As the strange flying machine cut through the air as it was lifting off, it seemed as though it was rising with an invisible source pulling it upwards. It was astonishing how such a heavy and bulky craft could elevate at such a high rate of speed.
Seconds later, the machine halted from rising straight up in the air. It hovered for a brief second, as to catch its breath, then began to move forward at a pace which was minutely slower than as it was rising. After a while of flying horizontally, and quite peacefully I might add, I caught one of Petra's thought shapes. It was a mix between shock and pure amazement. She seemed to be incredibly confused, and almost did not believe what she was looking at. Often, she would look out through one of the four windows in the flying machine, and gaze upon the unfertile, the unlivable ground, far below.
Petra
English: Petra, Siq at the widest place Deutsch: P...
English: Petra, unfinished tomb Deutsch: Petra, un...Then she would direct her attention forward and look at the pilot, with the same confusion.
After I received Petra's message, I sent one back as simple as I could so that Petra could understand that this is a new and better place for all of us. I placed some little animals in the picture so that Petra could relate better to what I was trying to say.
Rosalind caught some of the image which I had sent and snickered to herself. In real words I questioned, "What's so funny?"ÃÂ "Oh nothing,"ÃÂ she replied, "I just thought I heard something funny."ÃÂ The ride to Sealand seemed to take ages; both myself and Rosalind were anxious to get there and start a new life. Even Petra was in a hurry, but instead of wanting to get there quickly, she just wanted to have a better understanding of what was currently happening. She was still intrigued by the amazement that the ship provided. All of us felt safe and secure in this machine; we knew nothing could ever happen to us; we knew we were safe. We felt this safety from the time we took off, as we went through the badlands and the inhospitable regions, and until the time we arrived at this place, the beauty of which I could have never imagined.
The first thing that came to my mind when the city began to come into view was how different it was from Waknuk. The buildings here were completely different from what we were used to. They were much larger; larger in height and larger in width. And they seemed to be made of some sort of shiny substance that obviously was strong because it could hold so much weight. Almost every building was differently shaped from the rest; some were tall and narrow, and some were long, and lay along the ground, and weren't very many stories tall. In between the buildings, may they be housing units, or used for other purposes I did not know, there seemed to be what looked like roads, dark in color, almost a blackish gray. And on these roads there were machines, moving quite fast, that seemed to be these people's means of transportation. At first, I believed these machines to be horses, the standard transportation in Waknuk, however the speed of the contraptions was nothing like I had ever seen before and ruled out the possibility of them being horses.
We got off the helicopter and were escorted through the city, and down the streets by the pilot. We were at ground level, and looking up, it was amazing how high these buildings rose. There was this artificial light that seemed to be emanating from every second or third pole along each street that engulfed the city and kept the dark from taking over.
Petra said verbally to me that it was quite loud here, and it seemed as though people were in a hurry and were very busy, because we could see people bustling all over the place. I reassured her and said that there are many people and they may indeed be in a hurry, but the probable reason they are rushing is that they need to get to one place, but the amount of people is slowing them down.
After only what seemed like minutes on the streets, we arrived at where we would be staying for the next little while. It was not like a home in Waknuk, much like everything else, it was quite different. Instead of having many rooms, there was only one. The room was entirely white; the ceiling, the floor and the walls. In this room there were many small compact machines, made of what seemed like the same material as all the buildings we made of; a sort of shiny bright substance. Also in this room was a bed, nicely made covered by a quilt with some sort of abstract design. There was no smell to the room either, it was as though it had just been constructed, coincidently just for our arrival. The whole room, which was not very large in size, only about fifteen by seventeen feet, seemed to be able to sustain at least one person's life. It was very odd to me; a whole family in one room? How would they eat and sleep? How would we eat and sleep? The pilot left for a brief second, and returned with some clothes which looked quite uncanny to us at first. However, Rosalind secretly informed me that these were not unlike the clothes that the people all around us were wearing and if we wanted to fit in better, we might as well wear them.
I also caught a thought from Petra on how funny these clothes looked. I sent back nearly the same image as Rosalind had previously sent to me on how we should just wear them anyways. She understood.
The pilot of the plane left the room, probably allowing us to explore the quarters we were currently in for ourselves. As Rosalind and I explored the room, (Petra did not; she simply lay on the bed) we discovered many things that seemed to be man made in origin, yet seemed to be highly technologically advanced. "We better not use these"æinstruments until we have a better understanding of what they do. We will ask the pilot what these are and what they do when she returns."à"Alright,"àRosalind replied, "I'll go tell Petra.' Rosalind verbally told Petra that we shouldn't touch or use any of these devices until we know what they do. She did not seem to understand, so Rosalind sent her a thought image and Petra better understood, she nodded her head in approval.
"I don't know if I can get used to all of this new stuff,"ÃÂ Petra then said carelessly.
Both Rosalind and I looked at each other, then I responded, "Listen Petra, we all know this is new, uncharted territory for you. Heck, I don't even know what to make of it, and nor does Rosalind, but we are here now. This place, this Sealand, is a new marvelous place, much better than Waknuk could ever have been. We are free to live out our lives for who we really are inside, and we don't have to worry about being hunted as deviations or offences. This new place offers us a brand new life; a new starting. We can learn and live the way these wonderful people do, and hopefully, have as much fun as they seem to be having. We know it's difficult, but you must try your hardest to try and get used to it. It isn't going to be easy, but we know you can do it."ÃÂ "Alright,"ÃÂ Petra said, "but do I have to wear those ridiculous clothes?"ÃÂ "Of course not,"ÃÂ Rosalind replied, "I think the people here would like to get to know the real us first."