STONE

Home

Tripp stood in his usual favorite spot, down the corridor just outside the Control bridge. It was his favorite, because there was a large window that he could look at the outside space, without disturbing or being disturbed, by others in the Control Bridge. It was the best quiet spot to look at passing nebulas, planets, comets, just about anything you would find in the endless void of space. It brought him peace of mind when he wanted to be alone and didn't want to just stay in his quarters.
One time, he spotted a skeletal figure, floating out just outside of a meteorite field. He assumed it was humanoid by the looks of it. It floated around aimlessly, like the soulless husk that it was. He told Kyle about it and the captain simply replied that there are alot of things in the galaxy. Dead body floating in the dead of space wasn't anything unusual. Tripp found it a bit disturbing, and yet fascinating at the same time.
Not that he wanted to find more skeletal remains, but he did find himself looking out the window more often since then. On occasion, Seslie or Kida would join him. Helios tried a few times, but found it boring pretty quickly. "It's like watching paint dry. Not that I've ever done it, but same thing." He once said. Tripp never argued with him. Space is an empty void with its dark beauty.

What made it more beautiful, was what he soon saw coming to view in the window.
Aiross.
It wasn't a very large planet. In fact it was quite small. The nearest moon, Aron, was all the more smaller. But both celestial bodies were painted beautifully in it's own scenery. Aiross was carpeted in a bountiful array of greens and blues from the different landscapes. One side, about a third of the planet, was a dark blue, leaving all the land to be clustered together on the rest of the planet's surface, aside from a few small islands here and there in the ocean.
Aron was a bit different. It appeared not to have an ocean at all. If you landed in the atmosphere, you'll notice plenty of lakes and rivers, but no ocean.
A large, snow capped mountain range curved around the moon, almost all the way like a belt. The larger of the two sides that hugged the range, was where all the green and small hints of blue were at. The other side, not nearly as large, was a blonde like sand color, with ridged, sharp cliffs. A wasteland, one would say.
Tripp wondered which side of the mountain range the war was. Or better said, the genocide. Probably both. It had been so many years, all the plant life had probably grown back.
He had so many questions. Here, in front of him was his home, and yet he felt like this was the first time seeing it. It was beautiful.
Not that Rago-X was a bad place, but nothing beats being home. A place he could be familiar with. Of course, he just hoped he would naturally feel at home.

Taking a deep breath, Tripp turned to walk where the others on the Control Bridge, only to stop when he saw Kyle approaching. "You ready to see it up close, kid?" Kyle asked, standing beside Tripp to gaze out the window as well.
"Beautiful place, I hear."

"You've never been here?" Tripp questioned, pretty surprised. He figured the Captain had been everywhere in this galaxy.

"Not on Aiross or Aron, no. There was a port not too far out from here, right on the edge of the Alyiss system, that I've been to. It's been a long while, but I hear it's not there anymore. I've heard of Aiross, not not very often. I've never met an Airossian before. Other than Princess Avilyn. It's a pretty private civilization. Even more now since the genocide. I know I haven't even heard of Aronites. You seem like a fun group."

Tripp went silent, not sure what to say. Mostly because he didn't know what to expect. Kyle seemed confident about what was going to happen, but that man was naturally overconfident. A quality Tripp was unsure if he wanted to have. There wasn't much confidence there, much less an overflow of it.
"I'm hoping it is as I dream it will be." Tripp spoke softly, almost carefully.
"But what I have is not dreams, but a past reality."

"Well," Kyle replied, shrugging his shoulders before giving the Aronite a hard pat on the back, "I think its time to make a future reality."

"Not if Sterile keeps interrupting it." Tripp added. A hint of bitterness was in his voice. And who can blame him! Sterile was probably waiting for him on the landing dock as the welcoming party, with a big sign saying "Welcome home, Trippstone! Now give me your organs!" or something of the matter.
If he didn't feel so bitter about it, Tripp would have laughed at the thought. Helios would have found it funny.