A Magic Beyond - Karri Justina Shea

It was the worst devastation Taz had seen in years.

An entire planet, tiny, harmless, one of the fledgling colonies the G.L.E.E. had begun in an effort to find a new home for the soon-to-be homeless citizens of a dying Earth. The colonies had been strategically scattered throughout the galaxy in the hopes of making them as difficult to find as possible.

But the robots had found this one.

The Cazadora’s away teams walked the bruised soil slowly, each step further confirming the desperation of the situation. They’d responded to the colony’s distress call as quickly as the starship could get them there, quick enough to chase the robots away. Not quick enough to save the colonists.

Over six hundred people, Taz kept repeating to herself. Six hundred. They were salvaging what they could, what equipment hadn’t been damaged, what food stores were left in the warehouses. Up looked back at her now, a gas mask obliterating half his face. A deep sadness was caught in his eyes, and maybe a little concern.

Of course it reminded her of the losses she’d suffered. But she’d survived them. If only she could believe there were survivors here.

As the thought crossed her mind, Up suddenly raised his hand. The team stopped moving, and now Taz could hear what Up had heard.

Footsteps.

The Rangers raised their zappers, and then a tiny figure emerged from the smoke.

It was a child. A girl, her face blackened, her hair burnt nearly to her scalp. She cupped something in her hands, and hesitated when she saw the soldiers and their guns.

Taz stepped forward instinctively. The girl looked at her with very large eyes. She opened her hands.

“A snowdrop,” she whispered. Still rooted in soil. A single bloom and a child. Two living things in this world of the dead.

“It’s the flower of hope,” said Up.

Taz cupped the girl’s hands with her own. “Yes,” she said, smiling to show the little girl that she didn’t need to be afraid anymore. “Hope.”