Inspired by “View on the Stars” by Soundcritters

At last, we found it — the new Earth. What our scans had prophesied would be a new home. Air, water. Life? We did not know what became of the old Earth. Perhaps destroyed in anger lightyears ago by a miniature sun. Not that any of us cared, really.

I went down with the first team to walk the valley. No life that we could see. Black rock, dust beneath the stars, brighter than I had ever seen. Dew collected on our helmets.

“This is it?” someone asked.

“Talk about square one,” said another.

I knelt and took a handful of dust, then released it to the breeze. It stained my glove as it left. The dust was pure. We were not. I was not. Yet I hoped that, along with our baggage, we packed wisdom too. “This world is ours,” I said. “That is all that matters.”

©2018 Skyla Caldwell. All rights reserved.