Maysie's Galaxy ONC 2023

The first months

Over the months, the young bird began to strengthen as it digested the Earth's moon. At that time, Alder searched the rubble for books to educate a small child in things that probably didn't matter anymore. Wars? What's the point of studying wars when you only knew one other person from your world?

But he knew he couldn't leave the child without some sort of education, so he spent a good chunk of his time dredging through the wreckage of their neighborhood.

The best thing he found was a practical mechanics book and an encyclopedia set, missing everything under "O". It was a pretty recent one, too. Sales for the volumes dumped in the toilet with the advent of Wikipedia, so finding a set that was made this century was a godsend. Moments like this, he could believe there was a God.

One of the first things they read over was the entry on "eggs".

It turns out that the sinkhole was likely a breathing pore, and between the inner and outer membranes, there was an air-and-water sack that had been fed by the expansion of the sinkhole. Years later, under the word "sink" they found out that there was likely a drop in oxygen levels around their home to feed that air bladder for the baby bird.

Another was on the size of the moon that the bird had swallowed because the dimensions didn't line up to Alder. Maysie liked learning about their bird, but really couldn't put together the world she once knew and this bleak landscape. Why did the moon matter when the base of the eyes and crown of the head were so close together?

One day it wasn't so barren.

Feathers started sprouting not too long after the bird first ate—not that they could be seen under the silt. The baby mostly slept at this stage, putting too much into growth, leaving less adequate lighting for Alder and Maysie. Eventually there were tall "trees" a bright golden yellow in the light from the bird's eyes, but more consistently silvery in the darkness.

Alder started rebuilding his bank of batteries that he charged by cycling. Maysie watched his endless pedaling and the feathers that swayed with the bird's slow breaths and whatever faint solar wind penetrated the creature's magnetic field.

"Hey Alder," the newly turned five year old plopped down on an old cushion. "Why do you cycle with the bird's feathers?"

Alder slowed down and stared around himself and cursed under his breath. "Do you think that I can use the feathers to power the batteries?"

Maysie was used to him asking her questions like she knew anything. Alder had no one else to troubleshoot with, so she thought long and hard about the feathers vs. his legs. How are they different? "You make a circle with your feet. The feathers wave like you do when you see me too far off."

Last week she had gone a little too far down towards the bird's beak for Alder, and he yelled and waved both arms to catch her attention. The memory made Alder a bit anxious while being proud that such a small kid could point to the motions being different.

"Well, some bikes only pull the chain in one direction, which can work with the waving. Do you want to see?"

Maysie was such a little cheerleader at times like this. "Yes!"

Alder showed her how the pedals turned the cog going forwards, but left only a faint ticking noise when the pedals were unmoving or ran backwards.

Not long after, Maysie helped him rope the pedals to the top of the feathers, as she could easily climb them.

Soon batteries weren't a problem to keep charged. It was now an issue of maintenance.

"Maysie, would you like to go on a trip with me to the house heaps?" Alder had kept the kid from climbing through the wreckage for half a year at this point, due to fearing losing her after having nursed her (and himself) back to health from the several first impacts with the ground.