The Sea of Space

The Sea of Space is a vast empty world of shadows. Stars are like mountains, reefs that rise up towards the surface. Life flourishes around them, near the "surface" of the endless ocean that is space. Galaxies are archipelagoes, vast island chains filled with life. The universe is an ocean, the galaxies are seas, the stars are islands, and the planets and other orbiters are reefs. Life spreads from them, ever expanding, ever changing. This is a story the future, a story of a strange world where life lives everywhere, from the deepest abyss far from any star, to the surface and innards of the stars themselves... this, is the Sea of Space.

Chapter One: Field Trip to Earth
Uriga was bored. Earth may be the homeworld of the Great Galactics, but that didn't make it any more fun to visit... the planet hadn't changed in eons, according to the records, and the life here was primitive, stupidly so. Wolves and cats and dogs and owls, nothing worth mentioning. Now a Space Manta, or a Kraken! Those were creatures worth seeing! But no, Uriga was stuck on Earth, listening to a lecture from his teacher, Yrt.

"Now, as we all know, Earth, also called 'Terra', is the home planet of the Great Galactics, the species responsible for uplifting all the others in our galaxy. They created all sorts of life forms, like the Great Space Manta, Space Rock Life, Kilt Cats, and even things as mighty and deadly as the Kraken. You have a question, Ottili?" "Yes. Why would the Great Galactics create something as evil as the Kraken?" "Well, you have to understand, Kraken aren't evil. They are another part of the food chain, which the Great Galactics observed here on Earth and simulated to their best abilities, which were great. But for the ecosystem to be complete, there needed to be predators, like Stellar Sharks, Omega Swarms, and Kraken. The Great Galactic knew this and-" "If they were so great, why are they extict?" "Uriga, raise your hand next time! The Great Galactic are not known to be extict. Certainly, they are not among us, we would know-" chuckles from among the class "- and many think that they are simply... elsewhere." "But what do you mean by 'Elsewhere'?" "Uriga, raise your hand! Elsewhere meaning that they have simply found another place to live, beyond the galaxy's border, past the eternal abyss. Now, let us get back to the history of Earth. The Great Galactics were far from the first creatures to exist on this ancient planet. Before them came many other creatures and life forms..."

Uriga was only paying attention with half his mind, the other half was buzzing on about this "elsewhere" that the teacher had spoken of. Uriga was an orphan, found in a small ship all alone drifting inward from a distant place, from beyond that vast abyss. But Uriga had no recollection of that place, except that it was bright, and warm and safe. He had never known his family, and many people he encountered looked at him strangely because of his appearance. Unlike most creatures, he had no fur, except on the top of his head and around his eyes. He walked on two legs, had two arms, poor eyesight, poor sense of smell, and poor hearing. Even his sense of taste was bad, when compared to almost all other forms of life. But he was used to the strange looks he got, he was used to being an outcast. Uriga was also smaller, which made him the target of all sorts of bullying. But Uriga was used to all that. What he wasn't used to was getting an answer without an answer. He was now very interested in what had happened to the Great Galactics. Had they really left the galaxy? The thought seemed unbelievable, but it must be true, where else would they have gone? And if they left the galaxy, them maybe... maybe he was one of them! Maybe, just maybe, Uriga thought, maybe I am a Great Galactic.

He suddenly came out of his thoughts to hear a mass of roaring laughter from all around him. Even the teacher was laughing. "You can't be a Great Galactic, your too dumb!" "And weak!" "And blind!" "And deaf!" "Now -ha- now students -ha ha- please, leave Uriga alone. He may well -ha!- be one of the - aha!- Great- Great-" The teacher collapsed into laughter at the thought, unable to even finish the sentence. Uriga growled under his breath, which set off another round of laughter, because his "growl" was weak and harmless sounding. "Whatcha gonna do, bite me with those stubby little fangs of yours?" Wortimer, a larger carnivore sputtered out between gasps for breath. "No, I rather thought that I would walk back to the ship and wait for you there. I'll do the research on my own." Uriga went back to the ship alone, no one bothered to stop him. After all, what could he, a simple thing from the edge of the galaxy, ever do on his own? Well, not much. He went back to the ship, did some research, looked up some theories on where the Great Galactics had gone and what they may have looked like, and then decided that he couldn't possibly be one. They had built superstructures with hallways far to large for something as small as him to need. As if that wasn't enough, they had left behind statues, and these statues had always shown them as being large creatures, with a lumbering sort of appearance. Not graceful like Uriga, but more slow and steady like Ottili. His thoughts were interrupted when the class returned to the ship, and the AI lifted them off the ground and started them back on their journey home to Trian.

"Hey, Uriga, you created any new life forms yet?" Uriga sighed. It was Denit, a nasty piece of work. It was said that Denit planned to rule the galaxy someday, but for now he was content with ruling the class and making Uriga's life miserable. But Uriga decided to do the one thing that would probably piss Denit off the most. "Yes, as a matter of fact I did! It's called 'Denitis', because it's almost as ugly as you are! Isn't it a miracle?" Denit roared and hurled himself at Uriga. But there was one thing that Uriga did have. He was agile. Very agile. And his small size allowed him to jump and climb higher then most of his classmates. So that's what he did