Yale was extremely thoughtful over his most recent reconstituted meal, at dawn. "So Xero equals any life formed on G889."
Devon Adair followed his thought as she watched an energetic, once again healthy Uly teach the elegant, pure white, long limbed Balancer how to run. "And exo means us, the invaders." The two of them, were being chased by a veritable sea of yellow eye stalks, lumbering close behind the albino Terrian and the boy, in a following chase, on their feathery tap roots. "Well, there goes dinner. Heading south after my son and our very own personal deity."
"Good!" muttered Morgan Martin, flipping back over on his cot in the med tent. "I was getting sick of of..of eating animated eyeball salad every night, any way."
"There's always spirolina pancakes." chipped in Bess brightly.
"Don't remind me." groaned her sleepy husband.
"Humans." piped up Zero from where he was washing dishes daintily in a tub that had been place next to one of the parked Transrovers. "Exo-planetary beings of other world origins, with respect to Earth 2, which is here, and Terra which is..."
"Thanks for the history lesson, Zero, but it's not time yet." True groaned from where she was still trying to take a nap while she healed, the stitches from both of her worm bullet holes, were itchy today. She reached up a hand to her ribs sleepily. "School's out until the sun comes back. Not enough light to etch notes on any laserpads. Two more lunar eclipses happening, remember?"
A turquoise and hot pink pillow flew out of nowhere to plunk True on top of the head. "Ouch!" the Danzinger girl protested, throwing her hands up to collect the soft square that had fallen onto her face.
"No scratching!" said Julia Heller, the pillow throwing doctor. "Feels good but introduces dirt and .."
"There's no bacteria here." the nine year old blond tom boy dressed mechanic's daughter sighed sarcastically. "Only the one we started, the Phage."
Alonzo Solace made a buzzing game show noise. "Not us. Our predecessors did, True."
"Oh, so sorry. Quite right. A group of bad humans of the same genetic type and ignorant disposition from fifty years ago, infected the whole world." True finished dramatically, casting up exasperated arms as she flopped back against her dad's chest from where she sat in his lap as he napped in the sun. "So, Dad, how does it feel to be an alien."
He didn't reply, so True jabbed a firm elbow on her uninjured side, into his soft belly to wake him up more.
"Oof, what half pint? Oh.. that. We're pretty boring if you ask me. Nobody got any superpowers for landing here."
"Oh, yeah?" piped up Cameron. "So whatdiya call that dreaming thing you guys do with the Terrians? Last time I checked, none of us were telepathic before G889, big guy."
"We aren't clairvoyant, the Terrians are." said Uly. "They allow us to speak to them."
"That's really nice of them." Morgan simpered. "I really wish they wouldn't. It's not natural talking without moving any lips."
Julia chuckled. "I don't think they breathe either. Handy knack. Wish I had it." she said, digging around a Transrover crate for another nutripowder can to make "coffee" for everybody over their green colored camp fire.
"You'd like burying yourself underground like when they earthwalk?" Mr. Martin sputtered at their doctor.
"Why not? Probably feels like swimming in a silo full of corn seed." Bess Martin grinned. "Did that once."
"Bess, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm from the Stations." Martin reminded.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot that I'm the only one who's ever seen the real Earth." Bess sighed, staring up at the ruby red eclipse slowly getting redder by the minute over their heads. It filled half the sky. "This place feels almost like it, when I close my eyes."
"Don't. Something might eat you." Alonzo joked.
"Not a chance, pilot boy. I'm a fast runner. Who do you think taught Uly to run so well?" she smiled.
Six hands shot up in the air at the question from members of Eden Project all around her.
"Oh, poo. All right, we all did. I thought I was the only one." frowned Mrs. Martin.
Yale was frank. "I'd be getting claustrophobic right about now if I didn't already know that this eclipsing moon is actually five thousand miles away from us up there. Feels like a lid, getting pressed down over a bug jar."
The tutor's comment ended everybody else's carefree mood over the rare, lazy, pseudo evening falling over them.
"Sorry." Yale apologized. "It wasn't very pretty for imagery. I'm still learning."
Under the giant red shadow moon's light, the Balancer looked like she was on fire.
