Title Unveiling!

A great gas giant hung in the sky overhead, brilliant rings surrounding its multi-colored orb of layered clouds. Several of the larger moons were visible in various phases of their orbits. It gave the landscape a dull glow at night, the rolling grasslands dotted with stands of trees darkly outlined, making the campfire more of a tradition instead of a necessity. The large tent a short distance away gave off light of its own from within and had all the trappings of civilization except for hardened walls to keep out the sternest of elements. But, for the lanky child whose brown hair seemed to always be a mess, this was all the grandest of adventures.

She was in an inquisitive mood tonight, her mother and father taking a stroll around the nearby lake for some much-needed time to themselves. The old woman had been delighted to watch over the child for them, and the girl had immediately started peppering her with questions of whatever came to her mind.

Finally, she seemed to narrow in on something she felt was particularly important. “Why are there humans everywhere in the galaxy? We had to come from somewhere first, right? How did we get from our first planet to all these other stars and planets and moons and these things?” she asked, sweeping her arm to encompass the landscape around them.

The old woman beamed at the child as she stirred the fire with a stick, causing embers to flare up into the night like glowing insects. “Well, child, that is a long story! It may take a few nights to tell it all.”

The girl brought a blanket over her bare knees, settling into her lounge chair further. “Good! We’re going to be here for a whole week, so you can tell me a bit of it every night!” She reached into the basket next to her chair and brought out a bag of mixed berries and nuts and began snacking.

“Well,” the old woman began, “long ago, on a planet almost lost to time, the very first humans were learning some very hard lessons. They had nearly poisoned their own planet, fought constantly with each other over resources or old superstitions, and yet still dared mighty things, reaching for the stars despite the myriad problems of their world.

Just when things seemed to finally be making a turn for the better, disaster struck! But they did not despair, they did not turn back to their old ways of fighting each other during the last days their planet had left. Instead, they worked together, and built a grand spaceship to send their best and brightest to a new world so that they could start over… it held five thousand people when it left their dying world-”

“Five thousand? I thought you said it was a big ship?” The child had a confused look on her face.

The old woman laughed. “Oh child, you remind me of a dear friend, from a long time ago. Just like this story, which was also a long time ago, remember? Humans weren’t as good at building spaceships as they are now, so this ship was one of the biggest they’d ever built… but it almost didn’t make it…” the old woman said, raising her arm to the night sky dramatically.

“We begin with a tale-”