Photo Courtesy of Fandango
It had been so long. The burns in the earth were gone, as were the cargo modules. Yet Harold’s tree was still there, surrounded by gnarled branches. It wasn’t much to look at, but there was a time when it had been home.
When they’d landed, the rain had been unrelenting. Water streamed down his face as he strained to read the markings on the supply crates. They were short on tents, on stakes; many were lost with a module that had burned up entering the atmosphere.
That night, soaked to the bone, he’d shivered beneath a tarp hastily lashed to those twisted limbs. It was leaky and cold, far from his gleaming apartment on Earth, but on a stormy night on a strange world, it had been heaven.
Now, years later, their world had changed. A teeming city of glittering skyscrapers rose behind him, less than a kilometer from Landfall park. He had a new apartment now. But it wasn’t home.
This tree, this was home.
Written for the FFfAW Challenge for the Week of January 9, 2018. Word count: 171. Read other stories based on this prompt at InLinkz.com.
Michael T. Kuester 
Beautifully written and it seems like the start of an interesting story 😊
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That’s very gratifying to hear! Perhaps at some point I’ll revisit Harold and his tree, and see if I can’t expand on the story.
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What a great story. Well written and filled with yearning and vivid descriptions. Nicely done
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Thank you very much.
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My pleasure 🙂
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I am amazed! Emotional SciFi…gud one.
Coincidentally I also wrote a SciFi on this prompt, titled Magical Music
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Excellent story. Hopefully on this new planet we have built our cities in a much more ethically and environmentally-friendly way – or have we made the same mistakes again?!
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I like to think that in this future, we’ve matured as a species, and have learned to coexist with our planet, or planets, as it were.
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I can totally relate to this. Sometimes the safe harbor during a storm, no matter how humble, is the most homey of all. Great to hear their colony developed even after such a difficult start.It’s good to see someone else writing scifi.
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Wow, that escalated quickly. From trees to skyscrapers in just a few years. Their construction methods must be incredible. 😉
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Every day our technology advances by leaps and bounds, and it’s safe to say that when colonizing space the ability to rapidly establish a colony would be crucial. That being said, there’s a reason I was intentionally vague in terms of how much time had passed.
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What a great SF story! He is in love with nature and not man-made things! Nature is his home.
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I feel it’s only fair. After all, in his most desperate hour, it was nature, not all our vaunted technology, that kept him safe and warm.
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Great story. It makes you question what is home and for your character roots and safe haven seem to win the day.
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You put this story together well, allowing me toI understand how he feels.
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“That night, soaked to the bone, he’d shivered beneath a tarp hastily lashed to those twisted limbs.” What a grand visual!! Enjoyed!
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Wow! On the surface, it’s science fiction, but at its core, such a powerful ‘human’ tale.
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great story – and what better place to call home than a gnarled tree.
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There’s no place like home, and this tree is home. An ode to the simple life, the familiar life. A forever reminder that the only constant in life is change. Nicely told story MTK.
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