Veril tossed a rock and watched the splash and resulting ripples race towards the bank. She sighed. She was really going to miss her home. Her mother and everyone else here often said it was the most beautiful planet to be found, mainly because they were striving so hard to be certain not to destroy it as had happened to so many planets that belonged to that distant, deadly conglomerate, the Federation.
She gazed up at the beautiful sky, the setting suns casting shades of red, pink, yellow and orange across the landscape. She wished she had some way to capture this all in a bottle and take it with her. She didn't know when she would see it again. Her throat tightened at this thought and her resolve faltered.
No, she mentally shook herself. She was going. She had to go. For all sorts of reasons. She had tried to explain her reasons to people - her friends, her mother, the Elders. Most didn't, or couldn't understand. Her mother did, but that didn't make it any easier to accept that her daughter wanted to find the life and worlds that she had willingly forsook.
In some ways, Veril didn't really understand her reasons herself. It was lots of things. She loved her world, she really did, and she knew she would miss it terribly. She also knew that where she was going would be terrible places and people. Her mother had warned her enough of that. For all that her mother had given up her prior life she could not forsake all the inbuilt cautions that she had grown up with and so had taught Veril how to shoot, using the only gun that had accidentally ended up on the planet.
Her mother was her closest friend. She had always spent hours talking to Veril, explaining to her everything of her prior life, the things she had seen and done, never glossing over the bad bits. The best stories always involved her father. She loved hearing of how they had first met - the thief and the mercenary. It almost sounded romantic - except her mother was essentially a very practical person. But there was no disguising her mother's admiration of her father's skills in cracking the puzzle of the portal. It was due to her father that they were on this beautiful planet at all.
And there was no mistaking the affection with which her mother remembered her father. Veril loved to see that wicked twinkle in her mother's eye when she mentioned that they just had to 'find something to pass the time' when they thought they were going to die! Of which Veril was the direct result.
She sighed and stood. She had better get back. It was almost time. Perhaps that was why she was going. Her mother was the only out-worlder, the only one not to have lived a quiet, secluded peaceful life. Her mother's sense of adventure was obviously hereditary, Veril decided with a half-grimace. Whatever was the reason, she knew she had to leave her home. And she wanted to find out what had happened to her father. He wasn't just revered because he helped them find their new world, he also chose to stay behind to try and stop a madman from blowing everything up, thus allowing her mother to escape. She knew her mother didn't believe he had died then.
"He's too good at surviving." she had told her daughter once. "He had the luck of the gods. Which ever ones you pray to!"
For some reason, Veril believed her. She also felt certain that he had survived that incident. Strange she thought so, considering she had never met him. Perhaps that was another reason she felt compelled to go. A missing part of her life had to be filled.
By now she had reached the open hatch of the spaceship. It had been left there - as a shrine, a monument, an escape route. Who knows. There had been no conscious decision on what to do with it. It had just been left. The entire settlement had arrived. Veril was touched by this. At the forefront was her mother and the Chief Elder, Norman. Her mother had always called him Norman, apparently it had been some sort of joke, back in the other place but it had stuck. He had been one of the most influential people in her life. She smiled fondly at him as she stopped. He smiled benignly down at her.
"Well, my child, the time has come. You were our first child to arrive, it is fitting that you are the first to leave. No doubt others will follow, but never forget where your heart and home awaits." he held his hands out and she took them in silent benediction. She then turned to her mother.
"Well, there's not much else I can tell you." she nudged a bundle at her feet. "Everything you need is here. Remember to be careful when selling the gems. And always remember just how different it is out there. It's nothing like what you're used to here, so don't be caught off guard."
Veril nodded. "I'll remember."
"Good. The portal's clear. Norman," and she smiled fondly at the old man at her side. "said there were any number of volunteers to go through and check it. It's lucky that we were able to find the way to reverse the transference otherwise this would be a moot point. You've got quite a rough climb but a passage has been cleared for you to the surface. Remember where I told you to find the ship?" Veril nodded again. "Well, I guess that's it then. Come here, kiddo." and she enfolded the willing Veril in her arms. "Look after yourself. And be careful."
Veril backed away and picked up her bundle. "I will. And don't worry, mother. As soon as I find out any information about Vila I'll come back."
Kerrill nodded and stood back as her daughter said the rest of her goodbyes and then with a parting smile and wave entered the ship. They all saw her hesitate a moment and then step forwards into the portal. A shimmer in the air and her figure was gone.
Only then did Kerrill let her shoulders slump in despair. A gentle hand on her shoulder make her look up, the previously unshed tears running down her cheeks.
"Come, child, don't grieve. She has merely gone to learn to fly, but she will return one day."
"Do you really think so?" Kerrill desperately sought some small comfort. Norman smiled his slow, warming smile.
"Have faith. And believe."
Although he offered her no more than that, Kerrill felt better. She gave a last look at the ship and resolutely turned her back and went back to her interrupted chores.
Veril paused before stepping into the portal. She could still change her mind she knew. No-one would say anything if she did. But some how that thought gave her the courage to take that final step. She felt a moment of nausea, a feeling of disorientation and a flash of light. A spasm of fear clutched her mind, thinking she would teleport into tons of rock, or the space would be too small for her. She remembered the stories of the weapon the madman had used to try and break through the portal and remembered her mother telling her how much devastation that would cause.
But just as she was able to push these irrational thoughts aside she found herself in the dark silence and knew she was no longer in the ship on her home planet. Fumbling only a little she pulled her torch out and looked around. Markers had been placed for her. Her heart welled with gratitude to the volunteers who had some before her. They had no wish to go but they had risked their lives to check the portal was still functioning and then done everything they could to help her in her endeavour.
Norman had been right in saying that it would be a hard climb but eventually, hot, sweaty and begrimed, she made it to the surface. A grey sky met her, drizzling rain and whipping wind. She looked around and the destruction was still evident even after nearly 20 years. Veril shook her head in amazement, it was difficult to comprehend why anyone would do such a thing. Shrugging her shoulders she got her bearings and set off in the direction her mother had told her.
There, two hours later, she found the ship. She couldn't help but sigh with relief. If the ship had been gone her journey was ended before it began and she would have been forced to return home. But no, the ship was there. She made her way towards it, checking by eye the various things her mother had told her to check for. Her journey could still come of an abrupt halt if she couldn't get the ship started. Or more dramatically, if she tried to take off and there was something seriously wrong. Her mother's pass code still worked the door, though it opened so very slowly. Nearly 20 years of inactivity had taken its toll.
Inside she made her way immediately to the flight deck. Kerrill had admitted that she was no pilot, the best she could do was tell her daughter how to engage the flight checks and automatic pilot. "The rest of it go by the seat of your pants." she had told Veril with a shrug. "And pray!"
Veril again followed her mother's instructions. The ship sluggishly responded, but eventually full power was restored. Lights came on, consoles flickered to life and the engines whirred in response. She tapped in the name of a planet her mother had given her. Kerrill had warned her daughter to check the computer first and once she came closer to any civilised planet request a database update, for the information available would be out-of-date. Her first stop was to get currency and look up an old friend of her mother's, if he was still alive. He should be able to start her on her search for her father.
Once the ship was finally in the sky and the navigation computer had confirmed their destination, Veril leant back with a large sigh of relief. She was finally on her way.