*TOUCHDOWN!*
Izzian stepped from the cabin and the diminutive remains of Gratified Speed 1213. His eyes had grown accustomed to the dark interior of the ship. They fought with the bright sunshine on earth. His senses were on overload as he took in the marvelous surroundings of another planet.
Izzian had travelled through space before, even by comet, but never before had he walked upon earth. Earth had been a place Izzian could only imagine through his studies and research. Actually being on the planet made the boy giddy with anticipation.
He noticed that Gala and Enot were not so impressed. Evidently, it was more important for the scientists to unload the ship and perform yet another inventory check before they explored their new home.
Weirdo's, thought Izzian.
His eyes adjusted as he scanned the environment. They had landed in a heavily forested area and through his research; he knew that on earth, trees and shrubs were not to be feared as on some other planets.
In a way, Izzian had hoped to encounter a few angry, querulous trees, but alas, the plants seemed docile in comparison to the foliage covered hills of say, Ithmonius Sixteen. Even the forested Huckchuck region on Klesia boasted its own unusual plant species.
Izzian carefully reached out and touched the nearest branch, having never touched an earthbound tree. When the earth branch did not snap shut on his fingers, he smiled.
A memory of a hiking trip with his ortnots sprang into mind. Izzian had only seen four or five summers at the time and was skipping gleefully ahead of his ortnots through the Huckchuck Region. He found himself in the middle of a grove of Whoosper Trees, alone.
The sunlight had diminished as the coils of the trees writhed together, sensing the young boy's presence. Izzian had been a precocious child so he continued to explore, even though his mother had warned him many times of the dangers of a Whoosper Tree.
The grove was unlike anything he had ever seen. Whoosper Trees had tendrils rather than branches and they danced prettily, begging him to come closer.
To the young Izzian, it looked as if the tree's arms floated up from the trunk, like tendrils of undulating smoke, swirling against the sky. It mesmerized the small boy and he soon found himself edging closer for a better look.
As a Klesian child, Izzian should have known better than to be mesmerized by a call from nature. Nature's calls could be deadly. But the tree was clever.
He walked up to it, in a trance, and lightly touched the nearest tendril. It playfully tickled him back. He giggled at the gentle nip of a pincher on the end of a branch, as the tree impishly sampled his smell and taste.
Then, the pincher that had seemed so tender only a second ago, sprang shut like a spring-loaded clamp, waiting for a trigger. Izzian's pinky finger had been the trigger that particular day, and he still had the scar to show for it.
It was strange to be standing on earth, rubbing the scar he'd gotten on Klesia from petting the renowned pincher of the Whoosper Tree. Navigating nature on earth would be a breeze, compared to the pitfalls of the Klesian countryside, he figured.
To prove he was not scared of an earth tree, Izzian roughly plucked a leaf from a branch. When the branch did nothing to retaliate, he laughed, crumpled up the leaf and threw it to the ground.
Izzian decided to keep the galactic comparisons to a minimum. After all, earth was fantastic in its own way.
He anxiously flinched when a colorful buttfly landed on his hand. Reconsidering the name of the insect, Izzian accessed his plascreen and determined that the flittering creature was actually called a butterfly, not a buttfly.
Butterflies, like the trees and plants, either chose to not communicate with humans or more than likely kept their mouths shut. Butterflies didn't pinch or bite, either. He felt silly for startling so easily, yet again.
Izzian blanched and quickly looked around to see of Enot or Gala had seen him freak out over a butterfly. Thankfully, he was alone.
The two elders were busy with post-flight procedures. He knew how serious scientists were about procedure, and decided to continue his solo explorations. Izzian was in no way interested in any procedures, either post or pre anything.
His wanderings led him out of the forest, to a steeply inclining hill. He reached the summit, panting loudly, squinting away the spots that had formed in his eyes.
He hoped he hadn't somehow damaged his newly formed eyeballs, but thankfully, the spots disappeared once he stopped climbing.
The glorious earth lay before him like a picture from his plascreen. The beauty of the landscape took his breath away, and for a second, he feared he had broken his human lungs too.
Soon, his breath returned and he marveled in the splendor of the colorful scene. His plascreen suddenly flashed, "Welcome to earth," even though he hadn't even winked.
Izzian couldn't believe the vastness of the open countryside. The ground was rather green, which reminded him happily of home.
Way in the distant horizon, he saw the beginnings of a little civilization and wondered if that was Sudden Bluff, the town he would live in for a year.
Along the slope of the hill, he noticed black and white spotted creatures, contentedly munching on the fresh grass. Still embarrassed about the butterfly incident, Izzian slowly approached the odd creatures without saying a word.
He slowly got close enough to one of the animals to see its face. The animal ceased its chewing and looked Izzian in the eye, letting out a startling "Moooo."
Suddenly, as if they were attending some odd sounding choir practice, the entire group of beasts began mooing together. Izzian covered his ears in fright against the angry chorus of moos.
The animals slowly approached Izzian, loosely surrounding him. All he could hear was, "Moo, Maaa, Merrr," and other such sounds.
He was positive if he peered under the animal's slobbery lips, he would see four inch fangs.
Izzian fell to the ground, startled by the choir of cows. The nearest animal licked his head, leaving behind a trail of slobber. He was happy to note that the creature had no fangs beneath its bulbous lips, and was reminded of his mother, slapping spit on his hair to plaster it in place.
At that moment, his intrusive plascreen popped on and displayed a definition: Cowlick.
"Very funny," Izzian said flatly.
He picked himself up off the ground, confused by the presumptuousness of his plascreen. He wondered why his plascreen had gone rogue and when it had developed a sense of humor.
He felt silly for being so easily startled…again.
Then again, it was normal for the boy to be a little wary. His entire life he'd been told to avoid angrier creatures. Back home, before Izzian left the house, his mother might say, "Watch out for Gaga Beasts," or "Don't let the Pretty Maidens get close enough to bite."
There was also the pinching incident with the scary Whoosper Trees. So it was completely understandable that Izzian might be frightened of a cow. He just didn't want anyone to know.
He headed back towards the trees, ready to be around other similarly formed humans and noticed Enot and Gala, watching his every move. Enot was stooped over laughing, holding his stomach, wiping tears from his streaming eyes.
"Just great," said Izzian as he made his way back up the hill, trying to ignore the elder called Enot, who was quickly becoming his nemesis.
"Oh, hey, wait Izzian," Gala pleaded, stifling her own laughter.
Izzian decided that he'd much rather be on the giving end of a joke than the receiving end.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she followed his quick retreat back down the hill, into the tree line.
Enot was practically rolling down the hill since his uncontrollable laughter kept causing him to stumble. Izzian had never heard Enot laugh so much and was growing angrier with every chuckle that came from Enot's mouth.
"A c-c-cow," Enot said through his merriment. "You were being attacked by killer cows! I'm surrounded! Back, back, you violent creatures!" Enot said as he swis
hed a pretend sword at an invisible target.
"Are you through?" Izzian asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes," said Enot. "No, wait. A cow? Oh man, you really didn't do your research, did you?" Enot was asking for trouble. "Did your plascreen stop working?"
Izzian turned to face the elder, his pretend father, and thought about knocking Enot's goofy grin from his goofy face, but Gala stepped in and diffused the situation.
"Okay, look. We've all made mistakes already. I mean Enot ran from a dragonfly a few minutes ago. That was pretty funny too," Gala said, giggling at the thought.
"A dragonfly," said Izzian, chuckling, "Did you try to talk to it or something? Bad scientist! Did your plascreen malfunction?"
Izzian was happy to be on the right side of a joke again, but being discovered running from a kissing cow was something he would never live down, not while Enot lived. He was feeling self-conscience on a whole new level.
"Actually, yes my plascreen did malfunction. It's the oddest thing, but so far, my plascreen doesn't seem to understand earth very well. When I accessed it earlier, I looked up the word dragonfly. My plascreen produced an actual video of a mythical dragon flying through the air. We should probably avoid using our 'screens for now. They are not working like they should…perhaps it has to do with the difference in gravitational forces on earth…." Enot, ever the scientist said, with his voice trailing away into thought.
"Enot you are so annoying," said Izzian under his breath. He'd hoped to spar with his elder for a little while longer, but Enot was lost in his own scientific assessments.
"Yes. We're all just tired from the trip. It's been a long day," Enot said.
For a change, Enot was trying to make peace, but Izzian wanted war, not peace. It was in his nature to pester his elders. He didn't want to give up so easily.
"Well Enot, at least you've finally made it earth, huh? I bet all your little junior scientist friends back home are really jealous of you. Oh wait, you don't have any friends back home," Izzian threw in one last jab, hoping to ruffle Enot's feathers a little.
Unfortunately for Izzian, he'd hit a sore spot with Enot, who had made it clear from the start he despised earth and would have much rather been on Grotanoa or even the Famien Constellation. Enot's feathers were more than a little ruffled, they were completely disheveled.
"You little bleepdot," said Enot as he made a reach for Izzian.
"You're neither the first nor the best to call me that," said Izzian as he scurried out of Enot's reach.
Enot quickly pursued the boy, each dodging trees, hurling insults back and forth like a ping pong ball.
"Guys!" Gala yelled. "You look like a couple of Beaky Buzzards, fighting for some female. Stop!"
Both Enot and Izzian stopped cold in their tracks. When the Beaky Buzzards of Klesia battled for a female, they flew through the trees like two kids playing chase, squawking querulously.
After the victor claimed the female as his own, the two males often fell into a kind of bromance, oftentimes leaving the female Beaky Buzzard alone to squawk with all the other females in the nest.
"Whatever," said Izzian.
He slowed to a walk, kicking leaves, embarrassed by Gala's comparison. Izzian would never be best buds with Enot, he was sure of that.
Pretend mom Gala stepped in again. "Come on guys. This is strange for us all. We have got to stick together as a family, even if we aren't really related. Let's be nice, huh?"
It was surprising to Izzian how Gala already sounded like mom. He considered that maybe she did have a point. He decided he should try to get along with Enot, or simply avoid him if harmony wasn't possible. It was Izzian's Goodwill Project after all, and perhaps he should strive for goodwill, or at least a ceasefire.
Enot and Izzian both nodded to each other, signaling a silent, grudging agreement. They were both universes away from home and could only rely upon each other, so a truce was called; at least for the time being.
***
CHAPTER 12