Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2016 17:24:32 -0700
From: Douglas DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Survivors (Revised) Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28
THE HAKAANEN

This story contains sex between minor boys and teenagers.  If such things
offend you, or you are not at least 18 years of age, then please don't read
on.  This story is not true, but who knows, maybe someday it will be.

Welcome back. The survivors are about to make history, or so they think.

Please give to the Nifty archive and keep the words flowing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Morning came too fast for the boys. They were exhausted and didn't know how
much longer they could go on. All they could hope for now was that the rock
they saw was the same one Matthew saw, and that there was a green valley on
the other side.

Scooter and Douglas sat in the front of the lead sled with Douglas doing
the driving.  They were heading toward the horse rock.

"Why did you lie to me, Douglas?"  Scooter asked out of the blue.

Douglas couldn't hide his surprise at the question. "Lie to you? When? I
don't think I've ever lied to you."

"You lied about what you and Warren talked about before you went on your
scouting trip."

"Oh yeah, I did kind of mangle the truth a bit. I'm sorry, I forgot."

"Why? Didn't you trust me? You didn't even send me a thought."

"You certainly held this in for a while."

"I didn't want to upset things; you had enough problems. But it did hurt."

"Scooter, don't hold it in if I hurt you. Send me your thoughts at
least. Don't hide from me."

"You hid from me, too. You didn't tell me the truth, and never explained
why you didn't."

"I did it to protect you.  Warren was taking a big risk. It was like in spy
books - the need to know. If you didn't know, Robert Charles couldn't get
any information, no matter what.  You would be one of the first he would
suspect when he found the power chips missing, but you could say you didn't
know anything and not lie. You could be perfectly natural and honest.
There would be no pressure. You wouldn't even be tempted to glance at
Warren, wondering what he did with the chips. I'm sorry if doing that hurt
you."

"Why didn't you tell me after it was all over?"

"I guess my mind was on other things. And like I said, you could've asked
me. I guess we both forgot to talk to each other. I'm sorry." Douglas
wondered how many times he had to apologize.

`I'm sorry, Scooter', Douglas thought. `I would never hurt you on
purpose. I trust you and love you. I thought I was protecting you.' He gave
Scooter a peck on the lips and then turned around. "Travis, how about you
drive with Ryan."

Travis grinned and went up to the front with Ryan following him. Scooter
and Douglas sat at the back of the sled slipping in and out of uneasy
naps. Douglas tried to remember what Scooter looked like when he was clean.

It was the middle of the afternoon when they arrived at the rock. Brandon
and Scooter speculated that if Matthew had seen the side of the rock they
were looking at, then the valley should be straight ahead. They headed in
that direction and soon saw a couple of clouds on the horizon. Brandon said
that was just like the valleys his mother terraformed; that changing a
planet had to start in a valley that was closed off from the rest of the
surface.  The clouds looked to be even with the surface of the plateau,
which meant they were probably above a valley. That meant they must be
going in the right direction.

Another hour passed and they found themselves at the edge of a cliff. Below
them was a wide, green valley. It was hard to see through the scattered
clouds, but they caught glimpses of farms, forest land, lakes and
reservoirs, and some desert in between areas of green.

They could see water. There were lakes and lots of water—cool looking
water—water to swim in and wash in and drink by the gallons.  "Do you
see any cities or anything?"  Stevie asked.

"Nope," Ryan said. Nobody else could either.

"If it's like an Earth colony it wouldn't have very big cities," Brandon
pointed out. "Plus, we can only see part of the valley from here. It needs
lots of forest land to make oxygen.  The more the trees make the less the
machines make. Mom was big on planting lots of trees. And trees can block
the view."

"One question," Alex said.

"What's that?"  Douglas answered.

"How do we get down there?"

They looked over the edge. It was almost a straight drop into the valley,
which was shaped like a bowl.

Brandon said the valley probably was an old meteor crater, which made good
locations for settlements. This was because the atmosphere could be held in
the bowl as the terraforming engineers worked to build the atmosphere. Ryan
asked how they did that.  Brandon told him he didn't really understand the
details.

The boys figured there had to be a way to get down into the valley. Once
again Douglas decided to send out scout teams. Scooter and Brandon would go
south and Travis and Jordan go north.

Douglas had picked Jordan, because he wanted Jordan to feel more a part of
the group.  Jordan had gone from the guy trying to push others around, like
he did with Matthew, to a sad twelve-year-old who was alone and left
out. Douglas found out from the twins, Ethan and Logan, that early in the
voyage Jordan tried to push them around, but they quit hanging around the
older kids' game room. In a way Douglas liked that. They didn't let Jordan
push them around. But in another way, he saw what nice, quiet, sweet, cute
boys they were and wished he could have gotten to know them better. He
found out later their parents had a lot to do with their isolation as well.

That evening they all sat and watched the sunset on the other side of the
valley. Lovers were sitting with lovers. Holding hands or
hugging. Everybody was smelly and dirty, but nobody cared.  Seeing the
water down in the valley though made them want to be clean badly.

The only ones not holding somebody's hand were Logan, Ethan, and
Jordan. Nobody was sexually charged up.  They were too tired and hungry and
thirsty to even think about sex, let alone do anything. They were almost
out of gas.

"You know something, guys," Douglas said.

"What, that this is the best sunset we've ever seen in Inferno?" Alex
asked.

"No. That if Matthew hadn't unbuckled his seat belt and looked straight
down out of the window we wouldn't be here looking at this sunset. The
whole time he was delirious he kept trying to tell us what he saw. He saw
the green valley and the horse rock. Every time he talked, no matter how
out of it he was, he knew how important it was for us to understand what he
saw.  He got us moving to the mountains, looking for his green. He had me
seeing the horse rock so we knew we were in the right place. It was like
everything he did from the moment we hit the atmosphere of Inferno was to
save our lives. He was the youngest and smallest of us, but his heart was
the biggest. He was a brave little boy.  I love him and I miss him."

Douglas didn't mind this time that they saw his tears. Looking at the sun
setting in the valley he knew he was without question the leader of this
group. He knew with all his heart and soul that he had led them to this
spot where they sat looking down at a green valley. He'd had lots of help
from the friends he loved, but in the end he kept them going and brought
them here. He had proved his leadership to his peers and to himself and had
buried all of his doubts. He had also decided that his goal from this point
on was to figure out how to get them home, to Earth.

All of the boys, except Logan and Ethan, were crying. It didn't take long
for them to start crying as well. They hadn't known Matthew that well, even
though he had been closer to their age than any of the kids on the
ship. They had talked some on the "Starkeeper".

Their tears flowed because they missed their parents and their sister. They
felt homesick and alone. They didn't care about the valley; they just
wanted to go home.

Alex was holding Mike tightly. Mike was sobbing, thinking of the boy who
had become his little brother. He remembered the night he gave Matthew a
blow job. He thought about how it had seemed so good and so right and so
full of love.  Matthew had been sweet and loving and trusting. He missed
him terribly.  He just hoped that Matthew didn't die alone and scared,
buried in the tent instead of dying quickly in the storm. He promised
himself that if they ever made it home he would do something special in the
memory of the little brother he had found on the "Starkeeper."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When morning arrived the new scout teams were ready to depart. Douglas was
going to mind read with Scooter and see how long they could stay in touch.

While the scout teams were out looking for a path to the valley, Stevie was
going to be busy trying to figure out how to get the radios to work. There
had to be some key; Stevie couldn't quite figure out how to get them to
send a signal over a long distance.  They never realized the radios' lack
of range until they had started into the desert.  Another mistake, Douglas
thought, but not a terrible one. They had only needed the radios once and
that was at the twin peaks, and they managed to complete their scouting
missions without them. But if he'd been forced to split up the group they
would have needed the radios badly.

Travis and Brandon took radios with them.  But unless Stevie could figure
out how to make them work over a long distance, they were useless pieces of
junk. The group said their good-byes to Scooter and Brandon, and Travis and
Jordan. The two scout teams started out in opposite directions. Douglas
wondered what they would find.

Douglas lay under one of the sleds, his legs poking out of the back.  He
had his eyes closed and was putting all of his energy into his
thoughts. His energy level was low and he wondered if that would make a
difference in sending his thoughts. He also wondered if they could send
their thoughts farther when they were strong and not so hungry and thirsty
and tired.

`I'm with you all the way,' Douglas sent. `Send to me and I will send to
you.'

Scooter sent his thoughts back to Douglas, but it didn't take long for them
to start to break up and then stop. He thought about what a miracle it was
that he and Scooter could read each other's thoughts. He estimated Scooter
was about a half-mile away before he couldn't read him any longer.

Travis communicated with Stevie using his handset, but contact was lost
about a mile from the encampment. Douglas wished Stevie could figure out
how to get the radios to send farther. The two scout teams were instructed
to return no later than three days from their departure. Douglas decided
that if nobody had found a way down the cliff, the group would head
south. Mike and Alex concurred, saying they had to go somewhere.  If they
had functioning radios he would be able to instruct Scooter's team to wait
until the group caught up with it. He could also call a team back if a
trail down was found.

Douglas ordered water rations cut to a bottle a day.  He knew that was a
killer. They could see lakes filled with blue down below, but they had no
water to drink. Douglas didn't know how far they would have to travel to
get down into the valley. He had given the scout teams the last of the
extra water since they were walking and would be sweating out more
water. There was nothing left to do but wait.

Stevie spent the morning taking apart a handset and putting it back
together with parts from another one. He pushed buttons and entered codes,
but all he received from both teams was silence.

Logan and Ethan were sitting in the shade of a rock. They still were a
little sore from the crash, but were in good health otherwise. But like
everybody else, they were weak, tired, thirsty, hungry, and dirty. They
looked down at the water in the green valley below and wished they could go
for a swim, get clean, and drink water forever.

Ethan told Logan what he had seen the other night between Scooter and
Douglas.

"What do you think they were doing?" Logan asked.

"Some kind of sex thing. They kiss all the time. Everybody does here. It's
weird, but OK at the same time. But they did more than kissing."

"I wonder why they do it?"

"If it feels as good as what I did, then I guess I can see why they do it."
Ethan was referring to jerking himself off. "Have you tried it yet?"

"Not yet. I want to, but I'm so tired it's like I don't care."

"Me too. I did it once since. I wish I could do it more, but all I want to
do is sleep."

"Maybe when we get rescued."

"Do you think we will?"

Ethan saw a couple of tears drop down his brother's cheek. "I don't know. I
miss mom and dad.  And we were going to finally see Jeffrey again. Now we
might never see them again." The tears came down hard now streaking his
dirty cheeks. Logan saw that Ethan was crying just as hard as he was.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scooter and Brandon stopped to rest and drink some water. They looked down
into the valley. Scooter thought he saw something through the scattered
clouds.

"Look down there, Brandon. Do you see something like a city?"

Brandon peered down into the valley. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Wow." They stood quietly and peered into the valley. Scooter broke the
silence. "I wonder who lives there and what they look like. I wonder if
they're dangerous. I mean it could be mega-dangerous to go down there.
They have to be really smart though; look what they've done there."

"Dangerous or not, I guess we have to go down there. We can't live
here. There's nothing here but rock. We're all getting weak. We can't go
much longer."

Scooter picked up his backpack and he and Brandon trudged on. Scooter was
happy that his old friend was with him. He would have loved it more if
Douglas was with him, but being with Brandon made him feel happy.  Scooter
grabbed Brandon's hand and they walked naked together in the sun.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Travis and Jordan stopped for a drink. They were both very tired. Douglas's
plan was for the teams to travel until dark. The next day they were to rise
early and continue on until noon. They would then turn around and return to
the encampment. If nobody found a trail, then the group would head south,
doubling Scooter's path, and hope they found some way down before the water
ran out.

"Jordan, can I ask you something?" Travis inquired.

"I dunno. I guess so. What?"

"On the 'Starkeeper' you always seemed to be looking for trouble. Here,
except for a couple of times, you've been way different. Why were you
always trying stuff? You were mean to Matthew on the ship, but you took
extra good care of him here in Inferno when he was hurt.  Sometimes you
could be so nice, and then you'd team up with RC and we all would hate
you. You seem like a pretty good guy a lot of the time."

Jordan looked at the ground. He didn't want to talk about this. The
"Starkeeper" was like his kingdom and he could rule it. This trip was
harder than some because the boys on it were different. And he couldn't
even get the younger ones like the twins to have anything to do with
him. Only Matthew seemed to follow him, and he lost him, too.  And now he
was not only lost, but soon could be dead if they didn't find a way into
the valley. It wasn't until Matthew got hurt that he realized how much he
really liked him.

"We all need to be together, Jordan. You don't need to tell me anything you
don't want to. I just want you to know we need you. And Douglas trusts you,
otherwise he wouldn't have let you be a scout."

Jordan liked hearing that. They got up and continued their walk, only now,
Jordan was walking next to Travis as much as he could instead of trailing
behind him.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

At the camp Stevie was about to give up on the radio. He had tried changing
almost every part and pushing every possible combination on the
menu. Nothing changed. It wouldn't work long distance. Evening was
coming. They were getting ready to settle in for another night. Douglas
went to look at the sunset. Alex came and sat beside him.

"Nice sunset, huh Douglas?"

"Yeah. It looks beautiful down there.  Water and food so close, but so far
away."

"You'll get us there, Douglas.  You've done great. From getting us started,
to handling RC and Jordan, to getting us here. You didn't let us down."

"I lost Matthew." He didn't mention probably losing Robert Charles. It was
like nobody cared.

"And you gained Logan and Ethan. They would be dead now without you
deciding on the scout teams. We've been through so much and we still have
thirteen. That says a lot."

They sat quietly for a while longer.

"Douglas, why didn't you let the scout teams each take a sled? They
could've gone farther, faster."

"First, you can see looking both ways, you can't always drive a sled along
the cliffs. They would have to get out and walk a lot of it anyway. Second,
we have a couple of guys getting pretty tired here. What if the sleds don't
make it back? What if something happens? Warren has been so tough, but he
can't walk a long way. The twins are holding up pretty good, but they are
little. I'd rather have the sleds. I haven't been planning very well if
things go wrong, I guess it's time I did."

"Things are going to start going right, Douglas. But you're doing
great. I'd like to see a group of adults do what we've done. Think about
it.  Me and Mike are the only ones over 14 years old, but we've survived in
space, found a planet, landed on it, and survived on this hell hole of a
planet. And we're still going. We love each other and work like hell for
each other. With RC gone, it's like our only goal is each other. I dare any
group of adults to do all this and not fight and argue. And a lot of that
is you, Douglas."

"Maybe. But a lot of it started on the 'Starkeeper'. And started with you
and the concert for Mike. That brought us all together. So you better take
a lot of credit."

"Who would have thought that a trip on a starship would be full of gay boys
who end up finding lovers and loving each other."

"This might sound funny, Alex, but I wonder if a bunch of straight boys
could have done this. I wonder if they would have stuck with each other
like we have. Our love has helped keep us together and survive like nobody
else could."

"You might be right, Douglas. We're a pretty special group."

"I miss Scooter."

"I know. I missed Mike when he went with you."

"Mike and I did some stuff with each other. I hope that doesn't make you
mad at me."

"No, I'm not. You needed it. Mike told me. I could never be mad about
that. We all made an agreement back on the 'Starkeeper' about having sex. I
love you both. I love everybody here."

The sun was pretty much set. Down in the valley they could see
lights. Houses and towns they figured. There were intelligent beings down
there. They both wondered why they hadn't seen any signs of them
before. Like fliers or something or even something on the radio. But then,
if this was the only colony on the planet, they didn't have much reason to
leave it. But they should at least be exploring in fliers or
something. Brandon said Earth colonies had atmosphere stations that needed
checking. It was weird they didn't see something.

Alex pulled Douglas close and kissed his lips. Douglas kissed him
back. They watched the sunset and turned back to the camp. Mike had seen
them kiss. It made him smile.  Mike didn't mind that Douglas got into a
sleeping bag with Alex. He was going with Stevie. Douglas had a lot of
pressure on him and seemed to need to be hugged every night. Mike was happy
to have Alex give it to him.

Logan and Ethan got a tent to themselves this time. Logan was going to show
Ethan what he found out about jerking off. He lay naked on top of his
sleeping bag. He closed his eyes to think a sexy thought, and just like
that he was asleep. Ethan fell asleep right after him. Everybody was too
tired for sex of any kind, even jacking off.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scooter and Brandon got into their sleeping bag. They only took one
backpack and one bag so they could trade off carrying it. Scooter spooned
his old friend and they fell asleep.

Travis and Jordan crawled into their sleeping bag. They touched because
they had to, but were back to back. But as Travis started falling asleep,
Jordan turned around and spooned him and hugged him tight. They fell asleep
touching closely.

When morning came Travis and Jordan started south again. They walked for an
hour when Jordan said he needed a rest, so they stopped. Travis looked at
the naked little 12 year old.  Travis bet when he was clean and fed he
would look really cute naked. He'd never seen him naked on the
"Starkeeper". But when he wasn't walking around with an attitude he had
been cute there. But now they were all dirty and naked and some of them had
cuts and bruises and sores.  Their hair was long and messy. Every day is a
bad hair day, Travis thought. But they're all still sexy. Now that's a
weird thought, he thought. My friends are all sexy. Not just Ryan. Maybe I
really am gay, and it's not just Ryan who is sexy. He got up. He was too
tired and hungry to think.

Jordan got up and went up on a flat rock up by the cliff. He took a pee
against another rock.  Then he noticed something.  The flat part on the
other side looked worn. He went over to look.  It looked almost like
stairs. Then he saw that it started down the cliff. He got down on his
belly and looked. The cliff wasn't as steep here, and going down it in a
switchback was a trail. It was the way down. He got up and ran to tell
Travis.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scooter and Brandon figured they still had three hours to walk. All they
saw was straight cliff going down.  Looking ahead they couldn't see where
there would be a trail going down. But Scooter felt that tired as they
were, they should go as far as they promised Douglas, because who knew what
was ahead.

"Brandon, have you ever thought about what the aliens down there would
think of us?"

"Well, first Scooter, I think we're the aliens, not them. It's kind of
their planet, even if they aren't from here."

Scooter laughed and saw what Brandon meant. "Well, you know what I
mean. Look at us now.  Dirty, naked, looking like hell. They sure won't
think much of humans when they meet us."

"Well, maybe they will think we're supposed to look like this. Who knows. I
mean we don't know what they look like. Maybe they're all hairy and shit."

Scooter laughed. But, he was tired. He didn't want to let Douglas down, but
they had to turn back. He couldn't keep going. And if Travis and Jordan
didn't find anything, then they would be coming back this way anyway. They
just would slow down when they got to this spot. He would set up some rocks
as a marker of where they turned back.

Suddenly the radio squealed. Then a voice came over it. It sounded like
Douglas. Stevie came through again, Scooter thought with delight.

"Scooter. Brandon. They found a way down. Come back. Over."

Scooter unclipped the radio from the pack. "That's great Douglas! We got
your message and are turning around now.  We'll be back before it gets
dark. Over."

"Good job. See you soon."

Scooter felt full of energy all of a sudden. He and Brandon turned
around. Travis and Jordon had found a way down. There would be water and
food down there. And who knew what else.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Stevie looked at Douglas with a big smile after he got through talking with
both sets of scouts.  Travis and Jordan would wait where they found the
trail until the sleds got there.

"Another miracle, Stevie." Douglas kissed him on the lips.

"Not really. I should have figured it out days ago it was so simple."

Stevie had been going through the sled onboard computer menu. One choice
said power options.  He always figured it had to do with the power chips,
which were working perfectly, so he never went into that menu. This time he
went into it and surfed through it.  He came across one that said radio. He
pushed the screen and got a power boost choice.  He pushed it and it said
boost on. His heart was pounding. He wondered if this was it.

He picked up a handset and pushed in the numbers for Travis's radio. Travis
answered with a surprise voice. It worked! And from there he found out that
they were just starting back, that it looked like they had found a path
down into the valley.

Stevie was angry at himself for never thinking of the sled computer, that
the handsets were connected to the sled. But, better late than never, he
thought. They now had communication.

He knew this was going to be important for them.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scooter and Brandon got back just before dark. They were so exhausted that
after hugs from their loves they collapsed right into their sleeping bags.

Douglas knew they had to leave early the next day. Jordan and Travis didn't
have much water left. They had enough to last until the end of today,
unless they cut back, which since they weren't doing any more hiking they
probably did. Douglas and Alex looked down at the lights again. Soon they
would be there. It was going to be a whole different adventure. Hopefully,
one that would get them back home. Now the big question was who and what
they would meet down there.  Douglas crawled into his tent, and went into
Scooter's sleeping bag. It was so nice to be touching his love again.

In the morning they started the sleds and headed north. They could travel
fairly fast. They were in contact with Travis and Jordan and by early
afternoon they met up with them.  They looked at the trail down. It was
carved in the rock, probably by laser tools. It was steep, but not too
steep. It was pretty narrow, but not so restricted as to be dangerous.
There were an extra few feet from the side of the cliff.

They would have to be slow and careful but they had room to walk, at least
if the whole trail was like this. Since they didn't know how long it would
take them to go down, they would wait to start the next morning. They would
need the whole day and they couldn't just stop and sleep on the trail. They
were going to take all their water and food. It was just about gone
anyway. The biggest kids would carry the most.

They spent the afternoon packing and figuring what to take. They had to
leave the sleds behind, of course.  Douglas was going to miss them. Without
them they would have been dead long ago.  They had been lucky. Except for
the broken track they worked perfectly.  And the broken track had let them
see the horse rock and find the valley. From what Douglas saw if they had
kept going in the same direction they would have missed it.

That evening they looked down into the valley again. All thirteen boys were
sitting together. The love was flowing like electricity. Even Jordan was
part of it, and the twins were feeling it.

"You know something?" Douglas asked.

"What?" Warren asked.

"Pretty soon we are probably going to be the first Earthlings to meet an
alien race.  It could be good or it could be horrible. But I have a feeling
that whoever could make a valley like that on a planet like Inferno can't
be all bad.  Evil people don't make things like that valley. But whatever,
us, a bunch of kids, we're going to be the first. We've survived hell, and
tomorrow we're going to make history. Even if nobody ever knows about
it. Guess we should be pretty proud of ourselves."  They let out a weak
cheer, and even as tired and weak as they were, they let Alex and Stevie
lead them in a song. It made them feel good. They headed for the tents for
the last time. Tomorrow would be another long day.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They started off after eating an energy bar each. They each had a
backpack. The bigger boys carried a sleeping bag on theirs. The packs were
filled with water and energy bars.  Douglas had one laser pistol and Alex
had the other one. Douglas, Scooter, Alex, Mike, Travis, and Jeremy each
had a radio. Each boy without a radio was assigned to a boy who had one and
told not to leave him.

 The trail was steep, but not too steep to traverse safely if they were
cautious. It switched back and forth. They could feel the air getting
thicker and more humid. The temperature went down, not up, because it was
controlled in the valley, just like on Earth colonies.  A little after noon
they made it to the bottom and started into the forest. The trail headed
west.  They had seen that there was a lake straight west. They stopped to
eat and rest, then continued on. Each step was hard. They were so tired, so
hungry, so thirsty.  Warren felt sick. So did Jordan and Ethan. But they
kept going on. Scooter kept feeling his next step would be his last but he
kept managing to take one more. They were so used to the thin air that the
thicker air in the valley was hard to breathe. Warren was having the worst
time, and it seemed like his asthma was coming back. Mike and Jeremy had to
help hold him up sometimes.

After another hour they turned a corner on the path, and through the trees
they saw blue.  WATER!!!!!!! Suddenly the steps didn't seem so
bad. Suddenly they could see what they had wanted for so long. Before they
knew it, they were at a clear lake. It was surrounded by the trees of the
forest. A stream ran into it. The bank was manmade and high, but there was
what looked like a small beach a few yards from the path.

They pulled off their heavy backpacks, their bodies almost feeling like
they were floating as the weight came off of them.  As a group they went
into the water. It was cold, but it felt great. Cold, clear water. Wet
water. For the first time in weeks they were in water.  Every boy was
crying and laughing and splashing and drinking and washing weeks worth of
dirt off of themselves.

Douglas hoped the water wasn't dangerous, and even if it was, it couldn't
be as dangerous as no water at all.  Finally they got completely tired
out. They lay on the beach and let the sun dry them off. For a short while,
they felt happy. But they were still hungry, still tired, and still
lost. They looked to Douglas to see what to do next. If there was ever any
doubt about Douglas as their leader it was all washed away in the cold,
clear water of the lake.  Douglas had been right. He got them from the
wreck of the "Moonduster" to the life of the valley. He never gave up. Now
they looked at him expecting all the answers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ They were the Hakaanen.  Their planet
was Hakaan. They were a peaceful race living on a beautiful planet. When
they discovered warp drive they went exploring the galaxy.  They learned
about terraforming and they founded two colonies. They hoped someday to
find other intelligent life, if there was any.

The Hakaanen believed in love between the same sex. Men loved men. Boys
loved boys.  Women loved Women. Girls loved girls. A man went with a woman
to have a child.  They liked each other as friends, but most of them had
partners of the same sex.  Men raised the boys and taught them sex and how
to be men, and women did the same with girls. There were some of them who
lived like Earth couples, which everybody thought was cool. It just wasn't
the way most Hakaanen were.

Then bad times came. A starship coming back from exploring a new planet
brought a plague back. Sickness hit the planet. People became very sick and
died.  Millions and millions of people.  Almost 1/3 of the population of
Hakaan.  They quit going into space.  Suddenly the starships quit coming to
the colonies, and nobody knew why.

Finally a starship with a robot pilot was sent to each of the colonies to
tell them no ships would be coming. They didn't want to infect the
colonies. They might end up being the last of the Hakaanen if a cure for
the plague was never found. Nobody would come again until that happened and
the planet recovered. The robot ship was still in orbit around Inferno,
which the Hakaanen called Shakaman Prol, which meant Fire Planet. So the
boys were close with their name for the planet.

The robot ship came with its message twenty-five years ago. After that
things started wearing out, and they had to use and remake parts to keep
them going. The most important things to keep going were the atmosphere
makers. In a few years they wouldn't need them, but for now to keep the
atmosphere making going, and to keep it in the valley, they needed the
machines running. That was their air and their water. It was their life.

One bad thing did happen. While the Hakaanen were peaceful, there were some
who weren't.  There was a group who wanted to fix the fliers and go back to
Hakaan. And they wanted an end to the same sex relations. They wanted no
more machines at all, except the oxygen makers. They wanted no
electricity. While the Hakaanen never got jealous about lovers, saying love
was for all, the Shkah, the group that was different would get jealous
about their women. One Shkah killed a man for touching his woman. The man
just asked about making a child, since he had his own man lover. Killing
hardly ever happened with the Hakaanen. The Shkah would wreck machinery and
mess up farms. Once they ruined a reservoir. Finally the Shkah were sent to
a small valley over the northern hills. That was over fifteen years ago.

The Shkah lived in the other valley. They had a small atmosphere machine
and small poor farms, along with a small reservoir for water.  Sometimes
they would come across the hills and raid farms. Some people got hurt, but
they didn't kill because they knew then the Hakaanen would come into their
valley for revenge, and they were outnumbered. But they were not a nice
group, and if they could, they would conquer the Hakaanen and run Shakaman
Prol the way they thought it should be run.

The Hakaanen were the size of Earthlings.  They had pointed ears and light
golden manes that went down their necks and part of their backs.  The adult
manes were thicker than the children's, and the male manes were thicker
than the female's. The Shkah dyed their manes various colors, but never
golden.  They hated the regular Hakaanen and didn't want to ever follow
their rules again.

The children discovered sex early. Sex play was part of growing up, and
they did it in the open.  From the time they were six or seven the boys
learned how to make other boys' boners feel good. To the Hakaanen, sex and
being naked were all natural, so why fight it?  They encouraged it, all but
the Shkah, who didn't allow any sex between children of the same sex. The
Shkah were teaching that sex like that was wrong, and that they would be
punished in the next world for doing that. Shkah children grew up unhappy
and full of hate. But their hate was for the regular Hakaanen who liked sex
with the same sex, not for their parents who made them unhappy and full of
hate.

++++++++++++++++++++++++ Douglas led the group off the trail and into the
woods. They set up camp. They would go on the next day, with full water
bottles. He didn't want to be surprised at night. When they met whomever it
was that lived here, it would be during the day and not by surprise.  The
only bad thing was a rain storm in the middle of the night. They didn't get
too wet, because they had made some shelters from brush. Brandon had warned
them if this planet was like the Earth colonies, there would be rain at
night—at least until the whole planet became Earthlike. Here in the
valley it was probably controlled.

When the rains started they just got up and stood in it, mouths open, naked
bodies getting soaked.  They didn't care. The rain was like heaven. They
all held hands and danced and sang in it. They hugged their lovers wet
bodies to warm up after.  The twins warmed each other up. Travis made sure
Jordan was included with him and Ryan. By the time the evening was over,
each of them had orgasms except the twins, who fell asleep hugging each
other. Once more Logan wanted to show Ethan, and one more time they crashed
instead.

The next morning they were refreshed, but hungry. They needed to find
food. They went to the lake to clean up and drink. Looking over to the
other side they could see dust.  Somebody was coming up the trail. They
scattered back to the woods and hid. It didn't take long for a wagon to
pull up. It was pulled by two beautiful unicorns. A group of what looked
like naked boys got out. Some were holding hands. Some were kissing.  Some
had boners. Their pubic areas were hairless. Except for their pointed ears
and a light golden mane down their backs, they looked almost human.

The thirteen boys held their breath. As far as they knew, they were the
first humans to ever see an alien race. And they looked just like kids like
them. Douglas looked at his group.  The boys were his. He loved them. He
would die for them. But it was time for the next step.  He had decided
earlier the best thing to do would be for just a couple of them to step
out. Mike and Alex knew his plans and would take care of the group. He
pointed to everyone to stay. He waved to Scooter.  The two naked boys,
clean and fresh now, stepped out of the woods, ready to make first contact.

NEXT: CHAPTER 29 First Contact

Comments are welcomed.  E-mail me, Douglas DD,at TheHakaanen@Hotmail.com