Xenos

i. Discovery: June 27, 2126

Day Twenty-seven

Thousands of stars gleamed back at Cin as she floated by the glossy white and silver hull of the Ekhi. She always forgot how massive the ship was until she was dwarfed by the vessel. Meant to house up to fifteen members of crew, it was currently her home for the five months required for the mission. Beyond the hull was Xenos, a terrestrial planet that had steadily been looming larger in their windows as they approached. Though they'd only been traveling through the depths of space for a mere twenty-seven days, the view of the planet was already incredible. Colorful and unique, Xenos was twice the size of Earth. The view out here, unobstructed by the windows of the bridge, was utterly amazing.

Half covered in seemingly endless Mars-like red deserts, the rest of the planet consisted of lush forests and bodies of water that competed for the remaining space. Clouds swirled over part of the planet, dancing across the desert as a fierce storm began to take hold. It was not the first storm they had witnessed, nor did it seem like it would be the last. Cin wasn't looking forward to spending August researching and collecting samples on a planet that seemed to brew storms the way that coffeeholics brewed batches of the bitter drink.

Cin found it difficult to tear her eyes away from Xenos where it hung like a jewel in the blackness, but she was supposed to be helping Drake with some repairs. They couldn't remain out here for too long. Nevertheless, Cin took a few more moments to herself. It wasn't often that she was alone on a ship shared with twelve others.

Xenos was the newest planet in the sights of the Earth Space Corps, a company that had made its money by exploring worlds that others said were too distant. They reached for the stars and saw resources that could make them money, regardless of the financial and moral cost it took to get to them. They saw Xenos as a potentially resource rich planet similar to Disaxa but without the problem—as they saw it—of an indigenous alien species. Disaxa was their biggest failure to date and it had rippled across the board, decimating support and funds for the ESC.

They were still trying to recover.

Only after the Rights of Star Beings had been drafted and put into law did they dip their toes back into the starry pool surrounding the Earth. With stricter regulations, the Earth Space Corps had to prove that any Beings on planets they wanted to populate or mine didn't fall on the spectrum of intelligence the governments of Earth had created for Star Beings: a spectrum that determined if the presence of Beings meant they couldn't harm a planet and its resources. It meant more exploration missions, which gave Communications Officers like Cin and the rest of the crew jobs. It also meant that the resources of the ESC were stretched thin across the exploration teams.

When satellite reconnaissance had revealed few living beings—none of which made the Star Beings list—the ESC had sent out their team. While it was frowned upon to harm intelligent Star Beings, only environmental groups too small to go up against the might of the ESC protested the harm or extinction of life on other planets. It left a bad taste in her mouth, but like the environmental groups, Cin couldn't do much. She'd rather keep her job than be blacklisted as being difficult.

"Cin, can you take a look at this?" Cin swiveled and turned her back on Xenos when Drake's voice cut into her reverie. He was some distance away from the hatch where she lingered, her slight fear of the openness of space keeping her from joining him at the hatch that protected some of the Ekhi's wires. Drake was silhouetted against it, his dark grey suit standing out against the blanket of distant stars. They'd needed to go out as a pair, a standard safety rule for ESC missions to ensure no tragedies happened.

Cin double checked her connection to the hatch and then carefully let out the line attached to her suit. She inched her way toward Drake who had resumed leaning over the small, open panel that revealed a network of tangled green, blue, and grey wires. The compact tools they used for spacewalks were attached to his wrist and floating around him, moving slightly as he inspected the innards of the Ekhi.