12 Days of Fiction, Day One: Arrival

A crowd was gathering at the perimeter of the Land Square. Alannah grabbed her mother’s hand and walked with her, together with more people she had ever seen in her life.

“What’s going on, mom?”

“The Discovery is arriving, Alannah!” her mother answered.

Alannah munched on that. The name ringed a bell, but she couldn’t be sure. She had never been one to withstand not knowing something, therefore she did what she had to: she asked.

“What dows that mean, mom?”

“Remember the school, Alannah? The Pilgrim Day?”

“Oh,” she said. But it didn’t make much sense. “I still don’t understand, mom.”

“Ok, darling, let’s see. Where do we come from?”

“Home,” Alannah said, all common sense. Her mother guffawed.

“As a race, Alannah.”

Alannah knew that one. Everyobody did.

“Terra, mom.”

“Good. But where are we now?”

Another easy one. Alannah wasn’t sure where her mother was aiming at, but she answered again.

“Laithwaite. Not Terra.”

“Very good. Do you know why we live here and not on Terra?”

“Because… Terra is very far?”

“Yes, it’s very far,” her mom laughed again. “A long time ago, the ancient Terrans built a spaceship and sent it for the stars, to look for a planet to settle… to live in.”

“The Discovery!” Alannah shouted, suddenly remembering the stories.

“Exactly. Now, the Discovery was what we call a generation ship.”

“What does that mean, mom?”

“Let me see,” Alannah’s mom said. “As you said, Terra is very, very far away. So far away, that the spaceships of the ancients took thousands of years to reach here.”

“Really? But spaceships are fast,” Alanna objected.

“Yes, so imagine how far it is. The ancient Terrans built the Discovery spaceship where they could live, and have children who could continue their voyage. That is called a generation ship, because you need many generations of people to reach your destination. Do you understand, Alannah?”

Alannah thought she did, so she nodded.

“But much later,” her mother went on, “Terra discovered better engines for spaceships. They were called zero-point thrusters.”

“Zero what?”

“Zero-point thrusters.” Alannah flavoured the sounds in her mind. “It doesn’t matter, darling. It’s just their name. What’s important is that they wer much, much faster than the engines the Discovery had. Can you guess what happened next?”

Alannah remembered her Pilgrim Day lessons.

“The Pilgrim Colonists arrived on Lathwaite?”

“Yes, they did. But they overtook the Discovery, and they arrived here several millennia before its expected arrival.”

Alannah felt fascinated.

“Oh, so the old Terrans were aboard the Discovery and wanted to reach Lathwaite, but the Pilgrim Colonists arrived first?”

“Exactly. But the Terrans went on. We couldn’t be sure, but last year signals from the Discovery were picked up. Right when it was supposed to arrive.”

Allanah whistled. Very badly, because she still hadn’t got the hang of it.

“After so long, they arrived on time?”

“Exactly on time, Alannah. And not only that. They are arriving exactly to the spot they were supposed to. Can you guess where?”

They stopped suddenly. Alannah noticed they were at the edge of the giant upturned bowl that the Land Square was. There were people everywhere. They were just in front of her favourite ice-cream shop, but the staff was nowhere to be seen and it was closed.

“Why do you think it’s called Land Square?” her mother asked.

Alannah nodded, agape. She had never imagined that the square was a landing pad for a spaceship. For an ancient spaceship, no less!

There was a commotion, and everybody looked up. Alannah did the same at her mother’s urging.

At first she saw nothing, but then she thought she saw a black dot in the clear sky. Yes, the dot was growing, and as it grew it took shape. The ship was nothing like Alannah had seen before: instead of a sleek, aerodynamic shape (she had learned that word last week and loved it), the Discovery looked like a large rock with many stub wings, turrets, and engine nozzles that projected smoke protruding from it.

As she stared, Alannah noticed that the discovery was really huge, because it kept descending on its plumes and growing larger and larger as a roar grew and grew. For a moment, she thought that it wouldn’t fit in the Square and that they’d have to run for their lives, and she felt fear.

But then the smoke from the engines reached the ground, and the roar became a screech, and the shape of the Discovery was not a secret anymore, since she could see that indeed it was a large rock. And finally, with a thud that rocked her, the ship landed, exactly on the center of the Square.

Alannah grabbed her mother’s hand even more strongly, and held her breath until she couldn’t stand it any longer. The smoke cleared as the murmurs from the crowd rose in intensity.

Alannah saw a hatch open, dust willowing from the inside of the ship.

And they stepped out.

They were monsters.