ZAMZIZOR

All that glitters is not gold.

– William Shakespeare

Explorer Yakson finds something strange on an expedition. The colony scientists struggle to explain what it is. President Wyan and Vice President Zevalynn must come up with a plan before this mystery destroys their colony and maybe the entire planet!

This chapter adapts and expands a chapter written together with Mission Admiral Moses’s third grade homeroom class.

Featured Characters

Snailey, Yulius, Yakson, Wyan, Zevalynn

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On the planet Zamzizor is a colony of third graders…

They arrived on the planet Zamzizor 5 days ago. Mission Admiral Moses, the program director, told the 40 cadets that they were sent here to answer two questions.

• Do anybody live here?
• Could humans live here?

They would be stationed on Zamzizor for one year. Each cadet was assigned to a different team: Leadership, Protection, Science, Exploration, Travel, Living (Food and Shelter), or Communication.

So here we are…The Living Team has set up sleeping quarters, a kitchen, weapons storage, a science lab, an auditorium and an underground basketball court.

The two highest officials of the colony, President Wyan and Vice President Zevalynn called for an all-crew meeting. There were many important things to discuss.

The forty cadets found their spots. All were dressed in long, dark blue canvas pants and matching button down shirts. Wyan and Zevalynn stood at a podium and waited.

“Welcome fellow cadets!” Prseident Wyan said loudly. “Our mission begins. We have been tasked with a great responsibility. We will determine if there is life on this planet and if human life can flourish here. We know already that we can breathe the air. We can thank our Lead Scientists Snailey and Yulius for this. They were able to determine this is our pre-landing research. Claps, please, for these leaders.” The cadets clapped and whooped loud cheers. President Wyan continued giving updates about the food menu for the month, bedtime requirements and the plans for a girls vs. boys basketball tournament.

Now Vice President Zevalynn approached. She gave updates about off-base activities.

“Good morning, everyone. No one can do what we can do. Only we are on this planet. Only we have been trained. Only we have a spirit of curiosity deep in our soul that moves us forward.” She paused and smiled at the audience. “The Protection team will begin small jet tours of the planet. Their goal will be to begin to map the planet and identify any big picture concerns – whether it be landforms or lifeforms.” The Flight Captains in the audience smiled. Flight Captain Poee had been ready to get back into the air as soon as they landed.

“Ground exploration will begin to tomorrow as well. Lead Explorer Yackson and his team will start in Delta 1.” Zevalynn pointed to a map that was now projected to her left.

The cadets began to imagine what they might discover on this planet. Glory? Danger? New life? New creatures?

Vice President Zevalynn dismissed the cadets to the barracks for the night. Tomorrow would bring adventure.

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Delta 1, a team of six third graders, gathered at the edge cadet grounds. Today, they would be mapping an area south of the their camp with a goal of identifying vegetation for food and potential threats. With a backpack full of supplies, the team ventured into the wilderness.

The ground around them largely seemed uninteresting. It was green and almost like grass. Instead of pointed blades of soft plant matter, each step was like shifting sand. It would poke up like grass but melt away under each footstep. There were no trees, bushes, or other plants so far. Instead, there were things shaped like trees and shaped like bushes. But when you touched them, they either were smooth and hard like shale stone or fell away like sand.

They saw no bugs. Nothing crawled on the “trees” or slithered through the “grass”. But as they ventured deeper into the wilderness they would see little footprints it seemed in the “grass”. Little circle indents going across a pathway. “Bushes” seemed to have been pushed over into a new pile.

After about two hours of walking, taking photos, and writing down notes, Delta 1 came across what looked like a cave. It was a large stone structure with an opening.

The leader of the Delta 1 Team, Explorer Yakson looked at paused in front of this “cave”. His team paused behind him. They all wanted to go in. They were explorers by nature, of course but they waited for their leader’s command. After a moment of deep thought, Yakson turned around and declared, “Delta one! We have had a very productive first day of ground exploration. We will return to the camp with more questions than answers…I have one answer for you today, team”. His teammates looked at him with anticipation.

“We WILL be going into this cave!” He said triumphantly. The team cheered, locked in, and approached the opening of the cave.

It’s dark and wet. The ground wasn’t that weird “grass” but something that looked brown and crumbly like dirt. Yakson put his hands into it. It even felt like dirt. It fell through his fingers in crumbles like dirt. Hm…

The cadets explored the cave with their flashlights. The cave was about 12 feet high. From the opening, they could see about 30 feet into the cave. Past that, the ceiling got lower and lower. The walls were moist black stone with white veining. Cadets took magnifiers to observe the condensation and minerals in the veining. They began taking samples of the moisture into small tubes. Lead Scientist Snailey chipped away at the veining with a small chisel.

Yakson went deeper towards the darkness. Cadet Gherry flashed his light into the opening. A glint of something refracted back at them from under the dirt.

“Wait, what’s that?” Cadet Gherry said. Yakson kneeled down and pushed dirt to the side.

“It’s a….A GIANT ROCK!” Yakson yelled. It was somewhat spherical, iridescent and mostly transparent. There was a cloudiness in the center…

“We’ll take it back to the lab”. He said as he rolled it around his hands. Lead Scientist Snailey was eager to get that thing under a microscope. Yakson handed the rock over to her. She wrapped it in a suede cloth and then into a leather pouch. It wasn’t heavy but they didn’t know yet how fragile it could be.

The team packed up their tools and set back to the camp. When they exited the cave, it was dark. They hadn’t been in there that long, maybe an Earth hour.

“Their daylight hours must be shorter..” Cadet Gherry said. They left camp six hours ago…

“Alright, team. We’ve got to move quick. We don’t know what could be waking up in this forest”. Captain Yakson said. The team moved into their speed formation and cut through the landscape.

They made it back to the camp without incident. Lead Scientist Snailey and Captain Yakson went straight to the Materials lab. Snailey carefully took the rock out of the pouch and placed it under a microscope.

First, it gleamed and refracted light just like a diamond. The light glittered onto the laboratory walls. Snailey increased the magnification. She wanted to see if she could see through the center of cloudiness. Was it thicker crystals? Was is a different mineral?

Inside the crystals of the rock was something familiar….something they’ve seen before…something all cadets know and love…. Snailey called over Assistant Lead Scientist Yulius.

“Hey, took a look at this…Am I crazy or is that-?” She started to say. Yulius looked through the lens of the microscope and gasped.

“is that a…is that a…hamburger?” He shrieked.

It’s so small. It’s so precious. It’s so cute. How did a mini hamburger fit inside this alien rock?