One

We came from the heavens in the form of dust. That is what made us the humans we are today. The knowing where we come from only is known to a select few. The ones who dream of the stars and planets so far away. The ones who know we will always be Star Dust in the end.

Katherine Thomas

Chapter 1

There is only one planet that we know of that holds life. It is the Earth. Our home. However, there is a small percentage of the population that never lost their true parentage. They know where they really come from, and it isn’t Earth’s perfection. They are called to watch the stars. They can see the differences that the normal humans can’t see. They instinctively know they came from the heavens. They are the ones who call themselves the Seeds of the Stardust.

Only a few know that their home is from the stars, though, in modern times, people have suggested the idea that they are all from the dust of an exploding star. There is much more to the idea than those very few understood. A long time before humans even existed on Earth, there were other humanoid creatures throughout the universe. One race, though, knew their home planet was dying. They wanted to continue their journey. A handful of special beings were chosen. Their essence was taken and broken down to the smallest molecule. Hundreds of thousands of these molecules were then placed in a special transport on a small rock. Then the rock was shot into the heavens of vast space where it was hurdled through space as what humans called meteorites.

It took thousands of years to reach the Earth for one of these rocks. It was one of three that was sent in the direction of this one tiny little planet that life was just beginning. That was when the rock landed and spread the dust from the stars to the creatures that were there. Only it took with one hybrid race of beings. The beginning of yet another sub-species that many would never know was really there amongst them.

They would begin the learning about their new planet. They would lead the others through all the hardship. They would be the ones that sat and watched the universe around them at night and wish they were back amongst the stars. It was the only thing that could calm and soothe them.

Most of the humans that are on the planet don’t even realize how their species came to be. They think it was an accident that only one planet can hold life. They don’t believe in the fact that there are more planets out in the universe than there are grains of sand on the earth. Some are so advanced they would never stoop so low to talk to an infant of a species like Humans. Some are even younger in their development.

The universe was filled to the brim of life, but humans were one of the only ones who believed they were completely alone here. Vast time and space were beyond their tiny minds that only used ten to fifteen percent of their brains. The watchers of all life hoped one day the humans could open their eyes to see what was really around them. They had the chance to be great. Maybe it would be the small percentage of the seeded ones that led them even more.

The number of the ones who felt the tug to the stars was limited. It had to do with the complex genetics of the ones that were there before them. The first beings on Earth. The seed was there, but it took a lot for it to show as the generations grew. It would be passed on to the next generation, and it only activated for some.

The ones who know because it is in their blood and their beings just know when the others are close. They know they have to look at the sky to see what is really there awaiting them. Pieces of themselves still flying around in the vast area of space. Often they realize what they are though sometimes they don’t. When they are children, the others watch for them. The simple curiousness of children was one thing. The children that were seeds wanted to know more. They had to know. They never lost that curiousness. They were drawn to the stars and where they knew was their real home somehow.

Kristen Lambert always knew she was different though no one else could see her the same way. She loved being outside and looking at the sky from the time she was a small child. She could watch the clouds for hours. Though unlike everyone else, she didn’t see the shapes in them. They were just there. She would wait till the darkness to see the small shining dots that were there, and then she would be calm again.

She never used her imagination as the other children. She talked of things that weren’t thought of. No one could explain how she would even know of let alone understand them. Her ideas that she would write down confused the adults in her life. She could explain the idea of traveling through the stars at the speed of light but couldn’t recite the alphabet yet. They were all perplexed.

No one ever thought to look at other explanations that the small girl was just different or had an overactive imagination. They had heard of the other seed people, but they were not believers. No one could survive lifetimes as a seed. The idea that it was like that was impossible. It simply did not make any logical sense to them. The thought was dismissed as fantasy and never thought of again as a reason to why the last of the Lambert family was so different from a normal child.

Kristen, though never changed. As she grew, her love of things no one else could see only grew along with her. She was different, and she knew it. She had just accepted it as who she was. She just let all the talk about her slide past her, as she only focused on the stars. It wasn't until she was in high school that one of the teachers took an interest in her ideas.

“Kristen, can you stay after class?” Mr. Bridger asked as he looked at her one day after the first quarter of science class. Since the first day of school, he had looked at her slightly differently. Though it wasn't bad or good, it was just like he instantly knew she was not like the rest of the other students. She answered her work and questions when he posed them to her, but most of the answers confused the others in the classroom, but he seemed to understand. Kristen had never had that before with another person. She was not leery of him, but she did have a wall built around her that kept every person around her about ten feet away.

“Of course.” She replied in her small voice as she wondered what she had done this time to get into trouble. She waited for the fifteen minutes looking around the room to find something for her to focus on that would give her the confidence to deal with the teacher that no one liked.

The room had the ten tables that held two students each, and then the lab just outs for them to be able to do whatever the class was supposed to without having to change to one of the classrooms that had been changed over into a lab setting. The person who sat next to her looked over and then rolled their eyes at her trying to find something to focus on. It was widely known that Kristen could easily block out every person if she wanted to.

When the bell rang, everyone got up and walked out of the classroom without any thought to the girl left behind. “Come walk with me.” He said as he looked her over, “You have nothing to fear. You aren’t in any trouble.”

“Then why am I here?” she asked.

“I want to see something.” He replied with a smile. Kristen noticed that she didn’t have the overwhelming anxiety that she normally had when dealing with people. She knew that they wouldn’t want her to talk about the things she just seemed to know about. This teacher, though, never made her feel that way. He had always seemed mostly kind, and he did seem fair with the way he graded things as well.

He was a younger teacher. This had been his first year at the school, and he graduated from college the May before the new school year. Maybe it was his age that made her a little more comfortable around him. From what she had heard from the people around her, many girls thought he was cute. She didn’t see it, though. She didn’t look at men or women the same way. She didn’t think that way.

He opened a door of the small hallway that she saw was his office. He was smiling as he held the door for her to walk in. When she took a step into the office, everything around her eased. She looked up to him with widened eyes, and they were alert as she moved her head to look all around her. She was trying to take it all in.

“I thought so.” He said as he looked down at her, “I hoped to see if teaching would allow me to find one, and I did the first year.”

“One?” She asked as she looked at him, confused.

“Another star dust child.” He said as he smiled. “Another person like me.”