Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 37: New life

Chapter 37: New life

"We need to give it more!" Astra demanded, standing across as the Alevarians pumped air into the furnace, watching as the fumes danced into the sky, her gaze narrowing as she saw one of them starting to slow down.

"Belk, take over!" She demanded, everyone else already on the ground and exhausted, She turned to them, noticing their disheveled state. "Seriously...?"

"I swear..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, her gaze narrowing slightly from annoyance. "Alright, alright let’s call it here—"

The Aelvarians stopped all at once, falling back from pure exhaustion as they fought for air. Astra walked up to the contraption, looking inside to see iron sand still in one piece, glowing softly from the heat that sizzled inside.

"We barely got anywhere..." She mumbled to herself, her arms crossed as she thought about it. Belk rose lazily from where he sat, a slight headache ringing in his skull from over exhaustion.

"Is this really what humans do to make stuff?" Belk complained, his arms limping by his side, his muscles beyond sore.

"No– like I said it’s primitive— " Astra mumbled, her gaze narrowing with worry at the setback. "We’ve long since upgraded,"

"I’m gonna have to modify it... introduce more air, for a hotter burn," Astra muttered to herself, Her hand rubbing over the contraption lightly, feeling the soft heat that seeped through the hard outer shell of the ironmill, slowly running cold like a dying heart. "Great... what a hurdle—"

Belk watched as she crouched near the machine, analyzing what she could possibly do to fix it, her brow furrowed in concern.

"Why don’t I give it a try?" Belk asked, causing her head to look up to him with surprised eyes.

"I- sure? By all means go ahead," She stepped back, watching as the scientist took a step further, crossing his arm as he studied the machine, a smile soon breaking on his face.

"I’ll handle this, you can head back to the village." Belk waved dismissively, only leaving Astra more confused towards his sudden confidence, Though the sun was setting and she didn’t care enough to ask.

"Sight on the village?" Someone asked if their bodies were unidentifiable in the dark, deep into the forest, they were posted up on the trees, the area long casted in shadows even before the dead of night.

"Yeah, they’re still the same as ever," The other muttered, their gaze fixed above the trees, watching as the lanterns went out for the night and the moon rose into the sky. "Except..."

"Except what?" the other asked, urging them to continue, their eyes narrow as they tried to make sense of it.

"That boy that came here a few months ago, and almost found our settlement—and that huge Neo wolf came in here, not too long ago— do you think?" They stopped for a moment, letting the implications linger. Only for the other to wave off their claims, their hands batting the air dismissively.

"Come on, there’s no way they’re onto us! Think about it! There’s no chance a primitive race like them is gonna tame those things! Especially the big one!" they laughed, tears streaming from their eyes just from the idea of it. "Don’t be stupid! That’s utterly ridiculous! It was probably looking for some herbs or something?"

"Do you mean the wolf or the Kid—" The other pondered a light laughter to their voice.

"Doesn’t matter, they’re all primitive apes," They declared. A soft sigh escaping their lips "Either way I don’t believe it, not by one millimeter!"

"So—" The other started again, their voice more unsure this time.

"So—do you think now’s the time?" There was a soft silence that lingered behind his words, the wind blowing the trees with a sudden intensity before stopping as if listening to the answer.

"Without a doubt!" The other grinned, his arms folded as they watched behind the dark, a smile playing at their lips at the opportunity, "This time, we’ll be the one’s in charge here!"

"Those fools that call us heretics, and banished us! They’ll fall under the power of science!" Their voices echo through the forest, causing the birds to fly up into the night sky, catching the attention of Belk who remained hunched over the machine, his head raised to their direction, a sense of danger crawling up his spine.

"Strange..." He muttered to himself. Fully standing with his gaze fixed on the forest, "The forest just went silent..."

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"What’re you doing up this late?" Celi pondered, awoken by the anxious taps from Astra as she looked through the world scan. Kairo, Umi and Lyra sleeping by her side.

"Just looking into the forest..." Astra muttered, her fingers flying across the translucent screen, "the thought just occurred to me, since we’ll be in the dark— it would be best to know what’s around us,"

"Besides, a world fully harmonized by peace? The thought doesn’t sit right with me at all—" Astra’s brow furrowed the more she thought about it. "I might just be overthinking it—"

"But what if there’s another village somewhere?" Astra pondered, looking at Celi for some sort of reassurance. "I mean, Belk couldn’t be the only one on the whole planet to be interested in science right? I mean, he probably so close to the village because he was still their prince–"

"You’re worried?" Celi pondered, her head tilted to the side in concern at her sudden show of fear.

"Worried? Hell no, I’m excited!" Astra grinned, closing the window and laying back in bed, her gaze to the ceiling with hopeful eyes. "Just think, if we manage to get behind them, the leaps in our technology might be just blinding!"

"You’re such an optimist," Celi quipped, resting her head back onto her paws, preparing to rest once more.

"But..." Astra muttered, her gaze a bit more serious. Her hand resting on her forehead, as the silence of the night consumes her.

"We’ll be prepared for anything they throw our way..."