Not your Average Farmstead

Ako and Hikyaku were travelling on their starship, warping through space time to stop at their next destination. A bright turquoise planet blanketed it with green patches.

“On the outskirts of the Repulsa System is a planet that goes by the name: Stamen Tempus. Strange enough the planet looks to be under the influence of a white hole the system circles around.” Ako mentions.

“Ah, so we’re dealing with time contraction?” Hikyaku says.

“Yes, estimates show that the planet passes time way quicker than us. 12 hours anywhere in the universe equates to 1 year on Stamen Tempus. I wonder how they’re dealing with this situation.”

“...” Hikyaku stayed silent.

As they descended into the atmosphere, Ako decided it was a great time to crack a joke.

“Second time’s the charm?”

“Very funny, how about I-” Just then, a gargantuan snake the length of a city flew under them.

It had wings protruding from all over its body. Like oars to the ship, they allowed the herculean beast to sail along the planet. Each motion of the snake pushed the duo’s ship off their course.

“REDIRECTING PATH.” Ako worked to assist Hikyaku, managing to scrape over the hills of the highlands.

This planet was thriving, life sprouted from every corner. Gigantic bubble domes surrounded parts of the horizon-each holding settlements and villages. In the distance they saw farmers with hundreds of acres used for various alien fauna and extraterrestrial cattle. Green deer with the legs of a cheetah, nickel antlers. Birds with bronze beaks and 4 wings. Some of the neighboring animals followed the low-flying ship as if it was one of their own. Hikyaku made sure to not land anywhere near their precious land.

“Ako, you see a spot I can land?” She asked.

“There’s a dirt road 40 degrees west of us.”

“Roger.”

They shoot out their ground anchor, tethering the ship to the planet as its landing gears touch the ground. Fortunately the descent wasn’t as rough as Ferriguard, so they made do with parking on the dirt patch.

“Hikyaku, I’m detecting a thick atmosphere filled with oxygen-”

“Finally, I can take off my helmet-”

“But I’m reading strange reports on how the gas moves here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t tell for sure. Keep your helmet on in the meantime.”

“..fine.” Hikyaku begrudgingly accepted.

Ako popped out of his seat on the command desk, wrapping himself around her shoulder like a parrot. Walking out, they found themselves in a world that looked to be anything but decaying. Life was bustling, rich as ever can be.

“It’s beautiful.” Ako mentions.

Hikyaku’s pupils dilated, and he noticed her heart rate slowed down. In her mind, she saw visions of a bright blue sky with lush green grass. It felt nostalgic in a way, yet she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was a fleeting moment as she went back to her apathetic self.

“Time to continue our delivery.” She marched on.

Her bio-suit allows her to send and receive voice calls through the vacuum of space, but it also has a built-in speaker and microphone that can be used in thicker atmospheres.

Following the dirt path led them to a farmer harvesting purple seeds. She decided to call out to the man.

“Hello sir!”

The man turned around, revealing he had a respiratory mask on him.

“You’re the ones who came from up above, right?”

“Yes, we’re Hikya-kukan. Come here to send a message to the leaders of this planet.” Ako added on.

The man raised his eyebrow.

“That so? Well follow me then, I can bring you to them.”

The duo followed him back to his village, suspicious of what treachery he could pull on them. The town was resting inside a gelatinous bubble that had pores regulating the air that entered and exited. Walking into the bubble, Hikyaku was able to take off her helmet and the farmer removed his mask. They found a peaceful population here donned clothing that looked to have been made locally. All their tools and equipment, made locally too. Each and every one of them wore a respiratory mask. They looked at the duo with confused expressions.

“Is that an alien? I’ve never seen one of those.” One kid stated.

“Why does she have a bottle on her shoulder?” Another asked.

“Louis! Latenna! Please be kind!” The farmer replied, to which both kids immediately apologized.

Ako paid no mind, but Hikyaku…

‘Brats…’ She did mind.

“The reason why we have these bubbles protecting our habitats is because of the way the atmosphere moves here.” The farmer stated.

“It was quite weird when I first scanned around when we landed.” Ako added.

“Time contraction is quite the finicky fellow. A year here will equate to 12 hours once you step past a certain layer in our atmosphere. The layer is called the chrono-sphere, it’s located a couple kilometers in the air. Because of that, molecules in the air act differently than in other planets-air is abundant, don't get me wrong, but it is much slower moving around the place. Kinda like molasses. It’s a bunch of general relativity stuff I don’t have to explain. It’s why we got these masks to breathe and bubbles to live in. It gives the oxygen a little push into our bodies.”

“Interesting.” Hikyaku responded.

“I’ve also noticed you have all resources collected and distributed locally.” Ako claimed.

“Galactic shipping is rough when life outside moves slower than you do. It’s entirely inconvenient to rely on external help, our ancestors learned that the hard way.”

Walking into one of the houses, a woman pulled up a seat for each of them. The farmer poured the bag of purple seeds he was caring into an acidic vase. He churned the contents, pouring out a rose-colored liquid. To which he let it rest in a pot to boil before bringing up a seat for himself.

“Uhhh… so where’s the leader of this planet?” Hikyaku asked.

“You’re looking at him.” He said, surprising the two.

“The name’s Leviticus. I assume you’re here to talk about the black dot in the sky.” The farmer continued.

“It’ll engulf the universe in about a year's time, reducing the world into a void… just like before the big bang.” She explained.

“A year of your time is about 730 years for us. By that point, generations would have passed on this fair land before the void consumed us.” Leviticus let out a deep sigh, rubbing his scalp.

“You’ll still get to live out the rest of your life, I don’t know why you’re so concerned.” She was confused.

“I wonder, why hasn’t no one taken a spot to live here? It gives them an extra 729 years of existence.” Ako joined in.

“Many have, but only those who truly committed to living here stayed. As a universe-trotting species, we’ve become too accustomed to reliance on resource trading. Nobody remembers the old days: when we all lived on one planet, shared the resources, and became self-sufficient by it.”

‘He’s quite the preacher.’ Hikyaku thought.

“My people are not afraid of death, we shall continue to live the way we like until the end.”

“Good, just don’t go being some dictator waving his magnetic contraption around.” She stated.

“What?”

“Nevermind what I said.”

Ako shoots out a crystal scroll that Hikyaku catches, handing it off to Leviticus.

“It’ll be a couple days before I can send this across the globe.”

“Fine by me, good day.” She grabbed Ako and was ready to head out the door.

“Wait, at least you can stay with me and my family for the night. You look like you haven’t gotten enough sleep.”

“I’m fine.” Hikyaku stayed stubborn in her sleepless nature.

“Hikyaku, Omne wants me to survey the land for a while.”

“Another odd job? How many are they gonna give us?”

“This is our second odd job…”

“And she thinks we have all the time in the world.”

“Even if we stay for a couple days here, mere minutes will pass by in the grand universe.”

“...” After their back and forth, Ako and Hikyaku agreed to stay.

Hikyaku’s space suit provided internal temperature regulation, allowing for her to sleep anywhere she wanted. Rightfully so, she desired to sleep in the front lawn. Looking out to the stars above. The black dot stared right back at her. Ako was beside her acting like a metal sleep cushion for her.

“This is an interesting little community they have here.” Ako mentions it to her.

“They’re making do with what they got, I can respect that.”

“After your work as a Hikya-kukan is done, maybe you can spend the rest of your days here. You’ll live the rest of your life in peace.”

“I don’t think I’d find joy in that.”

“Most people wish for a chance at immortality, or lengthening one’s lifespace. You’re one of the only people I’ve heard that’d turn down such an offer.”

“Hey, I didn’t say I turned down the offer. Just that it’d feel cowardly to have an unfair advantage over others.”

“It isn’t really an unfair advantage when everyone and their grandma can visit this planet.”

“Man, you really are a clever little back-talker, aren’t you?” Hikyaku chuckled a little, temporarily relieving her cold attitude.

As midnight rolled in, Hikyaku was drifting in and out of sleep on top of the lush grass. Her mind trailed back through that faded memory. The same memory of a bright blue sky surrounding a green marble of a planet. Ever adrift through the cosmos, akin to a rogue planet of sorts. She fell into a deep slumber not long after.

Ako rolled over to the edge of the cliff. His tendrils dug into the ground to secure himself. His eye let off a faint blue light to check the planet’s atmosphere and soil constructs. Something from the planet’s crust made Ako’s body light up with intrigue. All he could mutter in response was,

“How?…”