interacting physically, and measure when they make a reaction in order to tell whether or not they are communicating.”
     
    He told her to stay behind while he made his way to a complex made of tiny silver strings. She watched as he pulled out the device from a pill and set it up on a tripod, not far from the entrance to the complex. Several strange, spider-like creatures came out to inspect it, but they didn't interfere. Soon enough, a crowd was surrounding him, and Henny decided that she'd better make her way over and see what was going on.
     
    When she started, little tiny spiders popped up from the ground and started following her, making gurgling noises with their tiny proboscis. She realized that these were children and bent down to see them. They gathered around her, keeping a respectful distance and looked up. They were only a 2 or 3 inches tall, but they had clearly developed intelligence judging by the way they moved.
     
    “Hello,” she said to nobody in particular. One of the bigger spiders pushed his way up to the front of the group and seemed to look up at her. He took one antenna and pointed up. He did it several times until she realized that the child wanted to be held so she carefully picked him up and got a closer look at him.
     
    He was made of tiny, metallic-looking scales that covered his entire body like an exoskeleton. He scampered around, eyeing the curve in her suit then walked over to her fingers. With a hint of affection, he began rubbing them gently and looking back at her. She felt a sense of companionship with him. He was tender and kind. It was strange to see such a thing moving the way it did. When one sentient creature sees another, they recognize the intelligence in each others eyes and when he looked at her,