(The story continues from where the prologue ended)

Sierra squinted her eyes from the sheer light at the tunnels exit. When she opened them, a sprawling city filled her vision. Coming from a city girl, the view wouldn't be such a big deal. But this is Zootopia. A place where you can be what you want to be. The city had far more advancements than Las Vixen. Larry turned right and began heading down an avenue which lead to Sahara Square. The house that Sierra's family lived in is just south of Sahara Square.

Coming to an intersection, the light turned red and Larry stopped the vehicle. Sierra was looking at the store fronts, eyeing the outfits and shoes the sold. Especially the dark coloured ones. Her view was blocked by a coach bus. She would've grunted in annoyance but the sight of the passengers made her look in wonder. The passengers were the humans. Too bad she couldn't speak to one of them but she could at least wave at them. Sierra lifted her left paw and waved at the human that wore a leather jacket and tech glasses. The human waved back with a calm smile. Sierra's body was filled with excitement and flatter. "Hey look, honey. Humans!" Kate said to Larry. Larry noticed and waved at the humans on the bus. Hunter noticed and leaned close to Sierra, waving at them. Sierra felt embarrassed. The light turned green and Larry turned left. The bus took a right that lead to the Sahara Square exit.

—————

"Who was that you waved, to?" Paul said as he displayed a desktop Interface.

"Just a family of Lions. One waved at me so I waved back." Michael replied as he clicked away on a holo-keyboard.

Today was a big day for Michael and his fellow humans. Today is the day that the Tripods arrive. The Tripods are made to terraform land and build large buildings. There is one, however, that will be used for the anthropomorphic scientists around the planet to study its tech. The main goal the humans want is to build a simple base for spaceship refuelling and repair. This can also be used for the anthropomorphic inhabitants if they need supplies. Thanks to the Green Party on earth, all spaceships are powered by thermal plants and the engines use cleansed plasma. So, in short, the planet should have clean air for all the inhabitants.

The bus went through a tunnel that went through some mountains, and exited to a mountains edge. There is a mountain about 50 kilometres from Zootopias location. The base is going to be built inside a mountain so it doesn't disturb the landscape above ground. That's why landscaping Tripods are being brought here. The biologists on Michael's bus took notes on the way there. Humans haven't gone this far and they want to study the vegetation. The bus stopped next to a dirt road that lead down to a valley between two moutntains. Michael and the rest of the humans got off the bus and took a long hike down to the valley.

It took a while but the humans finally made it to the valley. The Tripods were programmed to land at specific spots in this valley so that the legs have enough room to extend. "Rodrick, how long till landing?" Michael asked Rodrick. Rodrick pulled up his holo-screen from his watch. "Landing happens in 30 minutes." Rodrick, a physics scientist, said. "Excellent," Michael replied, "we have plenty of time to prepare." Joseph was one of the physicists on the coach bus. He deployed a large metal box that, when placed on the ground, transformed into a work bench. He then placed some gadgets on the ground and began constructing a GPS device to track the Tripods exact landing zone. "The Tripod will land one kilometre from us. We should be safe if something goes wrong." Joseph said, staring at the newly constructed GPS.

Michael deployed Paul, who can freely roam around as long as he's in Michael's sight. Paul looked up in the sky saw a small object burning up in the sky. "Paul, scan the velocity of the Tripod, will you?" Michael asked. Paul pointed his screen up and scanned the tiny spec of the Tripod cockpit. "Velocity is 7.8 kilometres per second. Expecting it to land in 10 minutes." Paul responded. Paul looked at Michael and deployed a screen full of nearly foreign code. Good thing Michael took the time to study alien coding. Paul sent a file to Joseph's personal AI. His AI, now connected to the portable work bench, emitted a holo-screen that showed the Tripods Velocity, speed, and trajectory. Michael is tasked to direct the Tripod in case something goes wrong. He will do this by connecting wirelessly to the Tripods computer core and control the thrusters attached to it by typing in commands.

"5 minutes." Joseph's AI said. The tripod was 1 km from the ground. A crowd lined up on the road that the bus stopped on. Almost all of them took out their phones to capture this event. Michael didn't mind but he didn't like it at the same time. It was 2025 on this planet and it was during the decade where people were oblivious to danger. Michael remembered in grade 10 History class when he watched that documentary about the terrorist attack in 2026. It happened in Detroit, Michigan. A couple white vans pulled up to a neighbourhood and people decked out in riot gear stepped out from them. People thought it was a joke and pulled out their phones. They never knew what happened next.

The terrorists fired their weapons. They chuck grenades and blew up houses. Those who were out there recording on their phones were either shot to death or left to bleed out. Since then, the UN called for high security around cities. More law enforcement. More street cameras. Any criminal activity will result in severe punishment. If this world is going through the same era the humans once did, then that event might happen to them and he doesn't wish it on his enemies. "200 meters," Joseph's AI said. The Tripods bottom thrusters turned on and it began to slow down. It's legs extended once it reached 150 meters. Soon, the legs hit the ground and the Tripod stood 125 metres. The crowd cheered.

"Examining Tripod technology." Joseph said as he dragged windows on his holo-screen. "Everything is on there. The terraforming Tripod, designated T-0198, is expected to land in one hour." Joseph took out the Tripod locator and pointed it up in the sky. Michael looked at Paul's holo-screen. It was still connected to the Tripod's main computer. One minute after landing, the computer prompted Michael to:

Press "Enter" to activate entry mode

Michael pressed enter and the Tripod's engine started up. Since humanity didn't know how sensitive the inhabitants of the planet ears are, they removed the fog horn the Tripods emitted. No pollution came from the ventilation shafts as the Tripods ran on solar power. The cock pit lowered and the three legs Bended outwards. The tripod cockpit reached about 10 feet from the ground. The entry way to the cockpit opened up and a ladder lowered to the ground. The rest of the ground crew entered and team carried some supplies out of the Tripod. Michael was too busy looking at the lines of code on the screen that he hadn't realized a grey wolf was behind him. "Hi, Mike." The wold said. Michael recognized the voice. It was Chloe.

"Chloe." Michael said. They both embraced each other. Since Michael was much shorter, Chloe had to hoist him up and hug him like a baby. Embarrassing? No, Michael liked it. Chloe placed Michael gently on the ground. "So, what do you think?" Michael asked Chloe regarding the Tripod. Chloe looked at the machine. "It looks cool and scary at the same time." She answered. Michael agreed. Although the Tripod looks awesome, it gives off a creepy feeling to some people. "Oh! I came here to tell you that the Zootopian news channel wants a quick interview from you. They are currently live." Chloe reminded. Michael was not a fan of interviews but it's a good way to give humans a good face for this world. Michael followed Chloe up the hill and to the crowd.

———————

"Just around the corner.." Larry said as he turned right. The Pride family's new home is located on sunshine road in a suburban neighbourhood. It was a single house with 5 bedrooms and 2 washrooms. It also had a garage for a single car. Larry pulled into the driveway and parked the car. The moving truck followed soon after and the moving company employees got out and helped move the furniture inside the home.

An hour later...

With help from everyone, all the furniture was placed in the house and in the correct places. Hunter collapsed on the couch and let out a relieved sigh. "Phew," he said. "We did it." Larry and Kate hugged and kissed each other in celebration. Sierra wasn't too excited but she put on a smile. After a couple minutes of family chatters, Sierra walked up to her room. She entered and found all her stuff there. Her bed, dresser, desk, everything. All she had to do now was to empty the boxes of her belongings. She put up posters like her favourite band, Birdana, and a poster that had a mute symbol and words saying "shut up!".

30 minutes later

It's finished. All her belongings, her posters, her TV, etc. Have been set up. Exhausted, he hopped onto her bed and turned on the TV. The channel was defaulted on the Zootopian news channel. Before she changed the channel to Zooflix, she heard the term "human." She turned up the volume.

"BREAKING NEWS! The first Tripod has landed 50 kilometres from Zootopia. This is the first step of the humans next project for their 6 month stay on our planet. Peter Moosebridge is currently with the crowd where the Tripod landed. Peter." Fabienne Growley, a Female Snow Leopard, said. The camera switched to Peter Moosebridge, a moose, who stood in front of the Tripod in the distance. Peter spoke:

"Thank you, Fabienne. Today was an exciting day for not only the humans but for Zootopians and other people around the planet. Not only do we get to see this outstanding landing but we get to know that there is life beyond the stars. But there is one question that the world wants to know: What will the humans do next? To answer that, we have a human with me who assisted with the Tripod landing, Michael." The camera zoomed out so that Peter and Michael were both in the shot. Sierra was surprised to see who the human was. It was the same human that waved at her earlier today.

"Tell us Michael, what will your species do next?"

"Well," Michael began. "Since this is all being planned on our planet, we don't know what the full extent of this project. We do know that we will be building a terminal for star system travel in this mountain behind me. It will be primarily used for delivering supplies for both humans and everyone on this planet. It will also be used for recharging space ships if we ever leave this galaxy. Like I said, we don't know everything about this project but for now, what I said is what's happening." Peter nodded. "Thank you, Michael." Peter looked at the camera and the camera focused on Peter.

"There we have it, Fabienne. The humans will be carving out this mountain for a huge facility but it will all be worth it in the end as it will benefit as too. This is Peter Moosebridge, Zootopia New Network." The camera switched back to the studio where Fabienne was sorting out the papers in front of her. "Thank you, Peter." She said. "Coming up: Human restrictions will be lifted. Stay tuned." The news switched to a commercial break.

Sierra layed back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Peter was so lucky, she thought. He actually got an interview from a human. She wished she was there to at least say hi to the human. "Sierra. Supper!" Kate called out. Sierra sat up, escaping from her imagination. "Coming!" She called back. She turned off the TV and hopped off of her bed. Tomorrow will be a new chapter in her life. She will meet new people and hopefully make friends with them and, hopefully, meet a human in person.