Noak flexed his left knee with a grimace, the taut muscles strained and the ache of the bones told him that the sudden low pressure was bringing in a storm. The cargo door whined as he held the button that raised the metal panel and lowered the ramp. He could smell the moisture on the air as the atmosphere of the planet rushed in to fill the cargo bay. It was definitely going to rain, and soon. Grumbling, Noak reached for the worn leather coat that he kept hanging next to the door. 

“Don’t you got yourself a jacket, kid?” he asked the boy who was practically bouncing with excitement next to him. 

“Oh, yeah!” He ran back into the ship’s quarters while Noak muttered about the correlation of youth and good sense while the ramp thumped softly onto the ground. Outside the sky was a dull violet and filled with dark shadowy clouds. The landscape was soft rolling hills of bright green stalks swaying in the breeze and giving the illusion of a gentle green sea. 

In a short minute Montgomery returned, breathlessly jumping down the stairs and running over wearing the same hat and coat he’d worn when he’d arrived. “Ready, sir.” 

Noak nodded and led the way down the ramp. The young man followed, barely containing his excitement. He stopped for a moment when his boots touched the solid ground and cracked the stalks of the foreign plants. Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, he gazed with wide eyes at the saturated colors of this new world. Exhaling, he hurried to catch up with Noak’s pace as he marched uphill. 

As he crested the hill, the old man sat down to catch his breath while he waited on Montgomery to catch up. The kid was winded when he arrived and flopped down on the ground next to Noak. When his gasping subsided, his attention was directed to the shallow valley below them. 

“This is Lesser Deniv,” Noak grumbled in his begrudging manner. “Refugee planet. They don’t ask a lot of newcomers other than to not cause trouble.” 

Montgomery’s eyes began to spill over with tears at the sight before him, a collection of brick walls and thatched roofs making up a quiet town of gentle folk who puttered around with smiles and greeted one another as they passed by. As the rain began to fall, the two of them stood and Montgomery embraced Noak, nearly knocking him back down to the ground.

The old man regained his balance and held the younger at arms length. “Now when they ask, how did you get here?” 

Montgomery shrugged and extended a hand, “Dropped off by an angel, I suppose.”  

Noak grinned his crooked smile and shook the boy’s hand before turning up his collar and heading back down the hill towards his ship. Montgomery was left sputtering in disbelief at what had been left in his hand, a Lesser Deniv identification chip and a small coin purse that rattled with currency.