A science fiction story I wrote for a class...
I wrote this short futuristic sci-fi story for a paper for my American English class last November and was cleaning out my computer and found it... I thought it was pretty good, although I don't remember exactly why we had to write it, and I think I got like a B on it for kind of missing the point of the paper or something? Anyways, I wanted to share.
March 7, 4061. That’s when it all started. I was searching through the ruins of an old bivouac that had been long since abandoned. My info-scan on my helmet streamed information that told me there was a time when this place was teeming with all kinds of activity, but I didn’t need to read it to know that. Earth had sent out many probes and shuttles over the last two centuries to find planets that were suitable for building biodomes to hold explorers and scientists. It was only natural that some of them would malfunction, and as the reach of humans to the stars progressed, other domes became either abandoned or reduced to merely rest stops for the next base, which was even further out. The eventual goal was to find other life forms - not just mindless bacteria; we had found plenty of that on Mars - but actual, sentient life.
My musings led me into the ruins of an old, capacious library - the kind that held endless shelves of solid books, not the virtual upgrades we have now. I never did like reading the nearly-translucent pages, even if it is more convenient. I prefer having something I can hold in my hand and really feel the weight of. The shelves of this particular library, however, were nearly empty, save for a few scattered novels here and there. I rummaged through a pile on a table that our scanner robot had dumped about two dozen books on. None of the old, dusty tomes looked to be of much interest, save for one. It had a plain, faded cover, over a metal container, clearly worn by time and the elements, but treated well and in rather good repair. It was held by a clasp on the side, and hinges on the edges of the opposite side. Two initials were scratched into the binding: “A.J.”. The lock was undone, and I was curious, so I flipped open to the first page. It held one line of official-looking text: “Space Log #1”, followed by the name “Artemis Joules”. I realized that I was holding more than just a book - it was a journal! It must be rather old but at least it had a memory chip inside, and the screen in the back didn’t look like it was dented. Good. I quickly rifled through the remaining books to see if there was another, but to no avail. Just as I placed the diary carefully in one of my large pockets, the siren rang to signal the return to the ship. Like those before us, we were only stopping at this biodome to rest and walk around. I was determined to open that book the second I got back on the ship and start to read, and that’s exactly what I did.
The header read: January 7, 3001. My eyes lingered over that date. That was so long ago! This journal must have some significance if it was preserved so well for so long. I continued to read, taking my time to savor the history I had unwittingly unearthed.
“I can’t believe I was selected for this mission! It’s such an honor. I’m going to be one of the first settlers in space! Me! I’m only 28, and this is the adventure of a lifetime. I mean, I knew I was going to be deployed, no surprises there. I’ve been practically begging to get up into the sky for the better part of two years. But this - it’s incredible. A journey to unknown places… anything could be out there, just waiting for us. I can’t help but think back to the lesson in Earth History about the people who voyaged in ships across the ocean to a new world. My voyage is not that different from theirs, only my ship is in the sky. Now that I know, I’ve got to tell my folks and then pack. I’m so glad Athena’s been assigned to this too. She’s a great friend from the Academy, and she’s quick with both her brain and her feet. I hate to stop writing, but we’re leaving in four weeks and I’ve got to use all this time to get ready. - A.J.”
I stopped here, as my group was boarding the shuttle and preparing to be launched in the direction of our next biodome, about ten hours away. I hurried to my seat and strapped in before pulling out the journal again. I skimmed through the next group of entries, as they dealt only with minor details such as what was being taken on the shuttle, who should be notified about the trip, and what looked like technical jargon about the structural safety of the biodome and the spacesuits. When the heading changed to February, I stopped to take a closer look. A.J.’s journal entry was written differently, because they were now in space, weightless, and I wanted to join them.
“February 15, 3001. Space is funny. I mean, I’ve been up in space before, back near Earth, but only for short amounts of time to train my body to get used to the sensation of gravity loss. You could see the Earth from the space station there, a swirling blue and white marble, but out here it’s inky black. We’ve gone far enough so that the sun’s light can’t reach out and touch us, and the stars don’t look like they twinkle anymore - not that they ever really did, but you know what I mean. It’s so quiet, too. I mean, the short-range sensors and probes we have around us right now are silent. It can actually get pretty loud around here when everyone’s awake. Chandra, the tech guy, told me yesterday that there’s been no sign of any activity on the radar so far, so we’re pretty much alone out here. Dennys Amundsen, my wonderful captain, told me that he thinks it’s unlikely we’ll ever find aliens. He’s the most skeptical one on board, but other than that, he’s an alright guy. Keeps the ship running smoothly and makes sure everything’s in order, which is a huge undertaking, but he’s brilliant at it. Speaking of which - it’s my turn to take watch in the radar room, and like Dennys said, I can’t write and monitor at the same time. -A.J.”
I was interrupted after this by the announcement over the comms. “Will the owner of the blue car please retrieve it from corridor three? It’s blocking traffic and causing a three-person pileup.” The humorous voice belonged to my good-natured friend, Amelina, who had one grip on her seat and the other on the localized loudspeaker. She was of course, joking about the car. The vehicle in question was a small toy car that could fit in the palm of your hand. It was brought on board by one of the guys in the crew, undoubtedly as a small gift from their child. I laughed and joked with Amelina and some of the guys over dinner, but soon felt a need to retreat into my bunk. My curiosity had gotten the best of me. I carefully flipped a number of pages into the journal and continued to read.
“March 1, 3001. It has now been two months exactly since I left the port on Earth for this journey. We’re approximately a day away from reaching the new border planet and everyone’s ebullient, even though nobody’s coming out and saying it. You can just feel it in the air. We can see the planet surface in the distance below, but in order to land safely, we have to slow our ship and let the little amount of gravity here pull us into orbit before we can start landing. Can’t say much more now - we’re all headed to the main deck to either watch the sensors and readouts or take pictures or something. -A.J.”
The next large entry was labeled as March 17, 3001. “The planet is pretty quiet. We’ve almost finished constructing the frame of the biodome, which is a tricky business by itself, but it’ll be done and then we can carefully start work on the interior. I’ve already been able to bounce around on the surface and take a look around. There’s a few craters and such, and what looks like a burrow or hole but I can’t go near it yet. Dennys figures it’s from small particles hitting the surface at certain angles. I’ve got radar duty again tonight, but since it’s still quiet, I figure I’ll sneak in my journal while I’m sitting around in the quiet. It’s all I can do to keep from either going crazy or getting bored to death, one of the two. Dennys reminded me that I can’t write while on-duty, but he gave Chandra and I permission to set up an alternate recording feed to my memory chip so I can record the radar room session via the surveillance camera and play it back later on my screen. -A.J.”
I unwrapped the memory chip and placed it in the screen, mentally willing it to play. The video was certainly clear enough, but it was a bit dark, save for a spotlight beam shining from the outside of the window to sweep the otherwise dark surface of the planet. The video was still and silent for a while, and after a minute or two, I sped it up until I saw movement. There was a frantic female voice. “Look! Dennys, come quick! I saw it, I swear I did!” A male voice and another body moved in sync towards the woman. “You’re seeing things. There’s nothing th- wait, is that? ... It is! There’s a blip on the radar, and it’s strong!” The female voice again, this time more confident. “See, I told you! We’ve got to investigate! This is huge!” Dennys responded with a guttural noise. “Well. I guess you’re right, Artemis. No reason it’s actual life though.” The female replied with “No reason it’s not, either.”
The video froze here, but I was frozen in my seat along with it. This was amazing. I’d never heard of anything like this happening before. Numerous thoughts were suffusing my mind with all kinds of possibilities. I finally looked back down at the journal and read the next few entries with a cloying desire to know what happened next. I thought it was nice that Artemis was a girl. Somehow, reading another girl’s journal didn’t seem as weird to me.
“March 18, 3001. Dennys and Athena trudged out with a robot to the site of the radar blip, leaving Chandra and I to watch the probes until they get back. They returned with a look of incredulity, towing these …I don’t know what to call them. They’re aliens, though, not human. Kind of cute, in an alien sort of way. I always knew aliens existed, but Dennys isn’t very fond of them. They’re shorter than us, around four feet tall I suppose, and their skin is an odd gray color. Their heads are a bit elongated, and their bodies are slightly rounded. I guess it’s because of the atmosphere, and the lack of sunlight, and how low the gravity is here. Dennys decided to make a little holding area for them outside the biodome, so he and Athena are working on that now. Chandra’s run some computer linguistics but they’re not very talkative, so we don’t have much of a language base to go by. However, he says they seem to be quite intelligent and can understand what he’s sending to them, after a few modifications. Athena had the idea that perhaps they could help us with the biodome, but Dennys won’t let them get out for anything.”
A small entry by itself. “March 22. I’ve thought about it and came up with a name for these creatures. I’m calling them the Wei. It’s a Chinese word I picked up ages ago when I trained with some Chinese astronauts in the space station, and it seems to fit.”
A page later, and what seems to be a new entry, but the date isn’t readable. “Even Chandra won’t get near their ‘holding cell’, as he calls it. He wants to separate them, because he says their eyes seem to glow whenever they get near each other, and he’s very uncomfortable around them now. I don’t think he likes that they won’t talk, and they always huddle together whenever he gets near them.”
I hurriedly flipped to another entry, a few pages later. “Dennys is to the point of hostility towards the Wei. I’ve tried to reason with him, but he has it in his head that they’re just dumb creatures, and he refuses to listen to me. He’s even tried kicking them before, but I think he’s afraid to touch them. He’s very reasonable when you talk about anything else, but mention the Wei and he’ll leave the room. Chandra’s not much better, but only because he thinks that intelligent life should be more…well, intelligent.”
“I visited the Wei today, by myself. Dennys doesn’t know. He doesn’t want anyone going out there alone with them, especially me. I sat down next to their holding cells and talked to them for a bit. I felt kind of silly at first, because what are you going to say to an alien that doesn’t talk back? So I told them about the one thing I know most about, and that’s Earth. Home. I told them of how wonderful it was, with all its vibrant colors and people and places, swarming with life and energy and everything. The Wei seemed to be more relaxed around me, and they didn’t make their eyes glow at me, either.”
I was astounded at what I was reading. This couldn’t be real, could it? It’s like something out of a fairytale, or a weird dream. If aliens did exist, they sure were doing a good job of hiding. I was jolted out of my reverie by another announcement, but this one was official. The intercom speaker let me know that we’d be landing to meet our host base in a few minutes and they’d be coming out to welcome us. With that in mind, I rushed to the last few entries left in the journal.
“Chandra called me to the pod bay window earlier, frantic. He said that the Wei had been acting mad and huddling together, even though Dennys had made separate enclosures for each of them. He told me that when he and Dennys ran out to stop them, there was something like blue sparks flashing from their finger-pod appendages. They were clearly angry, from the way Chandra described the scene to me. He also said that the sparks affected the enclosures so that they came apart once the Wei pushed them hard enough. The two men were both clearly freaked out, but had the sense enough to start running once the Wei walked out into the open ground between the biodome and the shuttle. The way Chandra said it, Dennys was inching closer towards the dome and reached it just as he reached the shuttle. I looked outside towards the dome. I could make out the figure of Dennys just inside its door, holding a long pole like some kind of makeshift weapon. The Wei clustered together around the outside of the biodome door and started sending sparks at it. Nothing happened at first, but Dennys was lashing out in his fear and hitting the door with the pole as though he hoped it would frighten them away… What happened next will be forever ingrained in my memory. The only reason I write this is so it will not be forgotten by others in the years to come. The Wei charged through the door and each of them reached up to grasp either part of the spacesuit on Dennys’ arm or his leg. At the same moment, they sent a blue spark through his suit and into him. I’m sure one spark might have only stunned him, but six or seven together was probably akin to electrocution. I can only thank the heavens that there is no sound in space.”
The page ended there. I frantically flipped to the next entry, but there was none, only the unresponsive black video screen. I wanted to know what happened next, but a search of the journal yielded no new information. I removed the video screen and put the info chip in it, to see if there was anything else on the chip after the scene in the radar room, but my intercom buzzed and told me that we had landed at the biodome. Sighing, I tossed the video screen on my bed, and the journal in my pocket, and went to the loading bay to put on my spacesuit and greet the cold atmosphere that would greet me in return each day for the next five or so years.
When everyone was ready, I trudged out of the ship with Amelina, the two men, and the captain. We had a nice little welcoming committee of fellow space explorers, all decked out in their nicest spacesuits. They gave us a silent applause - what other kind is there in space? - and motioned for us to come into the base, where we’d have a customary meal together.
Inside the dome, we were given the all-clear to remove our helmets. While waiting for someone to assist me with my helmet, I looked around through the dark tint in the visor, preparing myself for the color and atmosphere change. The helmet was raised up and I saw the vibrant colors of the dome, but the other people looked strange, and then I realized why. Their skin was a somewhat gray color. Already, Amelina had a look of fear on her face.
Back in the shuttle, the video screen that had been tossed on the bed had been bumped enough to turn it on, and the video chip was playing the final minutes of recorded video. “It was his hate that killed him. Sure, you can blame his death on the Wei, but that’s only part of it. In the end, it was his own refusal to accept that they might be something more than just creatures or different animals that destroyed him.” Artemis’ voice from the past rang out loud, yet there was no one to hear it.
Well, how bad was it? :P
Thoughts?
March 7, 4061. That’s when it all started. I was searching through the ruins of an old bivouac that had been long since abandoned. My info-scan on my helmet streamed information that told me there was a time when this place was teeming with all kinds of activity, but I didn’t need to read it to know that. Earth had sent out many probes and shuttles over the last two centuries to find planets that were suitable for building biodomes to hold explorers and scientists. It was only natural that some of them would malfunction, and as the reach of humans to the stars progressed, other domes became either abandoned or reduced to merely rest stops for the next base, which was even further out. The eventual goal was to find other life forms - not just mindless bacteria; we had found plenty of that on Mars - but actual, sentient life.
My musings led me into the ruins of an old, capacious library - the kind that held endless shelves of solid books, not the virtual upgrades we have now. I never did like reading the nearly-translucent pages, even if it is more convenient. I prefer having something I can hold in my hand and really feel the weight of. The shelves of this particular library, however, were nearly empty, save for a few scattered novels here and there. I rummaged through a pile on a table that our scanner robot had dumped about two dozen books on. None of the old, dusty tomes looked to be of much interest, save for one. It had a plain, faded cover, over a metal container, clearly worn by time and the elements, but treated well and in rather good repair. It was held by a clasp on the side, and hinges on the edges of the opposite side. Two initials were scratched into the binding: “A.J.”. The lock was undone, and I was curious, so I flipped open to the first page. It held one line of official-looking text: “Space Log #1”, followed by the name “Artemis Joules”. I realized that I was holding more than just a book - it was a journal! It must be rather old but at least it had a memory chip inside, and the screen in the back didn’t look like it was dented. Good. I quickly rifled through the remaining books to see if there was another, but to no avail. Just as I placed the diary carefully in one of my large pockets, the siren rang to signal the return to the ship. Like those before us, we were only stopping at this biodome to rest and walk around. I was determined to open that book the second I got back on the ship and start to read, and that’s exactly what I did.
The header read: January 7, 3001. My eyes lingered over that date. That was so long ago! This journal must have some significance if it was preserved so well for so long. I continued to read, taking my time to savor the history I had unwittingly unearthed.
“I can’t believe I was selected for this mission! It’s such an honor. I’m going to be one of the first settlers in space! Me! I’m only 28, and this is the adventure of a lifetime. I mean, I knew I was going to be deployed, no surprises there. I’ve been practically begging to get up into the sky for the better part of two years. But this - it’s incredible. A journey to unknown places… anything could be out there, just waiting for us. I can’t help but think back to the lesson in Earth History about the people who voyaged in ships across the ocean to a new world. My voyage is not that different from theirs, only my ship is in the sky. Now that I know, I’ve got to tell my folks and then pack. I’m so glad Athena’s been assigned to this too. She’s a great friend from the Academy, and she’s quick with both her brain and her feet. I hate to stop writing, but we’re leaving in four weeks and I’ve got to use all this time to get ready. - A.J.”
I stopped here, as my group was boarding the shuttle and preparing to be launched in the direction of our next biodome, about ten hours away. I hurried to my seat and strapped in before pulling out the journal again. I skimmed through the next group of entries, as they dealt only with minor details such as what was being taken on the shuttle, who should be notified about the trip, and what looked like technical jargon about the structural safety of the biodome and the spacesuits. When the heading changed to February, I stopped to take a closer look. A.J.’s journal entry was written differently, because they were now in space, weightless, and I wanted to join them.
“February 15, 3001. Space is funny. I mean, I’ve been up in space before, back near Earth, but only for short amounts of time to train my body to get used to the sensation of gravity loss. You could see the Earth from the space station there, a swirling blue and white marble, but out here it’s inky black. We’ve gone far enough so that the sun’s light can’t reach out and touch us, and the stars don’t look like they twinkle anymore - not that they ever really did, but you know what I mean. It’s so quiet, too. I mean, the short-range sensors and probes we have around us right now are silent. It can actually get pretty loud around here when everyone’s awake. Chandra, the tech guy, told me yesterday that there’s been no sign of any activity on the radar so far, so we’re pretty much alone out here. Dennys Amundsen, my wonderful captain, told me that he thinks it’s unlikely we’ll ever find aliens. He’s the most skeptical one on board, but other than that, he’s an alright guy. Keeps the ship running smoothly and makes sure everything’s in order, which is a huge undertaking, but he’s brilliant at it. Speaking of which - it’s my turn to take watch in the radar room, and like Dennys said, I can’t write and monitor at the same time. -A.J.”
I was interrupted after this by the announcement over the comms. “Will the owner of the blue car please retrieve it from corridor three? It’s blocking traffic and causing a three-person pileup.” The humorous voice belonged to my good-natured friend, Amelina, who had one grip on her seat and the other on the localized loudspeaker. She was of course, joking about the car. The vehicle in question was a small toy car that could fit in the palm of your hand. It was brought on board by one of the guys in the crew, undoubtedly as a small gift from their child. I laughed and joked with Amelina and some of the guys over dinner, but soon felt a need to retreat into my bunk. My curiosity had gotten the best of me. I carefully flipped a number of pages into the journal and continued to read.
“March 1, 3001. It has now been two months exactly since I left the port on Earth for this journey. We’re approximately a day away from reaching the new border planet and everyone’s ebullient, even though nobody’s coming out and saying it. You can just feel it in the air. We can see the planet surface in the distance below, but in order to land safely, we have to slow our ship and let the little amount of gravity here pull us into orbit before we can start landing. Can’t say much more now - we’re all headed to the main deck to either watch the sensors and readouts or take pictures or something. -A.J.”
The next large entry was labeled as March 17, 3001. “The planet is pretty quiet. We’ve almost finished constructing the frame of the biodome, which is a tricky business by itself, but it’ll be done and then we can carefully start work on the interior. I’ve already been able to bounce around on the surface and take a look around. There’s a few craters and such, and what looks like a burrow or hole but I can’t go near it yet. Dennys figures it’s from small particles hitting the surface at certain angles. I’ve got radar duty again tonight, but since it’s still quiet, I figure I’ll sneak in my journal while I’m sitting around in the quiet. It’s all I can do to keep from either going crazy or getting bored to death, one of the two. Dennys reminded me that I can’t write while on-duty, but he gave Chandra and I permission to set up an alternate recording feed to my memory chip so I can record the radar room session via the surveillance camera and play it back later on my screen. -A.J.”
I unwrapped the memory chip and placed it in the screen, mentally willing it to play. The video was certainly clear enough, but it was a bit dark, save for a spotlight beam shining from the outside of the window to sweep the otherwise dark surface of the planet. The video was still and silent for a while, and after a minute or two, I sped it up until I saw movement. There was a frantic female voice. “Look! Dennys, come quick! I saw it, I swear I did!” A male voice and another body moved in sync towards the woman. “You’re seeing things. There’s nothing th- wait, is that? ... It is! There’s a blip on the radar, and it’s strong!” The female voice again, this time more confident. “See, I told you! We’ve got to investigate! This is huge!” Dennys responded with a guttural noise. “Well. I guess you’re right, Artemis. No reason it’s actual life though.” The female replied with “No reason it’s not, either.”
The video froze here, but I was frozen in my seat along with it. This was amazing. I’d never heard of anything like this happening before. Numerous thoughts were suffusing my mind with all kinds of possibilities. I finally looked back down at the journal and read the next few entries with a cloying desire to know what happened next. I thought it was nice that Artemis was a girl. Somehow, reading another girl’s journal didn’t seem as weird to me.
“March 18, 3001. Dennys and Athena trudged out with a robot to the site of the radar blip, leaving Chandra and I to watch the probes until they get back. They returned with a look of incredulity, towing these …I don’t know what to call them. They’re aliens, though, not human. Kind of cute, in an alien sort of way. I always knew aliens existed, but Dennys isn’t very fond of them. They’re shorter than us, around four feet tall I suppose, and their skin is an odd gray color. Their heads are a bit elongated, and their bodies are slightly rounded. I guess it’s because of the atmosphere, and the lack of sunlight, and how low the gravity is here. Dennys decided to make a little holding area for them outside the biodome, so he and Athena are working on that now. Chandra’s run some computer linguistics but they’re not very talkative, so we don’t have much of a language base to go by. However, he says they seem to be quite intelligent and can understand what he’s sending to them, after a few modifications. Athena had the idea that perhaps they could help us with the biodome, but Dennys won’t let them get out for anything.”
A small entry by itself. “March 22. I’ve thought about it and came up with a name for these creatures. I’m calling them the Wei. It’s a Chinese word I picked up ages ago when I trained with some Chinese astronauts in the space station, and it seems to fit.”
A page later, and what seems to be a new entry, but the date isn’t readable. “Even Chandra won’t get near their ‘holding cell’, as he calls it. He wants to separate them, because he says their eyes seem to glow whenever they get near each other, and he’s very uncomfortable around them now. I don’t think he likes that they won’t talk, and they always huddle together whenever he gets near them.”
I hurriedly flipped to another entry, a few pages later. “Dennys is to the point of hostility towards the Wei. I’ve tried to reason with him, but he has it in his head that they’re just dumb creatures, and he refuses to listen to me. He’s even tried kicking them before, but I think he’s afraid to touch them. He’s very reasonable when you talk about anything else, but mention the Wei and he’ll leave the room. Chandra’s not much better, but only because he thinks that intelligent life should be more…well, intelligent.”
“I visited the Wei today, by myself. Dennys doesn’t know. He doesn’t want anyone going out there alone with them, especially me. I sat down next to their holding cells and talked to them for a bit. I felt kind of silly at first, because what are you going to say to an alien that doesn’t talk back? So I told them about the one thing I know most about, and that’s Earth. Home. I told them of how wonderful it was, with all its vibrant colors and people and places, swarming with life and energy and everything. The Wei seemed to be more relaxed around me, and they didn’t make their eyes glow at me, either.”
I was astounded at what I was reading. This couldn’t be real, could it? It’s like something out of a fairytale, or a weird dream. If aliens did exist, they sure were doing a good job of hiding. I was jolted out of my reverie by another announcement, but this one was official. The intercom speaker let me know that we’d be landing to meet our host base in a few minutes and they’d be coming out to welcome us. With that in mind, I rushed to the last few entries left in the journal.
“Chandra called me to the pod bay window earlier, frantic. He said that the Wei had been acting mad and huddling together, even though Dennys had made separate enclosures for each of them. He told me that when he and Dennys ran out to stop them, there was something like blue sparks flashing from their finger-pod appendages. They were clearly angry, from the way Chandra described the scene to me. He also said that the sparks affected the enclosures so that they came apart once the Wei pushed them hard enough. The two men were both clearly freaked out, but had the sense enough to start running once the Wei walked out into the open ground between the biodome and the shuttle. The way Chandra said it, Dennys was inching closer towards the dome and reached it just as he reached the shuttle. I looked outside towards the dome. I could make out the figure of Dennys just inside its door, holding a long pole like some kind of makeshift weapon. The Wei clustered together around the outside of the biodome door and started sending sparks at it. Nothing happened at first, but Dennys was lashing out in his fear and hitting the door with the pole as though he hoped it would frighten them away… What happened next will be forever ingrained in my memory. The only reason I write this is so it will not be forgotten by others in the years to come. The Wei charged through the door and each of them reached up to grasp either part of the spacesuit on Dennys’ arm or his leg. At the same moment, they sent a blue spark through his suit and into him. I’m sure one spark might have only stunned him, but six or seven together was probably akin to electrocution. I can only thank the heavens that there is no sound in space.”
The page ended there. I frantically flipped to the next entry, but there was none, only the unresponsive black video screen. I wanted to know what happened next, but a search of the journal yielded no new information. I removed the video screen and put the info chip in it, to see if there was anything else on the chip after the scene in the radar room, but my intercom buzzed and told me that we had landed at the biodome. Sighing, I tossed the video screen on my bed, and the journal in my pocket, and went to the loading bay to put on my spacesuit and greet the cold atmosphere that would greet me in return each day for the next five or so years.
When everyone was ready, I trudged out of the ship with Amelina, the two men, and the captain. We had a nice little welcoming committee of fellow space explorers, all decked out in their nicest spacesuits. They gave us a silent applause - what other kind is there in space? - and motioned for us to come into the base, where we’d have a customary meal together.
Inside the dome, we were given the all-clear to remove our helmets. While waiting for someone to assist me with my helmet, I looked around through the dark tint in the visor, preparing myself for the color and atmosphere change. The helmet was raised up and I saw the vibrant colors of the dome, but the other people looked strange, and then I realized why. Their skin was a somewhat gray color. Already, Amelina had a look of fear on her face.
Back in the shuttle, the video screen that had been tossed on the bed had been bumped enough to turn it on, and the video chip was playing the final minutes of recorded video. “It was his hate that killed him. Sure, you can blame his death on the Wei, but that’s only part of it. In the end, it was his own refusal to accept that they might be something more than just creatures or different animals that destroyed him.” Artemis’ voice from the past rang out loud, yet there was no one to hear it.
Well, how bad was it? :P
Thoughts?