Under Strange Stars by Gareth Moore

Author:Gareth Moore [Moore, Gareth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Earth, this is Captain Velasquez of the UCS Harrison, reporting our safe landing on the surface of Mehen. While in orbit prior to landing, we detected an unknown craft on one landmass. We received no messages informing us of additional ships being sent after us, and initial attempts to contact the vessel were unsuccessful. With respect to the communication delay, we will continue to act under our own accord and send weekly reports.

The message continued to include lists of relevant information about the atmospheric scans and general descriptions of the makeup of the landmasses. Images would have to wait until they returned. Pausing to consider her words, she queued the message for transmission once the satellite was repositioned.

Her other tasks after landing didn't take more than twenty minutes. The exterior solar panels had been covered during flight to protect them, leaving their high efficiency energy conversion unavailable during their journey and orbit. Now that they were on the ground, they would be more than capable of providing enough power for all of their electrical systems without the help of their nearly exhausted fuel supply. Climbing up the recessed ladder on the outer hull of the ship, Lana peeled away the thick covers of each hexagonal panel, happy to find that none were damaged. From her vantage point she could see easily across the river, spying two distant figures near the alien ship. A sudden rumble passed under her feet as the starboard sidewall opened to expose the hangar, letting the cargo hovercraft glide out onto the grass.

Groaning and creaking as it settled in the unfamiliar gravity, the Harrison's stark contrast with its surroundings is what finally broke down the last of Lana's carefully manufactured indifference. It had been something she'd tried to push out of her mind until the largest of the tasks were complete, knowing that any distraction could lead to disaster. But now with everyone safely on the ground, she let herself realize just what sort of situation they had ended up in. Earth was so far behind them that even their satellite couldn't give them a view, and she had met and apparently befriended three alien creatures before even getting the ship on the ground. With everything that had happened to her and her crew in the last two days, she could almost swear that some absurd power in the universe was trying to make up for their hundred and sixty years of inactivity.

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