The Valle Santa Estrella Project - Planet Crete - [Invite only]

[Hans von Goeben]

Hans kneeled down next to Ana. His shadow was casted over the valiant sprout, shielding it from the punitive, merciless sun for a moment. Despite such hostile circumstances, this plant was successfully blooming. To the right and left, more representatives of its species flourished scarcely where the aquifier was flowing along in the deep, forming a thin trail of hope in a desert.


Memories of his six terms on Cambridge hit Goeben. Expeditions to alien worlds in order to study their strange fauna and flora had always been an exciting break from class and theory. Hans' group was always assigned to the same academic, Professor Doctor Martin Sinclair. An old, experienced biologist who prepared his students thoroughly for field trips.

Once, the Professor taught them a quick, yet remarkable history lesson about reading the gifts of Mother Nature. Even the ancient Egyptians, one of the first civilizations on Terra, were already able to find not only water, but ressources and medicine by simply examining plants. Knowledge aquired over thousands of years since the dawn of mankind, now nearly forgotten in our age of technology and abundance. The following excursus would forever be stuck in Hans' brain.


The flashback left him kneeling in front of the plant for a minute. Truly, this fascinating stubborness for life wrested respect from the scientist. Again. A clear counter-argument to his assumptions on Crete. Without backtalk, Hans looked up. A smile formed underneath the mask. "You are right, Ana. Please forgive me that I jumped to conclusions." A Rheinlander not stubbornly defending a statement he made? A rare occasion. She received a reassuring nod. "With a lot of effort, strong pumps and huge Biodomes, I think your clan can make this work after all."