One by one, the stars winked out as the dome sank into the alien atmosphere.

It seemed like a slow descent, but the edges of the ship were soon glowing a bright orange as if someone were using a blow torch. The entire vessel vibrated and shook.

Leah mumbled something about a heat shield. Morgan just hoped the aliens knew what they were doing, and they hadn’t gone through all this just to burn up on the way down.

The sky above transitioned from black to deep violet, shading into pure blue. Soon, a vast continent stretched out below them. It seemed… oddly separated. The land was cleanly cut as if she were looking at boundary lines on a map. Different colors of green, brown, royal purple and glittering blue water gave the surface a quilt-like appearance.

That’s not natural, Morgan thought, craning her head to look past the edge. Out in the far distance night darkened the curved edge of the planet. There, just for a moment, she caught a glitter of artificial lights. Cities? It sank out of view before she could tell for sure.

The dome sank straight down on top of a light green patch, separated with darker stripes which soon resolved into forests. The dome slowed, giving them a view of meadows broken by lines of trees.

They landed with a jolt that made Morgan fall into Leah. A deep click-whirr from below and two ramps extended out from either side of the dome. One for the girls’ side, one for the boys’.

Then the glass above them retracted like the cover of a football stadium.

Air rushed in, warm and sweet smelling with greenery and new life.

For a few minutes, all everyone could do was stare. There were no buildings in sight, no little green men to welcome them. Just soft green grass below them, the sigh of a light breeze and the buzz of insects.

The boys and girls hovered at the top of their ramps like penguins at the edge of an iceberg. No one wanted to be first out of the ship. There could be the alien equivalent of a leopard seal down there.

One of the boys, a large jock named Colton, gave a whoop and rushed down the ramp. No small steps for mankind for him. He leaped down and landed into knee-high grass.

He turned, grinning broadly up at them. “Come on! It’s fine.”

“That boy is crazy,” Timberly muttered, though there was awe in her voice.

Soon, other boys followed Colton’s example. The girls, too, made tentative steps down the ramp.

“I’m grabbing my backpack, first,” Morgan said to her friends. Timberly and Leah followed.

Within a few minutes, they were all marching down the ramp and out to the field.

Without a glass barrier to separate them, the boys and girls mingled. Boyfriends and girlfriends embraced and kissed, siblings hugged.

Lucas met Morgan down at the end of the ramp, having followed Colton’s example. He greeted her with a hug that took her by surprise. She hugged back, closing her eyes. His encircling arms were strong, and he smelled like home.

Too soon, Lucas broke off from her and gave Timberly a hug, too. Though it was shorter, more perfunctory. Introductions were made for Leah.

“Did you guys see the boxes and crates past the trees?” Lucas asked.

“No,” Morgan said. “What boxes?”

“Over there. I guess we spotted it because it was closer to our side of the dome.” Lucas waved toward the western side of the field, beyond which sat a line of leafy trees.

Sure enough, Colton was ushering people to get moving. Those who had forgotten their backpacks inside the dome rushed back up the ramp to retrieve them.

Standing aways up the ramp, Colton cupped his hands around his mouth and called. “Boxes and cargo crates that way! Everyone, stick together!”

No one else had a better idea. Soon the group as a whole—just over five-hundred kids—headed across the field. The grass was thigh high with heavy seed stems. Morgan didn’t spot any burrs or stickers, and no thorns pierced her socks. In fact, she could have sworn these were either wheat or barley stalks. What in the world was an Earth crop doing on another planet?

“Ohh,” Nevaeh cooed, pointing. “Look! A fawn!”

A whole herd of white-tailed deer grazed at the edge of the meadow. The animals picked up their heads at the noisy kids and casually walked into the trees.

One of the boys next to Colton shot at it with pretend finger guns.

“This is so weird,” Leah said. “This isn’t like Earth. It practically is Earth.”

“Can’t be natural,” Morgan agreed, looking up at the blue sky. Just like a perfect summer day. “Why did the aliens go to this much trouble?”

“I want to know what they want in repayment,” Timberly muttered.

A distant clanking sound from the dome made everyone stop. The ramps were retracting back, the glass sliding into place again. Blue light lit from the underside, and the whole thing lifted from the ground. It ascended straight up into the air without fanfare or explanation.

Silently, they watched it go. Their last link to Earth disappeared into the sky.

* * *

The crates were easy to spot through the trees, seeing as they were bright orange. Beyond those, sitting in the middle of an open field were large rectangular metal shipping containers. A few had doors half open, as if whoever (or whatever) had left it there wanted to give them the idea there was something worthwhile inside.

Morgan wasn’t the first to approach. She took her time, moving cautiously, examining every foot in front of her for a booby trap. The catch. The explanation. Someone to leap out and yell, “Gotcha!”

There was nothing. Carefully, she peeked into an open container.

“What did they do?” Timberly muttered. “Suck up the whole contents of a hardware store? Were we brought here by alien shoplifters?”

“Actually...” Morgan held up a brand new orange bucket with a Home Depot logo on it. “This whole container is filled with hand tools.”

The entire field was littered with crates and shipping containers. Paint, stacks of wood, nails, PVC piping, electrical and duct tape... it was all there right for the picking. People wandered in and out, lifting and setting down items. Someone yelled from the other side of the field that they’d found solar panels.

“I feel like I keep saying this, but I don’t understand,” Leah muttered. “What’s all this for?”

“For... us,” Morgan said slowly as if testing the word. “Did you guys notice the trees we walked through?”

Lucas turned from examining a few cans of spray paint. “What about them? More cake trees?”

“Cake trees…? Oh.” For the first time all day, she smiled. “We called ours a Giving Tree. But no, you didn’t notice? Those were fruit trees. In a few months we’re going to have a lot of cherries. I’m pretty sure the grass is actually wheat or something, too.”

“That reminds me.” Grabbing Morgan’s wrist, Lucas tugged her to the side. “You need to talk to Colton.”

“Why?”

Lucas didn’t answer right away, just hailed his fellow jock. “Bro! Hey! This is the girl I was telling you about.”

Colton, who had one muscled arm slung over Neaveh’s shoulders, turned and grinned at Lucas. “The doomsday chick?”

“Lucas!” Morgan hissed, yanking her hand out of his grip. He knew how she felt about her father.

“Relax, it’s okay. He thinks it’s cool.”

“More than that, it’s needed.” Colton joined them. Though they had shared an Earth science class together, his clear blue eyes ran up and down Morgan as if seeing her for the first time. He smiled at Timberly and gave her a casual hug in greeting. Leah was completely ignored.

“I thought for sure we’d be fighting for our lives when we landed. Still might be.” Colton shrugged. “I don’t think the aliens are just giving us this stuff for free, you know?”

“I thought we’d be alien sex slaves,” Nevaeh giggled.

Colton gave her a look that was half amused, half annoyed. “Anyway, I think most of us have camped before, but Lucas said your dad prepared for stuff like this.”

Morgan crossed her arms over her chest, irritated and embarrassed. “Not for being dropped on an alien planet.”

“It’s not alien at all,” Leah piped up. “They went to great lengths to do all this for us. Those fruit trees we walked through take decades to mature. And all of this—” She raised her hand to indicate the hardware. “This was planned.”

Colton’s gaze swept consideringly over Leah as if just now noticing her. He nodded then turned his attention back to Morgan. “So, pretend it’s doomsday. The superflu killed off the population or whatever. What would you do first?”

“Bug out of a large city.”

Colton smiled, showing white, even teeth. “Done. And then?”

Morgan took a breath and let out it slowly, thinking. “Water, shelter, and food. In that order.”

“Um, why not food, water and then shelter?” Nevaeh asked.

“Because most people can go a couple weeks without eating. It’s not fun. Not safe if you have medical issues, but food isn’t the first priority,” Morgan said promptly. “But you go maybe a day and a half before you’re really suffering without water. Three days, and you’re dead.”

“There’s trees.” Lucas hooked his thumb behind him. “That means there’s a water source around here somewhere.”

“Yeah, but it has to be a safe form of water. Avoid stagnant pools or puddles. A running stream is best. Even then, that’s not a guarantee it’s not free of pathogens or parasites.” She was starting to ramble—worse, she sounded like her father. She could practically hear his voice in her words. Snapping her mouth shut, she covered her embarrassment by digging in her backpack and pulling out her straw filter. “This is a water filter. As long as there’s no chemicals, you can suck fresh water through here and make it safe to drink.”

“That won’t work for everyone,” Colton said. “How many do you have?”

She hesitated for a split second. “Just this one,” she lied.

Colton nodded. “Keep it tucked away. We can boil water.”

“Which means we need pots and pans. And fire.” Again, she dug in her pack. “I have a flint, so as long as we have wood, we’re okay. Then we only need the pots and pans.”

“Awesome,” Lucas said in approval. “We can make pots and pans out of something here, easy.”

“So, what about shelter?” Timberly asked, looking at Colton as if he were the one in charge.

“We have wood, and hammers and nails. That shouldn’t be hard.”

Says the guy who’s probably never built anything more than a treehouse in his life, Morgan thought. “Starting a campfire is probably a good idea. It could help scare away predators.”

“We don’t know what kind of night we’ll have. Will the sun—suns—even set?” Leah asked. “This is a binary sun system, remember?”

Everyone looked at Morgan expectantly. It was so weird. She usually did everything she could to hide this part of herself. It felt like to have the two halves of her lives combining into one, and she wasn’t sure that she liked it.

“Shelter’s the first priority. We have clear skies now, but that could change.”

“There’s a lot of people here,” Colton said, but not like he was arguing with her. Just thinking aloud. “We could dump some of the stuff that doesn’t mind getting wet out of the shipping containers and use those to sleep in.”

“Put it all under tarp,” Morgan looked around. Colton was right: There were a lot of idle hands around. Most everyone was busily exploring the shipping containers, or chatting in tight, anxious circles of friends. If they noticed what Colton and his group were doing, they’d probably copy his idea. Good. The more people under shelter by tonight, the better.

“We need an inventory list,” Timberly added with a smile that showed teeth. She pretended to flip her hair back over her shoulder. “Luckily, I know all about hardware from working in my family’s store. I know what we should save and what we should toss.”

Which meant anyone hanging out with Timberly would have first pick of whatever was most useful in that container. Morgan firmly quashed a niggle of guilt that came along with her assessment. This was a survival situation.

“I’ll go out and look for water, maybe food if I can spot it,” Morgan said. “Or more Giving Trees.”

“Giving what?” Colton asked.

“That’s what the girls called those trees in the corner of the dome that dispensed those cake-things,” Lucas said.

And even if people could survive for weeks without food, no one would be happy about it. There would be fights over whatever someone managed to scrounge up. Morgan had her MREs in her tactical bag, but that wouldn’t be enough to feed five hundred other people.

And her personal handgun, a Glock G43, was locked up in the safe at home—literally millions of miles away. She had no way to stop others from taking what was hers. Not without strong friends to back her up.

Looks like I’m stuck hanging with the jocks for a while.

Colton turned, cupped his hands over his mouth again, and called out that they needed to empty some of the cargo containers and build shelters.

Most people looked on as if wondering who had put him in charge. A few, though, peeled off from wandering or chatting to gather around him, listening for directions. It was a start.

Morgan turned away back to the line of trees. Lucas fell into step beside her, flashing a grin.”Want some help?”

Suddenly, Morgan was aware she hadn’t taken a shower since leaving Earth. She pushed her hair back, wincing at the greasy feel under her fingers. It was almost a relief there weren’t any mirrors around. She didn’t want to know for sure how bad she looked.

Then again, most of the guys weren’t looking better. Lucas had a patchy shadow dotting his chin. It didn’t make him look bad. In fact, he looked older. Rugged.

He raised his eyebrow at her, noticing she was staring.

Quickly, Morgan looked away. “Do you know anything about foraging?”

“Only what I picked up from camping with your family.”

“You were ten. That’s not a huge help.”

He shrugged. “Then I’ll be your pack mule.”

He really did want to come with her. Morgan ducked her head to hide a smile. Then she glanced behind her. More people were circling around Colton, attracted by others who were listening. A few peeled off to the nearest storage containers to get to work. She was mildly impressed. Colton had a way with organizing people. That could be useful, too.

* * *

“I can’t stop worrying about my parents,” Lucas admitted once they had traveled out of easy ear shot. “I hope they’re okay—that they’re not freaking out too much right now.”

That dampened her rising mood. “I can’t... I don’t really want to think about my father and sister,” Morgan admitted. “Every time I do, I fall apart a little on the inside. They’d just want me to survive and be strong, you know?”

One thing about Lucas: he took a hint and fell silent.

Before long, they crossed the field and come back to the stand of trees. Morgan took a closer look: These were definitely cherry trees with green fruits ripening on the branches. They wouldn’t be ready for months yet.

Lucas pointed. “Those are walnut trees a little way ahead. I remember the leaves.”

“Here’s an apple tree,” Morgan said, indicating another nearby. Glancing at the undergrowth, she frowned then knelt down to examine a patch of green. “And this is miner’s lettuce.” She pulled up the delicate, vine-like plant with an umbrella shaped leaf. Popping it into her mouth, she chewed. Green and sharp.

“These look like fruits, too. What do you think?” Lucas pointed to a plant along the ground.

“Those are wild strawberries.” She pushed the leaf aside to show the beginnings of the green fruit. Then she stood, wiping her hands off on her pants. “I haven’t seen one plant so far that we technically can’t eat.”

He pointed. “What about those? They’re oak trees, right?”

“Yeah, oak. But people have been eating acorns for thousands of years. It’s like...” She trailed off for a moment, frowning. “It’s like this whole forest was planted just for us.”

“So, we’re in alien Eden? Why are you saying it like it’s a bad thing?” Lucas asked.

Morgan shook her head. “I just don’t get it. Are we about to be fattened up like cows or something?”

“Maybe.” He barked a laugh. “I keep thinking about Watership Down.”

“The... rabbit book?”

He shrugged, scratching the back of his head, a fine blush coloring his cheeks. It was a little cute. Morgan remembered how Lucas’s backpack used to be weighted down to bursting with books when they were in grade school. Those had all but disappeared once they got into middle school, and Lucas became good at sports—and making other, cooler friends. “There’s one part where the rabbits visit a new warren. Everyone’s healthy and huge, and they eat carrots and lettuce the farmer sets out for them every morning. The catch is no one is allowed to question why everything’s so great. It turns out the farmer traps some of the rabbits every once in a while on their way to get more food. So the moral—”

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Morgan sighed and looked around. “But if they are feeding us up, there’s not a lot we can do about it.”

“Fruit and nuts are nice but I’m going to be missing carbs in a few days.”

“Not if we can’t figure out a way to grind the wheat,” Morgan said, then increased her pace as she found the one thing she’d been secretly hunting for.

There was an old walnut tree up ahead, surrounded by a dense fall of leaves and a round, circular knot at the base. It made the tree distinctive enough to remember. Morgan unslung her backpack, then paused, looking at Lucas. “I know you were trying to do the right thing by telling Colton about me, but you have to keep this a secret, okay?”

“Keep what—” Lucas started. Then his eyes widened as she unzipped the backpack and took out her stashed MRE’s. Brushing aside the thick leaves, she hid them at the very base of the tree. The thick foil wrapping should keep out mice and rats, but she would check it every once in a while just to make sure. Then, with a second thought she put her second straw filter, still safe in the package, along with another flint.

“Just in case,” Morgan said, covering the pile with loose leaves.

“In case of what?”

She looked at him. “In case we need to bug out.”