a THRIVEing landscape [fanfiction]

"Are you sure everything's been working well?"

"Same answer as 5 minutes ago."

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried!"

It was the same every minute of every day. Jack was constantly being called up by his Commander, who happened to be a few miles away on the same planet. They were trying to establish a colony of humans on a new, life-filled planet. Originally they thought it was just plants and simple lifeforms, but instead they found something very different.

A thriving planet. Filled with life, big and small, simple and complex - Jack was entranced by it all, really. A lot of it was thick, darkened forest, the bright double-suns shining through the strange-looking trees, which looked like massive ferns rather than the trees he was familiar with.

He settled on the ground, continuing his bantering (which meant very little to either of them - it was more of a routine now), pulling out some supplies. Energy bar, cold water, a note from Mom, an apple. He set it all on the ground, quietly running through everything.

Then he heard the woods rustling. Rapidly. He whipped around quickly, carefully aware of the oversized creatures on this planet.

Oh, it wasn't oversized. It was undersized! Very undersized. It was a feline-shaped sort of thing, with little fleshy fins and 3 sets of legs.

How cute. He found himself staring at the sweet little thing, despite the fact it was attempting to steal his apple. It was hardly bigger than the apple and probably weighed the same, so what was the harm?

Finally it took notice of the foreign animal in its midst. Rather than run away, as he expected it to, it stared right back at him, glancing between him and the apple. Finally it chose curiosity over hunger, and it strode over to him with a lopsided gait (when compared to the feline build it shared with Earth cats).

It came over and sat in front of his legs, staring at him with massive blue eyes that shone bright. Earth's sky was blue, so it was comparable - but the sky here was a hot red, almost white near the suns.

Finally he reached out and touched its nose, muttering "Boop." He expected it to jump back, maybe go crosseyed. He got something very different.

The tiny creature used its sticky paws to clamber up his ripped-up jeans (from thornbushes, thanks), and sat on his knees, then reached out and returned the touch.

And, to his surprise, it gurgled a weak, "Berp!"

Jack grinned and quickly contacted his Commander.

"I think we found one."