Trees taller than the roof of the dome cities, pristine water in a river, the smell

  of the forest entered their noses and woke up feelings they had forgotten they had.

  The laughs and dances of the few small children that exited the Arrow were enough

  to bring many to tears. Jain, holding Alex tight, was mumbling, “This is what we had?

  This is what we lost to Osiris?”

  The capsules containing the crew and equipment began to land like feathers

  touching the ground, without even making enough noise to scare the strange animals

  that had the courage to stand by and see the invasion of their planet. One by one,

  the humans saw the wonder of Gaia and stood in awe. The dawn of humanity’s new

  era was filled with wonder and excitement. Slowly the first settlers began waking from

  the spell that nature had cast on them and started working on their assignments.

  Setting up the temporary tents was their first job. Others started checking the water

  and soil composition. Soon, like ants, all of the settlers were moving to one goal: the

  setting up of their first city.

  Dimitri approached Alex. “I will keep the general records with the Y: D: format.

  Today is Y1:D:1.”

  “Yeah, sure,” replied Alex with little interest in the subject.

  Within a few days, the machines had found material veins, and they began

  extracting raw metals. A 3-D printer began to be fed with them and started the outline

  of a city. The walls were the first thing to go up. Protection against the unknown. The

  Arrow transformed into a laboratory, as it was planned to do after its landing. After

  the walls were ready, a name was printed. Argos, in honor of one of the oldest cities

  of the old world, and then, the first human settlement in deep space.

  “Mr. Bara! I saw something,” said one of the children.

  “What did you see, Kate?” answered Bara.

  “Over there by the hill. I was playing hide and seek, and I saw a creature

  looking at me.”

  “What sort of creature?” asked Bara. “Did you take a video of it?”

  “I wanted to, but I got scared and run back here to tell you.”

  “Okay, what did it look like?”

  “It looked like a boy, but very very ugly. Big nose and big ears, also long nails,

  and he was holding a stick.”

  “Are you sure he was holding a stick, or was it a branch?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “I am sure. When he saw me, he walked slowly backwards to leave, but I ran

  before I could see more.”

  “You did great by telling me. Make sure not to venture too far now.”

  Bara called for the leaders to gather. “Kate saw a primitive intelligent

  humanoid,” said Bara, to everyone’s shock.

  “How sure are we about what she saw?” asked Jain.

  “She described it well. Also Clive said that while flying, he saw something that

  resembled primitive huts. He could not be sure if it was natural from that distance, but

  after he is done transporting the items from the landing pods, he will go take a better

  look.”

  Alex stood up. “Okay, finding primitives does not really complicate our lives

  here so much. It just means that Gaia has its own history to share in time. For now,

  Bara, please set a perimeter and make sure that any kid playing will not cross it. We

  can’t be sure of the abilities of those humanoids, but let’s not take any chances.”

  Y:2 D:27

  Argos

  The colony had adapted pretty well into the new home, and Gaia seemed to be

  plentiful. There were tons of different insects that lived there, which acted as the main

  source of nutrients and could be farmed easily. It was quite strange that evolution

  had favored such similar insects to be shaped there as they were back on Earth. The

  first edible grains and plants had been identified and were cultivated around Argos.

  Due to the fear of ecological collapse, no seeds or animals were brought from Earth.

  The Hera had quite a few of them, though, in frozen state, in case a planet was

  barely habitable without much life. Here, all this seemed redundant for now.

  Everything was plentiful. The red star in the sky gave a color of romance in the

  atmosphere. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened. Everything had gone too

  smoothly.

  Every day, the citizens of Argos would gather at the heart of the city and

  discuss any major breakthrough they had, difficulties faced, or resource needs to

  complete their individual or collective projects. In the center, a sign was raised. Upon

  it, the word “Agora” was written. This was a place more for recreation and social

  empowerment than problem solving. More a gathering of friends than a gathering for

  work.

  Argos grew slowly. There was no real reason to rush anything either way.

  The primitives seemed to be approaching and staying at a distance.

  “Why are we not visiting them yet?” asked Jain.

  “It’s early,” answered Alex. “If, by any means, they pose a threat, we should

  be first ready to defend easily.”

  “Are you really worried that a preindustrial civilization might pose a threat to

  us, Alex?”

  “Honestly, no. But this is an alien world. I have spent too much time

  daydreaming about meeting aliens with whom I might be able to communicate, but I

  also spent time thinking what to do in case they are hostile. It’s too early. Let them

  observe us for a while, and when the time is right, we will go see them.”

  “To be fair, I am not in a rush to meet them. I am just curious to see one up

  close. They resemble little children.”

  “They resemble Goblins,” said Alex, waiting to see Jain’s reaction.

  “Goblins?” asked Jain. “Like from our ancient myths?”

  “Yes! Don’t you see the resemblance?”

  “I don’t know! I did not spend that much time searching for depictions of

  Goblins in the past.”

  As days went by, the “Goblins,” as they started calling them, were keeping

  their distance. It seemed that they were non-hostile or at least smart enough not to

  make a move against someone visibly superior.