New Beginnings

He stared blankly at the wall. His eyes were burning, he had been crying. It was the third year that he had gone alone to carry out the company's research in Rysell. He missed Salaha, his wife and partner. She had died on a previous research expedition, deep in the Rysell jungle, of some unidentifiable fever. This was her project he had joined it to be with her. The project was drawing near completion and now his love Salaha would not be there to see her life's work come to fruition.

It was time to go down on to the planet. He climbed in to the exploration pod with his fellow crew-members. This was to be the last trip down before it would be decided if Rysell could be colonized by Earth. All that was left was one last trip into the jungle to confirm stability of resources. As the pod touched down on that familiar terrain he felt a sea of calm wash over him this was Salaha's resting place, he was home. The crew got their belongings together, strapped on their packs and headed off into the thick undergrowth that was Rysell's largest jungle covering over half of its surface. They began their slow trek pausing every few miles to take readings of atmospheric levels. As they walked he was sure he saw movement off to there side but each time he went to investigate it was only one of the many magical creatures that inhabited this planet. His favorite was the Yamata Angorian butterfly it always reminded him of Salaha, such a playful creature and so smart. The Yamata Angorian butterfly was the most intelligent butterfly to be discovered. Been able to communicate with the humans through telepathy. The animal life on Rysell was the reason Salaha has loved this mission. She had longed for a planet to live on where she could discover a new animal each day. He had to acknowledge it; Rysell’s fauna really was to be admired.

The rest of his team were well in front of him now, he best catch up. Talking one last look in the undergrowth he hurried alone down the freshly hewn path to rejoin the crew.

By the time he caught up with them they had reach the clearing of there previous experiments. The main test that they had to check was to see if the forest could be cleared for housing. There had been real problems with this; the forest would regrow in one night. You could cut a tree down and the next morning a new one would be in its place. They were experimenting with chemicals to keep the forest at bay.

“Hey Jyion, wake up and come and help me with this equipment.” Called Ryja the crews lead scientist.

Startled out of his musing Jyion, turned and walked over to help set up.

“Jyion what’s the matter” Ryja asked

No answer.

“Jyion, can you hear me?” he said giving him a little nudge.

“What, oh sorry sir, I was …was just”

“Don’t worry about it, we can all see you miss her. I’ll tell you what when we’ve got under way here you can go off to her cove”.

Ah, Salaha’s cove. That was where he and Salaha had planned to live, if the planet was deemed habitable. in a beach cove backing on to the jungle. Yes it would be good to see it again, he felt sure that he would found some trace of her there that would give him comfort, that she was safe and happy.