Planet Petra

Beep Beep. All personal to the docking station. Arrival at Planet Petra. Beep Beep.

Blake wakes up to the intercom system announcing the ship's arrival to the planet. It will be a busy day. Blake has to help, but mechanical parts later that day, at the beginning of the day, are free to himself. He has business to attend to.

All planets have libraries of information. This is where Blake is headed. At the library, one can surf the outer space web to search for someone and make inquiries about information. Blake is searching for information about his father, specifically his location. The other location Blake wants to check on is for the bank to check on transactions.

Finishing lacing his shoes, Blake brings a backpack with his handheld, bank number, and identification. People hurry in the hallway transporting materials out to the docking area. Blake passes through the docking station and is met with bright sunshine. Planet Petra has blue shimmering water far away glistening. As dusty air blows in his face, he asks for directions from a docking station worker.

Passing adobe buildings in sweltering heat makes the time pass slowly. The buildings are close together and have low ceilings. A few plants outside provide shade. A couple of streets down from the docking station, Blake spots a sign labeled Information Center. Blake heads into the refreshing cool insides.

"What can we help you with today?" says the front library assistant.

"I wanted to look up information," says Blake.

"This is where information devices are located; we also have files you can search by going to the help desk and entering what you are looking for," says the librarian.

"Thank you," says Blake.

Blake enters his father's name. The results on screen are of old research papers written by Jonah Sharp about the chemistry of plants and the process of decomposing. Blake also found the year his father graduated from upper-level school. Nothing of value can be found. He then searches for an expedition of scientists, but he does not know the name of the ship his father left on. A dead end. Blake thanks the librarian and asks how to reach the Bank of Central Money. He walks out with the directions memorized.

His hopes dwindle as he walks to the bank. Blake stopped to buy a drink. It is a smoothie of a fruit smooth and thick orange in color. It tastes delicious as it touches his taste buds. The bank is a five-minute walk from the library and easy to find. Once inside he will be asked for his bank account information and identification.

"Has my father Jonah Sharp made any transactions lately?" Ask Blake.

"Let me see… no he has not had any recent activity, your account remains at +1,000,745 credits," says the teller.

"Thank you," says Blake.

Blake leaves the Bank and walks back to the Oasis. He eats much lunch in a depressive mood, barely tasting his food. The time has come to go meet Jacob to buy mechanical parts. He is waiting for Jacob's instructions. Meet in the docking area

where he spots Jacob.

"Good afternoon Jacob," says Blake.

"Good afternoon Blake," says Jacob.

Jacob and Blake walk down to Planet Petra. The afternoon is still hot: they sweat through their mechanical gear. They have brought an empty duffel bag for small parts. Anything big will be ordered to be taken to the Oasis. They enter the supplier store. Immediately they look for the parts they need. As they find the small parts they put them inside the duffle bag. Order forms are filled for the bigger parts to be sent to Oasis.

Blake arrives from his apprenticeship after a few minutes on the Oasis sorting and storing mechanical parts. Blake also does an end-of-month inventory of their supplies. Now that the work is done his mind goes back to his father. Blake has little hope of finding his father, but he will. He committed himself to it. A day on Planet Petra has gone by.

The next day is another day on Planet Petra. Since it is his free day Blake wants to explore the city they are in with his friends from class. He grooms himself and heads for breakfast. There at the end, he finds the table with his friends and classmates Lilly and Alex.

"Hey what's up?" Blake shakes Alex's hand.

"Hey Blake," they said in unison.

After breakfast, they head into town. All three want to go shopping. Lilly wants to buy clothes. Alex and Blake are interested in gadgets and tools. They look from booth to booth. Blake buys a flashlight that measures. After shopping, they want to watch a film so they pull up a map to the cinema.

After being lost for a few minutes they found the cinema. The film choice was a romance film or an extraterrestrial film. The boys leaned on seeing the latter of the two but Lilly wanted to see the romance film. The boys were kind enough to let Lilly decide as long as she would help them with their chemistry test next month. Lilly agreed to help them study. They watched the film and ate fresh-popped popcorn-like on Earth.

Their eyes adjust to the bright outdoors, once done watching the film. Blake suggests they go see the water. They pay for a bus ticket at the station in the center of the city. The bus departs for its two-way day trip. On the bus is a tour guide who talks about Planet Petra. Once they reach the beach 20 minutes later everyone gets off the bus. The waves lapping on the beach causing ripples. Medium blue is water.

Under umbrellas, the three sat enjoying drinks and chatting. The bus leaves in two hours, reminding the tour guide to everyone. Some people from the bus have gone in the water for a swim. The sunsets in the sky as the bus pulls out.

Onto the Oasis, the three return ready to turn in for the night. They said their farewells and went into their rooms.

Beep Beep. Exiting Planet Petra's atmosphere. Beep. Beep.