Falling Under the Stars

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. I’ve never been out there but today I saw many of my friends and fellow crew sucked out into the vacuum. Our ship, The Endeavor, left Earth a few weeks ago on a mission to observe a planet in the beta quadrant called HY-2088819 and determine if it can host life. There were twenty different ships sent out into the cosmos. Those going to the delta quadrant were going to take the longest since they had to navigate away from the center of our galaxy.

As our ship approached the star system and came out of warp drive we encountered an unseen problem. Much like our own system, this one had an asteroid field but it was 100 times bigger. The ship coordinates didn’t account for the asteroid field and we were forced out of warp drive due to damage to the ship from asteroids. I was on the bridge at the time of the incident.

Alarms went off and video footage all around the ship showed the damage. I saw so many get sucked into the vacuum of space. The captain immediately announced for everyone to get to an escape pod or to the habitat modules. Both had rockets and ability to land on the planet. The Endeavor came out of warp too fast and is beyond salvation. There was only ten minutes to get to a pod or module and escape. After that, any attempt to flee the ship and get to the planet safely would decrease in survivable probability.

Due to the damage, not everyone onboard could hear the announcement. Those that could ran as fast as they could. The bridge of the Endeavor is able to break free from the ship so we were all fine for escape. The Captain intended to do the separation for the escape at the last minute. I remember the ten minutes seeming to take an eternity. My best friend Jason was strapped in to his char. I could tell how scared he was. None of this was meant to happen.

Dozens of modules and from what the computer said, all of the escape pods have launched. The Captain activated the separation and we went soaring towards the planet. I looked out the window and watched as the ship blew into pieces everywhere. All that was left was us landing and the landing was rough. The damage from the asteroid field damaged the landing system and we crashed. For the most part the bridge seemed to be intact. The issue was the Captain. His chair broke from the floor and was thrown against the wall of the bridge.

I was the first to his side and checked his vitals. There was nothing. The impact killed him. “Alex! Is he?” I hear my best friend ask. I look back at everyone and shake my head. There is a collective silence. As the first officer, I have to assume command. I stand up and face the crew. “Everyone, this is not what we expected. We have to assess what is going on outside and see who else made it. Jason, please check the equipment and make sure the atmosphere reader is working.” I look over to Allison and ask her to check the communications.

I have to get contact to one of the other ships in our quadrant. Even if our communications down here are fine, with the ship destroyed there is no long range comms. I check the computer and see the status of the modules. Half are destroyed but that is likely from the ones on the ship. It seems twelve modules made it to the planet. The escape pods were not as lucky. Most of them made it but many didn’t.

Out the window we can all see the beauty before us. We landed in a massive field surrounded by trees. It looks like the modules all landed in the same field. They had a slower descent and likely followed us down. “Alex, atmosphere readings indicate it is similar to Earth, it should be fine to leave the ship.” Jason says. I thank him and go to the escape door of the bridge. I hit the emergency exit button and the door pops off. There is a slight gasp in the air pressure but it levels out.

I take a deep breath of the air and my body responds as normal. Good, at least total mission failure hasn’t happened. While no death is acceptable, at least the death of our fallen isn’t in vain. I tap a command on the screen next to the escape door and a ramp releases down into the ground. It’s about fifty feet to the ground. I order everyone but Jason to stay in the ship. My friend comes with me and hands me a walkie. We walk down and I turn the radio on.

“Any crew members of The Endeavor copy?” I call into the radio. There is silence and I repeat the question. There is finally a response from a few different people. “This is Alex, the air is breathable and I am on the surface of the planet now. Everyone can leave their escape pods or habitat modules. The air is safe to breathe and we have to start working together to make sure we survive.” I say. In moments there are gasps of air as multiple doors open.

The next few days are spent burying the dead, setting the modules up, collecting everyone from the escape pods and determining the size of our inventory. The ship was filled with enough food to last the entire ship for a year. Only 25% were on the modules that made it down. This meant we were going to have to grow our own food. We can’t risk eating native food or hunting animals if there were any. Scouting teams have been recording plant life.

We’re not supposed to grow anything on the planet either but the hydroponic module can only fit so much. I’m doing soil sample to verify the make up of it and see if it can even support our crops. If it can, I’ll have to design a section of land and keep it separate from the rest of the world so we don’t contaminate the world with our plants. As of now I haven’t seen any birds or avian type of creatures so I don’t think we’re in danger of that.

I have been going non-stop for a week now. Jason insists I sleep but I don’t have the ability to. We have been working on getting communications up but we have had no success in reaching other ships in the quadrant. I’ve been working hard to get comms up but with food being the top priority I have to work on the soil samples. Fortunately, we have a water recycler so water isn’t a concern.

I visit with Allison on the bridge which has become our office. Each major section of need has been given a lead. I lead agriculture and climate surveying, Allison communications and tech, Jason for reconnaissance, Claire in engineering, and Josh in bio research. Josh is assisting with studying the biological makeup of plants. If we find animals and can catch any, he’ll do analysis of their blood. However, before that can happen, they have to be studied extensively from afar to determine how they compare to Earth animal life.

As I enter the bridge, now office, I see everyone working hard. I ask Allison on how the comms is coming. It should be able to reach other ships in the quadrant, especially with a ship only three light years away. She is looking into ways to boost the signal but as of right now it seems we are alone. I’ve turned on the distress signal. It will reach other ships as longs as they are out there. It will reach Earth as well but any kind of response will be years.

I go to my soil samples after talking with Allison and check on the analysis. The readings are encouraging. The soil is very similar to earth and should be able to handle our plants. I will have to make sure to do crop rotation since we have no way to artificially introduce nutrients in the soil. I can begin working on that soon, with the food we have at a normal rate of consumption will last us a year. I figure with rationing we can make it last an additional six months.

“Alex.” Jason says to me as he takes a seat. I give him a smile. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without him. “We’ve done a lot surveying and mapped out a half mile in each direction. It’s all woods. I haven’t found any animal life yet but I’m not too concerned. There is heavy insect activity at night. I want to start setting up traps for insects to study them. Insect life will give us an idea to how this world is developing. Their diet, anatomy, biological consumption and behavior will give a lot of insight on what this world is like.” He says.

“That’s fine, you're approved to begin gathering insects. I would like to avoid killing any life on this world even in the name of science. We should have the technology to learn a lot without killing them.” I respond. Enclave, Earth’s united space agency passed laws forbidding interfering in life on underdeveloped worlds. This obviously makes sense, we can’t afford to cause a planet to evolve faster than nature wants it to. Even if there are millions of insects, I don’t want to harm them if possible.

Jason agrees to my request and promises to avoid killing anything. It will be good to understand how any complex life on the planet works. As everyone else parts for the night I record my thoughts in my journal. I’ve been writing pages a day for everything I’m learning. One of the biggest things I’ve seen is there are two moons, a day on this world is about thirty hours. There are many other things but a lot of it is similar to earth. I’ve seen cloud coverage and felt wind, indicating weather. No rain has happened yet but based on the abundant plant life I would say that rain is normal.

The next day I decide to venture into the woods and mark my path along the trees. As I walk through the woods I stop every once in a while to listen to see if I can hear any life. I sit against a tree and close my eyes. I listen to everything and finally hear what sounds like a wolf or dog. I don’t want to investigate because it could be dangerous and I’m alone. I check the gun I brought and made sure it is loaded. I have no intention of using it but I need to make sure I’m not killed if something comes at me.

As I walk through the woods and mark my path with both chalk and GPS tags, I come across a worn path in the woods and a cut through the woods. It’s like a road, an ancient styled road. I place four tags to indicate importance of this area and start walking down the road. I place a tag every hundred feet. I only stop going down the road when I hear laughter and voices. I look around and try to spot where they are coming from.

My heart is beating is like crazy. Is it someone from the crew? Is it a native to the world? I look around and walk slowly. The voices get louder and are clearly not English. I swear if my heart beats any faster it will jump out of my chest. I keep walking until a loud voice and a body collides with me. I fall to the ground with a heavy body on top of me. I hear a series of words I can only assume is either curses or apologies.

I move my hands and feel a very human-like body and abs. The body on top of me gets up and backs away from me. I am still on the ground shocked and looking like an idiot. I see what hit me. It’s a boy, if I had to guess, someone in their twenties, male by guess and has a European look about him. He looked like a human but he had light blue hair that actually looked natural. His eyes and his tail . . . tail . . . both matched. He had a long blue tail that was similar to a monkey tail. I only noticed it because it moved. He has it wrapped around his waist like a belt.

He tilts his head and speaks to me in his language. It sounded familiar. It is in no way a live spoken language on Earth but is it Sumerian? I turn on my comms device and set it to detect. As the man speaks the words translate to English and I am able to hear him as if he were speaking English to me. “I’m sorry about that. Who are you? You look different, are you from the Omega Clan? The clan of the Gods?” He asks.

It is Sumerian! How is that possible? I stand up and dust myself off. “I am Alex. I came from far away and have settled a distance away.” My words alter from the comms device so this boy can understand me. “Did you come from the fire in the sky?” He asks.

I nod. “Yes, what’s your name? What do you call this place?” I ask. He tilts his head at me as if to study me. “I am Veren. If you mean territory, this is the Hydra Clan territory. If you mean our world, it is called Elencia. Where are you from?” He asks.

“We call it Earth. It’s really far away. Can I ask you more questions about your world and way of life?” I ask. I ask probably to excitedly. Veren chuckles at me. “I am busy and have to get home to my brother and make sure he gets dinner. My friends are also probably scared and ran off to tell the others about you. I wouldn’t worry, I am the Clan leader. If there are more like you and they are kind then I assure you my people will be too. If you want to meet, how about we meet here tomorrow when the sun is at the top of the sky?” He suggests. I smile at him and thank him.

Veren walks off down the road and I turn around to head back to base camp. I can’t believe this. There are living people! They speak a language on Earth! How is this possible? I have so many questions and I hope Veren can provide answers. The walk back to base camp has me so happy! This is the best thing to happen since we came out of warp! I can’t wait until tomorrow!