Paw and Bear were on the lookout, eager to encounter something unexpected as they sailed through the green and blue nebulas of an unknown space sector. Bear suddenly saw something floating towards them, a strange rock that seemed to be carrying something. He could hardly contain his excitement when he told Paw to steer the ship towards the strange asteroid. All the other crew members were asleep, so Paw and Bear had to coordinate themselves carefully so as to not wreck anything; they'd never hear the end of it with the Captain if something happened to the precious Mumi.
They noticed a body on the surface of the floating rock, and quickly brought it on board.
"It looks like Kappa," said Bear while taking a few steps back from the body.
"She looks like she's had a rough one," Paw stood closer, inspecting the strangers worn and damaged clothes.
"Careful, she is waking up!" Bear whispered and motioned Paw to step back.
The newcomer stirred and moaned something. When she lifted her head, the two young pirates noticed a pair of bright green eyes staring at them.
"Are you okay?" Bear asked cautiously.
"I need…" she moaned.
"Water? Do you need water?" Paw started to look around for some.
"I need to go…" the stranger said.
"The bathroom? Well if you'd just follow me--" Bear started to point towards a door at the end of the ship.
"Home…" said the newcomer. "I need to go home."
Paw and Bear looked at each other briefly. "Home?" asked Paw. "Where is home?"
"I need to go home" she repeated, and clumsily started to stand up.
"There is no home," a deeper voice said. Paw and Bear turned to look at the Captain who had joined them. The stranger whipped her head so fast towards him that it looked like it was going to detach itself. "Home was attacked by The Unmentionables," the Captain continued to explain. "It was destroyed, and all its inhabitants are being hunted down one by one." He helped the stranger to her feet, took her by the shoulder and looked her deep in the eye. "There is no home." The newcomer looked back at the Captain, a mixture of sadness and loss invaded those bright green eyes. "I know it isn't easy to accept it," said the Captain. "But we still have the will to keep going, you are welcomed to join us."
The stranger kept looking at the Captain without uttering a word. She walked towards the edge of the ship, and stood right next to the asteroid on which she had arrived.
"I understand the feeling of not having a place to go to," the Captain continued. "But your chances of survival are higher if you stick around with us. We watch each others' backs here, and it gets easier to forget we are homeless."
The stranger looked down at the asteroid once more, and then set a foot on it, and then the other. She turned around to look at the Captain, and at the two little ones.
"I need to go home" she said, and sat down on the rock. Slowly it started to float away.
"But--" Bear and Paw both took a step towards her, but the Captain stopped them.
"Leave her," the Captain said and started to walk towards the helm. He knew the shock the news had caused, he knew it wasn't the easiest thing to accept. But he also knew, there are those who prefer to keep searching, because that is all they have left.
No comments:
Post a Comment