The Green Twilight, Part 1

Ari hated this bit. She kept glancing over her shoulder at the horizon as she frantically hurried to get back to the compound before the bright primary sun sank out of sight. In the 14 months since her family had arrived at this idyllic backwater planet this had only happened twice. Twice was more than enough for a lifetime.

She cursed her father for signing up with the reps that had concealed a lot about the planet. It’s not like there weren’t colonies in binary systems already; prosperous, eternally sunny colonies that had happy, productive citizens all year round. At first glance Rosceo VII appeared to be much the same. Long days, short nights, fertile land and plentiful resources. The twin suns reigned gloriously in the yellow sky. What the reps had failed to mention was that unlike a regular binary system, once every six months or so the other planets of the system aligned with Rosceo Alpha, completely blocking it for almost a month. Usually this would just mean the days were a little colder with only one sun to heat the planet but at this point it became clear that Rosceo Beta was not entirely normal.

Ari snapped out of her reverie. With a start she realised that she had badly misjudged how long her journey would take. With rising horror she began to panic. The previous two occurrences she had been safely in the compound and watched the event with morbid fascination as the primary sun disappeared and the secondary took its place. This time however all she could do was watch in despair as the last rays of bright white light flashed across the landscape before her. As if it was desperately trying to help her home the last bit of light seemed to linger on her momentarily before it went into hiding; much as she should have been doing.

With an abruptness that bordered on offensive the light of Rosceo Beta flooded the valley ahead; bathing the hills and plains in a sickly green. The air itself glowed as if bursting with the pestilent hue. Instantly everything seemed darker and somehow unpleasantly alive with motion. Ari realised she was going to find out why the first thing they told you upon arrival was to fear the Green Sun.

• Novel Excerpt
• Short Stories