As the capsule pierced into the unknown, the
three former passengers of the ship known as Aurora, stared through the small
round window, watching as the remains of their spaceship slowly separated from
one another. They had been close, but fast-thinking from Beta, the onboard
artificial intelligence, had saved them from a massive meteorite hitting them
with all of its might. Now they were floating around in space, without a proper
plan of survival and worry in their minds.
Annika, the captain, had been the last one to
enter the pod and was now trying to figure out what to do. They were too far
from Earth for anyone in there to rescue them before the oxygen ran out. And
besides that, there was the fact that no other spaceship was on that system, as
it had been deemed a territory for observation and not exploitation. Other
systems were being deprived of their resources by humans, but not that one.
Their mission on the Aurora had been to observe and note.
The planet closest to their position was a gas
giant, maybe the size of Jupiter or a little bit larger. Mathematician Steve
had been calculating many of the planet’s characteristics when the meteorite
appeared out of nowhere. As they looked through the window, he noted that the
planet was maybe so powerful that it had diverted to trajectory of a meteorite,
sending it in the exact route on which they were working. An unfortunate
occurrence but also of great interest. That comment wasn’t very well received.
Shawna Clark was the main engineer and had
been put in charge by her superior to guard the spaceship. Usually, she would
have been with a senior engineer on the ship but he had to bail at the last
moment because of a death in his finally. A replacement should reach them in a
few months but now that was not really the best timing. The pod present many
more challenges than the ones she was used to. Her training was the same as the
one of any other person but she was very insecure.
Annika ordered her crew, including the A.I.
Beta to start working on improving their stay on the pod, at least long enough
to be able to map some sort of plan that could end up on them being rescued or,
at the very least, alive. Hours passed and everyone agreed the oxygen level was
fine, although it could have been much better, and that the pod had no
problems. Or at least not yet. Looking at the trajectory, they realized they
were being pulled into the gas giant and their tiny ship could be destroyed if
they didn’t do something to correct their path.
The first thing was to choose another
destination, at least for the time being. They decided to aim at one of the
larger moons of the planet, one that they hadn’t been able to properly survey,
as they had not been long enough in the system. They locked on the planet and
used most of the small pods energy to propel themselves towards the moon. The
bad part of this plan was that they had to control everything manually and
certain problems would arise from the sudden thrust.
Right enough, the ship started to shake
violently even after all of the energy had been wasted. Shawna reported that
most of the structure of the pod was damaged due to vibrations and Steve was
trying to determine, with the help of Beta, how they could be able to remediate
for their choice and if they actually had a chance of orbiting the moon. The
reason why it was their goal was also because an old couple of satellites
floated around it, which they could use to power the ship’s communications and
call home.
Shawna complained, as they moved around in
haste, that calling Earth should have been their priority. However, Beta noted
that the pod did not have the capacity to make contact with the Earth. Instead,
it could only communicate with the main ship, whose pieces were now plummeting
towards the gas giant. Luckily, that wasn’t going to be their faith but
uncertainty was a lot more to handle for only three people and their friend
with no body. They had to work fast.
The impulse used to get away from the
attraction of the planet, had been enough to liberate them, at least for the
time being. They had to deprive the pod of many non-essential components in
order to get a little bit closer to the satellites they needed to reach. But as
they drew closer, a huge realization came to their minds: the satellites had
stopped working for years, maybe even centuries. They would have to repair them
and then use them and there was no time to do that inside the pod.
And not outside either. There wasn’t enough
air to breath. Their supply would last for about to more Earth days and that
would be it. They would die of suffocation, inside a ship that was floating in
space adrift. They all realized that their death was close and, instantly,
their minds went to those they had left on Earth. They remembered their
mother’s scent, the voice of their father’s, the tenderness of their
grandparents and those who had children, heard them laugh once again. For a
very brief moment, they were in peace with the fact that death was upon them.
However, Beta interrupted them by announcing
he had being able to access the memory banks on one of the satellites.
Apparently, it had been able to function for a few more months after it stopped
sending information to Earth. But the interesting part it’s that it hand found
out that conditions on the nearby moon were similar to the ones in cold regions
of the Earth. Climate was not ideal but they would be able to breathe.
This statement by Beta made the crew breathe
again and even a smile was brought to their faces. They decided to immediately
recover the physical remains of the satellites by doing a spacewalk. This had
to last the less amount of time possible so all three astronauts decided to do
it together. Beta would coordinate from the pod and help them with robotic
arms. That way, they would pull in the two satellites and use them down in the
moon, once they landed.
Because that was the idea. They knew it was
their only chance. So once all the metal was inside the pod, they started
calculating an entry route into the moon. It was difficult to choose a landing
site because most of the information inside the satellite may have become
obsolete. Ice and snow shift, as well and continent and they had no idea of
what they could encounter down there. It could even have an entire ocean
beneath the frozen surface, something that excited them and scared them at the
same time.
Once everything was done, all the calculations
and thought processes, they began their descent into the planet. They decided
not to rest or overthink their mission. They had to try to stay alive and the
only way to properly do that was to launch themselves into the unknown. The
ship, however, was much more damage than thought. As they plummeted to the
surface below, they felt parts of the fuselage fly away from them. It got so
bad, that even the main circular window exploded minutes before hitting the
ground.
The pod glided over an icy surface that seemed
solid. It stopped after what felt a long time. They immediately knew the
satellites information to be correct, as they could breath. They were happy,
even with a broken ship. Beta survived on their special suits.
The first thing was to check on the satellites
and build a proper shelter. However, as they stepped out of the pod, they
realized something that the satellites had completely missed. The planet
appeared to be populated, as remains of building made of ice laid on the
ground, destroyed by their ship as they landed.
