Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/14064995855
By Dr. Akif Khan
Captain M and her crew of 5 aboard AZK-Delta-3031-85 were very excited when they embarked on this mission. After 3 years long cryosleep in their chambers, they finally woke up. It would take another 2 weeks to reach this new exoplanet where they hope to find life. So far, they had just entered this star system of Alpha-987587ET star. AZK-Delta-3031-085 was 85th among the 300 missions which were launched in space in year 3031 towards the potential life-inhabiting planets. The development of science and technology in the last millennium made great leaps in space travel and technology. Multiple new warp drives were invented and finally a warp drive with a potential to travel near speed of light was finally invented. It took a 100 years to refine the graviton-based communication system and models to create a perfect balance in time-lapse during travel and back home. Although, the time-lapse was imminent at near-light-speed-travels causing time to warp but graviton-based communication could at least overcome the time delay due to distances in space. The design of spacecrafts were revolutionized as well. The exoskeleton type of catalytic and thermoregulatory suits called X-suits made of biomaterials were able to adapt and harness breathable gases from any kind of atmosphere, regulate body temperature, adapt to different gravities and would interact with central nervous system at neural levels.
The crew headed towards the medical bay and their muscles were reformed using the technology on-board. Meanwhile, they were watching the star-system in wonder. Most of the planets were visible through the windows and the view was awe-inspiring. The other gas giants and planets with moons and rings around them reminded them of home.
"What are we hoping to find captain? The asteroid belt and the thick atmosphere didn't let us see much inside." Being a true scientist, S was more curious among all of them about the possibilities than she was scared.
"At least, some low level intelligent life and plants. As you know we are only concerned with the presence of atmosphere and water, this isn't a big issue. Besides, we didn't find any sign of advanced technology." Captain didn't entertain the wonder regarding aesthetics in S's question. She was always a cold and straightforward scientist, curious but not as excited as the rest of the crew. Her whole life was dedicated to science and was spent growing and learning sciences from a very little age in the international academy of sciences. S, on the other hand was not only inspired by science but was enamored by the beauty and symmetry in the nature, traits that Captain always conveniently ignored and considered irrelevant to science. Lt. D smiled at captain's reply enjoying this altercation while setting up the ultra high speed cameras recording the orbits of planets and rebuilding a 3D radio hologram. Systems engineer V and pilots J and N were busy setting up the final course around the planet. The plan was to make quick 10 orbits around the planet at different angles to map the geology of the planet from the outer atmosphere with occasional dives inside the atmosphere. Although, the atmosphere was thick, at the warp speeds, due to the design of the small shuttle and counter-thermal shields they were not much worried about any damage they would've worried about a millennium ago. It will only take them around 30 minutes to make 10 orbits with 50 dives and 5 second pauses over water bodies. Afterwards, they have to stop over water on a coastal area to take material samples from water and land. The whole mission is supposed to take 2 hours and then they would be on their way back to home. Captain was thinking of boring two weeks ahead scanning the star system.
Finally, the day arrived when they had to make orbits. The exoplanet was a nice blue globe with rich atmosphere. It reminded them of home again. Interestingly, it also had one moon. Pilot J. launched the two drones which would accompany the main shuttle in a triangular manner while completing the orbits. The orbits started. Gravity absorbers around main chamber made the aircraft least affected by the high speeds during the orbiting and they didn't feel a bit of added Gs. The gravity of the planet was less than home. The vegetation was evolved in a little different way because of the tilt of the planet towards the star while the chemical composition and the atmospheric variation of the planet was pretty much the same carbon-based. Unfortunately, they couldn't make stopovers over land for longer time periods due to the safety and the aims and objectives of the mission. S was much antagonized by this decision. However, she did manage to convince the decision board to allow her to collect samples from water instead of robots and this was the part of the mission she was most excited about.
"The bureaucracy is too stupid to not allow us stopping over land during orbiting to be honest." S stopped saying anything further when she saw Captain's eyes.
"S, remember, everything said and done on this shuttle is being recorded and will be transcribed and sent to bureaucracy and I and captain are also parts of that bureaucracy." Lt. D smiled again and reminded S of the procedures.
"Well, fuck fascism and fuck authoritarianism. I wonder that after excelling so much in science and technology, we still have to bother about speaking our minds, that too millions of miles away from those dumb meatbags with useless stars on their chests." This time S didn't bother about the stare of the captain. She was always a rebel.
"Remember, this science and technology became possible due to those useless meatbags." Lt. D was a little agitated this time.
"No, it didn't. It became possible because of the equality, progress and peace. Sadly, power and greed took all the credit." S seemed ferocious.
"Well, no wonder they sent you out here." Dee laughed.
This was the last orbit and computer will calculate the probability of landing on the basis of versatility of life within few minutes after the orbital run is completed. The geology of the whole planet was mapped and the data was also sent back to the headquarters. It would take 7 days for data to reach HQ.
"Captain, the run is complete. Computer has determined this location for sample collection. It is in the middle of the planet where the land ends and it is a very long coastline." J informer captain.
"Alright, set course. Everyone, get ready. S, are you ready for sampling if you are done with politics?" Captain was cold but sometimes could be quite bitter as well.
"I was wearing my X-suit while doing my politics Ma'am. Rights and responsibilities work parallel." Chuckled S.
"The sea looks calm. There are small tides but I think we can handle them." Lt. D informed captain.
"Set the mission timeline. I don't want to spend an extra second on this stupid planet." Captain was not interested in anything beyond mission.
The shuttle landed around 500 meters from the shore. S took a step outside. Meanwhile, N was logging the incident on voice.
While S jumped into the water, she felt something moving past her. She turned to look but couldn't see anything. Se moved a little deeper and opened the sample container to collect water when she felt a deep pain in her leg. Something bit her. She screamed in the com channel, "Help, there is something in the water. It bit me and it is not leaving my leg. My suit is ruptured." She felt another bite and when she looked she saw two swimming animals 2 times longer than her with sharp teeth and no limbs. White and blue in colour, they had flaps and tails with which they were swimming, much like sea fauna back home but very terrifying especially while their mouths were dripping with her blood.
She tried to get away from them and moved towards the shuttle and finally she succeeded. Lt. D was standing in the door holding the laser gun. He shot at one animal. It was painful but she swam towards the ship. 10 meters distance felt like 10 light years to her. The noise of splashing increased behind her. She didn't dare look behind. D was constantly giving her cover. Finally, she reached the stairs and started climbing. D gave her his hand and she held it. That is when she saw one of the animal jumping out of the water and biting D's head clean off his body. She shouted in horror and D's body fell on her taking her down into the water. She saw around 20 of animals circling her.
In the cockpit, Captain M was trying to assess the situation. This all happened within 5 minutes and although they were trained to tackle such situations, she became numb for a minute. She saw D's head being chopped off. She moved back and ordered J and V to ready the shuttle to take off and told N to accomapny her in order to save S. They held their guns and stood at the door looking for S. They were all wearing X-suits now as there was no time for compression and decompression of the shuttle. The atmosphere had enough pressure and concentration of gases and the rest was covered by the suits.
S saw the animals circling her. D's body started going up and down in the water. The dripping blood from his head attracted the animals and they all jumped on the body. They tore it apart in seconds. S saw this scene in horror. Eventually, she gathered her senses and moved towards the shuttle. Her movement attracted the attention of few of the animals and they started chasing her. Her legs were numb with pain and she could barely swim. She saw Captain and N standing in the door. She swam towards them. However, just 2 meters away, she felt another big bite on her leg and this time her leg was chopped off. She screamed with pain once again. The animal dragged her towards bottom but upon severing of her leg she tried to move upwards. This is when she hit the base of the shuttle while attempting to come out of the water and everything turned dark.
Captain saw S being dragged under the shuttle. She was not sure what to do. She turned inside and asked J to switch on the sonar to ascertain the position of S and animals. Suddenly, they heard the bangs on the base of the shuttle. Sonar and camera were disconnected. Perhaps animals had bitten them off. After stopping on water, the base of the shuttle spread to form legs which provided buoyancy to the shuttle and exposed the few inner parts of the shuttle. "Fucking design flaw for cost effectiveness by fucking bureaucracy. What would've come out of water, right?" Looked like S was speaking through captain.
Underneath, the animals were busy feasting on the body of S. Their numbers were increasing slowly. A couple of them were busy munching off the small enzyme-based biomaterial window on the bottom of the ship. It definitely looked tasty to them. However, it was the life-support system which was supposed to absorb gases from atmosphere and convert them into useful life-system raw material. It was also connected to the main oxygen tanks. In few minutes, they had almost chopped off the entire window and oxygen started bubbling out. One of the animal hit the window with its snout and it sparked causing an explosion in one of the tanks. The shuttle broke in half. V who was on lower deck was also blown into pieces due to explosion.
Captain had to do something when the explosion hit the deck. The shuttle was on fire and she had already lost 50% of her crew. The posterior half of the shuttle was hardly attached to the anterior half and the shuttle started sinking while at fire at the same time. She had no time. She told J and N to hold guns and at least drive these aliens away from the ship to let them plan something else. Little did she know that there were dozens of animals now circling the shuttle.
The water started entering the shuttle and electronic systems started failing one by one. She could see a couple of animals moving on the ship floor which was now completely drowned into the sea. All of them stood on the upper deck and started firing towards the animals they could see. This drove the animals crazy. They were smart. They dashed the bullets and jumped towards the deck. One of them jumped from water and the captain who never felt enamored by the beauty of nature became struck with its horror on seeing the face of death. N fired towards the animal and the animal switched the direction mid-air capturing N and taking him back into the water. Only J and Captain were left. She saw more water entering the shuttle and more animals with that. She knew it was the end.
She turned towards mic and did the one thing she had to do. Recorded the message and warned the HQ. "Mayday! Mayday! This is Captain M of AZK-Delta-301
31-085. We successfully landed on the Alpha-987587ET-03 planet of Alpha-987587ET star system. The planet has good vegetation but not as rich as ours and it is filled with beastly creatures. My whole crew has been attacked by these seemingly smart but beastly animals. Our shuttle has been destroyed and we are surrounded by dozens of these animals. There is no need to come to this planet. I repeat, there is no need to come to this horrible planet. Over and out!." Captain and N held their guns and started shooting at the animals. The fire in the posterior section eventually reached the rest of the oxygen tanks. There was a huge explosion and whole ship turned into pieces and ashes. On the land, there were two eyes watching the explosion.
Dawn News, Karachi, 10th of July, 1942, reported this local news story. "A ship exploded on the Karachi coastline. A medium sized ship was seen blasted 500 meters away from Karachi Clifton beach. The local fisherman saw the ship exploded with two blasts within 15 minutes. Meanwhile they heard whooshing sounds after the first explosion, probably due to the fireworks stored in the basement, which led to the second explosion. Sharks were seen circulating the wreckage. The beach has been shut down for a month now due to the repeated shark attacks. The rescue teams tried to find the survivors but they couldn't find anyone. The wreckage sank to the ocean floor and two burnt and disfigured dead bodies were found on the scene which were buried in Qayyumabad Graveyard as unidentified persons. An interesting observation was made by a local fisherman who told our correspondent that the recovered bodies looked like fully formed adults but they were only 2.5 feet tall and they were wrapped around with roots of some kind that they couldn't separate from the bodies and buried them as such. Local government official dismissed the claims calling them fairy tales of fishermen."
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