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The Lantern Festival (10) : Scientists have been hard at work trying to understand the strange, glowing qualities of the luminescent caterpillars found in the caves by the reservoir. The caterpillars still shrivel up if they are taken out of the caves but their glowing secretions have been processed into an organic paste that can withstand the outside world. The city is selling paper lanterns infused with various seeds. The glow paste is full of minerals to support healthy plant growth without risking damage to the environment; all lantern purchases come with a small packet of activating power that will heat the paste up enough to mimic the effects of a candle without the concerns of flammability. When the glow paste loses its heat, the lantern will return to the Earth and upon the first rain (or any contact with water) the paper will dissolve and the seeds may begin to grow. All proceeds from the lanterns are put right back into the community to support local conservation and environmental protection efforts.
He’d seen it on the news, and heard people talking about it in the streets, and it had his interest as it was a bit personal in a way. He’d seen the caterpillars, though it had been a very brief glance at them, but they were like nothing which had existed on his home planet. To know that scientists here had found some use for them, however minute it might be. This use however - to help plants grow and spread seeds, was close to home for him. His own planet had been destroyed because of the damage they’d caused to their environment and here was a way to help this planet's environment. It wasn’t a lot, that was for certain, but every bit counted as far as he was concerned.
With what little money he had, do not as where he’d gotten the money from, the blond had gone out into the daylight in order to buy one of these lanterns which he planned to assemble just around nightfall, He figured it best to get it during the day so he had time to figure it out, and make sure he did things right, he didn’t want to mess things up.
Purchasing one of these lanterns had been easy enough, though there had been a line of people hoping to do the same as himself. Perhaps if enough people did something like this, if it caught on and people elsewhere did it, then they would make a bigger impact on this planet than he’d first thought. That idea in mind and Ash was headed back to Ida’s apartment in order to set things up - nightfall was only three hours away.
Suffice to say he had it together in time and he headed for the city's biggest park, and the biggest open space in that park, so he’d have room and it could get some good height and clear the treeline. When he sprinkled the powder onto the lantern he stepped back and watched as it slowly lifted itself off the ground and took to the air, brilliant and glowing, it was hope - hope for here and hope for Selinur.
For a moment he did close his eyes, and took a deep breath, but then opened his eyes to watch his lantern take off with a breeze. It would do ti’s job he hoped. It would create new life….new green life. Ash, not looking one bit the alien they were, stood there in the open field watching his lantern drift away with the cool air. It was still glowing but it was harder and harder to see..the glow dimmer and dimmer. Soon it was out of sight, too far away for him to see, and that was when he turned and headed off. “Maybe they have hope here…” Just maybe. Someone, a lot of people in fact, had been thinking of the environment and saving the planet for these lanterns to be made. So many had bought them as well.
Maybe it would be so bad here…this planet might be worth hanging around on for a while, and not just to help them defeat chaos, but to see the people here fix their problem. They knew it was an issue after all, and that put them ahead of the people on his own planet who didn’t figure it out till it was far too late. Not until the virus was rampaging across the planet had they figured it out - all of it.
