A Trip to Archony

He was sitting in his armchair, looking at the sky through the glass ceiling. "If only I were 23... ", he thought. His father came to him. "Dreaming about Archony again, aren't you?", he asked. "Yes", Jack said. "Have just a little patience. In two years' time, you will be allowed to travel through space. Until then, you should keep practicing to improve your pilot skills." "Dad, tell me more about Archony." "I don't know if it's a good idea. You will see it with your own eyes someday." "Please, dad... " "Ok, son. But don't tell your mother." "I promise!" "The Archonians call their planet Earth. They look very much like us, but still, they are so different. They put all sorts of things inside their bodies, through their mouth, and they call this 'eating'. They sacrifice other species in order to do that." "What kind of species?" "There are very very many species out there. Most of them are smaller than the Archonians and have their whole body covered with short hair. There are also species that can fly and only have two legs. They call them 'birds'. The birds' bodies are covered in a very strange material, which is called... er... I can't remember." "What does it look like?" "I cannot compare it with anything. It's soft and light, and it is said to be helping birds to fly and to maintain their balance." "Awsome! I thought that only spaceships can fly." "So did I, before. Until I saw it with my own eyes. Their upper members are covered in that material. Oh, yes, feathers. That's what Archonians call it. And they start moving their upper members up and down - like this - and they just take off. It's amazing." "Wow!" "Yeah... Indeed" "What else? Tell me more." "They don't take their hair off their heads, like we do. The men wear it about 5 or 7 cm long, while the women, even longer." "Really? How do they look like?" "They are actually cute, you know?"

Jack's mother entered the room. "Jack, it's 5 to 10. Sleep time." "Yes, mother. Good night, mom, dad!" "Good night, son!" Jack went to his bed, imagining how Archony looked like. "You told him about Archony again, didn't you?", mom asked. "He asked me to." "You shouldn't do it anymore. He is dreaming too much of it." "At least he has a dream..." "But this dream will destroy him. Those species are dangerous, do you forget?" "Those species can be harmless, if you know how to deal with them." "He will not fly to Archony. The end", mom said and then went to her own bed.

Jack was lying in his bed, but he couldn't sleep. He was looking through the glass at the millions of stars and wondered which one was Archony. He needed to fly there as soon as possible. He couldn't wait for two more years. And so he decided he won't. He got off his bed and checked that everyone was already sleeping. He sneaked into the control tower and opened the glass ceiling. Then he went straight to his father's spaceship and turned it on. "What a luck it doesn't make too much noise", he thought. Then he entered Archony's coordinates - he knew them by heart - and took off. The spaceship didn't cause him any trouble, though he had never flown before. It was just like in the practice sessions. He didn't even have time to get used to the ship that he already saw Archony in front of him. It was so blue and beautiful. As much as he was getting closer, his excitement grew higher . He landed on a smooth surface very shiny and unstable. He would find out later on that this substance was called water and it covered 70 per cent of the planet's surface. It was also a vital substance for Archonians. The put small amounts of it in their bodies, they combined it with other substance, or they sank in it to purify their bodies.

He met a few Archonians. Their language sounded weird at first, but he learned it very quickly. It was something common for his people to learn things easily. It was quite hard for him to make Archonians believe that he actually came from another planet, Kliss. He told them how different things were on his planet. The temperature was always constant there, there was no rain, or grass. They were the only existent species, and their cognitive capacities were much more developed than the Archonians'. The time was divided years, which had 500 days, each having 30 hours. They slept from 22 to 30, and worked, learned, practiced or entertained themselves during the other 22 hours. Their planet was covered in something similar to Archonian sand, but somehow more compact.

Jack knew it would be only 8 Klissian hours until his parents would find out he was missing. However, this meant two years in Archonian time. He had enough time to learn their customs and way of living. Indeed, in 9 Klissian hours, he was localized and returned to his planet. He was submitted to a trial, and condemned to 10 years of isolation on a deserted island. Moreover, all his memories about Archony would be erased. He knew this would happen. But it was a risk he took willingly. And he also knew that one day he would go back on Archony and stay there for his whole life.