Looking Up.

NaNo is progressing well, and even with the extra punishing schedule of Backwards NaNo, I'm still ahead of either that or the regular schedule.

So far, Sage, aged 18, has stolen a car, crashed it and almost killed herself doing so. She was only saved because the alien spaceship assigned to watch over her broke all the rules and saved her life. They're are in so much trouble if Meeth can't smooth things over for them!

She's on Ganymede and Meeth has decided to just go ahead and act, to show Sage where she is and hope that the teenager will respond the right way and become who she needs to be.

[image error]"Look around, what do you see?" Meeth asked. Sage frowned. Meeth's voice had been so quiet that she wasn't sure she'd heard correctly.

Sage tore her gaze from Meeth's laughing, watchful smile, and she looked round.

"Chairs, a stone floor, a big dome thing like a giant greenhouse but it's cold, and not really bright enough to be a greenhouse," she began and Meeth waited as Sage's gaze widened to see beyond the clear dome.

Beyond the transparent glass was a beautifully desolate landscape pitted with valleys and peaks all covered in ice. It glittered against the velvet dark of night. "Where are we?" she asked slowly.

"Sit down." Meeth murmured softly, Sage flicked a quick glance towards her. Annoyed, and unnerved, by the amusement she saw, Sage reached for a chair and sat. It was soft, padded, comfy, but a bit large. Big enough to sprawl in if she'd felt safer, more relaxed. She perched on the edge and stared out at the cold world.

Inevitably her eyes were drawn to the inky black of the sky, so much darker than she had ever seen before, the stars so much brighter and clear. And in that black sky, blotting out those crystal clear stars was something else.

"Holy Shit!" Sage barked, the words exploding from her before she could stop to think.