Captain!

ㅤ Chat was bursting with pride! She tirelessly recounted how she had once plied not only the seas but also interplanetary space on the Van Eltia, long before the Ark came into being. With a grin that accentuated her wrinkles, she recounted how the unrivaled Van Eltia had become the heart of a new, incredible vessel. A cosmic vessel. Giver of life. They flew to distant stars, seeking hope and solace in their light. Chat included. She had sacrificed her most precious possession, but her smile never wavered as they talked about it. No one could have read on the captain's face how painful the decision to part with the legendary ship had been. Chat knew there was no other way to survive. Either she and the ship were heroes, or two entire worlds of corpses scattered among the cosmic dust. Inferia and Celestia were inevitably drawn toward each other. The hour of destruction was near. The best minds struggled to save as many people and various representatives of flora and fauna as possible. The inhabitants of both planets prayed tirelessly to Seyfert. Each person asks about something different: salvation, the right decision, an idea for a way out of the situation. And some—about a quick and easy death. "We will live..." Chat said, touching Van Eltia's hull one last time before handing her over to the scientist engineers. They destroyed Chat's heart so that her legacy would become the heart of the Ark. As she said goodbye, Chat didn't shed a tear: she had cried everything she had over the previous night. She had sworn then to uphold the ship's honor. And now they were moving in search of refuge—a new planet—having witnessed the deaths of two at once. "Captain!" the observer drew attention. "We've found a habitable planet! It has no land, but it has the energy source to create it!" the man laughed. "We should all decide together whether to continue searching for a suitable planet or to stop here." Chat had the right to decide for herself, but she was loved and respected precisely because she always took the opinions of her charges into account. And this time, too, a vote determined fate. Too many were tired of wandering... The artificial sky only evoked a nagging pain of nostalgia, a longing for something real. Something of one's own, even if it was no longer native. The soil taken from two planets became simply land for planting, not a reminder of home. The children born on the Ark knew no "home" at all. They weren't even fazed by the fact that the Ark would never fly again. "Prepare for a hard landing!" Chat announced over the loudspeaker. The animals were secured, and the mothers sang soothing songs to the children, becoming a kind of anthem for the new world. The atmosphere of the new world greeted them with fire, but was immediately cooled by the sea. Soon, the Ark was covered with earth and greenery—there was enough reserve energy for every corner. Chat liked the idea from the start that even if problems arose with energy production on the planet they were developing, they would always have their own island where they could live without shame. And problems arose... "The energy source is... a living being," the researcher announced. Silence fell. Knowing the captain, even the most unprincipled chose to remain silent. Chat, too, was in no hurry to break the silence, trying to accept the fact that her people would never set foot on dry land. She was a person of the sea; it was perfectly normal for her to spend her entire life on a ship. But the others... Their hopes and dreams were directed elsewhere. "There is one among them, capable of providing enough energy to create a continent. If we catch it..." "If she is the only one like this, then it is even more important not to touch her!" Chat immediately rejected the idea. Even she knew the concept of an "ecosystem" to interfere with it so crudely. However, if these were particularly dangerous creatures threatening to destroy all the refugees, she would have agreed. This time, for the sake of survival, not comfort. "We need to find an alternative energy source..." she paused, resigned to the impending future. "Otherwise, we'll have to save up for a launch the old-fashioned way." "That will take hundreds of years, maybe even a thousand!" the researcher was horrified. "Better than home built on blood," she silenced everyone who was indignant. "Let's wait a bit. In the meantime, let's use what we have. We still have a lot ahead of us. If we manage to find intelligent life, maybe they'll help us find a solution..." Chat didn't live long... She didn't have time to establish contact with the new race that had frightened the peoples of Celestia and Inferia. It seemed they had already been through this, but for the new generation, the inhabitants of neighboring planets were united. For the old, the fears of bygone years had faded, but new ones caused unrest. And not everyone found it terrifying to sacrifice strangers whose language they didn't even understand. Having tasted boundless freedom and lost a just leader, the people soon lost all sense of honor... ㅤ