The Jörgits & The End of Winter

Chapter 1 – The Crash

Right around Saturn, the alarm went off for the first time. Jens awoke from hypersleep. He had set the alarm early so that he could be the first to see their new solar system. He opened his eyes slowly, holding onto the last moments of sleep for as long as he could manage. Sunbeams streamed across the translucent lid of his sleeping pod, tinging the edges of his dark grey fur silver. The light was friendly and nice. He started drifting back to sleep, then remembered the mission.

Would he be the first to see the new planet? Jens sat up in his cot, which triggered the pod’s casing to slide open. Cool air streamed in and for a moment he considered getting back under the covers, but only for a moment.

Right around Saturn Jens woke up for the first time

He jumped down from the pod, his little legs scampering below the soft roundness of his body. The floor felt ice cold to his paws. Tikka, the Jörgits’ ship took a while to warm up after coming out of hyperspace. Jens looked around. All the other pods were still closed. The rest of the crew slept soundly. For a second time, he thought about getting back under the covers, but the light streaming through the large oval window in the observation deck made him forget all such plans. Jens had never seen such beautiful starlight before.

He padded over to the window. The light made Tikka’s interior look even warmer than usual, which was saying a lot. Tikka was already full of friendly, warm colors that made it quite pleasant to get up after a long space journey.

In the days of the Elder Jörgs, their planet had been vibrant and seasonal, but most Jörgits, including Jens, could not remember anything except the constant cold.

Jens’ legs still felt a bit unsteady from the long sleep. He tried to make out the new planet. Peering out into the starry void, he felt very little and a bit lonely. Space always had this effect on him.

Had he woken up too early? Were they still too far away from the planet? And then he saw it. A little blue dot in the distance. His eyes blinked rapidly in excitement. Could that really be it?

The little Jörgit ran back to the sleeping pods and began to knock on one in particular — Ilkka’s. Ilkka stirred a bit, but instead of waking up, pulled the covers over his head. This was more difficult than Jens had expected. He would have to be more direct. He pressed the button to Ilkka’s pod. As soon as the lid slid open, he jumped onto the cot and padded right on top of the long-limbed Jörgit’s stomach.

“Wake up Ilkka! We’re here, we’re here, we’ve finally reached the planet.”

Ilkka opened his eyes and yawned deeply. “Would you mind getting off my stomach?” His voice was scratchy from the long sleep. One of his lanky arms swiped at Jens, but missed.

“Okay, but you have to hurry! I’ve discovered the planet all by myself. And if you’re really nice to me, maybe I’ll share it with you!” Jens jumped back down to the floor.

Ilkka felt stiff and cold. He wished Tikka warmed up faster now that she knew that they were awake. He was feeling a bit grumpy. He’d been having such a nice dream. It had something to do with sweet smells and giant plants – yes, a forest of tall plants. The plants swayed in the wind as if they were dancing, and in the background he could hear a voice singing softly. Ilkka followed the voice, making his way towards it. It was beautiful, mournful. It could only be an Elder Jörg. But all the Elder Jörgs were gone now, weren’t they?

Ilkka stepped out from among the plants and the sound hit him full force. There across the field was not an Elder Jörg singing – but Ilkka himself! Right at that moment, Jens had jumped onto Ilkka’s stomach.

The others would surely scoff at Ilkka, if they knew what he had dreamed. Only Elder Jörgs had the ability to sing the songs of the forests, with their passing the “Great Winter” had begun. He shook off the twinge of shame and pleasure he felt over the dream. It was time to get up. He was the ship’s captain after all.

As Ilkka sat up to stretch, a sea of light washed over his white fur. He was almost blinded by the star’s light. He swung out of bed and began to brachiate in excitement over to the observation window.

Jens pointed at the growing blue dot in the center quadrant. Ilkka doubled-checked the star charts. Yes, the blue dot was, in fact, “Earth.”

Ilkka and Jens discover the Blue Dot

The planet was a lovely blue color. As the ship drew closer, Ilkka could make out great land masses. Though parts of the land lay hidden beneath swirls of clouds, the parts that could be seen were light brown in color, textured with dents and large bumps. Other parts were the deepest, most beautiful shades of green that he had ever seen. It looked very different from their home planet Jörg. There was water on Jörg too, but it was icy and black, never blue like this. He began to purr loudly, and his eyes glowed blue to pink like the evening sky back on Jörg.

Isn’t it beautiful? And it’s all mine – I mean, the discovery is all mine,” added Jens quickly. He was happy that Ilkka liked his planet so much. Ilkka nodded in reply. The planet was beautiful. There was no doubt about it.

They were now just an hour away from landing. It was time to wake up the rest of the crew. They had a lot of planning to do, lists to write, equipment to pack, and it all had to be completed before their arrival. Ilkka felt anxious just thinking about it.

“Tikka, please open the pods, and do warm up the ship a bit more. My paws are freezing.”

The pods opened one by one. Clouds of condensation formed as the warm air from the pods met the cool air of the ship’s interior. The crew members gradually stirred, then lumbered out of the cots. Groggy and grouchy from eight months of sleep and serious space lag, they gathered around the command table.

There was Mikko, the brilliant but irritable scientist. Timpa, their pilot, who had a penchant for speed. Pekka, the intergalactic food specialist, and Jens the littlest fearless explorer there ever was. Two of the faces were new, Urho and Tero. They had been sent along as “expert negotiators,” but to Ilkka they smelled more like military intelligence. He would have to keep a careful eye on them.

“My fellow Jörgits, as you all know, our mission is very important. In fact, there will probably not be a more important mission in your lives. The survival of Jörgkind relies…Yes, what is it, Jens?”

Jens was jumping in his seat with his paw raised. “I would just like to announce that I – that I discovered the planet first!”

“Thank you, Jens. I was just about to get to that. Now as I was saying, this mission is a matter of life and death…what is it now?” Ilkka’s fur was starting to bristle. He hated being interrupted.

“No one said anything about death when we signed up!” said Jens.

“There is some danger involved, but I will do my best to keep things safe. Please hold the rest of your comments for now.” Jens put his paws over his eyes. Then he remembered that he was at an important meeting and sat up straight as best he could.

“After years of searching, we’ve located a planet that seems to fit our needs perfectly. It already has a name – Earth. The air is breathable and it’s rich with life. But best of all, its inhabitants have begun an intensive Terra forming project to remove all the remaining ice and snow from its surface.”

Mikko, the team’s scientist, pulled up a hologram of the blue planet for the crew’s benefit. It showed the glaciers around the planet beginning to recede as the planet grew warmer at a rapid rate.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” said Mikko in wonder.

Ilkka nodded in agreement before continuing. “Our landing site is a group of islands at the center of Earth’s largest ocean. We are to conduct a careful study of the earthlings to determine if we can share the planet with them, or if it is wiser to take their Terra Forming technology back to planet Jörg. Either way, it will mean the End of Winter for us.”

The crew openly cheered. The End of Winter. It sounded too good to be true. Jens was holding up his paw again.

“You don’t have to raise your paw to speak Jens, if you have something important to say.”

“Can we name the planet after me, since I found it?” asked Jens expectantly, leaning over, almost tumbling out of his chair in his excitement.

“Well, technically speaking, you didn’t discover the planet – I did.

You just woke up, spotted it, and now you’re trying to lay your grubby little paws on my discovery.” said Mikko. There was no way he would let Jens steal the greatest discovery of his career.

“But I saw it first!”

All of a sudden, Tikka began to shake, and her steady, measured descent sped up frighteningly. The Jörgits were thrown about the cabin as the ship rocketed through the Earth’s atmosphere.

“Timpa, are we supposed to be going this fast?” shouted Ilkka as he tried to peel himself off the ceiling. His stomach churned as Tikka accelerated even more.

The Ship was entering the Earth’s atmosphere much too fast.

“I’m losing control of her. The navigation system isn’t working!” screamed Timpa in fear as he struggled to control the crashing ship.

“Just do something — fast! We’re getting torn apart!” yelled Ilkka. The gravitational forces had pinned him stomach first against the command window.

The ship spun wildly. Timpa knew he had only moments left before the g-forces would rip off a wing, and then they would be done for. He got to his paws and crawled along the side of the wall. Tikka shrieked as her shields began to fail as well, complete failure was imminent. Timpa finally made it to the pilot’s seat. With only seconds left, he pulled the Swink down from the ceiling and strapped it on as fast as he could. The communication device allowed Timpa to patch directly into Tikka’s consciousness. As he spoke softly to her, the ship began to calm down. Her wings shifted formation to steady their fall, but it was too late.

The ship burst through the cloud cover; the ground approaching much too fast! They hit the ice with an immense explosion. Chunks of ice blasted into the air. Tikka shrieked as she plunged into the dark abyss of the ocean. The water slowed her descent, and she came to rest at the bottom of the ocean floor.

Back on the surface, water welled up from the gaping hole in the ice, spilling over the cracks spreading out for hundreds of meters in every direction. After a moment, all was still again.

The Jörgits and the End of Winter is an interactive children’s novel for the iPad. For the full experience download the app from iTunes. The Jörgits is the creation of TANK & BEAR.