Kogarashi's Run (Infinita Book 3) by Christopher Hopper

Author:Christopher Hopper [Hopper, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Somnium Publishing
Published: 2022-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

Jericho

Observing Evelyn as she steps off the shuttle is a bit like watching a child enter their favorite amusement park. She’s giddy, realizing the culmination of her life’s work. Hell, even for me, it’s a head-trip—finding a pristine, unsettled planet in a star system nearly a thousand light years from Earth. She spins around twice, hands on the side of her helmet. I worry she’s gonna try to pull it off, but then I realize it’s a gesture of wonder. Next thing I know, she takes a knee and touches the grass, brushing her gloved fingers across it. A lone purple flower gets a tender touch, and then she’s on her feet again, heading to a section of exposed rock that serves as an observation platform above the south beach.

With everyone else helping move gear out of the powered-down shuttle, I take a second to join her at the overlook. A seemingly endless strand of tropical beach parts the ocean to the east and the forest to the west.

“Like what you see?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“Nope.” I fold my arms. “Just making sure you’re happy.”

“I’m… the happiest I’ve ever been. Beyond happy. This is… well, it’s…”

“Your life’s work.”

She takes a deep breath and then echoes me. “My life’s work, yeah. But it’s more than that.”

“How so?”

“Well… for so long, everyone accused us, NUESSA and SESI, of being elites, right? The ‘select few’ who go to escape the tragedies unfolding on Earth.”

“The beautiful ones,” I add, using the Tantum’s term for spacers.

“Exactly. But we weren’t. If anything, we were the ones leaving our families and our homes to try and make life better for everyone else. Almost four years I spent on Astraea Station, four years of never setting foot back in the Southlands. And don’t let anyone fool you: I would have given anything for a few weeks away on a New Zealand beach.” She inhales as if she can smell the ocean air around us. “But we were never doing it for us. It was always for them. Always to give the generations to come a fighting chance at survival. And now?” Evelyn’s eyes look to the horizon.

“And now we just need to find a way back to tell them the good news,” I say when she doesn’t speak up.

“Right. For now, we have a lot of work to do, and a whole planet to explore.”

“You know, most people get depressed when they reach the pinnacle of their careers.”

“The pinnacle?” She spins on me and scoffs. “This is a whole new beginning! I’m looking at a new mountain to climb, you dork.”

“Just making sure.”

A gloved fist hits me in the upper arm. “Wanker.”

I pretend to rub pain away and then refocus on white strand curving away to the south. “You sad about not meeting any Naqualla yet? ‘Where’s the galactic welcoming committee?’ Stuff like that?”

She waves a dismissive hand. “That’s for the movies.”

“So you’re not sad at all?”

“Maybe a little, yeah,” she finally says. “Just wanted to thank them, ya know? For taking a chance on us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.