Survivors

 

 

Morning came too fast for the boys. They were exhausted and didn't know how much longer they could go on. All they could hope for now was that the rock they saw was the same one Matthew saw, and that there was a green valley on the other side.

 

Scooter and Douglas sat in the front of the lead sled with Douglas doing the driving. They were heading toward the horse rock.

 

"Why did you lie to me, Douglas?"  Scooter asked out of the blue.

 

Douglas couldn’t hide his surprise at the question. "Lie to you? When? I don't think I've ever lied to you."

 

"You lied about what you and Warren talked about before you went on your scouting trip."

 

"Oh yeah, I did kind of mangle the truth a bit. I'm sorry, I forgot."

 

"Why? Didn't you trust me? You didn't even send me a thought."

 

"You certainly held this in for a while."

 

"I didn't want to upset things; you had enough problems. But it did hurt."

 

"Scooter, don't hold it in if I hurt you. Send me your thoughts at least. Don't hide from me."

 

"You hid from me, too. You didn't tell me the truth, and never explained why you didn’t."

 

"I did it to protect you.  Warren was taking a big risk. It was like in spy books - the need to know. If you didn't know, Robert Charles couldn't get any information, no matter what. You would be one of the first he would suspect when he found the power chips missing, but you could say you didn't know anything and not lie. You could be perfectly natural and honest.  There would be no pressure. You wouldn’t even be tempted to glance at Warren, wondering what he did with the chips. I'm sorry if doing that hurt you."

 

"Why didn't you tell me after it was all over?"

 

"I guess my mind was on other things. And like I said, you could've asked me. I guess we both forgot to talk to each other. I'm sorry." Douglas wondered how many times he had to apologize.

 

‘I'm sorry, Scooter’, Douglas thought. ‘I would never hurt you on purpose. I trust you and love you. I thought I was protecting you.’ He gave Scooter a peck on the lips and then turned around. "Travis, how about you drive with Ryan."

 

Travis grinned and went up to the front with Ryan following him. Scooter and Douglas sat at the back of the sled slipping in and out of uneasy naps. Douglas tried to remember what Scooter looked like when he was clean.

 

It was the middle of the afternoon when they arrived at the rock. Brandon and Scooter speculated that if Matthew had seen the side of the rock they were looking at, then the valley should be straight ahead. They headed in that direction and soon saw a couple of clouds on the horizon. Brandon said that was just like the valleys his mother terraformed; that changing a planet had to start in a valley that was closed off from the rest of the surface.  The clouds looked to be even with the surface of the plateau, which meant they were probably above a valley. That meant they must be going in the right direction.

 

Another hour passed and they found themselves at the edge of a cliff. Below them was a wide, green valley. It was hard to see through the scattered clouds, but they caught glimpses of farms, forest land, lakes and reservoirs, and some desert in between areas of green.

 

They could see water. There were lakes and lots of water—cool looking water—water to swim in and wash in and drink by the gallons.  "Do you see any cities or anything?" Stevie asked.

 

"Nope," Ryan said. Nobody else could either.

 

"If it's like an Earth colony it wouldn't have very big cities,” Brandon pointed out. “Plus, we can only see part of the valley from here. It needs lots of forest land to make oxygen. The more the trees make the less the machines make. Mom was big on planting lots of trees. And trees can block the view.”

 

"One question," Alex said.    

 

"What's that?"  Douglas answered.

 

"How do we get down there?"

 

They looked over the edge. It was almost a straight drop into the valley, which was shaped like a bowl.

 

Brandon said the valley probably was an old meteor crater, which made good locations for settlements. This was because the atmosphere could be held in the bowl as the terraforming engineers worked to build the atmosphere. Ryan asked how they did that. Brandon told him he didn't really understand the details.

 

The boys figured there had to be a way to get down into the valley. Once again Douglas decided to send out scout teams. Scooter and Brandon would go south and Travis and Jordan go north.

 

Douglas had picked Jordan, because he wanted Jordan to feel more a part of the group. Jordan had gone from the guy trying to push others around, like he did with Matthew, to a sad twelve-year-old who was alone and left out. Douglas found out from the twins, Ethan and Logan, that early in the voyage Jordan tried to push them around, but they quit hanging around the older kids’ game room. In a way Douglas liked that. They didn't let Jordan push them around. But in another way, he saw what nice, quiet, sweet, cute boys they were and wished he could have gotten to know them better. He found out later their parents had a lot to do with their isolation as well.

 

That evening they all sat and watched the sunset on the other side of the valley. Lovers were sitting with lovers. Holding hands or hugging. Everybody was smelly and dirty, but nobody cared.  Seeing the water down in the valley though made them want to be clean badly.

 

The only ones not holding somebody's hand were Logan, Ethan, and Jordan. Nobody was sexually charged up.  They were too tired and hungry and thirsty to even think about sex, let alone do anything. They were almost out of gas.

 

"You know something, guys," Douglas said.

 

"What, that this is the best sunset we've ever seen in Inferno?" Alex asked.

 

"No. That if Matthew hadn't unbuckled his seat belt and looked straight down out of the window we wouldn't be here looking at this sunset. The whole time he was delirious he kept trying to tell us what he saw. He saw the green valley and the horse rock. Every time he talked, no matter how out of it he was, he knew how important it was for us to understand what he saw.  He got us moving to the mountains, looking for his green. He had me seeing the horse rock so we knew we were in the right place. It was like everything he did from the moment we hit the atmosphere of Inferno was to save our lives. He was the youngest and smallest of us, but his heart was the biggest. He was a brave little boy.  I love him and I miss him."

 

Douglas didn't mind this time that they saw his tears. Looking at the sun setting in the valley he knew he was without question the leader of this group. He knew with all his heart and soul that he had led them to this spot where they sat looking down at a green valley. He'd had lots of help from the friends he loved, but in the end he kept them going and brought them here. He had proved his leadership to his peers and to himself and had buried all of his doubts. He had also decided that his goal from this point on was to figure out how to get them home, to Earth.

 

All of the boys, except Logan and Ethan, were crying. It didn’t take long for them to start crying as well. They hadn’t known Matthew that well, even though he had been closer to their age than any of the kids on the ship. They had talked some on the "Starkeeper".

 

Their tears flowed because they missed their parents and their sister. They felt homesick and alone. They didn't care about the valley; they just wanted to go home.

 

Alex was holding Mike tightly. Mike was sobbing, thinking of the boy who had become his little brother. He remembered the night he gave Matthew a blow job. He thought about how it had seemed so good and so right and so full of love.  Matthew had been sweet and loving and trusting. He missed him terribly.  He just hoped that Matthew didn't die alone and scared, buried in the tent instead of dying quickly in the storm. He promised himself that if they ever made it home he would do something special in the memory of the little brother he had found on the "Starkeeper."

 

 

When morning arrived the new scout teams were ready to depart. Douglas was going to mind read with Scooter and see how long they could stay in touch.

 

While the scout teams were out looking for a path to the valley, Stevie was going to be busy trying to figure out how to get the radios to work. There had to be some key; Stevie couldn't quite figure out how to get them to send a signal over a long distance.  They never realized the radios’ lack of range until they had started into the desert.  Another mistake, Douglas thought, but not a terrible one. They had only needed the radios once and that was at the twin peaks, and they managed to complete their scouting missions without them. But if he’d been forced to split up the group they would have needed the radios badly.

 

Travis and Brandon took radios with them.  But unless Stevie could figure out how to make them work over a long distance, they were useless pieces of junk. The group said their good-byes to Scooter and Brandon, and Travis and Jordan. The two scout teams started out in opposite directions. Douglas wondered what they would find. 

 

Douglas lay under one of the sleds, his legs poking out of the back.  He had his eyes closed and was putting all of his energy into his thoughts. His energy level was low and he wondered if that would make a difference in sending his thoughts. He also wondered if they could send their thoughts farther when they were strong and not so hungry and thirsty and tired.

 

‘I'm with you all the way,’ Douglas sent. ‘Send to me and I will send to you.’

 

Scooter sent his thoughts back to Douglas, but it didn’t take long for them to start to break up and then stop. He thought about what a miracle it was that he and Scooter could read each other's thoughts. He estimated Scooter was about a half-mile away before he couldn't read him any longer.

 

Travis communicated with Stevie using his handset, but contact was lost about a mile from the encampment. Douglas wished Stevie could figure out how to get the radios to send farther. The two scout teams were instructed to return no later than three days from their departure. Douglas decided that if nobody had found a way down the cliff, the group would head south. Mike and Alex concurred, saying they had to go somewhere.  If they had functioning radios he would be able to instruct Scooter's team to wait until the group caught up with it. He could also call a team back if a trail down was found.

 

Douglas ordered water rations cut to a bottle a day.  He knew that was a killer. They could see lakes filled with blue down below, but they had no water to drink. Douglas didn't know how far they would have to travel to get down into the valley. He had given the scout teams the last of the extra water since they were walking and would be sweating out more water. There was nothing left to do but wait.

 

Stevie spent the morning taking apart a handset and putting it back together with parts from another one. He pushed buttons and entered codes, but all he received from both teams was silence.

 

Logan and Ethan were sitting in the shade of a rock. They still were a little sore from the crash, but were in good health otherwise. But like everybody else, they were weak, tired, thirsty, hungry, and dirty. They looked down at the water in the green valley below and wished they could go for a swim, get clean, and drink water forever.

 

Ethan told Logan what he had seen the other night between Scooter and Douglas.

 

"What do you think they were doing?" Logan asked.

 

"Some kind of sex thing. They kiss all the time. Everybody does here. It's weird, but OK at the same time. But they did more than kissing."

 

"I wonder why they do it?"

 

"If it feels as good as what I did, then I guess I can see why they do it.”  Ethan was referring to jerking himself off. “Have you tried it yet?"

 

"Not yet. I want to, but I'm so tired it's like I don't care."

 

"Me too. I did it once since. I wish I could do it more, but all I want to do is sleep."

 

"Maybe when we get rescued."

 

"Do you think we will?"

 

Ethan saw a couple of tears drop down his brother's cheek. "I don't know. I miss mom and dad.  And we were going to finally see Jeffrey again. Now we might never see them again." The tears came down hard now streaking his dirty cheeks. Logan saw that Ethan was crying just as hard as he was.

 

 

Scooter and Brandon stopped to rest and drink some water. They looked down into the valley. Scooter thought he saw something through the scattered clouds.

 

"Look down there, Brandon. Do you see something like a city?"

 

Brandon peered down into the valley. “Yeah, I think I do.”

 

"Wow." They stood quietly and peered into the valley. Scooter broke the silence. "I wonder who lives there and what they look like. I wonder if they're dangerous. I mean it could be mega-dangerous to go down there.  They have to be really smart though; look what they've done there."

 

“Dangerous or not, I guess we have to go down there. We can't live here. There’s nothing here but rock. We're all getting weak. We can't go much longer."

 

Scooter picked up his backpack and he and Brandon trudged on. Scooter was happy that his old friend was with him. He would have loved it more if Douglas was with him, but

being with Brandon made him feel happy.  Scooter grabbed Brandon’s hand and they walked naked together in the sun.

 

 

Travis and Jordan stopped for a drink. They were both very tired. Douglas's plan was for the teams to travel until dark. The next day they were to rise early and continue on until noon. They would then turn around and return to the encampment. If nobody found a trail, then the group would head south, doubling Scooter’s path, and hope they found some way down before the water ran out.

 

"Jordan, can I ask you something?" Travis inquired. 

 

"I dunno. I guess so. What?"

 

"On the 'Starkeeper' you always seemed to be looking for trouble. Here, except for a couple of times, you've been way different. Why were you always trying stuff? You were mean to Matthew on the ship, but you took extra good care of him here in Inferno when he was hurt.  Sometimes you could be so nice, and then you'd team up with RC and we all would hate you. You seem like a pretty good guy a lot of the time."

 

Jordan looked at the ground. He didn't want to talk about this. The "Starkeeper" was like his kingdom and he could rule it. This trip was harder than some because the boys on it were different. And he couldn't even get the younger ones like the twins to have anything to do with him. Only Matthew seemed to follow him, and he lost him, too.  And now he was not only lost, but soon could be dead if they didn’t find a way into the valley. It wasn't until Matthew got hurt that he realized how much he really liked him.

 

"We all need to be together, Jordan. You don't need to tell me anything you don’t want to. I just want you to know we need you. And Douglas trusts you, otherwise he wouldn’t have let you be a scout."

 

Jordan liked hearing that. They got up and continued their walk, only now, Jordan was walking next to Travis as much as he could instead of trailing behind him.

 

 

At the camp Stevie was about to give up on the radio. He had tried changing almost every part and pushing every possible combination on the menu. Nothing changed. It wouldn't work long distance. Evening was coming. They were getting ready to settle in for another night. Douglas went to look at the sunset. Alex came and sat beside him.

 

"Nice sunset, huh Douglas?"

 

"Yeah. It looks beautiful down there.  Water and food so close, but so far away."

 

"You'll get us there, Douglas.  You've done great. From getting us started, to handling RC and Jordan, to getting us here. You didn't let us down."

 

"I lost Matthew." He didn't mention probably losing Robert Charles. It was like nobody cared.

 

"And you gained Logan and Ethan. They would be dead now without you deciding on the scout teams. We've been through so much and we still have thirteen. That says a lot."

 

They sat quietly for a while longer.

 

"Douglas, why didn't you let the scout teams each take a sled? They could've gone farther, faster."

 

"First, you can see looking both ways, you can't always drive a sled along the cliffs. They would have to get out and walk a lot of it anyway. Second, we have a couple of guys getting pretty tired here. What if the sleds don't make it back? What if something happens? Warren has been so tough, but he can't walk a long way. The twins are holding up pretty good, but they are little. I'd rather have the sleds. I haven't been planning very well if things go wrong, I guess it's time I did."

 

"Things are going to start going right, Douglas. But you're doing great. I'd like to see a group of adults do what we've done. Think about it.  Me and Mike are the only ones over 14 years old, but we've survived in space, found a planet, landed on it, and survived on this hell hole of a planet. And we're still going. We love each other and work like hell for each other. With RC gone, it's like our only goal is each other. I dare any group of adults to do all this and not fight and argue. And a lot of that is you, Douglas."

 

"Maybe. But a lot of it started on the 'Starkeeper'. And started with you and the concert for Mike. That brought us all together. So you better take a lot of credit."

 

"Who would have thought that a trip on a starship would be full of gay boys who end up finding lovers and loving each other."

 

"This might sound funny, Alex, but I wonder if a bunch of straight boys could have done this. I wonder if they would have stuck with each other like we have. Our love has helped keep us together and survive like nobody else could."

 

"You might be right, Douglas. We're a pretty special group."

 

"I miss Scooter."

 

"I know. I missed Mike when he went with you."

 

"Mike and I did some stuff with each other. I hope that doesn't make you mad at me."

 

"No, I'm not. You needed it. Mike told me. I could never be mad about that. We all made an agreement back on the 'Starkeeper' about having sex. I love you both. I love everybody here."

 

The sun was pretty much set. Down in the valley they could see lights. Houses and towns they figured. There were intelligent beings down there. They both wondered why they hadn't seen any signs of them before. Like fliers or something or even something on the radio. But then, if this was the only colony on the planet, they didn't have much reason to leave it. But they should at least be exploring in fliers or something. Brandon said Earth colonies had atmosphere stations that needed checking. It was weird they didn't see something.

 

Alex pulled Douglas close and kissed his lips. Douglas kissed him back. They watched the sunset and turned back to the camp. Mike had seen them kiss. It made him smile. Mike didn't mind that Douglas got into a sleeping bag with Alex. He was going with Stevie. Douglas had a lot of pressure on him and seemed to need to be hugged every night. Mike was happy to have Alex give it to him.

 

Logan and Ethan got a tent to themselves this time. Logan was going to show Ethan what he found out about jerking off. He lay naked on top of his sleeping bag. He closed his eyes to think a sexy thought, and just like that he was asleep. Ethan fell asleep right after him. Everybody was too tired for sex of any kind, even jacking off.

 

 

Scooter and Brandon got into their sleeping bag. They only took one backpack and one bag so they could trade off carrying it. Scooter spooned his old friend and they fell asleep.

 

Travis and Jordan crawled into their sleeping bag. They touched because they had to, but were back to back. But as Travis started falling asleep, Jordan turned around and spooned him and hugged him tight. They fell asleep touching closely.

 

When morning came Travis and Jordan started south again. They walked for an hour when Jordan said he needed a rest, so they stopped. Travis looked at the naked little 12 year old.  Travis bet when he was clean and fed he would look really cute naked. He'd never seen him naked on the "Starkeeper". But when he wasn't walking around with an attitude he had been cute there. But now they were all dirty and naked and some of them had cuts and bruises and sores.  Their hair was long and messy. Every day is a bad hair day, Travis thought. But they're all still sexy. Now that's a weird thought, he thought. My friends are all sexy. Not just Ryan. Maybe I really am gay, and it's not just Ryan who is sexy. He got up. He was too tired and hungry to think.

 

Jordan got up and went up on a flat rock up by the cliff. He took a pee against another rock.  Then he noticed something.  The flat part on the other side looked worn. He went over to look.  It looked almost like stairs. Then he saw that it started down the cliff. He got down on his belly and looked. The cliff wasn't as steep here, and going down it in a switchback was a trail. It was the way down. He got up and ran to tell Travis.

 

 

Scooter and Brandon figured they still had three hours to walk. All they saw was straight cliff going down.  Looking ahead they couldn't see where there would be a trail going down. But Scooter felt that tired as they were, they should go as far as they promised Douglas, because who knew what was ahead.

 

"Brandon, have you ever thought about what the aliens down there would think of us?"

 

"Well, first Scooter, I think we're the aliens, not them. It's kind of their planet, even if they aren't from here."

 

Scooter laughed and saw what Brandon meant. "Well, you know what I mean. Look at us now.  Dirty, naked, looking like hell. They sure won't think much of humans when they meet us."

 

"Well, maybe they will think we're supposed to look like this. Who knows. I mean we don't know what they look like. Maybe they're all hairy and shit."

 

Scooter laughed. But, he was tired. He didn't want to let Douglas down, but they had to turn back. He couldn't keep going. And if Travis and Jordan didn't find anything, then they would be coming back this way anyway. They just would slow down when they got to this spot. He would set up some rocks as a marker of where they turned back.

 

Suddenly the radio squealed. Then a voice came over it. It sounded like Douglas. Stevie came through again, Scooter thought with delight.

 

"Scooter. Brandon. They found a way down. Come back. Over."

 

Scooter unclipped the radio from the pack. "That’s great Douglas! We got your message and are turning around now.  We'll be back before it gets dark. Over."

 

"Good job. See you soon."

 

Scooter felt full of energy all of a sudden. He and Brandon turned around. Travis and Jordon had found a way down. There would be water and food down there. And who knew what else.

 

 

Stevie looked at Douglas with a big smile after he got through talking with both sets of scouts.  Travis and Jordan would wait where they found the trail until the sleds got there.

 

"Another miracle, Stevie." Douglas kissed him on the lips.

 

"Not really. I should have figured it out days ago it was so simple."

 

Stevie had been going through the sled onboard computer menu. One choice said power options.  He always figured it had to do with the power chips, which were working perfectly, so he never went into that menu. This time he went into it and surfed through it. He came across one that said radio. He pushed the screen and got a power boost choice. He pushed it and it said boost on. His heart was pounding. He wondered if this was it.

 

He picked up a handset and pushed in the numbers for Travis's radio. Travis answered with a surprise voice. It worked! And from there he found out that they were just starting back, that it looked like they had found a path down into the valley.

 

Stevie was angry at himself for never thinking of the sled computer, that the handsets were connected to the sled. But, better late than never, he thought. They now had communication.

 

He knew this was going to be important for them.

 

 

Scooter and Brandon got back just before dark. They were so exhausted that after hugs from their loves they collapsed right into their sleeping bags.

 

Douglas knew they had to leave early the next day. Jordan and Travis didn't have much water left. They had enough to last until the end of today, unless they cut back, which since they weren't doing any more hiking they probably did. Douglas and Alex looked down at the lights again. Soon they would be there. It was going to be a whole different adventure. Hopefully, one that would get them back home. Now the big question was who and what they would meet down there.  Douglas crawled into his tent, and went into Scooter's sleeping bag. It was so nice to be touching his love again.

 

In the morning they started the sleds and headed north. They could travel fairly fast. They were in contact with Travis and Jordan and by early afternoon they met up with them. They looked at the trail down. It was carved in the rock, probably by laser tools. It was steep, but not too steep. It was pretty narrow, but not so restricted as to be dangerous.  There were an extra few feet from the side of the cliff.

 

They would have to be slow and careful but they had room to walk, at least if the whole trail was like this. Since they didn't know how long it would take them to go down, they would wait to start the next morning. They would need the whole day and they couldn't just stop and sleep on the trail. They were going to take all their water and food. It was just about gone anyway. The biggest kids would carry the most.

 

They spent the afternoon packing and figuring what to take. They had to leave the sleds behind, of course.  Douglas was going to miss them. Without them they would have been dead long ago.  They had been lucky. Except for the broken track they worked perfectly. And the broken track had let them see the horse rock and find the valley. From what Douglas saw if they had kept going in the same direction they would have missed it.

 

That evening they looked down into the valley again. All thirteen boys were sitting together. The love was flowing like electricity. Even Jordan was part of it, and the twins were feeling it.

 

"You know something?" Douglas asked.

 

"What?" Warren asked.

 

"Pretty soon we are probably going to be the first Earthlings to meet an alien race.  It could be good or it could be horrible. But I have a feeling that whoever could make a valley like that on a planet like Inferno can't be all bad.  Evil people don't make things like that valley. But whatever, us, a bunch of kids, we're going to be the first. We've survived hell, and tomorrow we're going to make history. Even if nobody ever knows about it. Guess we should be pretty proud of ourselves."  They let out a weak cheer, and even as tired and weak as they were, they let Alex and Stevie lead them in a song. It made them feel good. They headed for the tents for the last time. Tomorrow would be another long day.

 

 

They started off after eating an energy bar each. They each had a backpack. The bigger boys carried a sleeping bag on theirs. The packs were filled with water and energy bars. Douglas had one laser pistol and Alex had the other one. Douglas, Scooter, Alex, Mike, Travis, and Jeremy each had a radio. Each boy without a radio was assigned to a boy who had one and told not to leave him.

 

 The trail was steep, but not too steep to traverse safely if they were cautious. It switched back and forth. They could feel the air getting thicker and more humid. The temperature went down, not up, because it was controlled in the valley, just like on Earth colonies.  A little after noon they made it to the bottom and started into the forest. The trail headed west.  They had seen that there was a lake straight west. They stopped to eat and rest, then continued on. Each step was hard. They were so tired, so hungry, so thirsty.  Warren felt sick. So did Jordan and Ethan. But they kept going on. Scooter kept feeling his next step would be his last but he kept managing to take one more. They were so used to the thin air that the thicker air in the valley was hard to breathe. Warren was having the worst time, and it seemed like his asthma was coming back. Mike and Jeremy had to help hold him up sometimes.

 

After another hour they turned a corner on the path, and through the trees they saw blue.  WATER!!!!!!! Suddenly the steps didn't seem so bad. Suddenly they could see what they had wanted for so long. Before they knew it, they were at a clear lake. It was surrounded by the trees of the forest. A stream ran into it. The bank was man-made and high, but there was what looked like a small beach a few yards from the path.

 

They pulled off their heavy backpacks, their bodies almost feeling like they were floating as the weight came off of them.  As a group they went into the water. It was cold, but it felt great. Cold, clear water. Wet water. For the first time in weeks they were in water. Every boy was crying and laughing and splashing and drinking and washing weeks worth of dirt off of themselves.

 

Douglas hoped the water wasn't dangerous, and even if it was, it couldn't be as dangerous as no water at all.  Finally they got completely tired out. They lay on the beach and let the sun dry them off. For a short while, they felt happy. But they were still hungry, still tired, and still lost. They looked to Douglas to see what to do next. If there was ever any doubt about Douglas as their leader it was all washed away in the cold, clear water of the lake. Douglas had been right. He got them from the wreck of the "Moonduster" to the life of the valley. He never gave up. Now they looked at him expecting all the answers.

 

 

They were the Hakaanen.  Their planet was  called Hakaan. They were a peaceful race living on a beautiful planet. When they discovered warp drive they went exploring the galaxy. They learned about terraforming and they founded two colonies. They hoped someday to find other intelligent life, if there was any.

 

The Hakaanen believed in love between the same sex. Men loved men. Boys loved boys.  Women loved Women. Girls loved girls. A man went with a woman to have a child. They liked each other as friends, but most of them had partners of the same sex.  Men raised the boys and taught them sex and how to be men, and women did the same with girls. There were some of them who lived like Earth couples, which everybody thought was cool. It just wasn't the way most Hakaanen were.

 

Then bad times came. A starship coming back from exploring a new planet brought a plague back. Sickness hit the planet. People became very sick and died.  Millions and millions of people.  Almost 1/3 of the population of Hakaan.  They quit going into space. Suddenly the starships quit coming to the colonies, and nobody knew why.

 

Finally a starship with a robot pilot was sent to each of the colonies to tell them no ships would be coming. They didn't want to infect the colonies. They might end up being the last of the Hakaanen if a cure for the plague was never found. Nobody would come again until that happened and the planet recovered. The robot ship was still in orbit around Inferno, which the Hakaanen called Shakaman Prol, which meant Fire Planet. So the boys were close with their name for the planet.

 

The robot ship came with its message twenty-five years ago. After that things started wearing out, and they had to use and remake parts to keep them going. The most important things to keep going were the atmosphere makers. In a few years they wouldn't need them, but for now to keep the atmosphere making going, and to keep it in the valley, they needed the machines running. That was their air and their water. It was their life.

 

One bad thing did happen. While the Hakaanen were peaceful, there were some who weren't.  There was a group who wanted to fix the fliers and go back to Hakaan. And they wanted an end to the same sex relations. They wanted no more machines at all, except the oxygen makers. They wanted no electricity. While the Hakaanen never got jealous about lovers, saying love was for all, the Shkah, the group that was different would get jealous about their women. One Shkah killed a man for touching his woman. The man just asked about making a child, since he had his own man lover. Killing hardly ever happened with the Hakaanen. The Shkah would wreck machinery and mess up farms. Once they ruined a reservoir. Finally the Shkah were sent to a small valley over the northern hills. That was over fifteen years ago.

 

The Shkah lived in the other valley. They had a small atmosphere machine and small poor farms, along with a small reservoir for water.  Sometimes they would come across the hills and raid farms. Some people got hurt, but they didn't kill because they knew then the Hakaanen would come into their valley for revenge, and they were outnumbered. But they were not a nice group, and if they could, they would conquer the Hakaanen and run Shakaman Prol the way they thought it should be run.

 

The Hakaanen were the size of Earthlings.  They had pointed ears and light golden manes that went down their necks and part of their backs.  The adult manes were thicker than the children's, and the male manes were thicker than the female’s. The Shkah dyed their manes various colors, but never golden.  They hated the regular Hakaanen and didn't want to ever follow their rules again. 

 

The children discovered sex early. Sex play was part of growing up, and they did it in the open.  From the time they were six or seven the boys learned how to make other boys' boners feel good. To the Hakaanen, sex and being naked were all natural, so why fight it? They encouraged it, all but the Shkah, who didn't allow any sex between children of the same sex. The Shkah were teaching that sex like that was wrong, and that they would be punished in the next world for doing that. Shkah children grew up unhappy and full of hate. But their hate was for the regular Hakaanen who liked sex with the same sex, not for their parents who made them unhappy and full of hate.

 

 

Douglas led the group off the trail and into the woods. They set up camp. They would go on the next day, with full water bottles. He didn't want to be surprised at night. When they met whomever it was that lived here, it would be during the day and not by surprise. The only bad thing was a rain storm in the middle of the night. They didn't get too wet, because they had made some shelters from brush. Brandon had warned them if this planet was like the Earth colonies, there would be rain at night—at least until the whole planet became Earthlike. Here in the valley it was probably controlled.

 

When the rains started they just got up and stood in it, mouths open, naked bodies getting soaked.  They didn't care. The rain was like heaven. They all held hands and danced and sang in it. They hugged their lovers wet bodies to warm up after.  The twins warmed each other up. Travis made sure Jordan was included with him and Ryan. By the time the evening was over, each of them had orgasms except the twins, who fell asleep hugging each other. Once more Logan wanted to show Ethan, and one more time they crashed instead.

 

The next morning they were refreshed, but hungry. They needed to find food. They went to the lake to clean up and drink. Looking over to the other side they could see dust. Somebody was coming up the trail. They scattered back to the woods and hid. It didn't take long for a wagon to pull up. It was pulled by two beautiful unicorns. A group of what looked like naked boys got out. Some were holding hands. Some were kissing. Some had boners. Their pubic areas were hairless. Except for their pointed ears and a light golden mane down their backs, they looked almost human.

 

The thirteen boys held their breath. As far as they knew, they were the first humans to ever see an alien race. And they looked just like kids like them. Douglas looked at his group.  The boys were his. He loved them. He would die for them. But it was time for the next step.  He had decided earlier the best thing to do would be for just a couple of them to step out. Mike and Alex knew his plans and would take care of the group. He pointed to everyone to stay. He waved to Scooter.  The two naked boys, clean and fresh now, stepped out of the woods, ready to make first contact.

 

NEXT: CHAPTER 29 First Contact

 

Comments are welcomed.  E-mail me, Douglas DD,  at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com