Edward opened his eyes and lay motionless, letting the annoying alarm tweet at him. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open because this was the first time he had to wake up on a schedule since he embarked on this long voyage. It had been nearly a year since he took on this odd job way out near Corona Australis and today was finally the day of arrival. Some moon baron had purchased a jovian diving fuel scooper and needed somebody to train a crew and help operate it. The job was very lucrative, but it involved relocating to some nowhere system almost a thousand lightyears coreward from Earth. There weren't many volunteers to dedicate who knows how many years on a job like this, but Edward had done nothing but work aboard one of these Hydrogen scoopers for many years of his life already. He thought he would be stuck aboard forever and never get anywhere. With the money from this one job he could sail back with all his savings and retire on Mars or maybe even Venus. He had never before dreamed of living so close to Earth before accepting his job. The last eight months aboard the huge star carrier transporting him and the scooper ship had been spent dreaming of seeing real wildlife in their natural habitats. Edward had been born on a moon, lived on city stations and worked aboard starships. The only living thing he had seen outside of a zoo was a human. As a child he had visited every zoo he could find and looked at every image of the parks and preserves left on Earth where they had all come from. He had once visited an Earthlike planet nearby his home system and was so enamored by the sky, the horizon, an the colors that they were all he could think of when he returned to his daily life aboard the cramped quarters of his ship and station. He finally reached over to shut off the alarm and sat up. The carrier had dropped out of warp sometime while he was sleeping and was now on approach towards his new home. Edward needed to prepare the scooper for separation from the carrier and prepare himself to meet the new owner and his new employer. After the long voyage he had fully leaned into the grubby lifestyle of a spacer. Which is why he needed to get up with plenty of time to groom and clean up before meeting the man with enough resources to buy a fuel scooping ship and offer 30 years worth of wages for a captain. Once he deemed himself presentable, he grabbed the small bag containing everything he owned and went to exit the tiny compartment. He had grown very familiar with his little corner of the giant star carrier, but now he needed to find his way to the docks. He asked the hallway display for directions and then slowly meandered his way through the corridors to his new life. Approaching the docks, Edward gazed out the viewports at the huge wings of the Hydrogen Scooper. Images of it gliding like a Manta through the colossal clouds of the jovian that he called home for so long rushed into his mind. Though it had been more than a year of passing the time since he had last done anything aboard he was relieved that it all came rushing back to him like it was yesterday. He was surprised to feel relief at the thought of getting back to the familiar operations. Maybe even a little excited about seeing and gliding through the clouds and storms of a whole new system. As he stood there admiring the view he heard a voice from beside him, "It really does look like a huge Manta Ray doesn't it?" Edward started, surprised to find his thoughts being spoken aloud, and looked beside him to find an unfamiliar man, "I won't go so far as to say that was the whole reason we chose this ship. But, just between you and me, that is the reason that I pushed for it." he continued. Edward caught a glimpse of the man's face and saw he had a big smile. His hair was white and frizzy and he wore a blue shirt and pants. Edward finally responded, "And I won't say that I chose to work aboard one because it looked like a Manta from Earth, but it is a big bonus." The stranger turned and extended his hand for a handshake. Edward took it and and the stranger continued, "You must be Mister Underwood. The captain pointed you out. I am Doctor Clarence Montgomery, I work with Doctor Moreau and I can't tell you how glad I am to see you and that ship there. We have been desperate to scale up our operation here and powering it all has been a challenge." Edward responded, "That's me, very glad to meet you. I am actually looking forward to the work after so long a voyage to get out here." Clarence responded, "That is very good to hear! We want to begin scooping as soon as possible. On that note, I have made arrangements with the captain of the star carrier to have your luggage moved to our facility and given clearance to released the glider into orbit. I have been instructed to bring you back to the surface to tour your new home and meet Dr Moreau. We have a shuttle waiting at Dock C" Edward turned away from the viewport and responded, "By all means then let us proceed! I have already packed everything away and made my goodbyes to the crew here." Edward had been too distracted earlier with his preparations and finally by meeting his new employer to notice the planet, but now he stared out of the viewport of the shuttle in awe as they approached the surface of the moon. The parent planet was breathtaking. Striped with bright blues and greens with faint flashes of immense lightning storms apparent even from way out here. The bright rings around the planet spreading out as far as the eye can see with a shimmering glow. What finally caught and held his eyes were brilliant auroras at each pole. Colossal ribbons of writhing color reaching deep into space bracketing the whole planet in a stunning slow motion laser light show. Edward had never seen anything like it. His home Jovian had the occasional aurora, but nothing as massive as this. Clarence spoke up from beside Edward, "Admiring the aurora yes? Most stars in this region are very young and active, but ours is a particularly energetic Class A. There is enough solar wind here that those aurora practically never fade. They are quite amazing aren't they? I'm afraid that I have become quite accustomed to them and I'm afraid I take them for granted now." Edward's eyes stayed glued to the mesmerising lightshow as the shuttle descended onto the surface of the moon and touched down on the landing pad. The gangway reached out and clamped itself to the airlock with a muted clunk. As soon as the engines cut off, the airlock door popped open and the ramp lowered. Edward strode down and looked around. He hadn't been on a planetary surface for so long, most of his time in space had been spent in orbit around the same gas giants that he spent his adult life scooping Hydrogen from. The natural gravity felt so light and steady, none of the small wobbles from the gravity cages on ships and stations always over-correcting for motion. The space he found himself in was familiar, even though he had never been here before. These docks were part of what used to be a factory ship used to colonize new worlds. Edward had been in countless moon docks that were exactly the same. This must be part of the original colony here. It did look well used, they must have been here for many years. A chiming sound prompted Clarence to pull a smartcomm out of his pocket and he read the message. "Doctor Moreau will greet you shortly." he said, "In the meantime I will show you to your quarters so you can get settled. I think Thaddeus can wait a few moments while you set out your belongings. You have had a long journey and there is no need to get to work right away. The tram is this way." Clarence motioned towards the other end of docking space. Edward nodded and followed him. They boarded a small maglev that silently whisked them away from the familiar colony ship and out into the open plains of the moon. The landscape was dotted with craters and as far as the eye could see just like any other moon. They were coming up on a cluster of towering garden domes surrounding a large central tower. They passed between two of these domes and sped on towards the tower. Edward glimpsed what appeared to be a festival ongoing in one of the domes. There were the shapes of people milling amongst vendor stalls and kiosks and then they were gone before he could get a better look as the train sped by. At last they arrived at the base of the tower. The maglev stopped and the doors opened up to reveal a wide transit station with no passengers milling about. Edward glanced about as they stepped off carriage. The platform was empty. Clarence spoke up, "Everyone is out at the domes right now. Today just happens to be Genesis Day. A local holiday we celebrate around here and everybody gets the day off. Dr Moreau is just finishing up with his holiday speech in his office. We can find him there and then perhaps join him in one of the Domes? I'm sure he will invite you, but don't be afraid to tell him you need to recover from your Journey. For now, let us get you introduced to your new home!" As he finished speaking he began walking towards a set of wide doors marked Atrium. Edward followed behind him and entered the building. They walked quickly through the foyer and stepped into a large room with a high ceiling. A long curved counter ran along the wall opposite the doors. There were rows of windows showing off a magnificent view of the domes and their trees with the parent planet hanging above. They proceeded to a set of elevators on the side of the room. "We have you set up here in the central tower." Clarence explained as whey waited on the lift. "It's just a single short ride away from the docks so you won't have to commute far to get to your ship."