The wind roared and roared. It seemed like
it carried the voices of thousands of people long deceased, as if it all of
them had decided that life on planet L should be eradicated. For thousands of
years, the elders had gathered every single piece of mysticism and mythology,
every tale and story told by a grandmother or a priest. And in many of those
tales the wind played a very important role. It was always a destructive force,
a very awful power of nature that menaced everything on its path, specially the
sensible civilization that had grown on L. Despite their advancements in many
fields, they still hadn’t been able to put an end to the never-ending problem
of the wind. Besides, they knew that doing anything against it would cause
consequences and who knew what those might be.
Planet L was mostly water, so the wind didn’t
really have obstacles that would stop it, like mountain ranges. On L, the only
obstacles were caves dug underground by centuries of people trying to find a
solution for their awful problem. They had also tried to build walls but that
had failed fast. The only way to properly survive was underground, below the
few continental masses of the planet. The cities below were small and very
damp, but the people had adapted fast and did not care anymore. They had also
developed a great sense of hearing and of sight, meaning they could navigate
the caves without fear of getting lost or hurt by falling or something like
that.
Their way of living was the main reason no one
in that area of the galaxy knew of their existence. Funny enough, many
creatures of the universe knew planet L. Pirates, bounty hunters and warriors
met there sometimes to exchange prisoners, goods or just to kill each other off
in very bloody battles. Almost all alien creatures could withstand the wind
easily, at least in some regions. And they liked that it made a cover for them,
in case authorities followed them from other systems. But the inhabitants of L
had no idea this had been going on for a long time. Their personal belief was
that no one on the galaxy would be interested in landing in such a nightmare of
a planet.
One day, however, something rather different
happened. Two ships entered L at very high speed, breaking the sound barrier
several times. One was after the other and, from time to time, it fired on it.
They had cannons mounted everywhere so one could only think they were bounty
hunters or assassins. The ship being attacked caught fire but kept fleeing into
some more shots mad it crash into one of the largest islands of the windy
world. The ship that went down exploded and the other one just left, its crew
thinking that all life inside of the downed ship would soon be dead, if it
already wasn’t. It was a matter of time.
Below, the people of a city had felt the tremor
of the ship crashing into the ground. They had been scared for a moment, but
then remembered that the weather report had clarified that a very strong storm
was going to take place outside, so it was better to stay at home and close all
doors, just in case the wind breached the main entrance. That was almost
impossible as the main entrance was made from an incredibly strong type of
metal they had found when building the caves, but these people preferred to
play it safe, specially when from their houses they could hear the moaning of
the wind and the voices of all creatures that had died out there in it. For the
young ones, the wind was a monster to avoid. For the older ones, it was the
difference between life and death and the thing that kept them there, at home.
As they all ran to their houses and took
shelter from the sound of the wind, in the downed ship its pilot was struggling
to get out of there fast. The other members of its crew had been killed and he
was the only one capable to transport their precious cargo back to their home
planet. The treasure was on a small chest he grabbed with bloodied hands. He
put it on a bag, which in turn he put on his back. He checked conditions
outside but couldn’t wait for the computer to calculate anything. Partly
because it had been damaged in the crash but also because there was gasoline
leaking all over the place. He didn’t have time to wait so he just put on a
suit and went outside. The wind knocked him off at first but then he managed to
sink his feet into the ground and at least walk slowly.
The storm was too strong but he managed to
walk away from the ship a few meters just before it exploded. He was pushed
away, landing on a puddle of mud and dirty water. The strength of the explosion
caused him to lose his balance and stability for a while. He even bled from one
if his ears but he could still hear fine, or so its seemed at least in the
middle of the storm. He had nowhere to go now so we just stood up and slowly
walked away from the wreckage. He turned around to see his ship one last time
and a small tear slid down his face. He had lived in that ship for years, but
now he had to move on and try to get someone to pick him up there. His suit had
a communications device but the wind wouldn’t let it work.
In the city below, as he tried to use the
device, a red light appeared in one of the consoles that checked security all
over the city. The computer had detected the device that the stranded alien was
using out there. But there was no one there to see it. Everyone had been
ordered to their homes due to the storm, to their fear of a wind that just
couldn’t get inside their city. However, there was a lonely native of L who
happened to be a priest. Secretly, he left his door opened when a storm
happened, as he loved the sound of the voices. He thought he could hear in the
wind what his ancestors wanted for all of them.
That priest was the only creature that heard
the destruction of the ship outside and he knew, right away, that that sound
had nothing to do with the storm. He ran to the metallic door that separated
the city from the outside world but just stood there, as if it was going to
open magically. Of course, it didn’t and he didn’t dare to open it by himself.
Doing so would mean the death penalty, by precisely stepping outside and never
coming back. The rules of their civilization were pretty clear and even it
moment, when his desire to see what was outside was so big in his heart, even
then he just couldn’t do anything. He just stood there by the door, waiting for
one more sound to make him do something crazy or at least let him know they
weren’t alone.
Outside, the stranded one was walking
clumsily, falling over very often, and almost going insane due to the voices
that he could now hear very clearly around him. He didn’t have a clue of what
they said, but he had a feeling it wasn’t anything good. Finally his device
began beeping and he thought that some ship was en route to save him. But that
wasn’t it. It had detected an energy source ahead, which might lead to life or
at least to a shelter. Going more and more crazy by the minute, he walked in
that suit as fast as he could, careful not to drop his bag with the small chest
inside. He had a massive headache and he knew he was bleeding but he just kept
on going.
Then, the priest heard a sound on the door. It
had been a subtle, soft sound but he knew he had heard it… Again! It was as if
someone was trying to know but didn’t have the strength to do it. As one of the
few that dared to listen to his planet, the priest knew this time the death
penalty was worth it. Even if there was nothing there when the door opened, he
knew something else had happened and that was good enough for him. He then ran
to the control panel and entered a password that had never been used. The door
moaned, as everything turned to lift it over the priest’s head. The wind
entered from the outside like a plague but he felt something else enter so he
closed the door instantly.
When the metallic door had fallen into its place,
the priest turned around and saw the stranded alien lying on the cave’s floor.
He was bleeding or at least that was what it looked like. Their blood was
yellow and his was green. His breath was slowing down. The priest dragged the
body to his house and there checked the alien. It was risky, but he took off
the helmet. He waited but nothing happened so he got to work and cured him as
well as he could. He removed him from the suit and put the bag with the chest
on a chair nearby. For days, no one knew there was an alien in that house and
they wouldn’t think twice about the bag on the chair.
As it happened, that bag carried the most
important object in the universe. And it was a coincidence, a very happy one to
be precise, that it had landed in that forgotten part of the universe as many
hands wanted that thing but only one person could manage to handle it. And that
person was not very far now.
