Plains of golden shortgrass stretch out across the gentle hills of a highland. A mountain covered in mossy grass rises in the distance, pouring forth a waterfall down it’s low slopes. It rains gently from soft, rolling gray clouds above, the drops pitter pattering on the ground and feeding the plants as the terralminxes hide away in their dens with their families, waiting for it to pass. It is peaceful here.

  From the sky, gentle thunder claps far away. Red and blue tenderflowers bloom when it rains, soaking up the water through their chutes and storing it in bulbs below the loamy soil. A caressing breeze rolls in from the north, brushing the shortgrass and tenderflowers in long, slow waves.

  Then, from the sky, a massive metal machine falls. It is long and white, with three large rings around it, all spinning. It comes quick, and backwards, its thrusters blasting out hot blue flame to slow it down. Across the plains it glides, descending, coming lower, and lower, until it aligns itself just so. It sheds its rings, tossing them carelessly amongst the fields of grass where they land with loud thuds, still firing out hot flame from it’s thrusters.

  As it nears the soil, great feet extend from its bottom and sink into the ground. It has landed. The thrusters die down, whining as they cease. The ship sits for a moment, as if watching its surroundings. Things are still once more, though the silence is thicker. In the distance, a forfoxi watches, its twin tails twitching. Then, a small hatch opens from its side, and a ramp pours out of the opening. The forfoxi scurries away.

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  One creature, a nervous thing, a human, steps out and looks around. There is no sign of movement, not with the commotion they’ve caused. Behind this human, another one is peering out of the ship. They turn to each other before the first, a woman, takes off her helmet, exposing her pink tipped black hair, and takes a deep breath of air.

  She smiles.

  The second does the same, excitedly letting her red hair flow, and she too sucks in deeply a breath of fresh air. She rushes down the ramp, but is held back by the first, who warns her to be careful. The woman doesn’t listen. She hurries down and takes her first step on this alien soil, removing her glove and holding her hand out to feel the rain on it.

  It feels like home, she thinks.

  As the other woman joins her, the two stare out at the fields beyond them. There is potential, they agree. There is a future here. And surely there is work to be done, for whatever the ship carries, it is of great importance, and would need tending to.

  For now, though, they take a moment to enjoy the peace.

  “What should we call this place?” asks the first woman, Yu.

  The other woman, Allister, turns to her, smiling widely, for though the past weighs heavy on her heart, the future is here, and there is…

  “Hope,” she says. “I’m going to call this place Hope.”