First Sight of Green World

When I was deep in the creation phase of the Okal Rel Universe, and asked to talk about it, I'd start with the characters. But no one knew them, so I spoke about the themes and world building, the economics, AI, reality skimming as a faster than light mode of travel and why the need for bio-engineered pilots led to Sevolites. It is still about the characters. And now I'm old enough to ignore good advice about what does and doesn't work, I'm seeking to re-enter the worlds of the ORU scene by scene, with a bit of a "gloss" where it might help.

Amel at 16 gets his first sight of a green world.

from Part 3: Pretenders

"Amel?"

The name failed to claim Von's attention. He was too busy peering out the window at the wonders of a living planet, visible at last through the fluffy clouds of Barmi II's rich atmosphere. He had never seen anything like this on the barren surface of Gelion.

View out a plane window of clouds in a blue sky.

There were streams and fields and ribbon-thin roads with a few tiny vehicles moving on them. In some of the fields there were animals and most of the vehicles looked as if they were being drawn by horses, although their shuttle was still too high up for Von to be sure. He had never seen a real horse before except in pictures. He was less interested in the long trucks that must have been powered by rel-batteries or some locally generated fuel with eco-safe waste products.

It was so amazingly beautiful he forgot to breath regularly.

"Are you doing alright, Amel?"

He smiled at the big, blonde woman sitting opposite him with clouds streaming past the window at her back.

"Air-ee-yum," he said aloud, and laughed.

"Yes?" she asked, puzzled by the way he emphasized each syllable.

"It's in your name," he told her, pointing towards the window. "Air." And yumminess, he added to himself.

They were speaking the old Earth language, English, for the sake of his nervousness concerning Gelack pronouns. In Gelack, he was still prone to talk like a commoner, although he understood he wasn't supposed to anymore. Ayrium indulged him with English. She had been wonderful to him about everything.

Von looked out the window again the moment they were out of the clouds. They were closer now. The patchwork of fields below him looked like a scene from one of the Demish storybooks he loved.

"Oh, Ayrium," he gushed, "no wonder it's okal'a'ni to even dream of hurting green worlds for absolutely any reason at all! No wonder there is Sword Law, instead, and Okal Rel."

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An #okalrel story bite by Lynda Williams. #spaceopera #scifi

Learn a bit about the ORU and tell a friend, because we could all use a little epic in our lives.