Diversion To Urasha (Space Era Book 1)

by Laura Hopgood

  The early afternoon was fast approaching, and James felt famished. In three short hours, the group had already made dramatic progress, almost walking within touching distance of the tall purple trees. James could already make out their black trunks, and their violet bushy tops. So far, there was no sign of food. However, Crystaline had insisted that food was plentiful in the forest. James felt his belly growling with every step he made to the trees, until at last, the group came to a standstill stopping just outside of the forest. Crystaline turned sincerely to her group.

  “Before we enter the forest, I’d like to make sure that a few things are clear. Firstly, as I am sure you are all aware, we are not in our own habitat anymore. I don’t mean to state the obvious, but we are not in the city anymore. We are in the wild lands, and the wild lands don’t get any more wilder than this forest. We are entering the home of many creatures. Some of them are harmless, others are dangerous. Dangerous or not, every creature deserves our respect. We tread quietly, taking only what we need. We do not harm unless we absolutely have to. Understood?”

  James nodded, fully agreeing with Crystaline’s inspiring words. This was it now, it was time to enter the forest, to see the more ‘alien‘ side of this planet. James felt suddenly excited. This was going to be quite the experience!

  As he walked to the trees, James’ hand instinctively reached out to touch the black rubbery trunk of the nearest tree. It felt strangely warm, smooth with a faint little beat deep within it. This tree was alive.

  As he gently slid between the trees, trying hard to keep up with Crystaline as she wove her way through the overly dense forest, James breathed in the pleasant aroma of the trees all around him. The air smelt fruity, lusciously fruity mixed in with a leafy fragrance.

  As the young space warrior continued to battle his way through the crowded trees, he begun to notice several multi-coloured lights creeping into his vision. Whatever they were, they looked beautiful, giving the forest its first sign of vibrancy.

  Just as James began to wonder when these trees would ease up, out he stepped, into a far more spacious area of the forest. Just as his body stilled with awe and amazement, the young space warrior felt the bodies all around him stopping to a standstill, too.

  This place was exquisite! The most beautifully surreal place that James had ever seen. The place was filled with plants, such a vast array of bright, luminous glowing plants. The organic specimens gave light and life to the dark forest. Glowing against the darkness, just like the stars of the Universe. This place was magical, sublime, and definitely the most beautiful place that James had ever seen. He felt his insides hitching, appreciating this special moment, as he realised how lucky he was to witness such a marvel.

  As the feeling in his muscles began to return to him, James heard a gentle fluttering beside his ears. With a flit, the thing was in front of him, hovering right in front of his spellbound eyes. The tiny little creature looked delicate, so vulnerable, with its white transparency and its long tadpole-like body. Its tiny little wings looked so innocent, so glittery, scintillating just like the rest of its glowing body. For a second or two, James gazed into the beady black eyes of the little creature. It looked so cute, so harmless, and then with a sudden flick, it shot towards Crystaline, hovering in front of her golden irises. James watched as the princess smiled, truly smiled, with her eyes mimicking her happy lip movements. Then the creature was gone, instantly joined by a whole school of brothers and sisters as they flew through the forest.

  “Wow!” James beamed. “What are those things?”

  Crystaline turned to James, her eyes sparkling with passion.

  “Those are slishers. Harmless, friendly little creatures.”

  “They’re beautiful,” James whispered, equally impassioned, until he heard the unpleasant grunting sound of Morcees’ voice.

  “We haven’t got time for this. We’ve got work to do, remember. Let’s get a move on.”

  Reluctantly accepting Morcees’ words, Crystaline resumed movement, leading her group through the sparser terrain, which was surrounded by the magnificent plants and the much more generously spaced trees.

  As he fought hard to stay on his feet, courageously battling slope after slope, bump after bump, James admired the skill of the Urashans. The young space warrior watched as brother and sister gracefully eased their way through the forest, practically dancing their way across the dark indigo ground. Watching the two siblings was a far cry from watching Phil and Zach; both of whom were struggling against the bumps and slopes, even failing to stay on their feet.

  Just as James felt his stomach growling ravenously once again, Crystaline’s and her brother’s movements came to a sudden halt, both of them eyeing up something in a tree.

  “Who’s hungry?” Crystaline asked, almost rhetorically. “Morcees, Borcees, pass Crystos and I your bags.”

  “We’re more than capable of climbing a tree,” Morcees retaliated.

  Crystaline’s hand was still outstretched.

  “Just do as you’re told, and pass us the bags.”

  With a bitter shake of his head, Morcees handed Crystaline his bag, whilst Borcees handed his bag to Crystos.

  “Well done!” Crystaline’s tone was sardonic. “Now the rest of you, stay on the ground. My brother and I won’t be long.” Without any further warning, Crystaline and Crystos sprinted for the tree, deftly climbing it with supreme agility. Crystaline’s skill was to be expected. She was a woman, light and graceful in her movements. Crystos on the other hand, he was a huge man, weighed down by his massive muscles. Yet the prince, he still managed to equal his sister’s grace as they climbed up the tree.

  As James looked up towards the purple leafy tree top, he could see the glowing red round balls, hanging ripely from their branches, and as he had expected, Crystos and Crystaline were soon onto the glowing spheres, picking them off the tree and placing them into their bags.

  As James watched Crystaline and Crystos easily making their way back down to the ground, he remembered that the princess had mentioned fruit as a food source. Eating glow in the dark fruit? That could be interesting.

  “Here,” the princess said, throwing James the first piece of fruit which she had skilfully collected.

  “Is this safe to eat?” Phil was hesitant as usual, catching his piece from Crystos as he eyed the glittering food suspiciously.

  “Of course it’s safe to eat,” Crystaline replied, rolling her eyes at Phil. “It’s just fruit. Don’t eat it if you don’t want to. But then don’t blame me if you die of starvation.”

  James watched as Zach rather carelessly took a huge bite into the fruit. The young space warrior was relieved to see the pleasant expression of sheer enjoyment washing its way through his friend’s face. Without allowing his mind to share his captain’s doubts, James plunged his teeth into the fruit, taking his first sweet bite. As he crunched, juice poured onto his taste buds, pleasing them, but not quite satisfying them. His tongue wanted more, and James was quick to gobble up the rest of the fruit along with everyone else, including Phil.

  After washing their quick meal down with some water, the group resumed their traveling, trying to keep silent in the hope that they’d evade any dangerous animals which might be lurking between the plants and trees.

  At first, the sound of the forest was soft, sweeping as James and his team skipped across the soft ground. After a while however, James began to notice a new sound, a trickling sound. As if reading his thoughts, Crystaline stilled her movements, listening attentively to the sound around her.

  “Do you hear that?” She whispered, mainly addressing her brother.

  “The river...” Crystos whispered in return.

  “Come, follow me,” Crystaline said, veering off into another cluster of dense trees. This time, the cluster was thankfully small, freeing James and the others almost immediately from their suffocating grasp, and then releasing them into another breathtaking scene.

  James’ mouth gaped open in wonder
as he watched the long, pure river scintillating away under the luminous plant lights.

  “I told you there was a river,” Crystaline boasted, skittering off towards the source of water. “Borcees, I need your bag.”

  Without a protest, Borcees handed his bag to Crystaline, watching as she refilled each water cylinder.

  Not surprisingly, Phil’s eyebrows furrowed as yet another concerning thought hit him.

  “We’re not going to drink straight out of those, are we?”

  “Why not?” Crystaline’s face scrunched up in agitated bewilderment. “We just did, didn’t we?”

  “Yeah, but those were already filled, from the city.”

  Crystaline cupped both of her hands together, dipping them into the cool water, and then taking them out to reveal the perfectly clear liquid to the annoying man.

  “This water is perfectly safe, trust me. It’s the purest water on Urasha. But if it would really make you feel better, you can have yours later and boil it once I get a fire going.”

  “As long as it’s safe, I don’t mind how we drink it.”

  Crystaline shook her head. There was no pleasing that man.

  As the princess rose to return Borcees’ bag to him, James noticed something funny looking at the corner of his eye. Whatever it was had moved, and just as James began to think that he’d been imagining things, the creature moved again.

  “Wha...what’s that?” James asked, staring at the strange, red gooey creature which was bouncing on the ground.

  Crystaline smiled tenderly at the animal.

  “It’s a mubble. It can change its shape and its colour freely.”

  As if on cue, the creature transformed. It was now bright green. James laughed affectionately,

  “Wow, a mubble huh? Are they at all dangerous?”

  “No,” Crystaline answered him, watching as the mubble hopped away from view. “They’re completely harmless.”

  “Sister, look!” Crystos intervened, pointing to some glowing, orangey-green jelly-like plants on the ground.

  “Ganzar plants!” Crystaline whispered in elation. “Morcees, I’ll need your bag this time.”

  “What are ganzar plants?” Zach asked, watching as Crystaline took Morcees’ bag, and headed straight over to the plants with her brother.

  Crystaline knelt down beside the strange specimens, watching as the little green electricity illuminated the orange exterior of the plants from the inside.

  “These will protect us,” she eventually answered, gently lifting one of the plants to reveal its long silver root.

  “Protect us how?” Asked James.

  “They resemble a very dangerous creature on this planet, sharing its appearance and its scent. If we take a few with us, and replant them when we rest, we can be rest assured that no other dangerous creatures would even come close to us.”

  James watched, feeling comforted as he watched Crystaline and her brother carefully taking another plant each.

  Once equipped with the appropriate resources, the group had began traveling through the forest once again, sticking as close as possible to the long running river.

  James had no idea what the time was anymore. It was hard to tell if it was even still daylight, seeing as the forest was so dark anyway. All James knew was this: his legs were now killing him, and the fruit’s energy was already wearing off. As he followed Crystaline past two luminous, green star-shaped plants, James’ movements were instantly halted. His body was immobilised, but his heart was beginning to race, watching as Crystaline’s mouth suddenly gaped open. She’d spotted something between the trees.

  Chapter 9

  Furleaves. That was what Crystaline had spotted. Not a dangerous creature, but an ideal place to rest. The furleaves got their name because, well, they looked like leaves. Furry, magenta gigantic leaves, which hung from the tree trunks like hammocks. Crystaline had spotted a whole cluster of them, and had concluded that this was going to be tonight’s resting spot.

  As usual, Phil had expressed his usual form of hesitancy, this time, wondering if the bed-sized leaves would be able to support his weight. Crystaline was quick to point out that the leaves should be more than capable, however, she would gather vines to strengthen the leaves, and would later show everyone how to tie them.

  Not quite content with Crystaline’s explanation, Phil dragged Zach with him to test the strength of the furleaves, sitting on a nearby leaf gingerly as it swayed back and forth under his and Zach’s weight.

  James could only watch on with a hint of mortification. Phil was really beginning to push his luck out here, acting in such a distrustful manner, doubting the princess’ leadership and her experience. It was typical Phil really. The man clearly liked to be in charge, and out here, he could only be a follower.

  Not wanting to look at his captain anymore, James turned his head to Crystaline, watching as she gathered dead plant materials, whilst the other three Urashans planted the ganzar plants. Once the princess’ hands were filled, she crawled on her knees to a central point on the ground, and placed her pile on top of it.

  Tentatively, James walked over to Crystaline, feeling his heartbeat increasing as he knelt opposite the princess.

  “Hey er, you need a hand?”

  Crystaline’s eyebrows furrowed, though she tried to appear nonchalant, casually removing her sworsha from her pocket.

  “No thanks. I’m perfectly capable of starting a fire.”

  “How do you guys make fire? Back on Earth, we have several different methods of making f-”

  Before James could even finish his sentence, Crystaline had activated her sworsha, resting the blue electrical current over the foliage pile. In less than a nanosecond, the pile had been engulfed, deep within a superb purple flame.

  “That’s how,” Crystaline finally answered, deactivating her weapon.

  “Wow!” James beamed, excited by the quirky looking fire. “A purple flame, huh?! You know, back home, we have orange flames. But then when the fire gets super hot, it can go blue too.”

  Crystaline’s eyebrows furrowed even further, causing her eyes to squint this time. She seemed completely disinterested in what James had to say to her.

  “Really? That’s nice. Why don’t you go and join your friends? I just need to feed the flame a little more, then we can all eat.”

  As much as a part of James had yearned to stay with Crystaline, to get to know the Urashan princess a little further, he was no fool. James knew when his company wasn’t wanted, and so, he had done what Crystaline had suggested, leaving her for Phil and Zach.

  As James sat on his very own furleave, he could feel the thing swaying precariously back and forth. It was no wonder Phil looked so troubled. If it wasn’t for the constant swaying, these leaves might actually be quite comfy with their soft velvety fur, and their nice bed-like size. James sighed; it was a good job that Crystaline was going to show everyone how to secure these leaves. Maybe then their only element of discomfort would dissipate away into that dark nighty air.

  With the trees all around him, James could see little of the Urashan night sky. If he looked hard enough, he could just about make out the glints of some of the stars, or the redness of planet Anscus. If he was out in the open, James knew he’d have been witnessing some incredible views right now. Not that today had been short of stunning views. In fact, it had been quite the contrary.

  The Urashan forest was a magical place, literally. James had never ever seen such vast array of gorgeous, bright glowing plants. He had never seen such beautiful alien creatures. For some reason, this forest reminded James of a dream. It was a surreal place, not like anything he had ever seen before. James thought of Lottie, and of his mother. They would both love this place. It was such a shame that Lottie was stuck in the city. James missed Lottie, he missed her lots.

  Breaking James away from his musings, Phil’s annoying monotone voice grumbled.

  “How are you finding your first day out in the Urashan wilderness, James?”r />
  “Good.” James answered honestly, not trying to sound too enthusiastic around Phil. “It’s not what I expected.”

  Zach shook his head.

  “You know, I was expecting trouble. I’m surprised we haven’t encountered anything nasty yet.”

  Phil raised his left eyebrow.

  “Don’t speak too soon, Zach. There’s plenty of time for that.”

  ***

  It was quite a relief to James to eventually be invited over to the fire. As usual, Crystos had appeared nervous, un-talkative, only speaking when necessary. The prince had been like this all day. Not like his sister who had led throughout the entire day.

  As James joined the circle around the purple flame, he could feel his stomach ravenously growling, waiting to devour what ever fruit was in that supply bag.

  Taking the opposite-most place to James, Crystaline was the last to join the circle, placing both of the supply bags on the ground between her and Crystos. She advised cooking the lusciously sweet fruit on top of the purple flame in front of her. No one complained, even Morcees and Borcees were happier to have their fruit warm.

  As James held the sticky warm piece of glowing goodness in his hands, he wondered how different the fruit would taste all heated up like this. The young space warrior didn’t have to wonder for long; his mouth was soon wrapped around that fruit, the juicy-sugary taste bursting into his mouth. James preferred the fruit warm. It was softer, sweeter, and easier to get his teeth into.

  Once he’d munched his way through his second piece of fruit, James washed the sugariness away with some of that river water which Crystaline had collected earlier. For some unfathomable reason, the water tasted better, fresher than any other water which James had ever tasted.

  “Mmmm,” Zach began, his voice all sloshy as he continued to gobble up his last section of fruit. “I love this stuff! I mean seriously, your fruit puts our fruit to shame. But tell me, will this fruit give us what we need?”

  Crystaline cocked her head to one side.

  “What do you mean? You mean nutrition wise?”