Page 5 of Larz

“Are you going to hurt us?” Hailee asked, her voice steady despite the tremor that ran through it.

“I do not intend to harm but to understand why you have come.”

“We’re explorers... refugees from a dying Earth,” she explained. “We seek a new home.”

A refugee? The word felt heavy with implications, yet light with possibilities. A shared understanding flickered between us—a momentary bridge across the vastness between stranger and kin.

“Your journey has been long then,” I said, keeping my tone neutral despite the swell of questions within me.

Hailee nodded, looking past me toward her ship. “Too long,” she murmured. “We’ve lost much along the way.”

“The loss is a shadow that clings,” I whispered, thinking of our own losses over time—the traditions and knowledge that had faded into legend.

She seemed to ponder this before replying, “And yet we still look for light amidst the darkness.”

I couldn’t help but admire her resilience—her ability to hold on to hope when all seemed lost. It was a trait we Zorvians valued deeply.

“Your vessel will not fly again soon,” I observed aloud.

Her shoulders slumped slightly at this reality. “We know... we were hoping?—”

“To find refuge here?” I finished for her.

“If possible...” Hailee trailed off as if afraid to ask too much of this new world and its inhabitants.

“Our people value peace above all else,” I told her. “Your arrival does not go unnoticed or unconsidered.”

A flicker of relief passed over her face before she composed herself once more. “We have much to offer... knowledge from Earth, technology?—”

“It is not what you can offer that concerns us,” I interrupted gently. “It is whether our ways can coexist.”

Understanding dawned in Hailee’s eyes as she considered my words—considered what it meant not just to survive but to live among others so different from herself.

“We seek only harmony,” she said after a moment’s reflection.

“As do we.” A silent vow passed between us then—a promise that neither side would rush into judgment or action without thought for consequence or common ground.

A call from one of Hailee’s companions drew her attention back toward their group. She glanced at me once more before answering it.

“I must go,” she said simply.

“And I must report back.” My duty called me just as hers did her.

“Will we see you again?” Hailee asked with hope threading through her words like sunlight through clouds.

“You will see us,” I affirmed before melding back into the forest shadows—the veil between our worlds just slightly thinner than before our meeting.

Chapter

Three

Hailee

I came to with a jolt, the world around me spinning, metal groaning and the air thick with the scent of burning circuitry. I blinked against the harsh light that speared through cracks in the ship’s hull. My head throbbed, a relentless drumbeat against my skull. I reached up, my fingers grazing a tender lump.

“Is anyone alive in here?” A voice sliced through the haze of my mind.

I pushed against the cold floor, trying to sit up. My limbs felt like heavy lead. “Over here,” I croaked out.

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