Stars, Dust & Dreams

Return to Innocence

(Author's Note: My entry for Round 4 Part 2 of the #UltimateSFSD . Prompts were the photo above, the word "Crepuscular", a song by Enigma called "Return to Innocence", and a quote from Nietzsche "You needchaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."
Word count 1664 according to Wattpad - not counting this note. Unusually for me, I wrote this one in two days, and I think it turned out better than I feared, lol)

Ninth moon of a ringed planet, Innocence was the jewel of the solar system, or indeed as many of its inhabitants boasted, the entire galaxy. Tourists came from light years away to stand and stare at the sky with the wonder of Alara hanging overhead like something out of a holovid. Then they'd take a swim in the salt lakes and sip their fancy drinks on the hotels' terraces before taking off to the next marvel on their tour list.

The more knowledgeable tourists would time their visit to take in the annual rise of the Naiads. Indigenous to the moon, Naiads were huge water dwelling plants, surging to the surface to flower during the two weeks Alara was closest to their sun.

Marvellous as his world might be to outsiders, Griif could hardly wait until he was old enough to join the Space Academy and escape to the stars.

"Why would you want to live anywhere else?" asked his friend Maz, who was already looking forward to working fulltime alongside his family in his mother's hotel. "I don't understand."

"Innocence is okay I suppose, but don't you want to travel, to see other worlds, meet other races, before you settle down?"

"I see enough other races in my work," retorted Maz. "We had some Epidavrians stay last week. Took Mum and me hours to clean the green slime off the tiles."

Griif laughed dutifully. "But it's not the same. I want... I want more!"

"You always want something more, Griif. You've always been restless, ever since I've known you."

"My mother says I have chaos in my soul," announced Griif proudly. He hadn't been exactly sure what she meant but it sounded really cool.

"Well, I hope you find what you're looking for."

★★★

Griif drew his new uniform out of the refresher unit and pulled it on, taking a minute longer than usual to check his appearance before leaving his cabin. He strode down the corridor to the transport tube and shot up to the top deck where the bridge was.

The crewman on duty outside saluted.

"Captain on the bridge," he announced, as Griif entered.

Griif surveyed his crew for a moment, proud of the smart way they looked. Bright and alert, every one of them. As eager as himself for this mission.

"At ease." He seated himself at the console unit beside his communications officer.

"Let's hear your report, please, Laraz."

Laraz proceeded to bring him up to date with a report on everything which had happened since he clocked off eight hours ago, most of which appeared to be summed up by "not much," but Griif drank in every word. He had finally found his rightful place, here amongst the stars.

★★★

"Thank you for your service, Captain. Although as you know, forty is the age for retirement in the Galactic Fleet, it's still young for the civilian world. Do you have any plans? A trip home perhaps?" The Commander giving his dismissal speech, was far older that Griif, but he hadn't been on active duty for twenty years. He had a desk job, Griif's worst nightmare.