The first Castian

Four hours later, they found a small creek. After inspecting it, they removed their empty water bottles from backpacks and drunk as much as they could before collecting some for storage. They had been walking under the scorching sun for hours, and Jed was already feeling exhausted.

Before signing up for the Young Scientists Space Program at Multiversal Exploration Inc, Jed spent most of his time in his home laboratory, either typing away in his computer, playing video games or trying out all kinds of scientific experiments. He had never walked even a kilometre on foot, so the journey was killing him.

After everyone had got enough drinking water, Jed removed his shoes and shocks before placing his feet in the warm water. He felt a bit of relief. When the others saw what he was doing, they did the same, except Andres who impatiently paced around while waiting for them.

When they finished, they got up and started walking again. The midday sun was hot, scalding their heads.

"If it wasn't for these shades and hats," Seo Jin said. "We'd be burnt to crisp by now."

"Agreed," miles said. "Hey, are you tired? I can carry you."

"Why don't you carry David?" Seo Jin asked him.

Jed turned back and saw that David was slowing down. He had been walking fairly slowly since morning, but he seemed to be getting worse. He stood and waited for David, the way he had been doing since they set off.

"Thank you," David said when he caught up. The boisterous boy seemed to have lost a lot of life. His eyes were sunken and his lips were dry and cracked. Jed linked his right hand with David's and supported him as they continued walking. It seemed like the journey was not close to an end.

By evening, they had reached a waterfall on a cliff. The area around there was cooler and there was a very small cave next to the waterfall. It was not as big as the other one, and had only one small room. Inside it, miles, the tallest person in the group couldn't even stand straight. At 5'6, Jed could almost stand well in the 6foot tall cave. It was very inconvenient place but the best they had found since morning.

Their second night in Castia was fairly uneventful. Seo Jin gave David some cold compresses while miles told them horror stories while they sat by the fire. Before sleeping, they activated the general system and slept off, assured it would alert them in case of any danger. The holographic box was designed in a way that it would be invisible to everyone else apart the five explorers.

When morning came, David had got worse. His skin was looking very pale and he could barely stand up. After a short walk, he collapsed on the ground. Jed, Andres and Miles decided to take turns carrying him. When it was his turn, Jed felt like his back would break any minute. David was barely conscious which made him very heavy to carry. Ten minutes after he started, he felt like his legs would buckle any time soon.

Miles couldn't stop laughing and making jokes about Jed's weakness. Even Seo Jin and Andres laughed at some of his jokes. When they approached a forest, Jed dropped David to the ground and fell right next to him. The trees provided shade from the sun so everyone sat down to relax.

"It seems we're getting to the good parts," miles said, lying on the grass. He placed his hands under his head and stared above.

"No, the scarier parts." Seo Jin said. "Sooner or later, we'll met one of the Castians. We don't know how they'll receive us but I have a feeling it's going to be negative. Have you guys thought of the fact that they could kills us? What if they're not as human as we think? These people have been living here for thousands of years, and we barely know anything about them or how they've evolved."

"I know there'll be some pretty ladies," Miles said. "I can't wait to see the Castian beauties. Who knows? Maybe I'll not even want to go back to the earth."

Jed stood up and started walking away from the group because he did not want to think of earth. He always thought his life on earth was terrible, but was now beginning to miss it. Earth had so many good things he didn't think he'd ever find in Castia.

He frowned when he came upon a small creek with a nursery bed. There were several types of seedlings. It made sense. The first town was still about seven kilometres away. Jed scanned the area. The frown gave way for panic when he saw that one of the beds had been freshly watered. He turned to leave the place but bumped into someone. He looked up slowly and saw the face of a young woman with bright blue eyes. Her skin was tanned and looked pretty rough. She was wearing a black dress that went all the way to her knees.

[Scanning] a small voice in his head said. [Castian Woman, about 19. Heartbeat very stable. No signs of fear]

"I have to go," he said.

[Auto translation turned on] the system in his head said.

"Who are you?" the young woman asked.

Jed opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He stepped aside and started running through the forest.

"I found a foreigner!" the woman yelled.

Jed turned and saw four people standing on the other side of the creek. He tore through the forest, his chip activating his super speed. His friends were laughing when he reached. Jed bent down and scooped David. "They're here!" he said. "Let's go."

Seo Jin stood up, grabbing her backpack. "Who?"

"The Castians. There's a woman and-

Miles stood up. "Why should we run? We're going to a Castian town after all. We might as well meet them here."

"Yeah," Seo Jin added. "Maybe they can even treat David."

Jed sighed and placed David back on the ground. "Fine. If anything bad happens, don't blame me."

"Here they are," a throaty voice said.

The four explorers turned to stare at the five Castians glaring at them.