budr
December 24th, 2005, 01:04 PM
Greetings from a newbie. A conversation with my better half last night jogged a half-memory of a story I read many years ago. I can't remember title or author, and only a few details of the story.
The story is set in the far future when humankind has spread across the galaxy, with colonies on many worlds. Earth or Terra, home world of our species, has long since been losts in the mists of time. It has become something of a myth like Atlantis. No one knows where the home world is or if it truly exists. A survey ship searching for new earthlike worlds suitable for colonization stumbles on a promising planet having remnants of an ancient, long dead civilization. They eventually come to the realization that they have found Earth.
One of the crew members, the navigator I think, is an avian creature, more or less humanoid but descended from birdlike ancestors. There is a wonderful scene in which he and other crew members encounter a flock of birds among the ruins of the planet. The avian character engages in something like a conversation with the birds. Eventually the birds fly up, swirl around the character and then fly away. The birdman runs along on tiptoe for moment, arms extended, as if he is going to fly away with the birds. Then he stops and watches wistfully as the birds fly on their way.
It is a powerful and poignant scene, one that has stuck with me when all else has faded away. Now that I have remembered that much, I would very much like to find that story, to read again myself and to share with my better half. If anyone recognizes the story from the fragments that I remember, I would be most grateful for any pointers to title or author. TIA.
The story is set in the far future when humankind has spread across the galaxy, with colonies on many worlds. Earth or Terra, home world of our species, has long since been losts in the mists of time. It has become something of a myth like Atlantis. No one knows where the home world is or if it truly exists. A survey ship searching for new earthlike worlds suitable for colonization stumbles on a promising planet having remnants of an ancient, long dead civilization. They eventually come to the realization that they have found Earth.
One of the crew members, the navigator I think, is an avian creature, more or less humanoid but descended from birdlike ancestors. There is a wonderful scene in which he and other crew members encounter a flock of birds among the ruins of the planet. The avian character engages in something like a conversation with the birds. Eventually the birds fly up, swirl around the character and then fly away. The birdman runs along on tiptoe for moment, arms extended, as if he is going to fly away with the birds. Then he stops and watches wistfully as the birds fly on their way.
It is a powerful and poignant scene, one that has stuck with me when all else has faded away. Now that I have remembered that much, I would very much like to find that story, to read again myself and to share with my better half. If anyone recognizes the story from the fragments that I remember, I would be most grateful for any pointers to title or author. TIA.