About an old friend

Dublin (Ireland), Earth, Sol System

I got a call from Yoraìn this morning. That sure was a nice suprise. He wants us to go down a few pints this weekend. Can't wait to have news!

Yoraìn was an Irish kid I met the very first day I set foot on Earth, at 8 years old.

I'll always remember that day. The landing was as boring as it got. Cpt. Manx and I left the Majanta while in high orbit to rendez-vous with the orbit-to-surface shuttle. The O-S shuttle looked like a wide glider. With a wing span no less than 500 meters, its central cabin could easily hold over 300 people. Earth had dozens like it constantly being assembled in orbit, launched planet-side, quickly disassembled on the surface, and sent back in orbit via surface-to-orbit rocket. From my tiny porthole, I couldn't see Earth itself, but I had a magnificent view of the moon. Contrary to my expectations, Earth orbit felt quiet, as I couldn't see any sort of space traffic.

Landing was impressive, but overall quiet. Of course, it was raining in Dublin. We were still inside the O-S shuttle, but I had a clear view of the action on the ground as the shuttle was towed. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. People walking outside, totally oblivious to the masses of water falling from the sky. Cpt. Manx was smiling.

"Always feels good to be home, right, kid?" He laughed quietly.

The following hours were long and boring - especially to an 8-years-old who didn't care for decontamination, citizenship validation and general paperwork. I didn't realize at the time how much Cpt. Manx went out of his way to make sure I'd make it to my grand-parents, the Colgans.

Then that was it. I was standing outside Dublin's Terminal 8, their famous spaceport. The Colgans were quick to find Cpt. Manx and I. Regardless of their insistence, Cpt. Manx refused their invitation to stay the night. Instead, he hugged me and told me he'd call in a month or so, when they would be ready to head back to New Lhasa. A month. Felt like a lifetime. Suddenly, I was totally alone. I followed the Colgans in the train, but just then realized they were strangers. I was soaked, afraid, tired and already hurting from Earth's gravitation. This trip had been a bad idea to begin with.

We made it to their home, a cozy apartment in the city's south side. I had seen a picture before, but I couldn't guess which one it was. All the buildings in the large street looked the same: three stories high bricked relics from the past, covered in vines and hanging gardens. It was impressive, for sure. It was seconds after jumping out of the train that Yoraìn showed up. He looked the same age as I, and had that totally mischievous look the Irish can sometimes have. He looked fat and bulky, but I now know that it was I, grown to New Lhasa's 0.7g, that was tall and frail. He extended a hand and said something that sounded 100% alien. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there, and turned to look at the Colgans, who laughed. I was terrified. Yoraìn laughed as well, retracted his offer for a hand-shake and instead punched me on the shoulder. I still didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I did nothing. Grand-Ma Colgan told Yoraìn he could come knock in a few days and then I'd be happy to tell him all about my travel through space.