The day the ECS Chivalry crash-landed on Draylax was the day Cid Benengeli's life changed forever.
Cid, like all boomers, grew up in space. It was all he knew. He'd never even seen Earth. He'd never even seen Draylax, for that matter. He had a support role aboard the Chivalry. His parents attempted to connect Cid into the operations of the ship by signing him up for a pen pal program, which connected with a Draylaxian youth named Avellaneda, who came from Tarragona province. Avellaneda always said he wanted to be a writer. He'd send Cid, in lieu of actual correspondence, the latest story he was working on. Most of Avellaneda's work was incomprehensible to Cid, but it was also almost the only fiction he read, and he spent a great deal of time trying to figure it out.
He was still a boy when the Chivalry crashed on Draylax. His parents died instantly. Most of the crew died. He was all but completely orphaned.
He went in search of Avellaneda. Nobody knew who Cid was talking about. He finally found the name listed at a local nursery. Avellaneda was four years old, six years younger than Cid. And Avellaneda turned out to be a girl. She had been recording herself telling stories, which her tablet transcribed.
"Hello!" she beamed at him.
"Hi," he replied, crouching awkwardly in front of her.
"Would you like to hear my new story?"
Having survived the crash, Cid did well to survive the penpal programme which upon reflection probably kept his mind burning alive with fire psychologically even if his buddy turned out to be a girl telling stories.
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