I took a deep breath and stretched out my limbs. Finally, that trip took ages.
I was on the final leg to descend dirt side and start adjusting my environmental suit and checking the seed core. I couldn't remember how many cycles it had been since I last entered a gravity wall. Any mistake could be deadly; the closest medic pods circled the asteroid belt aboard the transit station.
Usually, I stayed away from gravity walls. Still, my best friend Jacob invited me to join a human ritual for his deceased progenitors. Many of his family members sharing heritable lineages were gathering from remote systems. Apparently, his clan claimed an ancestral planet where they still followed primitive rituals.
I had served on the warp ship XP880 with Jacob. After several cycles aboard the warp ship, we exchanged the rites of companionship and continuously shared assignments. It was a high honor to participate in the human ritual for the deceased.
As humans say: "touchdown." I finally leave the shuttle and head toward the local transporters.
I transfer to a habitat near the ritual and wait for Jacob. In the meantime, thousands of his clan mates arrive, accompanied by boxes made of deceased plant matter. These must be the caskets that humans use to transport their dead progenitors.
Finally, Jacob tells me he is planet-side and will meet me at ritual site PAPA-LIMA-99963.
"Hello Jacob. It is an honor to attend your clan's ritual for the dead"
"Thanks buddy, for making it out here on short notice. I couldn't miss this one; the next ritual won't take place for another 500 cycles. I don't have the time to wait."
A chime sounds out, and everyone nearby receives a message. "PAPA-LIMA-99963 is cleared to begin. Please complete the rites within the next 40 turns." As far as my eyes can see, thousands of small gatherings start opening their respective caskets.
Jacob opens his grandfather's box and inspects the body. He splashes his grandfather with H2O and sprinkles a small amount of crushed silica and organic matter from his species' homeworld. Jacob then steps back and exclaims, "From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust."
I move forward and place my seed core on his grandfather's chest. It activates and decomposes the flesh to fuel its growth into a plant organism. Once it matures in a few cycles, it will be chopped down and turned into another human casket.
Jacob and his fellow clan members are silent as we leave the fields of immature plants sprouting from thousands of fresh graves.
Interesting_Ping t1_iuk7pax wrote
Reply to [WP] Your human best friend who is grieving invited you to go to a funeral of his or her grandparent. It is your first time going to an Earthling's funeral so you do not know what to expect. by JustAnotherYaoiFan
I took a deep breath and stretched out my limbs. Finally, that trip took ages.
I was on the final leg to descend dirt side and start adjusting my environmental suit and checking the seed core. I couldn't remember how many cycles it had been since I last entered a gravity wall. Any mistake could be deadly; the closest medic pods circled the asteroid belt aboard the transit station.
Usually, I stayed away from gravity walls. Still, my best friend Jacob invited me to join a human ritual for his deceased progenitors. Many of his family members sharing heritable lineages were gathering from remote systems. Apparently, his clan claimed an ancestral planet where they still followed primitive rituals.
I had served on the warp ship XP880 with Jacob. After several cycles aboard the warp ship, we exchanged the rites of companionship and continuously shared assignments. It was a high honor to participate in the human ritual for the deceased.
As humans say: "touchdown." I finally leave the shuttle and head toward the local transporters.
I transfer to a habitat near the ritual and wait for Jacob. In the meantime, thousands of his clan mates arrive, accompanied by boxes made of deceased plant matter. These must be the caskets that humans use to transport their dead progenitors.
Finally, Jacob tells me he is planet-side and will meet me at ritual site PAPA-LIMA-99963.
"Hello Jacob. It is an honor to attend your clan's ritual for the dead"
"Thanks buddy, for making it out here on short notice. I couldn't miss this one; the next ritual won't take place for another 500 cycles. I don't have the time to wait."
A chime sounds out, and everyone nearby receives a message. "PAPA-LIMA-99963 is cleared to begin. Please complete the rites within the next 40 turns." As far as my eyes can see, thousands of small gatherings start opening their respective caskets.
Jacob opens his grandfather's box and inspects the body. He splashes his grandfather with H2O and sprinkles a small amount of crushed silica and organic matter from his species' homeworld. Jacob then steps back and exclaims, "From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust."
I move forward and place my seed core on his grandfather's chest. It activates and decomposes the flesh to fuel its growth into a plant organism. Once it matures in a few cycles, it will be chopped down and turned into another human casket.
Jacob and his fellow clan members are silent as we leave the fields of immature plants sprouting from thousands of fresh graves.
"Thanks buddy. Let's go grab some beers."