If
Vasco da Gama could do it, why couldn’t I?
If
Neil Armstrong could set foot on the moon, why couldn’t I on a world unknown?
Ofcourse
I could! Ofcourse I could!
And
I ventured out to Azarath, the land far far away!
It happened one night, when sleep
deprived I sat bright eyed and bushy tailed with my laptop by my side, my
portal to the whole wide world and beyond. I had just finished watching Firefly so instinctively I started
googling it. From the page on Firefly I
moved to articles on planets and moons. One web page led to the other as I zoomed
from one galaxy to the next, reading about planets and moons far and wide. And
from that night onwards, I ended up doing the same, time and again. The world
shown in Firefly had mesmerized me
and as crazy as it sounds I had this
strong urge to explore the universe, even if it was only online!
But before I knew it to my utter
surprise, I had the offer letter from the
Ministry of Expedition for Planet Earth in
my inbox! Apparently they had monitored
search patterns on the internet to zero in on people interested in discovering
unexplored territories of the universe. And my ‘search’ at nights, for the lack
of having something better to do, had seemingly caught their attention.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I
read that they wanted me to go on an expedition to Azarath, the land far far away, in return of the
collector’s edition of the unreleased seasons of Firefly! Yes, they had caught on to my weakness. Now how could I
ever say no to that! So without any delay I started on the most important chore
prior to my maiden voyage; shopping for outfits like those of the star fleet Lieutenants!
Trust me looking the part was important as well.
Finally with instructions from the Ministry of Expedition I sailed into the
fathomless galaxy; onboard my very own spaceship which I named Serenity, inspired by Firefly I know! From earth I moved
through various star systems navigating through stars, moons, planets and even
the occasional meteors. I steered Serenity
through a few light years before finally landing on to Azarath, the land far far away which was ironically no longer far
away!
Slowly I stepped out of Serenity as excitedly as Neil Armstrong would have out of Apollo. The feeling was awesome and out of the world; now that I think about
it I was actually out of the world! And then began my mission to study the
terrain, the creatures and anything and everything the planet was about, after
all the Ministry had put their trust
on me.
Azarath
was a terrestrial land made up of rocks with a solid but overly rocky surface.
The rocks themselves were a lighter shade of brown and sandy white. There were
others though in crimson and it felt as though I had landed right in the middle
of an old Western. Stones round, oblong, square and every other shape possible
were strewn across. In between were pieces which resembled metals of some kind,
some grey while some black. For a moment I felt that I had reached a stony
beach, such was the landscape. Sneaking through the greyish clouds were solid
rays of Azarath’s sun reflecting off
the stones and metal pieces. The ground sparkled as though it was in the middle
of the world’s treasures that I stood.
I had to move deeper into the
terrain to explore it further but I couldn’t do that with an oxygen cylinder
tagged along. So I needed to test the atmosphere and do it soon. With the
apparatus provided by the Ministry officials
I began the experiment and while the device made complex calculations, I waited
anxiously for the result in the middle of exceedingly auburn paraphernalia. Suddenly
the gadget buzzed and I was able to finally take off my mask. Yes, I was able
to breathe without any aid and that had to be one of the positives of Azarath.
I moved ahead with my mini
motorized vehicle further away from where I had landed and as I looked around I
realised I was right in the middle of a valley. The mountains on both sides
were huge and crimson in colour. They extended as far as my sight went and
seemed to dissolve in the brownish sky. Believe it or not it looked like I had landed
in one of the cartoon worlds I had grown up watching. With spectacular caves,
the mountains looked majestic!
I looked further away as far as my
sight permitted and there appeared in the distance something unique, something
different. So I drove towards it, full throttle, and was completely awestruck
when I realised what I stood infront of.
It was an oasis, well sort of,
right in the middle of the rocky desert. There were trees, something like trees
atleast. However they were not green but purple in colour. Yes, purple with the
barks something in the shade of a darker blue. And there were thousands and
thousands of those. They felt like sponge and oozed out something gooey and grey
when broken. It was different, very different. There were giant flower like object
on every tree of ever colour possible as if were the planet of rainbows!
I had to look for water next so I
walked towards a dense growth of trees which appeared to be shielding something
a few meters from where I stood. The rocky surface gradually gave way to a finer
surface and as I moved through the spongy trees, I saw something unbelievable. A
huge lake filled with some water like liquid but red in colour lay ahead as far
as I could see. There was steam coming off it as though it was a hot water
lake. But when I dipped my toe in it the water seemed icy cold. Yes, it was a
strange planet for sure.
As I stood there looking up at the
sky with Azarath’s several moons around I felt a tinkling sensation on my feet. I
looked down and there it was the most endearing creature in the world, well the
outer world! It looked like a rabbit but had all the colours of rainbow on its
fur. Further down there were a flock of birds, blue in colour and chirping away
oblivious to me, the intruder in their habitat. A few meters form them were
creatures that looked like pigs but had horns like unicorns too and they were
all green in colour. For a moment I thought I must be dreaming and had to pinch
myself to realise it was reality. The planet was not only habitable but seemed
magical as well.
I took in as much of Azarath as I could; pictures and samples;
as I waved goodbye to the colourful planet hoping to return sooner and even
stay for a while longer! Yes I had become an explorer, the Azarath Explorer.
This post is part of Indiblogger's 'I am Explorer' Contest.
